Exodus 24

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together. We have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. I should rephrase that. We don't do this every day. Monday through Friday, we do this every weekday morning when I'm actually on time and doing things correctly. But anyways, why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to get to hear from you. Father, we pray that your spirit please help us see, help us believe, in Jesus's name, amen. All right, so we are at Exodus chapter 24 today. There's a lot of fish to fry, not a lot of time to cook them, and so we're gonna get into this, and we're gonna jump in and try to move quickly through. Now, he, that being God, said to Moses, come up to Jehovah, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel. and worship from far. And Moses alone shall come near to Jehovah, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people go up with him.
So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which Jehovah has said we will do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men and children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.
And they said, All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. Then Moses went up also Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel.
And they saw the Lord God of Israel. And there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stones. And it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel, he did not lay his hand. So they saw God and they ate and drank.
Then the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and be there and I will give you tablets of stone and the law and commandments which I have written that you may teach them. So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and Moses went up to the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.
Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai. And the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.
Well, whoo, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? Right, this is a big section of scripture, a very important section of scripture, and it's got a few different parts.
So first, verses one and two, right, the Lord's calling Moses to come up to him. And so he's saying, all right, you're gonna come? Not all the people, nor shall all the people, right, they shall not come near. Or the people will go up with him, but just Moses, right? But before this, right, we have this parentheses and verses three and following.
Moses told the people all the words of the Lord and all his judgments, right? Tells them everything that God has been telling him. He's telling him all the commandments that we've just been going over and the people respond, right? The people respond with one voice is what verse three says, and said, all the words which the Lord has said we will do. So Moses tells them verbally, but then it says in verse four, Moses wrote out all the words of the Lord.
Now, I'm just reading a book yesterday written by a guy who's rejecting everything Christianity and saying, we don't know that Moses actually wrote anything. Well, if you believe the Bible, Moses here is actually saying he wrote it. Right? Whether you think Moses wrote the book of Exodus or not, I have a very strong opinion. I think he did. I think Jesus thinks he did, but Even if you're gonna throw that out the window, to think that Moses didn't write anything, you gotta throw everything out the window, right? Moses wrote down the covenant. He wrote down these words. And he writes them down, and he rises in the morning, he builds an altar, they make the sacrifices, right?
They make this peace offering to God. And Moses takes the blood of these peace offerings, and half he throws on the altar. These animals are this sign of this covenant. Let it be so unto me if I break this covenant, I will become like these animals. This is the same thing that we saw in the book of Genesis where God had Abraham go into a deep sleep and after he had cut the two animals and put them on both sides of the hill and their blood ran down in between. Now the animals are killed and the peace offering is put on, sprinkled on the altar. And the other half, Moses reads the covenant to them. And the people say again, all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. They're signing the dotted line. They're agreeing to the covenant stipulations.
And so Moses, he takes the blood, and this is essentially saying, may it be unto you if you don't keep these animals, or keep these laws, if you don't keep your word, you're gonna be like these animals. The blood's on your own head and he takes that blood and he sprinkles the people. He consecrates them to the Lord. This is an official covenant ceremony for them. They're committing themselves to be God's people. In verse eight, this is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. We'll come back to that when we get to calling.
And then verse nine and following is Moses actually going up. But he doesn't go up by himself, right? There's a few different iterations here, right? In verse nine, Moses went up. Also Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, right? Aaron, Moses' brother. This is going to be a start of the priesthood. They don't know this yet, but God is going to bring them into his presence. So Moses, Aaron and his sons and 70 of the elders of Israel.
And then verse 10 is amazing. And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet, as it were, a pavework of sapphire stone. And it was like the very heavens in its clarity. They actually go up to the mountain and they're not all the way up to the full glory of it, but they get a glimpse. They get a glimpse of the Lord. But here we don't actually get a description of the Lord, we just get what's underneath his feet. This is the same thing that we see in the book of Revelation, right?
It's so beautiful. It's like clear sapphire that he walks on, right? This is totally different. This is a totally different realm, a totally different sphere, a totally different level of royalty and nobility and grandeur. That's where the Lord walks.
And the amazing thing is they have this glimpse. I'm not convinced they see the whole glory of the Lord, but they do seem to see a glimpse of him. but the nobles of the children of Israel. But on them the Lord did not lay his hand, so they saw God, they ate, and they drank. Exodus 33 verse 20 is going to say nobody can see the Lord and live. And yet somehow here the Lord is being gracious. He's giving them a glimpse. He's inviting them into communion with himself. They eat with him. They drink. They get a beatific vision, a sight of his glory, of his goodness.
Then the Lord says to Moses, he calls one of them up. He says, Moses, you're gonna come up. Come up to me on the mountain and be there and I will give you tablets of stone and the law and commandments which I have written that you may teach them. He tells them, you come on up. I'm gonna give you those tablets of stone. I'm gonna write down those ancient words of the covenant that's going to officially, formally establish this relationship between me and you. not just between me and you, between me and the nation.
Moses is seen as this leader, this mediator, this intermediary. The people wanted this, right? Remember Exodus chapter 19 and 20. But Moses has got to go up, but their leader's going. And so he's got to leave a babysitter in charge. He's got to leave a second command there, right? What does he say? And Moses arose with his assistant Joshua. By the way, this is the first time Joshua's called his assistant. And Moses went up to the mountain of God and he said to the elders, wait here for us until we come back to you.
Indeed, Aaron and her are with you. If any man has difficulty, right? Then go to them, right? I'm going up to the mountain. I'm taking Joshua, my assistant, with me. You guys got problems, talk to Aaron and her. He leaves things in order as he goes up the mountain.
And the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai. And the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the cloud. and i love this is what i have underlined i have a few things underlined here in my bible but verse 17 i have double underlined the sight of the glory of the lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of israel and moses goes up into that glory into that consuming fire What is this about, right?
This is God establishing his covenant, right? Once again, step, a long step, a long step. The people volitionally, willfully come into covenant relationship. God's the one who redeems them. And they are the one who respond with, yes, I will obey. I will follow. I will keep your word. And God is glorious. He's revealing himself to them. He's being gracious to them.
So what are we called to do, right? How does this apply to our lives? Well, God is still glorious. So often we think of the Lord and he's just like, we minimize him. He's so small in our eyes, but he is still a consuming fire. But the beautiful and amazing thing happens. When we turn over from the book of Malachi and we come into Genesis, or so we come into the book of Matthew, we come into the gospel of John. We behold the glory of God himself in the face of Jesus.
And in verse eight, he says, this is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you. According to all these words, Jesus makes a covenant, a new covenant in his blood, where he redeems his people. He will pour out His own blood. He will keep both sides of the covenant. That we might be His people forever. That we may behold His glory and love Him all of our lives.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would love you and that we would behold the glory of Jesus Christ, the radiance of your glory, the exact image of your being, and that we would follow after you. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would work in our hearts, that we would be people who would desire to be in your presence. You have sprinkled us with the blood of the covenant. You have given us food and drink in your presence. Let us walk before you in humility and love in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and I'll catch you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.