From my student days, I realized that Exodus was one of the most important (and perhaps most neglected) books in the Bible. After all, its message was at the heart of Christ’s redeeming work. For on the Mount of Transfiguration, his conversation with Moses and Elijah was about ‘his exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’. In the shadow of Sinai, Moses’ face had shone but now both he and Elijah ‘appeared in glory’ (Luke 9:30–31). The Tent of Meeting and its furnishings were ‘copies of heavenly things’ (Heb. 8:5; 9:23), while the regalia of the high priest accurately expounds the ascended Lord’s intercession for his people. Furthermore, Exodus is a ‘picture book’, illustrating the whole ordo salutis— the ‘order of salvation’. And at its heart are the terms of God’s eternal covenant with his constantly recalcitrant people. How can we ignore this abundant provision of ‘the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock’ (Psa. 81:16)?
Brought up in Arbroath in Scotland, David C. Searle studied at St Andrews University, graduating with an MA in English in 1959. He then studied at London Bible College before receiving a call to a church in Ewhurst, Surrey (1961–64). In 1964, he returned to Scotland where he ministered for ten years in Newhills Parish Church, Aberdeenshire (1965–75). He then ministered in Larbert Parish Church (1975–85), until called to Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland (1985–93). In 1993, David was summoned to Edinburgh to work as Director of Rutherford House, a theological research and study centre (1993–2002). Married to Lorna in 1961, they have two sons, a daughter and eight grandchildren. They are now retired in Perthshire.
