«　WEEK 1　DAY 1　»

　　Exo. 33:14 And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.

　　Num. 9:15 And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle…; and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire…until morning.

　　22 [When]…the cloud extended its time over the tabernacle…, the children of Israel remained encamped…; but when it was taken up, they set out.

　　[In presenting] a vital sketch of the divine revelation in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers concerning God's economy with His chosen and redeemed people, we may use four slogans to summarize certain crucial aspects of this sketch:”Purchased, redeemed, and saved from the bondage of the fall”;”Enjoying Christ, receiving revelation, and being built up in the Triune God”;”Formed into a priestly army to fight for God and to journey with God”; and”Possessed by God to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land.” These slogans are a mingling of Old Testament typology and the fulfillment of this typology in the New Testament…. We may say that the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and that the Old Testament is manifested in the New Testament. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 345)

　　These four slogans apply to the saints in both the Old Testament and New Testament. The saints have been chosen, redeemed, and saved from the bondage of the fall. The Old Testament saints were saved from bondage in Egypt, and we have been saved from the bondage of Satan. Having been saved, we are now enjoying Christ. Like the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, we have also received the divine revelation and are being built up with the processed Triune God. We are being built up with the Son as the embodiment of the Father and with the Spirit as the realization of the Son. Furthermore, we are being formed into a priestly army…. This priestly army fights for God and journeys with God….Finally, we have been prepared by God in every way to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land. This preparation is revealed in the last five chapters of Numbers, where we see the prearrangement of the distribution of the good land. This prearrangement was the preparation of God's people to enter into the land and possess it. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 345-346)

　　Exodus shows us that God took a big step in His move by coming down to deliver Israel out of Egypt (Exo. 3:8) and bring them into the wilderness (v. 18). Egypt typifies the world where people are occupied with making a living and where people can enjoy a life with pleasures. The world is a place of easy living and pleasure and also a place of sin and idolatry.

　　God delivered Israel out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness…. It is very good to be saved by God out of the noisy world to a place where there is only the heavens and the earth and God, nothing else. But for the long run, the wilderness was not a good place. Thus, they had to be brought by a long journey through the wilderness.

　　God moved with them and brought them to Mount Sinai. Sinai represents God's presence….The children of Israel remained at Sinai with God for about eleven months (Exo. 19:1; cf. Num. 10:11). God stayed with His people day and night there, so God trained them.

　　At Mount Sinai God gave them the law and the pattern for the tabernacle. On the one hand, God regulated them by the law, and on the other hand, He encouraged them by the tabernacle. After the decree of the law and the building up of the tabernacle at Sinai, God gave them all the chapters of Leviticus to train them to worship and partake of God and to live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4,”The History of God in His Union with Man,” pp. 147, 158, 169)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1960, vol. 1,”Synopsis of Numbers,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4,”The History of God in His Union with Man,” chs. 11-12