WEEKEND Edition 20/21 November “The Invitation” Exodus 24:12-17

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this weekend,

I wonder if you’ve ever been invited to come and spend an extended period of time with someone you greatly admire? If the appointed rendezvous place was some distance from you perhaps as you traveled, you contemplated the great privilege, maybe even the honor of this invitation. What would you do if God invited you to come and meet with HIM?

Yesterday I left you in a great, historic moment for Moses and the Hebrews at Mount Sinai, as they entered into a blood Covenant with God. God had called them to be His people and presented them with many specific guidelines of how He expected them to live their lives for His honor. They had responded with a promise that they would obey it all. And Moses then sprinkled on their leaders blood from animals which had been sacrificed as a symbol of the significance of their commitment, as he read to them the “Book of God’s Covenant”.

Then Moses turned and once again began his trek up this rugged hill called Mount Sinai. This was now Moses’ sixth hike up this mountain to meet with God!! May I remind you of each of Moses’ previous encounters with God on Sinai?

#1.. Exodus 3:1-4:17, that was at the burning bush. The second #2.. Exodus 19:3-6; #3.. Exodus 19:8-13; #4.. Exodus 19:20-25; #5.. Exodus 20:5-24:3. This the sixth time and Moses did not go alone!

As God had instructed him, Moses took his brother Aaron, Aaron’s two sons Nadab and Abihu and “the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel…” (Ex. 24:9) Now what exactly that phrase ‘they saw the God of Israel’ means, we can’t be sure. Even Moses had not yet SEEN God, but clearly they had an encounter with the Glory of God.

The record then says Moses heard from God: “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” (Ex. 24:12) Look at Moses. He’s rubbing his chin, pulling on his beard. Five other times he had hiked up to meet with God, but this time seems quite different. What did God mean by “come up to Me and stay here…”? Was this going to be a very long meeting with God? How long? Was God expecting Moses to pack food and a tent so he could spend several weeks up there? What would you have done?

And then what did God mean by saying “I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”? What tablets of stone? And was God saying HE would actually write His commands for the people on stone tablets? My goodness… it was one thing for the people to HEAR the audible voice of God, were they now going to SEE stone tablets actually inscribed by the finger of God? There is no indication Moses asked those questions. Instead, the record says: “Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. He said to the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.” (Ex. 24:13,14) Does this scene remind you of a similar scene about 500 years before this?

Genesis 22 gives us the story. At age 100 Abraham and Sarah age 90 had finally experienced the miraculous pregnancy God had promised them 25 years before. Isaac was born, the miracle son of promise. When he was about 13 or 14 God invited Abraham to bring Isaac up Mount Moriah to meet with God. In fact God had challenged Abraham & Isaac’s faith, by asking Abraham to come prepared to sacrifice his son to God on that mountain, remember? After three days of travel, as Abraham and Isaac were leaving the servants who had traveled with them, Abraham said to them: “Stay here while I and the boy go over there. We will worship God and then we will come back to you.” (Gen. 22:5) Perhaps you remember that Abraham and Isaac climbed Mount Moriah. After father and son had built an altar and placed the wood upon it, Abraham bound his son Isaac, and he laid Isaac on that wood. Isaac did not resist, did not fight his father and at the last moment, with knife raised in obedience, God’s voice from heaven stopped Abraham by saying: “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.” (Gen. 22:11,12). Abraham and Isaac had both proven their unwavering, firm, faith in God, and God provided a ram caught in a nearby thicket. Then Abraham gave God this new name: Jehovah Jireh… ‘the LORD who provides’. Since Moses wrote the Genesis record, I wonder if that story was pulsating in his mind as he and Joshua began the trek up Sinai in obedience to God’s invitation?

Soon the buzz of activity and voices of the tent city below, and the 70 elders partway up the mountain began to dim in the distance. Then suddenly Moses and Joshua found themselves walking into the cloud of God’s presence! Moses describes it this way: “When Moses went up on the mountain the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.” (Ex. 24:15,16) I imagine Moses and Joshua stopped only a few paces into the cloud. Can you hear them… ‘Joshua, are you there? YES I am, but where are you Moses, I can’t see you, I can’t see anything but cloud?! Come close Joshua, we’ll only go up a little further. We’ll find a flat place on this mountain side where we can sit and maybe even lay down, we might be here a while.’

Moses had been in this cloud of God’s Presence before, remember? When the people had backed away from God after hearing the voice of God proclaim what we call “The 10 Commandments”, and Moses had gone up the mountain to meet God. (Exodus 20:21) But for Joshua this was a first experience in God’s cloud, and it was frightening. Have you ever been in a very thick, dense fog, so thick you couldn’t see your hand at the end of your arm? Were you frightened? We aren’t sure exactly what Moses and Joshua saw or experienced in that cloud which Moses refers to as “the glory of the LORD”, but it must have been unforgettable!

The record says: “To the Israelites, the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.” (Ex. 24:17) Once again the mountain took on the appearance of a volcano, with fire and smoke! As the people looked up, they knew Moses and Joshua were somewhere up there in that cloud! Do you suppose they were concerned, perhaps Moses and Joshua would be consumed by the fire?

For six days Moses and Joshua sat there in the cloud waiting. Waiting for what? Waiting for God to speak, to instruct them what they should do next. Have you ever waited for God? Maybe you’ve asked God for an answer to a perplexing life situation, or maybe you’ve asked God for healing or for guidance or for provision. What do you do when you are waiting on God? We have no record, but what do you suppose Moses and Joshua did for six days, in the cloud, waiting for God? I think Moses may have talked to Joshua hour after hour about what he had been learning about God, and from God, in these recent months and years. And I think Joshua was all ears, anxious to learn as much as he could from Moses.

And then suddenly, without warning, God spoke! The record says: “On the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud… then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain.” Exactly what God said we don’t know, but I imagine Moses said to Joshua something like this: “Ok Joshua my friend, this is it! I have no idea what I’m going to hear, nor how long I’ll be in that cloud with God. I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear us speaking. But I suggest you wait here until I return, no matter how long that will be. Don’t come in there looking for me, unless you hear God inviting you in. You stay here and wait…” And Moses walked away, on up the mountain, disappearing into that thick cloud!! May I ask, if you were Joshua, what would you have done at that moment?

So… let’s spend our weekend right here, with Joshua, alone, on the edge of the cloud of God’s Presence, on the hillside of Sinai, contemplating all he has experienced and wondering what will happen to Moses and to him!? Here’s a song to help us experience what Joshua experienced. . . what is it like, “In the Presence of Jehovah”?

Today’s Scripture is Exodus 24:12-17.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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