Blessed Election

Exodus 24:1-2 ESV

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 worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

Last week we concluded our series of messages from the second and third chapters of the book of Genesis, but now that we are done with that series, we will now, for the next two months, Lord willing, be working through the entirety of Exodus, chapter 24.

And as last year came to a close and I was meditating on which sections of the sacred scriptures that I should preach from throughout this year, I knew that at some point this year I wanted to preach a series of messages from this chapter. And the reason why I wanted to be sure to preach a series from this chapter is because of the massive weight of theological importance that is wrapped up in this chapter.

The events that are described in this chapter are events that forever changed a people. They are events that served as a foreshadowing of what Christ Jesus would later make gloriously manifest through the establishment of His Church. Indeed, they are events which foreshadowed the communion and covenant which the Church now shares with God.

And most of all, they are events which foreshadow and typify the eternal fellowship which we as the elect people of God will share with our God in the New Jerusalem.

In fact, as I was preparing to write the sermons in this series, I gained much insight and help as I consulted Arthur Pink’s commentary on the book of Exodus. And in Mr. Pink’s introductory remarks on this particular chapter in his commentary, he immediately sets forth the weighty significance found in the chapter’s content.

There, Mr. Pink tells us:

“The twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus introduces us to a scene for which there is nothing approaching a parallel on all the pages of inspired history prior to the Divine Incarnation and the tabernacling of God among men. It might suitably be designated the Old Testament Mount of Transfiguration, for here Jehovah manifested His glory as never before or after during the whole of the Mosaic economy.”

The Mount of Transfiguration… Do you remember what happened at the Mount of Transfiguration? The Lord Jesus took with Him three chosen disciples; Peter, James, and John up a mountain where the Lord Jesus was transfigured, the veil was removed so to speak and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed to these chosen disciples to a significantly greater extent as He appeared in divine glory, speaking with Moses and Elijah.

In a very like manner, the God of Israel, Yahweh, the God of heaven and earth chose to reveal His glory to a select number of chosen men and even more so, He chose to reveal His glory in an especial manner to one singular man, and He chose too, to commune with these men here in this 24th chapter of the book of Exodus.

But in order for us to properly understand what is happening here in this 24th chapter of Exodus, we need to go back a few chapters and look at chapter 19 of this same book.

Back in Exodus, chapter 19, verse 3, we read of how God had called Moses to come up to Him on Mount Sinai. Once there, we read in verse 4 how God had reiterated to Moses the gracious salvation that He had brought upon the people, Israel.

Then in verses 5 and 6 of chapter 19 what we see is God proposing to enter into a covenant of works with Israel where their national blessings would be contingent on their obedience to the commands of God.

Thus, we observe God relaying to the people that He has graciously saved them from the heavy yoke of Egyptian oppression that was upon them so that they may be identified as His own people and obediently serve Him.

And then when we look at verse 7 of that 19th chapter, we see Moses relaying to the people those commands given by God to the people, then in verse 8 we see the people’s acceptance of these conditions and their declaration to do that which God has commanded.

Then when we look at chapters 20 through 23 of Exodus, we read the specific commands that God had given to the people through Moses which the people had in turn agreed to back in chapter 19, verse 8.

Now when we arrive at Exodus, chapter 24, what we see is the ratification of the covenant, the act which makes this covenant between God and the people, Israel, legally binding.

As we look to the exposition of our reading for today what we see is God initiating this ratification of the covenant as He summons to Himself the party which He will make this covenant with.

We begin to read of this summoning at the very beginning of this first verse of chapter 24 where it simply says:

Exodus 24:1a ESV

1a Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord,

As was said, this is the ratification of the covenant that God and the people, Israel had made with one another. And what “covenant” means is a promise, or an agreement, in a word, it is like a sacred contract.

Now, in modern times what will often take place after two parties come to an agreement or make a deal is they will share a celebratory meal together, or perhaps they will share in a celebratory drink.

For example, after a wedding, there is always a meal. Have you ever wondered why that is? Well, because the two parties, the husband and the wife have made a covenant with one another, and now the two parties, the bride and the groom celebrate the covenant that has been made between them.

And as we will see throughout this series, this practice of sharing a meal after the ratification of a covenant finds its origins in ancient times.

Sharing a meal symbolizes friendship, communion, unity. So, what better way to celebrate two parties coming together as one than by sharing a meal?

Well, now that the covenant between the God of heaven and earth and the people of Israel is being ratified, God bids certain individuals from Israel to “come up” to Him.

This was a call for the people of Israel to do what was necessary for them to ratify the covenant. Once that was complete, they were to literally come to God to share a celebratory meal with Him.

This reveals to us the gracious, loving character of God in that He, being the omnipotent One, He Who is all powerful, calls weak, fragile men to come to Him, to be near to Him.

We then see in the next part of this first verse who these men were who God was calling to come up to Him and be near Him, when we read the following listed:

Exodus 24:1b ESV

1b you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

So, in Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu we see the religious representatives of Israel. Moses was the chosen vessel of God, Aaron the high priest, and Nadab and Abihu sons of the high priests and priests in their own right.

Also mentioned here are seventy of the elders of Israel. These elders serve as the political representatives of Israel. They are the heads of the tribes and families and who thus exercised general authority over the people.

All of them, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, the seventy elders were chosen by God and called specifically and directly by God.

And as God calls them to come to Him, we see in the last part of this first verse what it is that God commands these chosen representatives to do when He tells them to:

Exodus 24:1c ESV

1c worship from afar.

Thus, we see that these who have been chosen by God have been chosen to worship God. Beloved, to be able to legitimately worship God is a privilege that is provided only to those whom God has chosen to salvation.

To truly worship God in spirit and in truth is an honor, it is a blessing. It is not something that anyone should partake in begrudgingly as though it is an inconvenient thing for them to do. As though they partake in it only because they have to do it.

No, those who have been chosen to salvation by God have been chosen to worship God. And thus, God calls these chosen vessels of His to worship Him. To humbly, reverently bow before Him, to lay prostrate before Him, to recognize His eternal magnitude and their wretched unworthiness.

And these are to do so, God says, “from afar”, from a distance, a distance which God has graciously permitted.

This distance is laid out by God for at least two reasons. The first reason why is so that the holiness of God may not be violated. Man, who is naturally unclean, and even in a state of righteousness is far removed from the holy nature of God may only come so near to God without the holiness of God being violated. Indeed, coming nearer to God than that which is commanded by God is an offence and a disgrace to God.

And that reveals to us the second reason why God commands these to worship Him from afar, for as the holiness of God would be violated if those summoned to Him came nearer to Him than that which is commanded, so would these, through their disobedience, be destroyed by God. Thus, it is for their good that God commands them to come only so near and to thus worship from afar.

But we must remember that these are only able to come near to God at all because God had graciously chosen these to come near to Him.

And as we look at the last verse of our reading for today, we see further aspects of God’s sovereign choice, where it says:

Exodus 24:2 ESV

2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

So, here we read something interesting about the sovereign choice of God. We call it a choice obviously because that is what it is, it is God’s choice. And we call the choice sovereign also because that is what it is, it is God’s sovereign choice, it His choice alone. There is none that influences the choice of God. Nothing that moves Him to make a certain decision and not another. It is a sovereign choice, chosen simply because it is God’s good pleasure to do so.

And we see that the choice that God makes here is that Moses alone shall come near unto Him, that those who are with Moses, his brother Aaron, and his sons and the seventy elders of Israel shall worship from afar, and that the people of Israel in general shall not even begin to ascend the mountain.

And this all takes place, not because of anything special or unique about any of the people mentioned, whether it be Moses, Aaron, one of the elders, or one of the people in general.

But rather, Moses comes nearest to God simply because that is what God had determined to do. You may say, “Yes, but God chose Moses to be His chief vessel in the exodus and that’s why God called Moses alone to come near to Him!” and to you I say that you validate my point. Moses was indeed the chief vessel used by God in this matter, and God’s choice of Moses came about simply because it was God’s good pleasure to choose and use Moses.

Aaron, his sons, and the elders come nearer to God than the general people do, but again, that is only because that is what pleased God. Now, you may say, “They are permitted to come closer because they are priests and elders”, but Who do you think made them priests and elders? It was God! And God could have made anyone a priest or an elder, but it was His good pleasure to make these the priests and the elders.

The people in general who were to not even begin to ascend the mountain were not inherently less than Moses or Aaron or the elders, but they had not been chosen by God for this purpose.

And thus, we are reminded of God’s election, indeed, an unconditional election, and it must be so, it must be unconditional, for there is nothing within us that would cause God to be drawn to us and not to another.

In wisdom too high and lofty for me, God saw fit to look upon weak, wretched, depraved sinners like you and I and He said, “You are Mine” “You can come near” “You I have made for the glory of My grace”.

And so it is with the covenant of grace which God brings we as His elect people into. It is a covenant sealed with the blood of Christ Jesus, bringing into and including all those whom God has chosen to salvation before the foundation of the world.

And as we look at the ratification which God had made with Israel here in Exodus chapter 24, so it is that when we approach the Lord’s table, so it is when we partake in His Supper do we experience the continual ratification of the covenant which Christ Jesus has made with His elect people.

It is through this sacrament that we are both reminded of the terms of the covenant, that Jesus died for you, that God has saved you by His grace, and that the blood of Jesus seals our salvation for all eternity, but in it too, just as it was in ancient times, we share a meal with He Who we have made this covenant with, as we now share the supper, the Lord’s Supper with He Who established it.