Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:1-20; 16:14-15; 17:6; 1 Cor. 5:7; 10:3-4
Ⅲ
The passover is a type of Christ, who is not only the passover lamb but also every aspect of the passover—Exo. 12:1-20; John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7:
A
The flesh of the lamb was to be roasted with fire and was not to be eaten raw or boiled; to be roasted with fire signifies Christ's suffering under the holy fire of God's judgment—Exo. 12:8-9; Isa. 53:4, 10; Psa. 22:14-15; John 19:28.
B
Just as the flesh of the passover lamb was to be eaten for life supply, so we need to eat Christ for our life supply—Exo. 12:8-10; John 6:53, 55-57.
C
The children of Israel were to eat the lamb with its head, legs, and inward parts, signifying that we must take Christ in His entirety with His wisdom, His activity and move, and His inward affection and feeling—Exo. 12:9.
D
The lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, signifying our need to eliminate all sinful things and to have a bitter taste regarding them—v. 8.
E
The children of Israel were not to break any bones of the passover lamb; Christ's unbroken bone signifies His unbreakable and indestructible eternal life that imparts His life into us—v. 46; John 19:33, 36; Gen. 2:21-22.
F
Christ is not only the lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs but also the house whose lintel and doorposts have been sprinkled with the redeeming blood; the blood opens the way for us to get into Christ, who is typified by the house, and protects us from God's judgment—1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 10:19; Exo. 12:13, 23.
G
The children of Israel were to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days as a continuation of the Feast of the Passover; Christ is our unleavened bread, our sinless life supply of sincerity and truth, absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality—vv. 15-20; 13:6-7; Matt. 26:17; 1 Cor. 5:7-8.
Ⅳ
The deep truth in Exodus 16 is that God wants to change our diet to a diet of Christ as the real manna sent by God the Father for God's chosen people to live by Christ—vv. 14-15; John 6:31-35, 48-51, 57-58; 1 Cor. 10:3:
A
The unique food that we take for our sustenance, strength, and satisfaction must be Christ, and the one unique ministry in the New Testament conveys Christ as the unique food for God's people—Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Cor. 3:6; cf. Num. 11:5-6.
B
The characteristics of Christ as our unique food, our daily manna, become our characteristics for His magnification through our metabolic transformation as we continually enjoy Him—John 6:57; Phil. 1:20-21; cf. Gal. 6:17.
C
God's intention in His salvation is to work Himself into us and to change our constitution by feeding us with Christ as heavenly food—Exo. 16:14-15; John 6:27, 32, 35:
１
Food is anything that we take into us for our satisfaction; whatever we desire, hunger, and thirst after is the diet according to which our being has been constituted—Job 23:12b; Jer. 15:16.
２
By giving His people manna to eat, God indicated that His intention was to change their constitution by changing their diet—Exo. 16:14-15.
Ⅴ
Christ as the living, spiritual rock was smitten by the authority of God's law so that the water of life in resurrection could flow out of Him and into His redeemed people for them to drink—17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4:
A
The rock is a type of Christ, Moses signifies the law, the rod represents the power and authority of the law, the smiting of the rock by the rod signifies that Christ was smitten by the authority of God's law, and the water flowing out of the smitten rock typifies the Spirit—Exo. 17:6; John 7:37-39; 19:34.
B
The living water is the water of life in resurrection, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God—1 Cor. 15:45b:
１
Resurrection denotes something that has been put to death and is alive again; resurrection also denotes life that springs forth from something that has passed through death—John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18.
２
Because the water of life is in resurrection, it is victorious and transcends every negative thing—Eph. 1:19-22; 2:5-6.
３
When we drink the water of life in resurrection, we become persons in resurrection and of resurrection—1 Cor. 10:4; 2 Cor. 1:9; 4:14.
４
The flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the building up of the Body of Christ and the preparation of the bride of Christ, both of which will consummate in the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-10.
C
As believers in Christ, we need to drink and flow the water of life in resurrection— 7:17; John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; cf. Prov. 11:25:
１
To drink of the water of life in resurrection, we need to be positioned to drink (1 Cor. 12:13), to be thirsty (John 7:37; Rev. 21:6), to come to the Lord (John 7:37; Rev. 22:17), to ask of the Lord (John 4:10), to speak to the rock (Num. 20:8), to believe in the Lord (John 7:38), and to call on the name of the Lord (Isa. 12:3-4; Acts 2:21).
２
If, like the Samaritan woman, we drink of the living water, we will become true worshippers, worshipping the Father in spirit and truthfulness and offering to Him the worship that satisfies His heart—John 4:10, 14, 23-24.
３
We need to be identified with the smitten Christ; when we identify ourselves with the smitten Christ, the divine life as the living water flows out of us—Exo. 17:6; John 7:38; S. S. 2:8-9, 14; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 12:2.
４
If we drink and flow the water of life in resurrection, we will be "the brook" (the overcomers) from which Christ will drink as He is taking the lead in the day of His warfare to fight through to the end—Psa. 110:7.