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Good morning my friends,
Today is Tuesday July 23 and we’ve come to Exodus 24, another hallmark chapter in God’s Word and the story of Israel.
Look at vs. 3 & 4 “When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and law, they responded with one voice ‘Everything the LORD has said we will do.’ Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.”
Now we know how we got Exodus 21,22,23…Moses wrote it down, so the people there at the mountain, and we 3500 years later, would have an accurate record of that historic God-Moses conversation. In fact, most Bible scholars believe Moses wrote the first five book of the Bible…Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. For centuries those five books have been known as the Jewish “Torah”, and are the historical record of God’s initial dealing with humanity.
Remember where Moses grew up and received his scholastic training? As a Prince of Egypt, Moses would have understood the importance of recording history accurately, and certainly what he and the runaway slaves were experiencing with God was history making and worth preserving for all time!
You’ll notice Exodus 24 begins with a unique invitation. For the first time, Moses is invited to bring a select group of leaders with him up the mountain to meet with God. Do you wonder why? Look closely at WHO they were? Aaron and his sons, and seventy ‘elders’. This was the spiritual leadership group of this traveling city of refugees. Aaron is Moses’ brother, of course, and when this all started at the burning bush in Exodus 3, God had selected Aaron to partner with Moses in confronting Pharaoh. God also appointed Aaron to be a spokesman for Moses to the people. This is, however, the first time Aaron’s sons are invited into the conversation, and I suspect they have no idea that their lives will change on that mountain, that day.
And who are these 70 ‘elders’? They’re not named, but I suspect they may be those Moses selected, when urged by his father-in-law Jethro to find capable men, who could be trained to be the judges, to help him arbitrate disagreements among the people. Remember that in Exodus 18? From here on, these 70 would be spiritual leaders of Israel, as well as judges.
Look closely my friends at 24:4-8, this is a ‘defining moment’ in the history of Israel. An altar built for sacrifice & worship. Pillars of stone piled up as a memorial, a reminder of who they are. . .the 12 tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people. The sacrifice of innocent animals, as an expression of the seriousness of this moment, an offering of praise, gratitude and commitment by the people to Holy God. Can you tell something very significant is about to happen? Feel the anxiety?
Do you see what Moses did with the blood of the sacrifice? Please note vs. 7 “Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said, we will obey.” Do you see the capital letters? This Book is sacred, because it contains the very words of God, as recorded by Moses. It’s called the “Book of the Covenant” because it is a contract providing the guidelines for life and justice for the people, and the relationship between God and the Hebrew slaves! God spoke, Moses wrote the contract, and brought it to the people.
God had promised “IF you obey ME fully and keep MY covenant, then out of all the nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5,6) And now…here it is…the Covenant God had promised, and the people, were hearing it read to them by the man, Moses, to whom God had spoken the words! I can hear a hush over the crowd…almost holding their breath. And then a swell of response: “We will do everything the LORD has said, we will obey.” In that moment, on that historic day, a Covenant between God and Israel was established.
It was not the first time God had entered into Covenant with a human being. He did so with Adam (Gen. 2:15-17), but Adam broke the covenant by trusting the deceiving serpent and eating of the forbidden tree, and losing the blessing and utopian relationship he and Eve had with God (Genesis 3). This was a ‘conditional covenant’. Adam & Eve did not keep their part of the covenant, thus God had to expel them from the garden, and allow evil/sin into our world.
God made another Covenant with Noah in Genesis 8:21; 9:0-11. And just as God promised, there has never been a global flood, destroying all life as there was in Noah’s time. This, by the way, is an ‘UNconditional covenant’. God make the promise and has kept it regardless of humanity’s failure.
Remember the covenant God made with Abraham & Sarah to bless them with a miracle child in their old age, from whom would come a nation of His special people. This was an ‘unconditional covenant’. God promised it and God did it, regardless of Abraham & Sarah’s lack of faith and their failed attempt to hurry the process with Hagar.
Now here with Moses and the people, what act would seem appropriate, significant enough, to seal this covenant, and memorialize it for all to remember and tell their children and grandchildren? Look at vs. 8, it is a defining moment in Israel’s history: “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with these words.” A blood sealed covenant!
Now, may I ask you, is there a sense of something familiar here? Remember how many times I’ve already said that what was happening here at Sinai in Exodus, was pointing forward to Jesus? Look ahead… Jerusalem, Passover weekend, an upper room where Jesus and His disciples are gathered for the Passover meal. The disciple Matthew recorded what he saw that night: “Then He (Jesus) took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the NEW covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:27,28).
They were all Jewish men in that upper room with Jesus that evening, before He was crucified. They were descendants of those who were at the Sinai mountain with Moses. They knew the story of Exodus 24 very well. They cherished it, it was an important part of their unique history as the people of Israel. But suddenly, from that upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus was stepping back into the Exodus story at Sinai, 1500 years before, and personalizing it. Jesus was becoming their Passover Lamb, so the angel of justice death would not kill them as sinful men. His shed blood would be accepted by Holy God as payment in full for their sin debt!
What we call “the Lord’s supper” or “Communion” is a double memorial service.
First we unite ourselves with those disciples in the upper room and we declare Jesus to be our Savior and Lord and His blood unites us with God in a covenant relationship of Redemption, Adoption, Justification, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Sanctification… all words we will study together when we read Romans. Words that define and describe our Salvation from our Sin.
But we are also uniting ourselves with the slaves at the Sinai mountain, who have received God’s laws and been invited into a covenant relationship with God, and declared to be His people, His ‘treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ WOW… did you just feel a shiver run up your spine when you consider the magnitude of this?
“Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.” Exodus 24:9 Don’t ask me to explain it friends… just allow yourselves to be overwhelmed by it. This is now Moses’ sixth (6) hike up the mountain. By now he knows the path well. But each time has been unique, and it seems each one gets more spectacular. And this time, he has 73 other eye witnesses! I’m guessing none of those 73 men were ever the same again after that day!
“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 laws and commands I have written for their instruction.” (24:12) Evidently Moses and the 73 had gone up Sinai only part way, perhaps to a plateau area big enough for such a large group. How long they were there with God, what God said to them, we have no record…but soon the Voice issued another private invitation and Moses prepared to go up higher, into the cloud again, alone with God! Only do you notice one other special thing this time? “Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.” (Ex. 24:13)
You remember Joshua of course. Back in Exodus 17, Moses had selected Joshua to lead the battle with the Amalakites, who were attacking the refugee camp because of a miraculous water spewing rock in the desert. Moses, Aaron & Hur were up on the mountain praying with uplifted hands, while Joshua & the fighters in the valley below, took on the Amalakites. God gave Himself a new name there, remember? Jehovah Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner”!
On this day, when Moses invited Joshua to come with him up the mountain to meet with God, Joshua is taking a major step forward in his leadership development, at the hand of Moses. The secret to Moses’ effectiveness in leading this huge group of 2 million people was NOT his Palace training in Egypt, not even the fact that many considered him part of the royal family. It was his appetite to spend time with God, LISTEN well to what God said, and then lead the people in following God!
Joshua didn’t know it yet, but nearly 40 years later, God was going to select him to follow Moses as the leader of the next generation of this people, and lead them into the promised land. His qualification for that role is primarily what he is learning from Moses right here in Exodus 24.
Come on friends, let’s tag along with Moses & Joshua up that mountain. Do you see the thick cloud looking like a thick, low hanging fog over the mountain? Do you feel an occasional rumble what sounds like rolling thunder? Do you maybe feel a little shake of the mountain and maybe some small rocks rolling down the hillside across our path as we hike? Do you feel an anxiety welling up in you? What’s up there where Moses has gone 5 other times? What’s it like inside that cloud?
“…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. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.” (Ex. 24:15-17)
Friends, I don’t mind telling you my hands are little clammy as I type this. We’ve hiked up with Moses and Joshua, and then suddenly Moses put up his hand, as we are so close to the cloud we can almost touch it, and he says something like “we wait here. I don’t go in there until He calls me.” So we sit down with Moses and Joshua, to wait…for six days we wait. What would you have been thinking. If you’d had the courage, what might you have talked with Moses or Joshua about in those six days, sitting outside the cloud…waiting.
And then suddenly… “MOSES…it’s time, come meet with ME!” Can you imagine the look on his face as he looks us each in the eye, picks up his staff, strokes his beard, and heads up. . .disappearing into the cloud on the mountain.
“Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And Moses stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” (Ex. 24:18
Tomorrow we’ll look at what happened inside that cloud… for now, I’d urge you to spend sometime in your cloud with God, right there where-ever you are listening to my voice or reading this. What does God want to say to you today? Are you ready to hear God speak into your life… you’ll never be the same, my friends.
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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