Exodus 24:1-18 – “Sprinkled in the Blood”
I.) Intro.
By the time we come to this chapter, Israel has been out of Egypt for about a year and a half. Fresh in their minds still is the work of their deliverance, like all believers, there was a unique personal experience that they were saved by the direct intervention of God. Furthermore, on their journey to Sinai, they had personally experienced how God saw them as His special treasure above all people (Ex. 19:5), through His provisions of food and water. It was then that God told them that He wanted them to know Him better than any other people, furthermore, He told them how they could maintain that relationship through honoring “ten words.” So, for the next five chapters, God dealt with relationships. Now, as we come to the 24th chapter, it is time to sign the contract, several things will stand out to us:
- It is God who initiates this covenant even though all the benefits are Israel’s.
- The confirmation of the covenant has two parts:
- Vs. 1-3 verbal (an oath, verses 3, 7).
- Vs. 4-8 written (in blood).
- Lastly, there are mentioned here three varying degrees of closeness to the Lord, and we shall see that we too have a choice as to how close of a relationship we want with the Lord.
II.) Vs. 1-8 Sign Here
Vs. 1-2: Now you will remember that back in chapter 20 after God revealed His holiness to the people, they told Moses, “You speak to us, but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.” So Moses drew near to God while the rest of the people stood afar off. So? Well, that means that from chapter 20:22 until now, all the words spoken were from God to Moses alone. This will be the first time that the rest of the nation has heard God’s heart towards them.
God now invites Moses, Aaron and his two older sons, Nadab and Abihu, along with seventy of the elders to worship Him from afar. Now, the 70 represent the judges appointed by Moses to judge the nation. What is interesting to me is that it is the same number that came to Egypt to escape the famine at the request of Joseph 400 years earlier. In other words, these 70 elders represent the nation.
These two older sons of Aaron will later on be wiped out, as we are told in Lev. 10:1-2, for acting in the things of God without seeking the mind of God. Their names, Nadab meaning liberal, and Abihu, meaning worshiper, really fit the action that took their lives. You see, they were worshiping God according to their will and not God’s, just like Cain, the brother of Abel. It seems, rather than waiting on God who started the fire for the sacrifice, they got impatient and started one themselves. This is the cast of characters that God is calling to a closer relationship with Him. Now, I’ve got to tell you, things haven’t changed much today. We have our repentant murderers as was Moses, we have folks who would rather gripe at God than walk with Him, and we even have those that would rather worship God on their terms and in their own way rather than His. Yet He still desires to draw each of them into a greater relationship with Him.
There are three groups of folks here that can be seen in their proximity to the Lord, and I kind of think that we have those same groups in the church today.
- You have those men and women who stayed outside the barriers of 19:23 and worship the Lord at a distance. Now, they are not able to get any closer to the Lord than the barriers of their lives. There is a cost in growing closer to the Lord, and it is accomplished when you decide to cross the barriers that you have placed in your lives. Now it is true that these were barriers to protect them, not ones to separate them, but in Christ, He has removed the barriers that separate us from greater intimacy with Him. So, you have a barrier now in your life; it is you who has placed it there, not Him.
- Next, you have the 70 elders who are able to go beyond the barriers in their lives as they respond to His call upon their lives. They, like the elders here, respond to the word of God in different areas of their lives. As they continue to do this, they experience intimate fellowship with the Lord, but with all of the progress, they still have a distance to go, even though they are seated at His table for supper.
- Lastly, you have Moses and Joshua, who are invited into the very presence of the Lord and His glory.
Now, unlike the Israelites, we all have the same opportunity to come into His presence. Yet, many choose to not cross the boundaries of their lives and so they stay at the fringes of fellowship with the Lord. Then, a few cross over and worship under His feet, but they are still at a distance. How about it? How close are you? How close do you want to be? The choice is up to you. I look at all crises as opportunities to move beyond our comfort zones. As we have just heard these three share a building moment, it makes me realize that they are moving beyond the walls that have separated them from greater intimacy with the Lord. Are you ready to do so? Let me show you here in this text what it will take for you and me to move beyond the barriers to greater fellowship with the Lord.
Vs. 3: In this verse, we see the first part of the signing of the covenant. Moses goes before the people and tells them all of the Word of the Lord, as well as His ordinances. Now, you will recall that God had shared these with Moses as the basis of how they were to maintain a relationship with Him and be a light unto the world around them. These guys were going to enter into a relationship with the Lord as He had said in Exodus 6:7, “I will take you as My people, and I will be your God.” So how did what Moses do encourage such commitment? Well, it tells us right here:
- He told the people all the words of the Lord: The Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So, you may be here listening to this teaching and your heart becomes aware of the truth of this in your own life, and you say something like, “Man, this guy is speaking right to me this morning.” What this shows us is the importance of the Word of God in our lives as far as growing in our relationship to Him, but it is right here that you are faced with a choice to either respond or ignore what the Holy Spirit is telling you. Now, if you choose to respond, then there are two important things to recognize as seen in their response to Moses’ teaching of the Word of the Lord. The first part of this is the response in the form of a “verbal commitment.”
- “All the words which the Lord has said”: What this reveals is that they were willing to move forward in their relationship with the Lord on His terms and not theirs. Simply put, they wanted to move closer to the Lord, and they realized that it was not about doing it their way. The song might be cool when Frank Sinatra would sing, “I did it my way!” but the truth is that you can never grow closer to the Lord by doing it your way. Neither can you say, “Well, some of the word of the Lord we will do.” If you do, you will only be able to get as close as the part of the Word of the Lord that you obey.
- “We will do”: Notice that there never was anything that they were forced to do. No, they were free to respond, but it was only in response to all of the Word of the Lord that they would experience the fullness of the relationship He had with them.
Vs. 4-8: Now we move into the covenant being confirmed, not only verbally but written and signed as well. What is interesting is to see the direct response of the people to Moses as he three separate times brings up the Word of the Lord to the people. In verse 3, Moses told all the people the Word of the Lord, and they responded by verbal commitment. Then, in verse 4, he wrote down all the word of the Lord, and they respond by preparing a sacrifice and sprinkling the altar of the Lord. Lastly, Moses reads the covenant to the people, and they respond by a verbal commitment, which ends up with them being sprinkled with the same blood that was sprinkled upon the altar. So, let’s take a look at this:
b.) “Moses wrote all the words of the Lord”: There was a sense that a verbal commitment to what Moses had said was not enough. So, how does that relate to you and me? Well, when you hear something that you know the Lord is telling you, and you respond by saying, “Man, that really speaks to me!” The next step is writing your commitment down. Some of you take notes on what God is telling you, and I believe that this is the first step in making lasting change in one’s life. But look at what they were told to do in response to Moses writing the Word of the Lord down.
- Vs. 4: Build an altar with 12 pillars: The 12 pillars, we are told, represented the 12 tribes. So? Well, that tells us something. An altar is the place of worship and a place of sacrifice. And the fact that they were to set up 12 pillars tells me that this altar was to represent ALL of the nation. So? Put it together, and we see that Moses intended to say that they were to completely come and worship in total sacrifice.
- Vs. 5-6: The only way that the conditions of the covenant were to be realized by Israel was through the shedding of blood. Verbal obedience was good, but the truth of the matter was that they were sinners, and it was the shedding of innocent blood that ratified the covenant. Folks, don’t miss this in your life if you wish to enjoy a greater relationship with the Lord. Obedience to the Word of the Lord is based upon the work of Jesus and not acting in your own flesh. Fellowship with the Lord is nothing more than our continual choice to respond moment by moment to the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf. Why the death of innocent lambs? Well, it reveals that a relationship with the Lord is maintained not by our merit but rather by His grace and our reliance on that grace.
- Vs. 7-8: Now look at this, as this is the final signature placed upon the covenant. Moses reads what he had just written, the “Word of the Lord.” They respond verbally by agreeing with ALL the Lord has said we will do and obey! They fully understand that what they are about to do is based upon complete surrender to the Lord. The covenant then is signed in blood, but it is not their blood; it is the blood of innocent lambs that is sprinkled upon them. Do you get it? We grow as we yield our lives over to the Lord because we recognize that He has paid for the opportunity for us to be close to Him.
III.) Vs. 9-11 Under His Feet
Vs. 9-11: Now these 75 folks get to move even closer to the Lord as they see the Lord. Now, we know that they did not see the Lord in the way we see each other, for the Bible tells us that no one has seen God except for Jesus. And Jesus said that if you have seen Him, then you have seen the Father. So whom did they see? Well, I think that they saw Jesus on the throne. But did you notice that they don’t describe anything except what is under His feet? Why? Well, it is because they are on their faces before Him in worship, so the only good look they get at anything is what is under His feet. It is cool to look at the verses in scripture that speak of seeing God because, in every instance, they describe similar things. Man, the glory of the Lord was so great that they are worshipping at His feet. It says that it was like sapphire and as clear as the heavens. What great beauty they were taken into. Perhaps, what is described here is the idea of them looking up through the sea of glass around the throne, and all they can see are His feet?
Now, we are told in verse 11 that they are amazed when, in seeing the glory of the Lord, they are still alive. That is what is meant by the phrase in verse 11. To lay a hand upon someone was to kill them. Amazingly, the Holiness of the Lord did not destroy them as they had thought in chapter 20:19. What had made the difference? It was the sprinkled blood. Their lives were protected because they had been sprinkled in the blood of the lamb. Folks, do you see that? There is nothing to keep you from drawing near to the Lord today if you approach Him in the precious blood of His Son!
Furthermore, we are told something even more amazing. It says that they not only saw God, but that they sat down and had a meal with Him. God never changed who He was to accommodate them. No, through who He was, He changed them. And why? So that they could enjoy fellowship with Him. It was like the fellowship that He had with Adam and Eve before the fall when He would walk with them in the cool of the day! Oh, the potential we all have to come into the Lord’s presence. The only thing that limits this is our unwillingness to move forward in every area of our life. Do you want to grow closer to the Lord? Well, all you need to do is take some ownership! Get outside of those barriers and go for it!
IV.) Vs. 12-18 In His Presence
Vs. 12-18: Now God desires to take Moses even nearer to Him and invites him to come on up the hill so that He can reveal even more of His heart to Moses. It is obvious that Moses was going to spend some time up there as he makes provisions for the nation while he is to be away. The word “glory” in verse 16 is the word shekinah or the presence of the Lord. Now, Sinai looked as if it was on fire from the presence of the Lord, but Moses was able to be there for 40 days and 40 nights in the presence of the Lord. So? Well again, Moses answered the call of God to draw nearer to Him and was rewarded with being in His presence for those 40 days. Folks, growth in Christ is a choice of following the call He has placed upon you to come near to Him. At any time, you can say, “No thank you, I think I will just stay behind these barriers!” But man, do you ever miss out on the beauty of fellowship. May I just make this practical to you? The Lord is guiding us to a land flowing with milk and honey, are you willing to move out behind the barriers and go for it? Are you willing to take ownership of His promises? If so, you will not regret your decision.