Latest / Reformed Thinking / From Lawgiver to King: God’s Work from Moses to David | Jonathan Edwards

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From Lawgiver to King: God’s Work from Moses to David | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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OK, let's unpack this. Welcome to Reformed thinking.
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Today we are doing a deep dive or really concentrated look at a
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section from Jonathan Edwards history of the work of
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redemption. We're going to 0 in on a pretty
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pivotal era, that 500 year span that goes all the way from Moses
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leading Israel out of Egypt up to the time of King David.
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And our goal here is to. Pull out.
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What Edwards shows us about how divine Providence was working,
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it wasn't just a series of random events.
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It was, you know, organized. It was systematically getting
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the world ready for Christ coming.
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We're going to see the Old Testament not as just separate
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histories, but as these continuous steps towards
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salvation. And what's so interesting here
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is how it really demonstrates the coherence of God's plan.
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For anyone interested in Reformed thought, Edwards makes
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it so clear that Christ the Redeemer isn't just a figure
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they're waiting for. He is active, He is central.
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He's managing every single major event in that 500 year history,
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right? And the big idea we have to get
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our heads around from the start is that this whole period is
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just saturated with types and prophecies of Jesus Christ.
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We're not just reading history books.
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We're looking at the actual blueprint of salvation being
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laid out in, well, in real time. That's the framework.
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And we've kind of identified 17 distinct acts of Providence
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during this time, and we'll lay them out connecting what can
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feel like separate moments. You know the lot, Sinai, the
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time of the judges, and show how each one points right back to
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the victory of Christ. All right.
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Let's start with that first massive event, the redemption of
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the church out of Egypt. Edwards calls this the most
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remarkable Old Testament redemption, but also the single
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greatest type of Christ's work. Why does he give it such a high
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status? Because it really sets the
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pattern for every spiritual rescue that comes after.
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And it starts with the rescuer himself.
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You have to look at that first encounter.
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Moses has the appearance in the burning Bush.
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Edwards argues that the person who appeared to Moses was
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Christ, identified as the Angel of the Lord.
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OK, that phrase, the Angel of the Lord can be a point of
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confusion for people when Edward says that's Christ.
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What does that really establish of a?
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Christ's role before the incarnation.
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It establishes his pre existence and his active managerial role
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in the whole plan of salvation. The title Angel doesn't suggest
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he's a created being. It's about his function as a
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messenger, a representative of the Father.
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He's the one carrying out the divine will on earth.
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So it makes Christ the main agent, the, you could say the
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visible God of the old covenant running the whole project and
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the vision itself. The burning Bush is packed with
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symbolism, right? Yes, previewing Christ's nature
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in his suffering. Precisely.
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The Bush itself, just a simple plant growing in dry ground,
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represented the human in nature. Christ would take on a root out
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of a dry ground, but the fire inside it burning but not
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consuming the Bush, Well, that represented Christ's extreme
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suffering, the fire of God's wrath.
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Yes, he was, in a sense, put into the furnace of God's
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holiness to endure what the law required, but his person, his
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divine and human identity, wasn't destroyed.
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He survived it and rose from it. Moses called it a great site
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because he was seeing a visual lesson on God manifest in the
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flesh, suffering for his people and while coming through it.
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OK, so let's apply that typology to the deliverance itself.
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If Pharaoh represents Satan, and Israel's slavery is like our
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slavery to sin, how does the Paschal lamb fit into that
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picture? The lamb is the core of it all.
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It's the substitution. The people were saved by the
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sprinkling of the Lamb's blood on their doorposts.
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When God's judgement came through and destroyed the first
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born of Egypt, that is the clearest possible type of
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redemption. By propitiation.
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God's church is saved from spiritual death by the
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sprinkling of Christ's blood while the rest of the world is
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under condemnation. The difference between life and
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death was the application of that blood, and this wasn't just
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a physical. Battle Edwards is very.
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Clear that this was a cosmic victory?
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Oh absolutely. The rescue was done against the
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will of the Egyptians and their spiritual rulers, the devils who
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were seen as the gods of Egypt. By destroying Pharaoh, Christ
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was fulfilling that original curse on the serpent, bruising
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his head. We see that referenced when God
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says He will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt.
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It was a massive defeat for the demonic realm.
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And that victory all comes to a head, of course, at the Red Sea.
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What does the Red Sea show us that the Paschal lamb didn't
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already? The Red Sea adds that component
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of the final defeat of the enemy and the entry into a new life.
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The victory there was total. Pharaoh and his army, Scripture
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says, never followed Israel again, and Edwards points out
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that the apostles make the connection.
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The passage through the sea is compared to baptism in First
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Corinthians. Wait, hold on a second.
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If the Red Sea is like baptism, and in the New Covenant baptism
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is tied to Christ's death and resurrection, how does passing
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through water represent Christ's blood?
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That seems kind of backward. That's a great question, and it
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gets to how these signs work together.
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New Covenant baptism is a sign of being washed by Christ's
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blood, of being united to his death and resurrection.
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The Red Sea showed that reality visually.
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The Israelites pass through the water safe like a new birth, a
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resurrection from slavery while their enemies were drowned.
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So the water was deadly for the old life for Egypt, but it was
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life giving for the new life for Israel.
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It confirms these types are not just clever analogies, they are
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divinely planned reenactments. The physical rescue from water
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is the blueprint for the spiritual rescue from sin.
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So this one event was so much more than just a moment in
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military history. It was the very mechanism that
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separated the Church from the world.
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It took Abraham's family and turned them into a distinct
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nation set. Apart to protect the.
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Oracles and the types. The whole structure needed for.
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Christ's eventual coming. That separation was absolutely
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key. And that brings us to the second
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providential act, which happened at the same time the visible
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rejection of the Gentiles. While Israel was being called
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out. God was deliberately allowing
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the rest of the world to fall into a state of visible
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universal unbelief. That sounds almost punitive,
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casting off everyone else who might have had some glimmer of
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truth, maybe from Noah or Abraham.
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Just focus on one family. Why was that global spiritual
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darkness needed for the plan? It wasn't just punitive, it was
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for instruction. It was to provide a thorough
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historical proof of the absolute need for a savior.
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Before the Exodus, you had pockets of true worship, like
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with Melchizedek or Job's family.
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But around the time Israel was called out, a general darkness
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really settled over all the other nations.
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That next 1500 year period of Gentile idolatry and moral decay
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was in a sense a deliberate large scale experiment.
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An. Experiment to show what,
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exactly? To show that mankind, left to
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its own wisdom, its own philosophies, its own cultures,
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was completely unable to pull itself out of spiritual darkness
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and subjection to the devil. It didn't matter how smart the
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Greeks became or how organized the Romans were, their wisdom
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could not save them. This universal failure, which
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history confirms, just magnified the glory of Christ's salvation.
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When it finally came, the deliverance he offered was all
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the more brilliant. Against that dark backdrop,
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First Corinthians sums it up. The world by its wisdom didn't
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know God, so God was pleased to save believers through the
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foolishness of what was preached.
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The long night proved the need for the sunrise.
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So if separation was the first preparation, then the moral law
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given at Sinai was the next big step.
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This was a new step that showed the people what they had been
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rescued for, right? The moral law was given in the
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most, well, intimidating way possible.
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The display wasn't meant to give them a new way to be saved.
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They were already saved by grace through the Lamb.
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The law was meant to be a schoolmaster, to convince people
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of their sin and their helplessness.
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And the atmosphere was designed to be terrifying.
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Thunder, lightning, the mountain on fire.
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A voice so awful that even Moses said I exceedingly fear and
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quake. The terror was essential.
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It was practical theology. It was meant to make them feel
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the sheer authority and justice of the God who promised to
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execute that law against every single violation.
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The goal was to convince them beyond a doubt of their absolute
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need for a mediator who could stand between them and that
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consuming fire. This is how the work of
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redemption starts in a soul with the frightening work of the law
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showing you your guilt. OK, that covers the law's
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condemning function, but it also have a positive role for those
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who've already been saved, right?
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That's the third use. The law as a rule of life is
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used by the Redeemer as a guide for his people.
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It shows them the path of grateful obedience.
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It's the road map for sanctification.
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And that moral law was followed by the typical law, which really
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broaden the whole scope of this type of logical preparation.
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This was a massive step. Before Sinai, the types were
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pretty simple sacrifices, circumcision.
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Now God put in place a whole law full of typical representations,
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the ceremonial and judicial laws.
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It was a system designed to fill the gospel with shadows.
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So the Tabernacle, its materials, its layout, every
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utensil, the altar. The Veil.
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The Ark. All of it was speaking about
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Christ. Yes, the entire nation was set
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up in a typical state. Every single observance pointed
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to some teaching or benefit of Christ's redemption, even though
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it was held under a veil. Think of the bronze altar for
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burnt offerings that pointed to Christ's body being offered up.
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The labor for washing pointed to sanctification.
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The great veil separating the holy place from the most Holy
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place, Well that represented Christ's human nature, which was
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torn at his death to give us access to God.
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It was a visual Dictionary of salvation and to preserve all of
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that detail. You'd need a steady.
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Written rule. Which brings us to the fifth act
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giving the written word. Edwards calls this a glorious
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advancement of the building it was.
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It was the formal start of the main tool Christ uses to carry
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on redemption and all the ages after.
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Before Moses, tradition was reliable because men lived so
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long. Noah could have talked to people
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who knew Adam, passing down the revelation directly.
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But by Moses? Time lifetimes were much shorter
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and there was just so much more revelation to keep track.
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Of. Right, as human life got
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shorter, and we'll get to that in a minute, and as Israel was
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set apart to be the keepers of the oracles of God, a fixed
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written rule became vital. Tradition just wasn't enough
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anymore. So whether the first written
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word was the 10 commandments on stone or maybe even the book of
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Job, the key thing is that commitment to a stable text.
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It's the stability that's key. From that point on, the word
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grew with more being added over the centuries until the Canon
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was complete. This written rule ensures the
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stability of the church's faith and practice, and it keeps
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doctrine from drifting over time.
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So moving from the written rule, the next providential act is the
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40 year journey through the wilderness itself.
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This whole journey was not just travel, it was, you know, a
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continuous lived out parable. So we can kind of map the
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history of the Redeemed Church onto the physical journey Israel
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took. Let's trace that map.
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It's a very organized progression.
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Egypt and its bondage represented the state of
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believers. Redeemed from the Paschal lamb
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was the price of redemption. Crossing the Red Sea was like
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the conversion experience, the start of redemption being
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applied. The wilderness travel
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represented the church's difficult journey through this
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world. And finally, Canaan was the type
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of the eternal inheritance of heaven, and the specific details
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of how they survived in the desert become these clear types
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for our spiritual life today. Think about their guidance, the
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pillar of cloud and fire. That's Christ leading his
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people, protecting them from the heat and giving them light in
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the dark. Their daily food was manna from
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heaven, a symbol of Christ as the true bread of life.
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And the water came from the rock, which Paul says plainly
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was Christ. All of this shows a daily divine
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supply confirming that Christ is always supporting his church.
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And this isn't just us. Reading back into the apostle
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Paul concerns that God intended his connection.
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That's right, in First Corinthians chapter 10 he says
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that these things happened unto them for types and were written
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down for our instruction. That really removes any doubt
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that these were pre planned visual representations of Christ
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saving work meant to teach the gospel before it fully arrived.
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Now, the seventh act of Providence is one that seems
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negative, but Edwards argues it was a calculated move, the
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shortening of man's life. Lifespans were cut from over 900
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years down to 70 or 80, and this change was a deliberate, almost
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merciful preparation to get human hearts ready for the
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gospel. It happened gradually after the
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flood, but it was really finalized after that generation
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died in the wilderness, which Moses wrote about in Psalm 90.
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Why would a long life get in the way of redemption?
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That seems kind of counterintuitive.
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Well, if men still live for 900 years, they would have a lot
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less reason to look beyond this world.
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The temptation to find rest and build security and comfort right
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here would be huge. Just look at the people before
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the flat. Their long lives give them so
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much time to become entrenched in wickedness because they felt
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secure for centuries. So shortening life creates a
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kind of existential urgency. That's it.
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By making people poor, short lived creatures, they are more
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likely to joyfully entertain the glad tidings of everlasting
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life. The certainty of a quick
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departure from this world makes the promise of eternal rest much
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more attractive. Mortality itself became a kind
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of preparatory grace. That's a powerful way to look at
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it. OK, on to the eighth point.
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The actual preservation of Israel in the wilderness, which
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was just one long miracle. Think about the logistics of it.
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You have 2 million people being sustained in a barren desert for
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40 years without any agriculture.
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On a purely practical level, this is maybe even more
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remarkable than Noah being saved in the ark.
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Without that daily miracle, the whole nation would have died of
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starvation and thirst in a few weeks.
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And it wasn't just food and water, was it?
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No, it was complete provision. Their food was rained down from
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heaven, water came from a rock. Their clothes and their shoes
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didn't wear out for 40 years. Edwards really stresses that
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this was God upholding his church by a continual miracle,
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keeping alive the very people in whom was the blessing, the great
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Redeemer of the world. This sustained provision just
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confirms that the normal course of nature was being governed for
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the sole purpose of protecting the line through which Christ
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would come. So as the people traveled.
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The revelation itself got more and more intense during this
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time. The prophecies about the
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Redeemer became clearer, moving away from, you know, veiled
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language toward more specific details.
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You can see a clear timeline of increasing light.
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Balaam's prophecy, for instance, spoke of Christ as a star out of
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Jacob and a scepter out of Israel.
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This was much plainer than the original promise to Abraham,
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especially because it defined Christ's kingly office.
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But the. Prophecy from Moses and
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Deuteronomy was even. Clearer, right it?
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Focused on Christ's role as a prophet?
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Yes, that was a pivotal shift. All the earlier prophecies, the
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sea, the star used figurative language, but this one was
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delivered without a veil. It revealed Christ's mediatorial
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office, the need for a person to stand between sinful people and
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a holy God. After seeing the terrifying
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display at Sinai, the people knew they couldn't deal directly
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with the consuming fire. They needed that specific kind
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of go between and Christ. Would be a prophet like Moses.
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It's a huge claim. What were the things about Moses
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that Christ would fulfill? Well, Moses was more than just a
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speaker. He was the head, the leader, the
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Redeemer, the intercessor, and even a kind of king in the
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congregation. Christ would fully embody all of
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those roles, which made this prophecy from Moses the fullest
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and plainest description of the Redeemer given up to that point
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in history. Moses also gave a really
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striking prophecy that looked way beyond Israel for telling
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the future calling of the Gentiles.
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That's in Deuteronomy 32A. Remarkable bit of foreshadowing.
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God says that because Israel provoked him with false gods, he
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would provoke them by casting them off and taking in others
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who had not been his people. A foolish nation.
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Paul later uses this very text to confirm that the rejection of
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the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles was planned by God all
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along. It shows the universal scope of
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the plan, even while God was focusing on this one small
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nation. The 10th Act of Providence was
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more of a spiritual movement, the pouring out of the spirit on
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the younger generation in the wilderness, turning them into a
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new sanctified people. Right.
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And to see this, you have to contrast the two generations.
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The older generation, the ones who were 20 and up when they
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left Egypt, were obstinate, always complaining, and still
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tainted with Egyptian idolatry. They fell under judgement and
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died in the wilderness. But the younger generation, the
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ones under 20, they are the ones who entered Canaan and they went
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through a complete spiritual change.
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They became a people known for their holiness.
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Jeremiah speaks very highly of them, mentioning the kindness of
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thy youth. Even though they faced huge
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trials in the wilderness, they didn't fall into the same
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pattern of murmuring and idolatry as their fathers.
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So what was the mechanism God used to bring about that change?
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He used the very history they were living through.
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He used the awful judgments on their fathers, the difficult
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journey, and the preaching of Moses to awaken, convince and
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humble them. God poured out His Spirit
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alongside these events, and many were savingly converted.
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So this spiritual cleansing was essential for the church to
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actually function. Once they settled in the land,
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it secured the orderly establishment of the Israelite
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church. The spiritual flourishing led to
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them renewing the covenant, which prepared them to receive
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the great mercy of entering the land.
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It's a bit like the outpouring of the Spirit that established
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the Christian Church in the Apostles Day.
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A new structure needs a new heart, and the 11th point
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follows. Right after that revival.
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God bringing the people into Canaan, settling them in the
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land that was the main physical type of heaven and the central
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type Here is the leader Joshua, whose Hebrew name Yehoshua is
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the same name as Jesus. Joshua was an eminent type of
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Christ, foreshadowing that Christ would be the one to lead
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us into the true heavenly rest. The physical conquest itself was
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a type of Christ conquering the devil, so God gave them
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possession of that land by conquering the giants and the
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other inhabitants. And the conquest itself was full
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of these miraculous events signaling the nature of Christ's
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future work. Just look at the examples.
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The Jordan River splits the walls of Jericho fall at the
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sound of trumpets, which is a type of the Gospel sound,
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bringing down strongholds and the most startling one, the sun
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and moon standing still at the prayer of the typical Jesus.
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That amazing event affirmed a huge theological point that the
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whole course of nature is completely subservient to the
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work of redemption. Christ controls every physical
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law, every celestial body, and makes all things work for the
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good of His redeemed people. So once the land was secured,
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the next logical step was setting up the stated central
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worship system. A lot of the ceremonial laws
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from Sinai were related to the land itself, the feasts, the
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tithes, and they could only be fully observed once the people
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were settled. So the structure of the law
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needed the physical place to actually work.
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Exactly. The Tabernacle, the portable
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sanctuary, was finally set up at Shiloh.
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This centralization allowed for the full observation of the
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feasts and sacrifices. The entire ecclesiastical
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system, which was designed to foreshadow Christ's priestly
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office, became fully operational.
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This is a critical step, shifting the focus from travel
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to a centralized communion with God.
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But even after they were settled, they were surrounded by
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enemies. This brings us to the next
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miraculous act, God preserving the nation when all the men had
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to go up to the ark 3 * a year, leaving their towns basically
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undefended. This was a subtle but a
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continuous miracle that went on for generations.
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The Israelites were surrounded by hostile nations who were
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always looking for a chance to attack them, and three times a
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year the land was left completely exposed, with just
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the women and children and the infirm left in the cities.
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You would think that would be the perfect time for an enemy to
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invade, a guaranteed win, and yet in all their history we
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never read of any enemy taking advantage of that vulnerability.
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This was a sovereign influence of God on the hearts of their
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enemies, and it lines up with His promise and exodus.
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Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shut go up to
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appear before the Lord. This sustained preservation was
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a miracle of psychological control, and it was necessary to
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keep God's great design of redemption moving forward.
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Despite that preservation, the era of the Judges was just
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filled with these heartbreaking cycles of apostasy.
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The 14th and 15 points cover how God intervened to keep the
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church line from being extinguished, right.
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That cycle of apostasy shows just how prone people are to
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forsake the true God. The land just seemed to be
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constantly overrun with idolatry.
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However, Edwards notes that God never suffered his true worship
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to be totally rooted out. The essentials, the ark, the
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written law, the priesthood were always preserved, even if they
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were barely functioning. When religion seemed almost
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gone, God would grant a revival, raising up an Angel or a leader
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to start a reformation. And even when they were
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conquered by their enemies, the Philistines, the Midianites, the
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nation itself was kept from being completely destroyed.
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The very survival of the nation that held the church was a
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wonder. They were constantly being
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brought under the dominion of their enemies.
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But whenever the nation got to the very brink of ruin, God
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would raise up a deliverer. This fulfilled the promise in
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Deuteronomy 32 that the Lord will judge his people when he
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sees that their power is gone. And these deliverers, people
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like Barack, Gideon, Samson, they were temporary saviors
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acting as types of Christ. They were physical
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demonstrations of the principle of rescue.
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They were raised up by God to save Israel when Israel couldn't
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save itself. Samson especially has a lot of
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clear typological details that prefigure Christ's death and
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victory, like dying with his enemies in order to defeat them.
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The 16th act of Providence. It's about Christ's repeated pre
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incarnation appearances where he often appeared in the form of
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the nature he would one day assume.
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That's an incredible statement about his eternal plan.
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It's a credible piece of evidence for the continuity of
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the plan. He appeared over and over.
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For example, he appeared to Moses when Moses asked to see
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his glory, and the text says Moses beheld the similitude of
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the Lord. That image Moses saw was almost
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certainly a glorious human form pointing to his future glorified
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human nature. And he also appeared to the 70
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elders and to Joshua. Yes, in Exodus 24, the elders
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saw the God of Israel, and he's described in human terms.
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And he appeared to Joshua as the captain of the host of the Lord,
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preparing him for the conquest of Canaan.
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Seeing the commander of the redeemed army gave Joshua the
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authority and confidence he needed.
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But the appearance to Manoa, Samson's father, seems to pack
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the most complicated typology into one event.
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That event in Judges 13, connects his future incarnation
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and his sacrificial death. So clearly Christ appeared to
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Manoa in a human form, which points to the incarnation.
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But then he connected that appearance directly with a burnt
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offering. He ascended up in the flame of
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the sacrifice. This was a representation that
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He himself was the great sacrifice that had to be offered
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up in the fire of God's wrath, just like that animal was.
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Christ kept appearing in this pre incarnation human form
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because He was already carrying on the very same work He would
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one day fully accomplish. And this brings us to the final
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great step in this period which happened around the time of
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Samuel. The beginning of a constant
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succession of prophets and the creation of schools to train
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them. Before Samuel, prophecy was just
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occasional. The Bible even says that in
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those days the word of the Lord was precious.
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There was no open vision. The light of revelation was
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scarce. But Samuel changed all that.
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He established a constant order of men that would continue with
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very little interruption all the way until Malachi.
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The New Testament even points to Samuel as the start of this
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official succession. So why after all?
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These centuries of types and the written law, was it necessary to
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create a physical institution for this?
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Because God intended this succession to last for ages,
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Samuel established the first schools of the prophets.
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And these weren't just Bible studies.
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They were schools where young men were trained under a master
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like Samuel, or later Elijah and Elijah in the intense study of
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divine things and in holiness to fit them for the office, as God
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would call them. They were known as the sons of
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the prophets, and we see them operating as these organized
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communities in places like Bethel and Jericho.
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There's even that story where the schools grew so large they
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needed to build bigger housing. This is a serious growing
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institution in Israel. It was a divine institution
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designed specifically to prepare the way for the Messiah.
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The central essential business of this entire line of prophets
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was to for show Christ and the glorious redemption he was to
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accomplish, not just in general terms, but in more and more
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detail. So their main academic and
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spiritual work was basically Christological research.
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That's a perfect way to put it. The prophets in these schools
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were constantly inquiring and searching diligently about the
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salvation that was to come, testifying beforehand of the
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sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
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As Peter says, they became the steady source of light for the
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Old Covenant Church, maintaining doctrinal purity and the
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expectation of the Messiah. And this succession confirms
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what the New Testament says about the Church being built on
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the foundation of the prophets and apostles.
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This is the first time in history God appointed A
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continuous standing. Order of men whose.
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Specific job was to point to the coming Redeemer and detail his
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work. It's standardized hope itself,
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so we've just gone through a concentrated look at 17
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deliberate, connected acts of divine Providence that span half
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a. Millennium from the Miracle.
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Of the Exodus, all the way to the systematic training of
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prophets under Samuel, every single event was oriented toward
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one objective, the vividable manifestation of the Redeemer
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and the key take away for you, the listener.
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Is just how systematic. God's rule is.
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Even during those. Chaotic times Like the era of
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the Judges, nothing in Israel's history was random.
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Every event either established the moral need for Christ by
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proving human failure or provided a specific, tangible
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picture of His saving work. The whole history of Israel was
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a coherent, living sermon pointing forward to the Savior's
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arrival. And if we connect that
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meticulous history to the bigger picture, the sheer diligence
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with which God prepared the ground for 1500 years before the
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Messiah came offers great assurance about his sovereignty.
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He didn't leave the history of his people to chance or to human
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wisdom. His hand was active in
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everything from the macro level separation of nations down to
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the micro level provision of clothes that didn't wear out.
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And here's a final thought. Think about the shortening of
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life alongside the establishment of the written word.
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How does the reality of a finite, fleeting existence
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compel us to engage with the steady, constant, unchangeable
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rule of Scripture that was given at that exact historical moment?
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That relationship between our temporal fragility and the
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stability of the text shows God's structuring both time and
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truth to maximize humanity's welcome of his gospel.
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That systematic preparation is something well worth reflecting
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on until our next deep dive.