The Book of Exodus is the story of redemption – of a people enslaved, a mighty deliverance, and a God who dwells among His own. While Exodus is rooted in Israel’s historical liberation from Egypt, its deeper meaning reaches far beyond that moment in time.
Throughout its events, symbols, and laws, Exodus powerfully foreshadows the person and work of Jesus Christ. From the Passover lamb and the crossing of the Red Sea to the manna from heaven and the tabernacle in the wilderness, Exodus presents a divine pattern of salvation that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
Here are 14 instances where you would find the foreshadowing of Jesus in the Book of Exodus
1. The Voice in the Burning Bush
Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush. When he looked, although the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed. – Ex 3:1-2
Fullfillment:
For our God is a consuming fire. – Heb 12:29
2. The Great “I AM”
“But,” said Moses to God, “if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?” God replied to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.
God spoke further to Moses: This is what you will say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations. – Ex 3:13-15
Fullfillment:
Jesus said to her, “I AM HE, the one who is speaking with you.” – John 4:26
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM. – John 8:58
3. A Lamb without blemish
Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. – Ex 12:5
Fullfillment:
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. – Heb 9:14
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. – 1 Pet 1:19
4. The blood of the Lamb saves from wrath
But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. – Ex 12:13
Fullfillment:
But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. – Rom 5:8
5. Christ is our Passover Lamb
Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and procure lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover victims. Then take a bunch of hyssop, and dipping it in the blood that is in the basin, apply some of this blood to the lintel and the two doorposts. And none of you shall go outdoors until morning. For when the Lord goes by to strike down the Egyptians, seeing the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and not let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you down.
“You will keep this practice forever as a statute for yourselves and your descendants. Thus, when you have entered the land which the Lord will give you as he promised, you must observe this rite. When your children ask you, ‘What does this rite of yours mean?’ you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice for the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt; when he struck down the Egyptians, he delivered our houses.’” – Ex 12:21-27
Fullfillment:
Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. – 1 Cor 5:7
6. Not a bone of the Lamb to be broken
It must be eaten in one house; you may not take any of its meat outside the house. You shall not break any of its bones. – Ex 12:46
Fullfillment:
Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may [come to] believe. For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: “Not a bone of it will be broken.” – John 19:31-36
7. The Unleavened Bread
For seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and the seventh day will also be a festival to the Lord. Unleavened bread may be eaten during the seven days, but nothing leavened and no leaven may be found in your possession in all your territory. And on that day you will explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ – Ex 13:6-8
Fullfillment:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. – John 6:35
Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. – 1 Cor 5:7-8
8. His exaltation predicted as Yeshua
My strength and my refuge is the Lord,
and he has become my savior.
This is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him. – Ex 15:2
Fullfillment:
But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” – Acts 7:55-56
Note: “He…saw…Jesus standing at the right hand of God”: Stephen affirms to the Sanhedrin that the prophecy Jesus made before them has been fulfilled.
9. His Character – Holiness
Who is like you among the gods, O Lord?
Who is like you, magnificent among the holy ones?
Awe-inspiring in deeds of renown, worker of wonders, – Ex 15:11
Fullfillment:
And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. – Luke 1:35
10. The Manna from Heaven
Then the Lord said to Moses: I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days. – Ex 16:4-5
Fullfillment:
So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. – John 6:32
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” – John 6:49-52
11. The Spiritual Rock of Israel
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink. Moses did this, in the sight of the elders of Israel. – Ex 17:6
Fullfillment:
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. – 1 Cor 10:4
12. The Source of the Living Water
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink. Moses did this, in the sight of the elders of Israel – Ex 17:6
Fullfillment:
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” [The woman] said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the well is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:10-14
13. The Tabernacle Among Us
They are to make a sanctuary for me, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all that I show you regarding the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of its furnishings, so you are to make it. – Ex 25:8-9
Fullfillment:
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth. – John 1:14
Note: “Made his dwelling”: literally, “pitched his tent/tabernacle.” Cf. the tabernacle or tent of meeting that was the place of God’s presence among his people.
14. His Character – Merciful
The Lord answered: I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim my name, “Lord,” before you; I who show favor to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will. – Ex 33:19
Fullfillment:
to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant – Luke 1:72
