This is the ninth in the series of articles Christ In The Old Testament where we have been tracing Christ through the Old Testament from his words him Luke 24:27;44
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, l that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
From these words, Jesus points his disciples to the things written about him in the Old Testament (OT). The Scripture doesn’t point us to the specifics discussed, but from hindsight of the New Testament, we can look back, using typology to identify Christ in the OT. Last week, we saw Christ as The Passover Lamb sacrificed on the Passover night. In today’s article, the Israelites have left Egypt. Their journey out of Egypt can be seen as the believer’s journey out of sin.
Now when the Israelites left Egypt, we are told “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” (Exodus 13:21-22). From here I will discuss how Christ is seen in the PIllar of Cloud And Fire.
The Ever Abiding Presence of God
In verse 22, the text tells us the Pillar of Cloud and Fire did not depart from before the people. This means it was constantly with them in the journey. According to R.C. Sproul, “Cloud…fire are customary symbols of the immediate presence of God” [1]. God in Scripture has revealed himself to humanity in two forms; General Revelation and Special Revelation. In General revelation, God is seen in the natural created order (Psalm 8:1-2; 19:1-6). The opposite of General revelation is Special revelation where God ultimately revealed himself in the person of Christ.
The presence of God came to dwell among us in the person of Christ (Matt. 1:23; Heb. 1:1-2). The Lord Jesus is God among his people. When Philip said show us the Father, Jesus expressed surprise saying “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?(John 14:8-9). In one of the series, Jesus was identified as the angel of the Lord and in Exodus 14:19;24 we see clearly how the pillar of cloud and fire represents Jesus Christ.
In these verses, we see the movement of the angel of the LORD together with the movement of pillar of cloud and of fire. Then also, we see the LORD in the pillar of cloud. So in both texts, we see the LORD and the angel of the LORD all in the pillar of cloud. Here are two distinct beings, yet one. Clearly we are looking at Christ
Jesus Christ The Light Of The World
The pillar of fire served as light for the Israelites at night. And explicitly in the New Testament, Jesus is described as “the light of the world”(John 1:4-5; 9; 8:12) pointing us back to the pillar of cloud and fire which lighted the way of the Israelites in the wilderness. In the same way the pillar of fire gave light, Christ also gives light to his people which points us to eternal life.
Grace and Truth 