God's Desire for Man

Parents: i only want what is best for you.”

vv1-2: a picture of the temple. God is beginning to restore fellowship with man. He is inviting His people to come up to him, but only a certain few.

Moses- alone will come to the Lord: He is acting as a priest approaching the Holy of Holies.

Aaron Nadab, and Abihu and the seventy elders are allowed to enter the holy place.

the people: in the camp at the foot of the mountain.

Going back to the garden of Eden, it is described as a temple itself. Adam and Eve acted as priests who were able to serve in the temple (garden) and have entrance in the Holy of Holies (the presence of the LORD). But when sin entered, they were driven out of the garden and the presence of the LORD.

VV3- 8: We move back down to the base of the mountain where Moses tells the people what the Lord has said. Moses wrote them down (v4) and the people respond and say all that the Lord has said, we will do.

Next, we see Moses building an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord, and then he takes half of the blood of the sacrifices and puts it in basins and half of the blod he throws against the alter.

Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people, and they agreed together, “all that the Lord has said we will do, and we will be obedient.” Then Moses took the blood and threw it on the people.

What on earth is happening here?

Answer: the covenant between God and Israel is being confirmed, or sealed. The means by which God is able to fellowship with His people is happening right before our eyes in Exodus 24.

This morning, lets look at what has to take place for humanity to have restored fellowship with God.

1. God Has to Initiate (24:1)

It is the LORD who invited Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the Seventy elders to come up to him. As a matter of fact, go all the way back to the beginning, God is the one who initiates it all

2. A Mediator Between God and Man

In verse 2, Moses was the chosen mediator between God and man. He represented the people before God. He went to a holy God on behalf of a sinful people. He was the only one allowed to draw near. By doing this, god was teaching his people to honor him and respect His holiness.

We can only draw near to God and be in his presence only if we come on His terms. and that is through an appointed mediator. Here, the mediator appointed was Moses, and eventually the priests. Now it is only through Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man.

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

3. An Offering of Sacrifice (24:3-5)

After writing down the words, Moses came to build an altar, and the covenant was to be sealed in blood. The burnt offering was completely consumed by fire, and the peace offering was not consumed by fire. It was basically grilled, and it was eaten after all of the blood was drained. This is where the blood from the basin and and the altar came from.

4. Submission from the People (vv3;7)

A very important detail mentioned in the text is that the people had to respond in order for this covenant to be ratified. It also shows that after being redeemed by the blood, there is a call to obedience and faithfulness. There is no such thing as cheap grace in the Bible where God’s people are permitted to not obey him. Receiving God’s grace means there is submission to Him as Lord, and living a life of faithfulness to him.

5. Blood of the Covenant Applied to the People (8)

The blood was sprinkled on the people to affirm that the Lord and the people are one blood. They have become a family. And the reason Israel can enter into this relationship is because a sacrifice has been offered for them. We are told in Hebrews 9:22, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.” Since the fall, blood has been the basis of man’s relationship with God, both in terms of sin and forgiveness. This scene before us may seam strange and kind of dark (having blood thrown on the people) but it shows just how dark our sin is. Are sin is that serious: someone has to die in our place in order for us to be forgiven and have access to God.

This phrase “blood of the covenant” ought to sound familiar to us in the New Testament as well.

The New Covenant is described as “the blood of the covenant”

Matthew 26:28 ESV

for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 9 gives us a glorious detailed description of the blood of the covenant in Jesus. (Read HEb. 9:11-15)

The truth is, we all, just like Israel, fail to obey God. So, we must look to hte One who did perfectly obey, the one who provides the righteousness that God demands for fellowship with Him, and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus, the one who upholds the universe, shed His blood for you, so that you may be brought into a right relationship with God.

When we take the Lord’s Supper, we always take the cup and say “the blood of Jesus, which was shed for you.” What a powerful statement. Do you dwell on this truth? Do you find your security in the fact that Christ shed his blood for you and made you a participant in the New Covenant?

We have much reason to rejoice. We are a ransomed people who have been set free from sin and death by the shed blood of Christ that has been sprinkled on us, that has been applied to us. There to my heart was the blood applied, glory to his name.

6. Fellowship With God (vv 9-18) (Limited)

After the blood of the covenant had been confirmed, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders went up the mountain, and the word says they saw God!

Now, we need to understand that there is a limited presence here. Exodus 33:20 tells us that nobody can see God in His fulness and live. So, these men are not in the holy of holies, they are not in the throneroom of God. They were looking at the floor that the Lord was standing on. So we need to notice that this covenant it not the final and best covenant, it has its limitations. But look at the patterns that this text sets up which finds its fulfillment in the New covenant.

After the blood of the covenant had been confirmed, God invited His people into His presence! And then they had a meal in the presence of Yahweh. How awesome is that! Not only did God give them a glimpse of His presence, He invited them to share a meal in his presence.

We know how important gathering over meals are right? Well sharing a meal with God was showing that they are family with Him. Sharing this meal was an act of friendship. It showed that they had fellowship (communion) with God.

Now after the communal meal, Moses was summoned by the Lord to come up to him on the mountain (v12)

We need to understand the language here, and how it really points back to Eden. In Genesis, Eden is this sort of mountain Sanctuary of the living God. Like at the top of Mt. Sinai, the garden was a place where God and man dwelled together. There are heavenly beings such a cherebim at the top of mt. sinai.

This is truly a place where heaven and earth are overlapping. Its already made a full circle here. The journey of exile from the garden, this holy place, to the top of Mt. Sinai, the holy place of God’s dwelling.

So Mt. Sinai kind of like this new garden of Eden, and what we are seeing here is what we see in the whole story of the Bible: God is making a way for Himself to dwell with man once again. He brought Israel back to this mountain, like He said he would. And like Adam, the Israelites are able to have God dwell with them. And in Ex. 24, the top of MT. Sinai is the floor of heaven

Notice the picture here. This is a picture of the temple. The top of Mt. Sinai is the holy of holies, Where the seventy elders are is the holy place, and the bottom of the mountain where the rest of the people are is the court of the 12 tribes.

This awesome, Church. the presence of God with the people of Israel, the overlap of heaven and earth. but only temporarily. In this text, it is all limited. That is why we look forward to Christ, who fulfills this pattern.

We have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb in the New Covenant of His blood. When we respond in faith to Christ and his blood is applied to us, we are able to share in a communal meal (Lord’s Supper) where Jesus promises that He is with us! But it doesn’t end there. we know this is just a glimpse of eternity. We are awaiting that glorious marriage supper of the lamb, where we will, for eternity be able to commune with our God and dine with the risen Jesus.

And concerning the Temple and Holy place and holy of holies, there has already come a day where we don’t have to meet God in a physical temple through the offerings of a lamb or bull, rather, we are the living Temple, the permenant dwelling of the Holy Spirit. and it gets sweeter than that. One Day the Kingdom of Heaven and earth with completely overlap, we see in Revelation, the heavenly city referred to as this giant cubic holy of holies. and all of God’s people will know the Lord, nobody will be at the bottom of the mountain, nobody will be outside of the holy of holies.

Isaiah 25:6–7 ESV

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.