December 19, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 146-148

Weekly Memory Verse: 1 Timothy 2:5

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Exodus 24 (NASB95)
¹ Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. ² “Moses alone, however, shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.” ³ Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!” ⁴ Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ 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 spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” ⁸ So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” ⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. ¹² Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses arose with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. ¹⁴ But to the elders he said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal matter, let him approach them.” ¹⁵ Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. ¹⁶ The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top. ¹⁸ Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.^[1]

This chapter is extremely interesting because we see God from a different light in the Old Testament.  This is one time when God came to fellowship with man, but there were conditions that had to be met first.

The people were warned not to come near the mountain.  Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders were allowed to the foot of the mountain.  Moses then told the people all about the law that God had given them and they committed to do according to what God had said. 

Then Moses did an interesting thing, he wrote down the law.  The first time the Ten Commandments and the law were received by the people was by Moses writing it down.  A record was made of what Moses had said at that time and it was apparently given to the elders and Aaron.  Somehow in hearing the telling of this story, this little fact is disregarded, and people skip forward several chapters to when God wrote down the law on the two tablets.  A record was made before Moses went up on the mountain to receive further instructions, and all the people heard and understood the covenant of Moses and ratified it on the spot.

Zechariah 9:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Matthew 26:28 (NASB95)
²⁸ for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Mark 14:24 (NASB95)
²⁴ And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Luke 22:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

1 Corinthians 11:25 (NASB95)
²⁵ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Hebrews 13:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,

1 Peter 1:2 (NASB95)
² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. ^[2]

Part of the ratification process was the sacrifice of animals.  Remember, without blood shed, no one can enter into the presence of God.  A sacrifice was made on an altar to the Lord.  Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar, making it holy, then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, that caused them to be symbolically holy.  This is the only time in the Old Testament that the people were sprinkled with the blood, (The Bible Knowledge Commentary.) The people all agreed again that they stood in agreement with the Mosaic Covenant with the Lord. 

The "God of Israel" is actually the "Elohim of Israel", this is a different name for which brings to mind the creation of the earth in the very first chapter of the Bible.  The all-powerful supreme God was the God of Israel, and He appeared to them face to face.  He also joined them for a dinner celebration.  There was a big party as the people celebrated the covenant that they had made with the Lord.  I wonder how often this is missed in the telling of the story.

After the ratification of the covenant, Moses was summoned back to the mountain so that God could give him the rest of the Law.  Moses set up the elders and Aaron so that they would take care of things while he was gone.  Remember, the people already had heard and agreed to the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Covenant at this time.  It was fresh in their minds. 

Hebrews 12:29 (NASB95)
²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

Deuteronomy 4:24 (NASB95)
²⁴ “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 9:3 (NASB95)
³ “Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. ^[3]

God revealed Himself in a different way on the mountain this time.  Instead of revealing Himself with the constant sound of thunder and the continual playing of the trumpet of God, He let His Glory be shown from the mountain.  I am not sure as to what that means, but am led to believe that it was beautiful in every sense of the word.  There was a cloud surrounding the mountain and at the very top a raging fire was going strong.  This was not what Moses had observed, according to verse 17, this is what Israel observed. 

Ezekiel 1:26-27 (NASB95)
²⁶ Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. ²⁷ Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him.

Ezekiel 10:1 (NASB95)
¹ Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them.

Revelation 4:3 (NASB95)
³ And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.

Revelation 21:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

Revelation 21:18-23 (NASB95)
¹⁸ The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. ¹⁹ The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; ²⁰ the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. ²² I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Matthew 17:2 (NASB95)
² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

Revelation 1:16 (NASB95)
¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. ^[4]

The revelation of God sounds as if it comes from the book of Revelation doesn't it?  We have a fantastic picture of God at the first covenant that is not matched until Jesus comes to earth and returns the second time in Revelation.  This is significant, too bad it is overlooked and people are only told about the burning bush and the thunder on the mountain. 

Moses spent 40 eays and nights on the mountain.  Moses was on the mountain a very long time.  

The observations today stand as a challenge to all of us.  During this time of year we hear watered down versions of Biblical stories, where important details are left out.  I would encourage you to check the stories out for yourself, make it a point to dig daily in the Bible to learn whether the stuff that you are taught is accurate or not. The beeper got me, I have to close here, there is a lot more in this passage that all of us can learn from, I simply am out of time.  Any comments from you are welcomed, some of the areas that I didn't cover was the response of the people to God compared to forty days later, care to comment?  I also didn’t hit on how the old covenant was ratified with blood and the New Covenant has been ratified by the blood of Christ. 

Father, as we consider Your word, give each one of us the determination to dig in and understand Your word, accurately understanding and applying it to our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.