The Exodus—The Hidden Storyline for the Apocalypse, Part 3

This is the final article in this series

Introduction

This is part three in the series entitled, The Exodus—The Hidden Storyline for the Apocalypse.  The key passage presenting my theory of the case for the relevance of the story of the Exodus when interpreting the book of Revelation is 1 Corinthians 10:1-11:

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same
spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. ⁵ But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. ⁶ Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. ⁷ And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” ⁸ Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; ⁹ nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; ¹⁰ nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Corinthians 10:1-11).

In this passage, Paul mentioned that certain events (from the Exodus story) were written as examples for those “upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”  1 Corinthians 10:1-11 mentions a number of events from Israel’s past history, including the splitting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), the incident of the golden calf (Exodus 32), the incident of Baal Peor (Numbers 25), and the complaints about those who died during Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16).  It is plain to see that all these events occurred during Israel’s exodus from Egypt and travels towards the Promised Land.  In a nutshell, Paul has stated that the events of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings were written as examples for those “upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”  And who are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come?  He is specifically speaking of those who will be here on planet Earth during the events recorded in the book of Revelation when Yeshua returns!  In other words, the last generation, those upon whom the ends of the ages have come, will need guidance, wisdom, examples and instruction in order to remain faithful and prevail; and that guidance, wisdom, and instruction is to be found specifically in the stories concerning Israel’s exodus from Egypt and travels to the Promised Land. 

This is why I am taking time to show the abundance of connections between the Exodus and the book of Revelation.  I want you to see how intimately connected these two stories are so that you will believe what Paul is laboring to teach us.  In order to understand the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of the book of Revelation, we simply need to go to one of the book of Revelation’s primary reference sources—the Exodus story!  This is why it is so important to study the Torah and to study it thematically.  By making the proper thematic connections, we begin to see Adonai’s divine reference sources in the Bible.  We can quote from books written by men all day long, but what’s most important is that we determine Adonai’s Holy Spirit inspired references so we can know how He wants us to interpret a passage.

With that in mind, this is the third and last article chronicling these connections.  The first two articles, The Exodus—The Hidden Storyline for the Apocalypse, Part 1 and The Exodus—The Hidden Storyline for the Apocalypse, Part 2, elucidated connections between the story of the Exodus and Revelation chapters 1-8 and 9-16, respectively.  I found 124 connections in those first two articles.  By the way, I’m not so naïve as to think that I’ve found ALL connections between the Exodus and the book of Revelation!  This is just an initial deep dive into the subject.  This final installment pertains to Revelation chapters 17-22.  These connections are found below as connections 125-175.  If you have not read the first two articles, I suggest you click on the links above and read them first.  The first two articles have introductions (like this article) that examine important aspects of this topic.

Hopefully, you have begun to get a taste for how connected the story of the Exodus is to the book of Revelation.  Please remember the goal understanding these things!  The point is that the Who, What, When, Where, How and Why of the story of the Exodus provides the foundation for the Who, What, When, Where, How and Why of the story told in the book of Revelation.  If we step back and take the broadest bird’s-eye view of the story of the Exodus, we can boil it down to the following two major themes:

• Adonai came to rescue His chosen people.

• Adonai executed judgment upon those who were not His people.

These two major themes of rescue and judgment are found elsewhere also.  For example, we find these two themes in the story of Noah’s flood!  This story is about how Adonai rescued Noah from the impending flood, while destroying those who had rejected His ways.  We see the same two themes when we study the story of Lot’s deliverance from Sodom and Gomorrah.  Adonai rescued Lot, but then rained down destruction upon the two evil cities.

As I’m sure you’re well aware of, the story of Noah’s flood and Lot’s deliverance from Sodom and Gomorrah are the two stories most often referred to by Yeshua and the apostles when speaking of the events that will occur in the book of Revelation! 

³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  (Matthew 24:37-39)

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷ and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— ⁹ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.  (II Peter 2:4-9)

⁵ But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.  (Jude 5-7)

Is that a coincidence?  Of course not.  As far as the Biblical text is concerned, the reason those two stories are in the Bible is specifically because Adonai wants the last generation to know what to expect when Yeshua returns!  In other words, those two stories are prophecies of events pertaining to Yeshua’s second advent.  By the way, we learned that lesson during the series of articles I wrote concerning the Pattern of Judgments. 

Now I’d like to connect the two foundational themes above to events in the book of Exodus.  Take a look at those two themes again.  Can you see how they are thematically connected to the events in the Exodus?  They fit perfectly well, do they not?  During the Exodus, Adonai came to rescue a particular chosen people called Israel, and at the same time he executed judgment upon the nation of Egypt!  Sounds similar to Lot’s deliverance from Sodom and Gomorrah, eh?  At this point I’d like to add another aspect to our foundational themes as follows:

• Adonai came to rescue His people from their enemy and bring them to Himself.

• Adonai executed judgment upon the nation that had oppressed His people.

As you can see, we have remained true to the first two themes taught to us by Noah’s flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, while expanding them to include other aspects that apply specifically to the nation of Israel.  Clearly, the story of the Exodus is inextricably linked to the story of Noah’s flood and the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah!  In other words, the story of the Exodus of Israel is also a prophecy of how events will unfold just before the revelation of Yeshua.  Actually, these two themes were explicitly introduced to us in Genesis 15, the covenant between the pieces.

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions (Genesis 15:12-14).

Thus, we have a complete picture.  The story of the Exodus is a prophecy of how Adonai will come to rescue His people from the hands of their enemies.  It is one of many other stories in the Tanakh which will have their ultimate fulfillment in the events that unfold in the book of Revelation.  The beginning of this article referenced Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians, informing them that the events of the Exodus were prophetic foreshadows of events that will befall us at the end of the age.  Therefore, we will do well to learn the lessons of the Exodus, as they will be important to us as the days approach for the return of our Messiah Yeshua.

Finally, throughout these three articles you may have noticed many, many references to Deuteronomy 32.  The reason is because Deuteronomy 32 is the book of Revelation for the Torah!  In other words, if you want to get a glimpse of the book of Revelation from the perspective of the Torah, then read Deuteronomy 32.  If you’d like to take a deep dive into how Deuteronomy chapter 32 is the book of Revelation of the Torah, then please study my Torah lesson on the Torah portion known as Ha’azinu (Give Ear!).