What Does Moses Say About Christ? Jesus Revealed in the OT
Christ Revealed in Moses
Luke 24 is one of the most amazing chapters in Scripture. It records the resurrected Jesus giving instruction to His followers prior to His ascension to heaven. It records the fact that Jesus instructed them to testify to the things concerning Himself that were recorded in Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. However, the actual content of Christ’s teaching about the testimony of Scripture is not recorded by Luke. While we know that the Old Testament Scriptures testify of Christ, if we want to know the specifics, we’ll have to do our own study.
I used to be a little frustrated that we didn’t get the synopsis of the content that Jesus explained. I wanted to know every detail that Jesus revealed on that day. I still do. However, I’m thankful now for the fruit in my own life by God not inspiring Luke to record the full content so that I’d have to do the study on my own and with other believers in my life.
I’ve spent countless hours searching the Scriptures in personal study on this topic alone. I’ve preached more than two hundred sermons on Christ in the Old Testament, totaling more than a hundred hours of teaching. I’ve benefitted from innumerable conversations on the topic with fellow believers, too. It’s so important. I look forward to digging even deeper and studying this topic even more because I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface at this point.
The purpose of this post isn’t to present the final word on the subject. It is, however, an attempt to share some of the fruit of this study so others can likewise benefit and be encouraged to go even further. Below, we will take a more in-depth look specifically at what Moses revealed about the Christ. We’ve got a free video series linked at the bottom of this page on this same topic. I pray that all of this will be a great encouragement and edification to you in your walk with Christ.
The Framework of Christ in the Old Testament
There are countless ways to attempt to tackle this subject. While Luke didn’t record the full content of Jesus’s teaching on the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures about the Christ, he did record the outline that Jesus provided.
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:44–48)
Witnesses of these things. What things?
That the Christ would suffer;
That the Christ would rise from the dead;
That the Christ would enter into His glory; and
That repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in the name of the Christ to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.
These things that Christ listed are further broken up into three groups:
Moses
The Prophets
The Psalms.
Sticking to this general framework will help both to keep our study focused and fruitful. The only other caveat in my own approach is the desire to give special emphasis on the inspired teaching of the New Testament on the revelation of Jesus Christ from the foundation of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Put another way, I am not all that interested in those who may try to shoehorn Jesus into every passage in the Old Testament. I am, however, very interested in how the New Testament authors cite and use passages from the Hebrew Bible when they proclaim Christ.
In this post, we will only be dealing with the first of these groups: the testimony of Moses.
Christ in Moses
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy
So, what does Moses say about the Christ? God inspired Moses to record prophecies of the Christ that foretold all of the four main categories Jesus listed in Luke 24. The books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) were all written roughly 1,400 years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Passages in these five books bear witness to the facts that the Christ would suffer, that the Christ would rise from the dead, that the Christ would enter into His glory, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations. These fulfilled prophecies in the life and ministry of Jesus give confidence in the sure future fulfillment of all the remaining prophecies in Scripture which foretell the return of the Christ in glory to gather His people to Himself and to crush His adversaries under His feet.
Let’s take a brief look at the prophecies by category. Some additional resources will be provided at the end of this article for those who want to spend even more time digging into these weighty matters. You’ll find those links at the bottom of this page.
1. The Christ Would Suffer
The First Gospel Proclamation
Genesis 3:15
Genesis 3:15 is an oft-discussed passage and it sometimes referred to as the protoevangelium (or protoevangelion). This name simply means that this is the first (proto) gospel proclamation (evangelium). This passage bears witness to the truth that the Christ would suffer and die.
“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
(Genesis 3:15)
Many commentators have taken pains to explain that the battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman is one of victory. This interpretation has a long history. It has been very influential. However, it is still a bit skewed.
The original hearers were familiar with the hostility between venomous serpents and human beings. From this perspective, this passage reads differently. They would not see a victorious encounter being described. Instead, they would see a description of a struggle unto death. For both parties involved.
A venomous serpent striking the heel of a person crushing its head with their foot would most naturally result in the destruction of both. A fatal wound is depicted on both sides.
This passage prophesies the coming purpose of the Messiah. He would come to lay down His own life to put the enmity of the curse to death.
While many prophecies of the Messiah emphasize His victorious ministry and the establishment of the kingdom of God. The very first gospel proclamation declares that the Messiah was coming to suffer and die.
Yes, Christ would rise from the dead. This important truth was likewise prophesied in the Scriptures. However, to rise and enter into His glory, the Messiah first needed to suffer. To die.
There is a reason that Jesus started here with the confused disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of His resurrection. Jesus said, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26).
Yes. It was necessary. It was necessary to fulfill the Scriptures. Among these Scriptures is Genesis 3:15.
There is an additional point of interest in this prophecy. This Scripture also foretells the Virgin Birth.
This text prophetically declares a biological impossibility. It is fulfilled in the virgin birth of the Messiah.
Throughout Scripture the seed is a byproduct of male biology, not female. Some translations bypass this oddity with the non-literal translation offspring (see, e.g., ESV, NET, NIV, NLT, etc.).
The terminology of the seed will be important for other passages, too. We will see that the promised seed, the Messiah, will come through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David. However, Genesis 3:15 declares boldly that the Messiah will come miraculously through a virgin birth by being the seed of the woman, not the man.
The protoevangelium declares that the decisive battle will be fought by the seed of the woman. This seed is unique. Every other human being is rightly described as the seed of a man. The Christ is rightly described as the seed of the woman.
There are more widely recognized prophecies regarding the virgin birth of the Messiah. However, we'd be missing an important nuance of this passage if we failed to note that the prophesied seed would be miraculously born of a woman. An additional prophetic type passage for the virgin birth is found in Genesis 17:21. The birth of Isaac through the dead womb of his mother Sarah foreshadows the miraculous nature of the Messiah's birth through the virgin womb of Mary. Both are impossible without miraculous intervention by God. Both demonstrate God's ability to do all He has promised. Both show that faith in God is well-placed. Because God is faithful.
The Passover & Exodus
Shadow of the Substance to Come
The gospel declares that a Day of Judgment is coming. All who take refuge in Christ will be saved from judgment. The message of Christianity is a declaration of what God has provided for judgment to pass over guilty sinners. Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7). All who hope to be saved from the penalty for their own sin must have the blood of Christ deliver them from judgment.
The firstborn being killed in Egypt, and the ongoing redemption of all the firstborn in the sons of Israel, pointed to the only begotten Son of God who would lay down His own life willingly as the Lamb of God.
A very specific prophecy must be noted. The lamb to be slain on the first Passover was not to have any bone broken (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12). This was perfectly fulfilled in the suffering of Christ on the cross.
This prophetic declaration was written 1400 years before the birth and crucifixion of Jesus. It was dramatically fulfilled when Jesus was the only man of the three crucified that day whose legs were not broken.
So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN.” (John 19:32–36)
God's purpose in the judgments leading up to the Passover and exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt were to point to the salvation that was to be perfectly achieved in and through Christ. These events were to be remembered and celebrated each year to continually point to the coming Messiah.
Now that Christ has come, and has been sacrificed, we must heed the call to repent and trust in Him alone. There is salvation found in no one else. No other means to escape the coming judgment will suffice.
We should celebrate our salvation in Christ. We should also heed the Apostle's instruction to those who have taken refuge in Christ:
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7–8)
God used the original Passover to bring His people out of Egypt. So they could be a holy people unto Him. Likewise, Christians are called to be a holy people unto God in Christ. The language of cleaning out the old leaven is a reference to ridding ourselves of the old, sinful way of life from which we were redeemed. The blessing of salvation is not just an escaping of judgment but a call to a new life — a celebration of sincerity and truth.
The new life for those hidden in Christ will include a continual conforming of the individual more and more into the image and likeness of Christ.
The Lord’s Appointed Times - God’s Prophetic Calendar
Leviticus 23
The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were to be kept perpetually by the children of Israel. These pointed prophetically to the death and burial of the Messiah. The Apostle Paul testified that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Apostle John also made it clear that Christ died while the Passover lambs were being slaughtered (John 19:14). Christ was then buried on the beginning of Unleavened Bread (John 19:41–42).
The remaining Appointed Times speak to other aspects of Christ’s ministry. They are discussed below in the section about Christ entering His glory.
Here is a link to an article on our partner ministry site that discusses the Lord’s Appointed Times in greater detail.
The Bronze Serpent
Numbers 21
Jesus Himself used the imagery of Numbers 21 to declare the manner of death He would die in order to make our salvation possible.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. (John 3:14–15)
Our salvation is not found in a symbol but in a Person. That Person, Jesus of Nazareth, came to suffer and die for His people before rising again and entering into His glory.
2. The Christ Would Rise From The Dead
Abraham & Isaac
Genesis 22:14
That the Christ would suffer and die, only to rise again was proclaimed in type by the narrative of Abraham and Isaac. The author of Hebrews explains:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. (Hebrews 11:17–19)
In Genesis 22, we see Abraham’s faith that God would provide. God provided. However, Abraham expected a lamb and received a ram. The expectation of God's provision of a lamb is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist immediately recognized this when he saw Jesus:
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
God provided for Abraham and Isaac. This provision served as an example more than 1600 years before Jesus was born, crucified, and risen from the dead. God chose this emotionally charged and difficult test to exemplify the seriousness of sin and the heaviness of the price that would be paid to redeem a people to Himself. That would be accomplished only by the death of God’s beloved Son.
Those who use this passage of Scripture to claim that God was cruel in using such a drastic test in the life of Abraham and Isaac fail to understand that this passage really emphasizes the love of a God. Although God stopped the hand of Abraham and ensured Isaac's safety, He was willing to offer His own beloved Son for the salvation of His enemies.
Genesis 3:15 proclaimed that the victory would come through the suffering and death of the promised seed. Genesis 22 proclaimed that the promised seed would be received back from death as a type of the resurrection of Christ.
The Prophetic Calendar Revisited
Leviticus 23
Just as Christ’s death and burial corresponded to the Lord’s Appointed Times described in Leviticus 23, so also does His resurrection from the dead. The first pilgrimage festival concluded with the celebration of First Fruits. Paul used this terminology to describe Christ’s resurrection.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:20–24, underline added)
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection during His incarnation fulfilled the first of three pilgrimage festivals outlined in God’s prophetic calendar detailed in Leviticus 23.
3. The Christ Would Enter His Glory
Melchizedek
Genesis 14:18
Melchizedek is an intriguing and often controversial figure. The author of Hebrews appeals to this passage (along with the information provided by David in Psalm 110) to illustrate that the Christ would enter His glory.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. (Hebrews 7:1–3)
Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of this priestly king in the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus is the King of Peace and the King of Righteousness. Forever.
The appearance of Melchizedek in the narrative of Genesis without any introduction or genealogy is taken by the author of Hebrews to be a type, fulfilled in Christ, of the perpetuity of the order of Melchizedek.
Unlike the order of Aaron, Jesus’ role as both priest and king will remain forever and will not pass away or ever be replaced.
As Jesus entered His glory, He entered as both High Priest and King forever. It is in this glorious role that Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father on high, making intercession for His people, and awaiting His return after all His adversaries are placed under His feet.
The Promised Seed
Genesis 49:8–12
A promised seed has been declared from the beginning of Genesis. The blessing bestowed upon Judah is a blessing that will remain until He comes to whom it belongs. The nations will obey Him. This is fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus. The fulfillment of this prophecy from the first book of the Bible is made explicit in the final book of Scripture.
and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:5)
The Appointed Times of the LORD
Leviticus 23
The second pilgrimage feast is called the Harvest of First Fruits or the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it is called Pentecost.
‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.’ (Leviticus 23:15–16, underline added)
Pentecost literally means fifty. This feast was the reason Jews from all throughout the Roman Empire had assembled in Jerusalem and God poured out the Holy Spirit on this day. You can read all about this dramatic fulfillment in Acts 2. God inaugurated the beginning of the church in accordance with His appointed times.
The pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is in keeping with God's eternal purpose in Christ to reconcile a people to Himself from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people. Peter described the significance of this event as proof that the Christ had arrived in His glory and taken His seat.
This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. (Acts 2:32–33)
The final pilgrimage festival, and corresponding three appointed times, have not yet been fulfilled. We must be careful any time we attempt to look into the future with certainty. However, just as Paul used the language of the appointed times from the Law in describing Christ's incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection, he likewise uses the language of the final appointed times to look forward to Christ's return.
4. Repentance For Forgiveness of Sins Preached in His Name
Evidenced in the Flood
Genesis 7
The historical flood narrative is used by New Testament authors and presents an allegorical example of the truth that Jesus is the Ark of salvation for all believe. Just as the Ark was the vessel of salvation for the eight souls on board, along with the animals, so too is Jesus able to save all who trust in Him to be saved from the wrath that is to come as a result of our own sin.
Jesus Himself appealed to this imagery in Luke 17:26–27 and Matthew 24:37–39. He instructed people to think about future judgment in light of the past judgment of God upon His creation.
The Apostle Peter likewise appealed to this imagery in his epistles. In 1 Peter 3:18–22 Peter makes some statements that are often twisted and abused. His teaching is easy to misunderstand if we remove it from its context.
Peter states that Christ died so that He could bring us safely to God. The imagery of the Ark bringing Noah and his family safely through the waters of judgment are appealed to. Peter says that salvation in Christ is corresponding to the salvation Noah experienced. The correspondence is in baptism.
That word makes most people immediately think of the ordinance of water baptism. But baptism is a transliteration of a Greek word, βάπτισμα (baptisma), which literally means “to dip or immerse in.” If Peter meant the symbolic act of water baptism, then his clarification statement “not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience” would be unnecessary.
Salvation for Noah and his family came by being completely immersed, or hidden, within the Ark. Corresponding to that, when a person appeals to God through repentance and faith in the Messiah, they are immersed or hidden within Christ. Those who are hidden in Christ then participate in His perfect righteousness and share in His death, resurrection, and exaltation as the gift of God. (You may enjoy our related article: Why Was Jesus Baptized For Repentance?)
A Direct Prophecy
Genesis 12:3
Moses records direct prophecy about this truth, too.
And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Genesis 12:3)
The Apostle Peter makes it clear that this blessing is particularly related to the repentance of all nations:
“It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” (Acts 3:25–26)
Peter makes four things clear in his full proclamation (Acts 3:12–26).
The Scriptures have uniformly testified that the Christ would come to fulfill the promise of God to redeem a people to Himself from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people (Acts 3:18–24);
This New Covenant blessing flows from the original covenant promise God made to Abraham (Acts 3:25);
This blessing is first to the Jew, then to the Gentile (Acts 3:26); and,
The blessing is to offer them salvation in Christ if they will repent of their wicked ways and trust in the Messiah.
The New Covenant is built on promises that predate the Mosaic covenant. The New Covenant is not new in the sense that it is recent. It is new in the sense that it is the fullness and substance of God's plan of redemption from the very beginning.
The New is not the abolishment of the Old. It is the fulfillment of it.
God chose Abram to build a nation for Himself. God never intended to stop there. Instead, it was through this nation that God would bring the Messiah. It would be in the Messiah that all nations could find salvation. The Messiah would bring them an offer of reconciliation to God and freedom from the curse.
God demonstrated in history that Jesus of Nazareth is the appointed Christ. The process of this blessing spreading to all nations is the current mission and ministry of the church. It is carried out in the name and authority of the One who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18–20).
The Great Commission is carried out in obedience to Christ. It is also carried out in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham approximately 2,000 years before the birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus.
As the church proclaims the gospel, it does so in accordance with God’s proclamation of salvation by His grace through faith in the Messiah declared in Genesis 12:3.
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” (Galatians 3:8)
The Apostle Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, cited Genesis 12:3. He knew it as the foundation for the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith.
The Foundation of the Promised New Covenant
Genesis 15:5–6
The New Covenant promises are built on God’s fulfillment of His promises to Abraham.
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:5–6)
The Apostle Paul relied upon the declarations of Genesis 12:3 and this one in Genesis 15:5–6 to substantiate the foundation of salvation being by the grace of God through faith in Christ. He explicitly tied these promises together in Galatians 3:6–9. Paul is also very careful to make explicit that faith in anything is not the same as faith in Christ. Salvation is preached in the name of Christ, not in the name of generic faith.
In Galatians 3:16–17, the Apostle Paul argues based on the significance of the promise being in the singular seed. It is common for modern English translations to render the singular seed that Paul refers to in passages like Genesis 12:7, 13:15, 15:5, 17:19 and so on as a collective singular (which read exactly like a plural).
I won’t fault any translators for using the collective singular in their translations. Even so, we must pay careful attention to the Apostle's inspired interpretation.
God's covenantal promise of salvation by His grace through faith is fulfilled in the promised seed. The seed (singular) is Christ. Therefore, faith alone is not enough. You will not be saved as a product of believing in anything. Saving faith must be put in Christ.
Abraham believed God's declaration about the promised seed. His faith in God’s promise is foundational for the New Covenant doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.
Salvation has always been by the grace of God through faith in His Christ. God established this starting with Abraham.
When we proclaim the gospel, we must testify that salvation is found in Christ alone. The Apostle Peter wasn't shy about this: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The foundation for this proclamation did not start at the Reformation. It didn't even start at Pentecost. It started all the way back with Abraham. When we testify to these truths we are standing in the unbroken testimony of God from the very beginning. This truth will endure until Christ returns.
The promise is in the singular seed. All who repent and believe the gospel, putting their faith in Jesus, are given the right to become children of God and sealed in Christ. In Christ we see the fulfillment of the collective singular. Jesus is the promised seed. In Him are found all the blessings of God.
The Purpose of Salvation According to God
Exodus 19
God revealed through Moses the purpose of salvation.
“‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” (Exodus 19:5–6)
The Apostles John, Paul, and Peter all used this same terminology when speaking of the New Covenant, too.
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father— to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5–6, underline added)
Paul speaks of God's purpose of redemption in Christ, opening the door to all peoples.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:11–14, underline added)
Paul prayed with the reality that believers are God's possession, His inheritance. Paul had on his mind what God gets out of our salvation. We belong to God. He redeems us so we will be His. To the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation— having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13–14, underline added)
Peter likewise writes to the Gentile churches Paul had planted using this terminology. He urges the redeemed to not only know God, and be known by Him, but to proclaim the excellencies of God in the world.
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. (1 Peter 2:9–10, underline added)
We have been redeemed for a purpose. That purpose is to be a kingdom of priests to our God. This means that we are called to live in His holy presence. To draw near to Him. We belong to God because He has redeemed us with the blood of our Savior. He belongs to us because He has freely given Himself to us.
This is the direction and purpose of salvation. It will finally be accomplished in the end when the redeemed are gathered in from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people and the enemies of God are cast into the Lake of Fire.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3–4)
While we wait for God to accomplish His purposes, let us draw near to Him through Christ. Let us enjoy the presence of God on a daily basis. Let us live as His holy people, proclaiming His excellence and glory for calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
For Further Study
If you’re interested in even more discussion of these passages and more, check out our YouTube playlists (below) with videos about Christ revealed in Moses and these related articles both here on The Exalted Christ and over at our sister ministry page.