The book of Exodus is a fascinating historical account of how God establishes His people as a nation. Valerius Herberger also shows how it can also be read devotionally, with Jesus at the center of all of Scripture. In The Great Works of God: The Mysteries of Christ in the Book of Exodus, this 17th-century Lutheran pastor teaches the faith with a certain timelessness, using a sacramental lens to reveal Christ in the Old Testament. Herberger draws the reader deeper into the text, providing an abundance of wisdom, comfort, and insight for the Church of today.
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“We know that there is no great undertaking in the Old Testament in which our Lord Jesus is not involved. Therefore He was also at work here, protecting His servant Moses on the water just as He preserved His disciples (Matt. 14:26). Yea, every notable history in the Old Testament earnestly anticipates the great history of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Thus, our blessed forefathers also compared this wondrous history of Moses with the account of Jesus Christ’s childhood, explaining one by way of the other.
“Moses, the ‘drawer and bringer out’ of the Israelite people, lay in a humble, simple ark of bulrushes. Jesus, the far greater Drawer and Bringer Out of mankind, who would draw the evil foe out of his armor, overthrow him, and bring us out of his power, also lay in a humble little manger (Luke 2:12). In both cases the beginning was poor, but the ending majestic. Miriam carried Moses, the redeemer of the Israelites. Mary (which is the very same name as Miriam) carried the Redeemer of the World, Jesus Christ. Miriam brought the infant to the king of Egypt’s daughter and arranged for him to be cared for by her. Mary brought the infant Jesus to the same land in which Moses was raised long before. ” (p. 24-25)
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“As the tabernacle was enclosed by ten curtains, the Church always carries the ten curtains of the holy Ten Commandments that she may better recognize her sins, and accordingly find hope in the ten curtains of Jesus Christ’s comforting benefits enumerated in the Second Article of the Creed. The five wounds of Jesus Christ must always be fixed to the five books of Moses. Law and Gospel must both be preached, that man may know how to live a Christian life and die a blessed death. We should and must hear Moses and the Prophets together (Luke 16:29–31).” (p. 450)