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and his wonderful work in preserving the lives of the whole Egyptian
people were a representation of the life of Christ. Moses and many
others were witnesses for God.
In bringing forth Israel from Egypt, the Lord again manifested
His power and His mercy. His wonderful works in their deliverance
from bondage and His dealings with them in their travels through the
wilderness were not for their benefit alone. These were to be as an
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object lesson to the surrounding nations. The Lord revealed Himself
as a God above all human authority and greatness. The signs and
wonders He wrought in behalf of His people showed His power over
nature and over the greatest of those who worshiped nature. God went
through the proud land of Egypt as He will go through the earth in
the last days. With fire and tempest, earthquake and death, the great I
AM redeemed His people. He took them out of the land of bondage.
He led them through the “great and terrible wilderness, wherein were
fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought.”
Deuteronomy 8:15
. He
brought them forth water out of “the rock of flint,” and fed them with
“the corn of heaven.”
Psalm 78:24
. “For,” said Moses, “the Lord’s
portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found
him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him
about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an
eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone
did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.”
Deuteronomy
32:9-12
. Thus He brought them unto Himself, that they might dwell
as under the shadow of the Most High.
Christ was the leader of the children of Israel in their wilderness
wanderings. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar
of fire by night, He led and guided them. He preserved them from the
perils of the wilderness, He brought them into the land of promise, and
in the sight of all the nations that acknowledged not God He established
Israel as His own chosen possession, the Lord’s vineyard.
To this people were committed the oracles of God. They were
hedged about by the precepts of His law, the everlasting principles
of truth, justice, and purity. Obedience to these principles was to be
their protection, for it would save them from destroying themselves by
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sinful practices. And as the tower in the vineyard, God placed in the
midst of the land His holy temple.