In this next segment, I'm excited about this part because this is revealing some wonderful things about the Holy Spirit. I'm kind of a visual thinker and this helps me to see the role of the Holy Spirit in my own walk and in the church today. And this is lessons about the Holy Spirit and the Exodus Journey. And I'm gonna start an unusual place in Psalm 78, which is the beginning of that. It was designated Psalm 77 in the Septuagint. And in verse one, it says," Give heed oh my people to my law.
Incline your ear to the words of my mouth. I shall open my mouth in parables. I shall speak of hidden things from of old. What things we heard, these we also knew and our fathers described them to us. So this may be familiar to you because Jesus quotes from it in Matthew chapter 13. People want to know why did Jesus speak to the people in parables? And he quotes from this. I will open my mouth in parables and speak the things hidden from of old.
Now, after Asaph makes this opening statement, he says," I'm going to open my mouth in parables and speak to the people of things from of old." He spends most of the rest of this Psalm retelling the story of the Exodus journey. So I'm left with two questions here. So the first question, two possibilities. One question, two possibilities. He says," I'm going to open my mouth in parables of things that have been hidden." And then he talks about the Exodus story, okay?
One possibility here is he means exactly what he says, which is that the story of the Exodus, in addition to being a true historic event, is also hiding in it things that were hidden from long ago.
So either that's the case, in which case I would expect that all of the elements in that story are representing other things as well, or the statement he makes in the beginning of the Psalm about what he just says he's about to do has nothing to do with anything that follows and he's just retelling the history of the past. So let's take a look at the Psalm and think about what it says in there.
So from starting in verse 11, it says," And they forgot his good deeds and his wonders he showed them in the sight of their fathers. The marvelous things he did in the land of Egypt and the field of Zoan. He parted the sea and led them through. The water stood like a dam. He led them with a cloud by day and all night by the light of a fire. He split the rock in the desert and gave them water to drink, as in a great deep. And he brought out water from the rock and he brought it down like the waters of rivers.
And they still continued to sin against Him. They rebelled against the Most High in a place without water. They tested God in their hearts by asking the food of their souls. They slandered God and said," Why is God able to prepare a table in the desert? Since he struck the rock and waters flowed and Brooks flooded, is he also unable to give us bread to prepare a table for his people? Therefore, the Lord heard and was enraged and fire was kindled in Jacob.
And a wrath arose against Israel because they did not believe God nor put their hope in his salvation. And he commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven. He rained manna on them to eat, gave them bread from heaven. Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them food in abundance. He took away the south wind from heaven. So Asaph said," I'm going to open my mouth in parables," and now he tells the details of the story.
Now, we have the benefit, unlike the Jews who were reading this for centuries, of the New Testament writers explaining that actually the story of the Exodus that Asaph said," I'm going to open my mouth in parables," that this actually does have the significance of a parabolic meaning. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 to 13. Jude speaks of this in Jude verse 5, he alludes to it.
And in Hebrews 3:7 to chapter 4 verse 12, in all three places it talks about the Exodus journey was a foreshadowing of the Christian life with all of the elements in the journey having tremendous significance for us. So in the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, let's turn there. Starting in verse nine. And let's think about this in relation to the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 9. I'm sorry. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24.
Do you not know that those who run in the race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way you may obtain it. Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we do it for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run this, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. All ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased. Their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
And he talks, Paul then goes on to talk about four specific sins that people fell into, idolatry, sexual immorality, tempting or testing the Lord, and then complaining or murmuring. So the Exodus Journey, according to Paul, here, is a foreshadowing of the Christian life. The main point that Paul is making here is Paul says I have to be careful that I don't get disqualified for the prize, but I have to run the race with perseverance, and he's saying you do too.
And learn from the lesson of the people in the Exodus journey. And he says, all of them were baptized. They all ate the spiritual food and drank the spiritual drink. But God wasn't pleased with most of them. The point that he's making is speaking to Christians in Corinth, He's saying just because you've been baptized and just because you're eating the spiritual food and drinking the spiritual drink and you're drinking from the rock of Christ Himself. So clearly he's talking to people who are Christians.
He says," Make sure that you don't fall in the desert like they did and you don't make it to the Promised Land." So a little bit of thinking about this. He says here that the Red Sea represents baptism. He says they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. What's that make you think of? It makes me think of what Jesus said in John chapter 3," You have to be born again of water and the Spirit. They're all baptized in the cloud and the sea." So we see that the water represented baptism.
If you think about it, they're passing through here. They have a wall of water on each side, and then they've got the cloud that's above them, the cloud of pillar of cloud and fire. So they're surrounded by water as they're crossing through from the land of slavery to the wilderness. They're headed to the Promised Land. So even after they pass through the water, they haven't reached their destination yet. The Promised Land represents heaven. Red Sea represents baptism.
The 40 years in the wilderness, the time of testing it speaks about in Hebrews. It's a time of testing and temptation. This is the Christian life, a time of proving. The spiritual food and drink that sustain the people. I think of the Lord's Supper sustaining us, the body and blood of Christ. And then the cloud, the pillar of cloud and fire, they're baptized in the cloud and the sea, as we're baptized in the water and the spirit, the cloud would represent the Holy Spirit.
Gregory Nyssa, who's lived 335 to 395 AD, he was bishop of the church in Cappadocia, in modern-day Turkey. And he talked about this whole idea of the Exodus journey representing the Christian life. And he pointed out a few other things too. You think about it, if the Red Sea is baptism, what does Egypt represent? Egypt clearly represents the old life. What does Pharaoh represent? He is the ruler of the dark kingdom who doesn't want to let his people go. Well, Pharaoh would be Satan, the ruler of his own kingdom.
The army of Pharaoh is the forces of evil and sin and darkness that are defeated and destroyed in baptism. And the pillar of cloud and fire being the Holy Spirit leads them out of the land of slavery and to and through the water and then guides them for 40 years on the wilderness all the way until they get to the Promised Land. So from Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Moses, it says," In this crossing, the cloud served as guide.
Those before us," he's speaking about Christians who were before his own time, interpreted the cloud well as the grace of the Holy Spirit who guides toward the good, those who are worthy. Whoever follows him passes through the water since the guide makes a way through it for him. And this way he's safely led to freedom and the one who pursues him to bring him into bondage is destroyed in the water. It's a beautiful picture here of the Holy Spirit represented by the cloud.
Now, my career as an engineer involved designing large water and wastewater infrastructure projects. So one of the projects that I designed early in my career was I worked on the big egg-shaped digesters, anaerobic digesters in Boston Harbor. If you ever fly into Logan Airport and you look and see these giant white egg-shaped things out there, I worked on that many years ago. Several years after, I was involved in designing this and then our firm got taken off the project.
It was ended up being built by some other people. The project that we designed, but several years afterwards, my children had a homeschool tour of this facility. And I thought, wow, I was involved in designing this. I like to go with them and see what it's like. I'd never been inside there. So I went with them on the trip and it was an eerie experience as I was walking through the tunnels and the galleries because I had been involved in designing all of this in two dimensions on paper.
And now I was walking through something that was three-dimensional and gigantic. And so it gave me this sense as I was walking through there that I know where everything is intuitively. I feel like I've been here before because I had seen the scale model, I'd seen the drawings initially, and now years later, walking through the full blown structure here, I knew exactly where I was and where everything was.
And really, this is what the Exodus Journey is like, is if we know the story of the Exodus journey, we'll understand where we are when we see the full-scale realization of the Christian life. I can study and learn from Joshua and Caleb, the two who were successful in making it to the end in their journey. I can learn from the sins of people who fell in the wilderness, the four sins that they fell and not follow their tragic example. And also I can realize that this time here is Christian life.
We're traveling through a desert spiritually that has snakes and scorpions and various temptations and trials in it. So Jesus showed us the way in his own life to make it through, but we also have the examples of Joshua and Caleb under Moses of what they did. So with that in mind, let's take a closer look at the pillar of Cloud and Fire. So first question I have, in the story of the Exodus, when does the pillar of cloud and fire appear? When does it first appear?
It appears first in Exodus chapter 13 and this is right after the events of Exodus chapter 12. What happens in Exodus chapter 12? The Passover lamb is slain. A special meal consisting of that lamb is eaten by God's people, yet none of its bones are broken. The blood of the lamb is shed over the door frames of the houses. The Jews are protected by the blood of the lamb whereas death comes to all those who are not protected by the blood. And the Jews begin to depart Egypt in haste with unleavened bread.
So this is the backdrop and this is when the cloud appears. Remember, Jesus says," I must go so that the Holy Spirit can come." So after the lamb is slain in chapter 12, that's when the pillar of cloud and fire appears in chapter 13. Let's read from Exodus chapter 13, starting in verse 17. And think about this in terms of what it reveals about the Holy Spirit. This is the first place that the pillar of cloud appears.
Thus, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said," Lest perhaps the people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt." So God led the people around the way of the desert to the Red Sea and in the fifth generation of the children of Israel went up from the land of Egypt.
Now, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying," God will surely visit you and you should carry out my bones from here." So they took the journey from Succoth and camped in Etham by the desert. Moreover, God led them by day in a pillar of cloud to show them the way and by night in a pillar of fire. Thus the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from all the people. So this is a wonderful insight into the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit appears after the lamb is slain and leads the people to the water. Remember what Irenaeus said about the Holy Spirit leading people to conversion, leading people to Christ, and leading them to baptism. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come. In Acts chapter two, we see the Holy Spirit coming down on the day of Pentecost and leading people to Peter preaching the message telling them to be baptized in Acts 2:38.
In Acts chapter 10, the same thing happens to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit leads the people to baptism. Now let's read Exodus chapter 14 starting in verse 19, what we learn about the Spirit. Now, the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud also went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And the night passed, but there was such darkness and blackness.
They did not come near one another all that night." Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord carried back the sea by a strong south wind all that night and made the sea dry ground. Thus, the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground and the waters were a wall to them on the right and on the left. The Egyptians pursued and went after them in the midst of the sea, all pharaohs horses and chariots and horsemen.
Now what came to pass in the morning watch the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of cloud and fire. And he troubled the army of the Egyptians. He bound the axles of their chariot wheels and caused them to proceed with difficulty. And the Egyptians said," Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea so the waters may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and riders.
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth while the Egyptians were trying to flee. But the Lord shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all Pharaoh's army that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. The waters were to them a wall on the right and the left.
So the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus, Israel saw the Lord's mighty hand and the things he did to the Egyptians. Therefore, the people feared the Lord and believed in Moses, his servant. So we see here in this story, the pillar of cloud with the angel of the Lord moves from in front, leading the people to in back, protecting the people from the invading army of Pharaoh that's approaching them.
The pillar of cloud and fire cast a dreadful and thick darkness upon the Egyptians, but it gave light to God's people. It separated the people from their enemies and it led God's people out of slavery and showed them the way to the water and finally into the Promised Land. It says in Exodus 14:24," The Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud." Then in Exodus from the Song of Moses in the next chapter in Exodus 15, this is reading from the Septuagint.
In Exodus 15, starting in verse 8, it says," By the spirit of your anger, the waters were gathered together. The waves stood upright in the midst of the sea. The depths congealed in the heart of the seas. The enemy said I'll pursue, I'll overtake, I will divide the spoils. I will satisfy my soul. I will destroy with my sword. My hand shall have dominion. You sent forth your spirit. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty water.
So we see the water and the Spirit working together to bring the deliverance of God's people and the destruction of their enemies in the waters. It's a beautiful picture of baptism, what happens in baptism here, the deliverance from the land of slavery. And we see the involvement of the Spirit and it's described as by the Spirit of your anger. Remember that the Holy Spirit, the last characteristic of the Spirit is the Spirit of the fear of God.
After the Tabernacle is set up at the end of the book of Exodus, the cloud descends upon it in Exodus chapter 40. So in the end of the book of Exodus, when Moses sets up the Tabernacle, starting in verse 28, says," Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of testimony. The tabernacle was filled with the Lord's glory. But Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of testimony because the cloud overshadowed it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Whenever the cloud ascended from the tabernacle, the children of Israel prepared to depart with their belongings. But if the cloud did not ascend, they did not prepare to depart until the cloud ascended. For before all Israel, throughout all their journeys, the cloud was above the tabernacle by day and the fire was over it by night. So this is a beautiful picture is the cloud in Tamarack, the Holy Spirit leads them to the water of deliverance, protects them from their enemies.
And then on the other side, it fills up the tabernacle as our bodies or the tabernacle of our bodies is filled with the Holy Spirit. It fills up the tabernacle. And then the Holy Spirit, the cloud, the pillar of cloud and fire, really sets the pace for the people through the time in the wilderness. When the pillar of cloud and fire remained in one spot, the people didn't get up and go. It doesn't matter how long it stayed there.
But when the pillar lifted, this was a sign for the people to pack up their belongings and be prepared to go wherever the pillar of cloud and fire led them through the wilderness. So they took their direction from the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, which was over the tabernacle the whole time that they were in the wilderness. We see this in the Book of Numbers as well. So this is a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit.
If the time in the wilderness, if baptism is represented by the Red Sea, and Egypt is the land of bondage, the old way of life, and the wilderness, the 40 years in the wilderness, is the Christian life. This presents a picture of the critical, important role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is to be the center of our community. This binds all of us together and guides us on our way. It shows us the way to go through the time of testing all the way to the Promised Land. A beautiful picture. Numbers Chapter 9.
Numbers chapter 9, starting in verse 15. Now, on the day the Tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the house of the testimony from even tide until morning. It was on the tabernacle like the form of fire. So it was always, the cloud covered it by day and the form of fire by night. Whenever the cloud ascended from the tabernacle, after that, the children of Israel broke camp. And in the place where the cloud stood, there the children of Israel made camp.
All the command at the command of the Lord, the children of Israel would make camp. At the command of the Lord, they would break camp. All the days the cloud overshadowed the tabernacle, the children of Israel would camp. Even when the cloud would continue many days on the tabernacle, the children of Israel would obey God's orders and not break camp.
So it would be whenever the cloud would overshadow the tabernacle a number of days, at the voice of the Lord, they would encamp and at the command of the Lord, they would break camp. So would be when the cloud would continue from even tide until morning, the cloud would ascend in the morning, they'd break camp, and if the cloud would continue a night or a day or a month or an abundance of days overshadowing, the children of Israel would encamp and not break camp. At the command of the Lord, they would break camp.
At the command of the Lord, by the hand of Moses, they would obey the Lord's order. So I think about what Jesus said. He said," If I don't go, the Holy Spirit won't come. I have to go and the Holy Spirit will come." Well, what is the Holy Spirit going to come for? The Holy Spirit is going to be guiding God's people all the way through the desert. We need to be having the Holy Spirit at the center of everything that we are doing, which is really critical. A beautiful picture of this here.
It led them through the wilderness during the entire journey. It also kept the people together. When the Holy Spirit descended, they would set up the tabernacle there and the 12 tribes would all be encamped right around it with the Holy Spirit with the cloud, a pillar and fire as a center. Three tribes on the north, three on the south, three on the east, three in the west. So it kept the community together. It unified them. It guided them with a light at night and protected them with a cloud by day.
It's a beautiful picture of the comforting presence of God that was with them and was with us to see them successfully all the way to the end of their journey. Later on after the captivity in Babylon, Nehemiah looked back on the time of the Exodus. In chapter 9, he said, starting in verse 9, he says," You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. In Egypt, you showed signs against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against the people of his land.
For you knew they acted proudly against, you knew they acted proudly against them. You made a name for yourself as it is this day, and you divided the sea before them. So they went through the midst of the sea on dry land and their persecutors you threw into the deep as a stone into mighty waters. Moreover, you led them by day with a cloudy pillar and by night with the pillar of fire to give them lights on the road where they should travel.
So this is a think about if you've ever been out in the country where there are no lights, you need a light to know where you're going. This is the pictures that they're in the dark, in the wilderness, and God is providing a light on the road to show them the way in which they should travel. In verse 18, it continues this, even when they made a molded calf for themselves and said," These are the gods who brought us out of Egypt and work great provocations.
Yet in your manifold mercies, you did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from them by day to lead them on the road, nor the pillar of fire by night. To show them light and the way they should go, you gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for thirst. 40 years you sustain them in the wilderness. They lack nothing. Their clothes didn't wear out and their feet didn't swell.
So he saw this as a sign of God's kindness and goodness and guided them even when they were rebellious and giving them His Spirit and connecting that with their being led through the wilderness. Later on, he says, in the same chapter, chapter nine, Nehemiah says," But they stubbornly turned their back, stiffened their necks, and would not hear.
Yet for many years, you had patience with them and testified against them by your spirit and your prophets, yet they would not listen." So the Holy Spirit was also speaking to the people through the prophets while they were in the wilderness. In the Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon was contained in the original King James Bible, 1611, and was in there well into the late 1800s. The Catholics and the Orthodox still have that in their Bibles. And it talks about the pillar of cloud and fire.
In Wisdom of Solomon chapter 10, verse 15, it says," She," referring to wisdom, delivered a holy people in a blameless seed from a nation of oppressors. She entered the soul of a servant lord and opposed fearful kings with signs and wonders. She gave to a holy man the rewards of their labors. She guided them in a marvelous way and became for them a shelter by day and a flame of stars by night. She carried them across the Red Sea and led them through deep water.
But she drowned the enemies and cast them from the depths of the abyss. So this is the picture, a beautiful picture in a hot desert. The cloud is a welcome shelter from the burning sun and at night it's a flame of stars to guide them on their way. It's in chapter 18 verse 3 it says," You provided a flaming pillar of fire as a guide for their unknown journey and a harmless sun for their glorious exile." So it's a beautiful, beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit. In the story of the Exodus, where do we see Jesus?
Well, we see Jesus several places. Jesus was the Passover lamb that really commenced, that started off the whole journey. Moses himself foreshadowed Jesus as it says in Deuteronomy 18. God said to Moses, I'll raise up a prophet like you from among your brothers. So we see in the life of Moses, we see Jesus foreshadowed there as Peter mentions in Acts chapter 3. But we also see Christ in the Rock, as it said in 1 Corinthians 10, that they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ.
So that reminds me of what John said, what Jesus said in John chapter 4 to the woman at the well. He said," If you knew who it was that's with you, you'd ask me for a drink and I'll give you a drink that you won't thirst again." Of course, in John chapter 7, Jesus further explains. He said," He who believes in me as scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
By this, he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him would receive the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." So we see Christ as the rock in the wilderness that people drank from. And Paul says the rock that followed them. I don't know what that means if the rock was rolling along behind them or if the rock was carried on a cart, whatever it was. In some way, the rock accompanied them on their journey.
And out of this rock came rivers of water that the people drank from, which Jesus says represents the Holy Spirit which would be given to the people. So we see the Holy Spirit not only we see Christ several places in here. We see Christ represented by the rock, represented by the Lamb that was slain, represented by Moses himself in the Exodus journey. But we see the Holy Spirit in multiple places also, the Holy Spirit by the pillar of cloud and fire.
We also see the Holy Spirit by the water that came out of the rock. So this is another beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit that not only does it guide us on the way to go, but in the desert, it provides us with unending water in our spiritual journey. This is the water in the desert. So how could someone say, like Halliwell said," All we need is to read the book. We're traveling through the desert. We need the water to sustain us in the desert. We need the light at night.
We need the comforting presence of the cloud in the daytime." So many lessons here in the story here that give us a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit and the role and the importance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was foreshadowed in the instructions about the Tabernacle. And we talked about this earlier that Irenaeus had said when the Tabernacle was set up that there will be the lampstand that would have the candlesticks with the seven flames, three on each side and one in the center.
And as Irenaeus said that after this pattern, Moses received a seven branch candlestick always burning in the sanctuary since it was the pattern that was given to him representing the Holy Spirit. And so as I mentioned earlier in the first lesson. So we see the Holy Spirit leading the people to the water through the water and on their journey. It came down in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 10, opening the doors up for the Gentiles.
And the Holy Spirit plays a role in leading us to faith and protecting us from the evil one. And after we become Christians, in guiding us on our journey all the way to the Promised Land and in sustaining us with life-giving water in the midst of a spiritual desert. Jesus also said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come. So the Holy Spirit is involved in the conversion of the lost, in baptism, and then leading us and sustaining us all the way on our journey.
So let us, through the story of the Exodus, appreciate the tremendously significant role of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of our salvation. And in the next lesson, we'll talk more about the mission and the role of the Holy Spirit.