LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Spiritual House and Holy Priesthood
The description in Exodus from chapter 25 onwards of the things in which the children of Israel were to occupy themselves can be divided into two parts, both intimately related. One is the house of God, and the other is the priesthood. This may be considered the summary of the closing chapters of Exodus. Although both topics exceed the limits of this book, we have here an important first approach to the subject.
The apostle Peter, in his first Epistle, also touches on these two points in chapter 2, referring precisely to the house of God. "Drawing near to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and precious to God, you also, as living stones, are to be built up a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (vv. 4-5).
The content and order of the things said in the Old Testament must also be sought in the New Testament, because they are intimately related. The Old pointed to the New, and the New looks to the Old for the basis of its authentication. The house of God is in the Old, and it is also in the New. In the Old, as a figure and shadow of heavenly things; in the New, as heavenly things themselves.
The things that were written before were written for our learning (Rom. 15:4). The things of the New find greater beauty and meaning even if we look for them in the Old Testament. It is curious, but here the shadows shed light on the new things, even to the point of making them shine. Therefore, the scribe learned in the kingdom of heaven brings out of his treasure new things and old things (Matt. 13:52).
The first thing, then, is the House; then, the priesthood. The curtains and boards, the brackets and the wiper blades would have little meaning for us -except perhaps historically- if it were not that the Holy Spirit wrote them and arranged them for us also, for our profit and teaching. The same can be said in relation to the priesthood.
Why did God arrange things so strictly? Why was Moses forbidden to put his hand to the design of things? Why should everything be according to what Moses had seen on the mount? Simply because everything had a metaphorical and figurative value, which was to be perfectly known later on.
The House is the church; and the priesthood is made up of all the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The metaphor has a wonderful significance, and we can see it now in all its splendor, which the Jews could not see. "And Moses indeed was faithful in all the house of God, as a servant, for a testimony of that which was to be spoken" (Heb. 3:5). There was something to be said next, and Moses laid the symbolic groundwork for it. If Moses failed, if he did not do things according to the pattern, how could there be agreement with "what was to be said"? Thus, Peter interprets Moses, and the book of Exodus opens generously to us.