Of Angels and Covenants
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Do you remember the 1994 Disney classic Angels in the Outfield? If you don’t, consider yourself blessed. I remember loving it, but that’s when I was a kid and kids are notorious for having bad taste in movies.
The whole premise was ridiculous. A boy prays for the Los Angeles Angels to win the pennant, and so some angels are assigned to make that possible. Christopher Lloyd’s career took a real nose-dive when he signed-on to the role of “Al, the Boss Angel.” If only the Lord actually did dispatch angels to help baseball teams...
What about the TV series Touched by an Angel? 1994 must have been the peak of our country’s obsession with angels because that’s when Roma Downey and Della Reese graced our screens every Wednesday night. We watched, ignoring the terrible theology in exchange for mild entertainment.
It was likely somewhere around 1994 when my sister sang, “Oh-oh, oh-oh, I believe there are angels among us, sent down to us from somewhere up above; they come to you and me in our darkest hours, to show us to live, to teach us how to give, to guide us with the light of love.”
I can think of another dozen or so instances throughout my childhood in which there was some portrayal of an angel: Precious Moments and Dreamsicles and Willow Tree figurines; Christmas tree toppers; bumper stickers cautioning us to not drive faster than our guardian angels can fly; John Travolta in the movie Michael; a cartoon angel on one shoulder and cartoon devil on the other.
People are fascinated with angels: television and movies and books. As each of the myriad examples make clear, there is great misconception and incredible misunderstandings about angels. They don’t look anything like Roma Downey or Christopher Lloyd or chubby, little, winged-babies hanging out on the clouds playing their harps.
When the Lord says in Exodus 23:20 that He is sending an angel ahead of Moses and the Israelites, we need to have the right picture in mind. We need the Biblical picture in mind.
The angel here is a mighty and majestic warrior; this is the commander of the Lord’s army.
From the description given here, some think this “angel/messenger” is Moses (but Moses doesn’t enter the Promised Land and, as such, can’t lead the people in the Promised Land). Some think it’s Joshua or the archangel Michael (but neither Joshua nor Michael can forgive sin).
So, who is this angel?
20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
The angel could be the Eternal, Pre-Incarnate, Second Person of the Trinity = Jesus.
God’s name is in Him. He can forgive sins. Like this angel (we know from what the NT tell us) Jesus is our guardian and guide. He speaks to us with the authority and message of God. Like the angel, Jesus bears the name of God, because He is the image of the invisible God.
It’s intriguing to think about. It’s curious, even. Might this be Jesus with the Lord’s people, leading them, guiding them along their way?
What we know for certain is that this angel is from God. The Lord Yahweh sent him to His people and the Lord Himself is going to do a mighty work on behalf of His people.
God is the focus of these verses. Just notice the pronouns. First person singular all over the place. The Lord Yahweh says:
I am sending an angel...
to the place I have prepared...
do all that I say...
I will be an enemy to your enemies...
I will wipe them out...
And on and on it goes throughout the rest of Exodus 23. What’s going to happen is purely of the Lord.
God is going to win the victory. God is going to work on behalf of His people to bring about His purposes for their lives.
Trust in God’s Victory
Trust in God’s Victory
23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.
Do you see everything the Lord is going to do for His people?! They are going to make it to the place He has prepared for them, not on their ability or military prowess, not on their good looks, not on a wing and a prayer.
They are going to make it because the Lord will be victorious for them. It’s done. The Lord hath spoken.
Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites don’t stand a chance. The Lord says, “I will wipe them out.”
The Lord even sends hornets to protect and fight for His people.
28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
I will send the hornet ahead of you... I kind of wish that was my nickname...
This could be figurative (some think by this the Lord means He’s going to send Egypt ahead of the Israelites and that Egypt is going to take care of the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites; one of the symbols of Egypt was the hornet).
This could be figurative, or it could be quite literal. Imagine a swarm of hornets, thousands of hornets going after the people of the land.
(Tommy Boy Clip)
I’ve seen some of you in a Tommy Boy-style freak out when there’s a bee or a wasp around—some of you might be allergic (and I’ll grant you your fear), but many of you are just scared.
I don’t know if the Lord sent actual hornets to drive-out the inhabitants of the land; it’d be pretty awesome if He did. And I know that He could; the Creator of all things has at His disposal whomever/whatever He pleases. Even hornets do His bidding.
What I know for certain is this: the God of Israel, the Lord Yahweh, is once again fighting for His people. You could say God was their “Holy Bouncer.”
He went before them, and through His agents and power He would strike fear into the enemies.
God—the All-Powerful Creator and Sustainer—goes before you in battle. How can you be concerned about losing? Why would you not trust Him and have faith in His being victorious.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne: "If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me."
Do you trust the Lord’s victory?
Where our eternal salvation is concerned, the victory is already won. On Calvary’s cross Jesus defeated sin; death was crushed to death. When Jesus rose from the grave, He rose victorious over our enemy.
The victory is won. When we face smaller battles, we do not face them alone. God is with us. In fact, I know One who was named “God with us”—our Savior, Immanuel, Jesus Christ.
I will trust the Victor to be victorious in my stead.
Trust God’s Victory and:
Obey God’s Commands
Obey God’s Commands
We are pretty good spectators, aren’t we? We love to watch football and baseball and volleyball and golf and hockey. We go to concerts and plays. We spend hours in front of the television and at the movie theater. We can spectate all day long.
But we’re called to more than that. We are called to be more than passive spectators. Trusting God, putting our faith in Him, is crucial, foundational. It’s faith in Christ that saves (and nothing else).
When we truly believe, when we belong to Him by faith, when we trust Him—really and truly trust Him—we will, as an overflow of our trust/faith/belief, obey Him.
So God promises to provide the victory. And He will.
What are the Israelites to do? Sit back, relax, watch? Are they to be spectators only?
What did God expect of His people? Obedience.
What does God expect of us? Obedience.
God gives instruction:
21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.
32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”
Here the Lord gives all sort of instruction, guidance, imperatives for obedience— “Do this. Don’t do this.”
They were forbidden to worship the gods of the Canaanites. And they were to destroy the idols and sacred stones of the Canaanites.
The Lord demands and deserves our exclusive allegiance.
Instead, the people of God (here in Exodus and here today in this room) are quick to worship people and stuff instead of the Creator.
Anything, even a good thing, can become an idol if it becomes an ultimate thing.
What is it you worship and love more than God? God says idols are a snare, a trap. We aren’t merely to avoid these idols. We are to destroy them.
I will obey the commands of my Commander, the One who deserves by obedience.
Trust God’s Victory, Obey God’s Commands, and
Receive God’s Blessing
Receive God’s Blessing
God promises to fight for His people and to bless His people as they serve Him.
The Lord promises to provide plenty of food and water, good health, large families, long life, and the Promised Land—the inheritance He had prepared for them.
25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
Understand this: God gave these promises to a specific people at a specific time for a specific purpose. God promised to protect and provide for this people from which the Messiah would come.
This does not mean that if you obey the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law that you’ll never get sick, never starve, have lots of children, and live a long life.
God gave the people of Israel a specific promise, at a specific time, for a specific purpose—and it was a good promise.
But with the new covenant—for those who have faith in Jesus—we have a better promise and we will receive a better promised land.
Jesus is the blessing beyond all blessings. He is the fullness of all our hearts’ desires. There is nothing we truly need apart from Him.
All that God has promised will come true. All of His blessings are ours in Christ Jesus.
Trust. Obey. Receive.
>Here in Exodus 24, the covenant is established.
Chapters 20-23 (the giving of the Ten Words and the elaboration and application of the Ten Words) lay out the terms of the covenant, and chapter 24 tells how it was confirmed.
Exodus 24 is basically the story of a worship service; the first of its kind.
There is:
a call to worship
the reading of God’s Word
a confession of faith and commitment to obedience
the sharing of a holy meal
It begins with a call to worship:
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”
Extra credit if you know who Nadab and Abihu are...
Nadab and Abihu are Aaron’s two eldest sons who would have been the next high priests in the line. But they die before they take over for their father (fire from the presence of the Lord consumes them in judgment (Leviticus 10)).
The Lord calls 74 people to worship. And of those 74, Moses alone is allowed to approach the Lord. Moses was the chosen mediator between God and the Israelites.
Moses represented the people before God. Moses stood between the Holy God and a sinful people.
We can only draw close to God and be in His presence if we come on His terms, in the way He has appointed—through an appointed mediator.
In Exodus it was through Moses and the priests.
Now, it’s only through Jesus that we come to God; Jesus is it.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,
God has set the terms for the covenant and the people affirm the covenant.
3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”
Moses tells the people everything the Lord says. In one voice, they declare their intent—Everything the Lord has said we will do.
Moses then writes down everything the Lord has said—covenants were always written down in order to be finalized. And then Moses builds an altar for the covenant had to be sealed with blood.
4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar.
After the covenant is written down (finalized) and sealed with blood, Moses takes the written Word and read it to the people.
7 Then he 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.”
They’ve already declared their intent—Everything the Lord has said we will do—now, they promise to obey it and confirm it—We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.
It’s like a wedding ceremony where you both declare your intention and make a promise. You say “I do” and you say your vows.
The blood that came from the burnt offering and fellowship offering and sealed the covenant is now sprinkled on the people:
8 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 all these words.”
It sounds gross and it probably was, but the symbolism is so important.
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
In terms of sin and forgiveness, without blood, there can be no access to God because there is no forgiveness of sin.
Jesus ushered-in the new covenant, how? Through the shedding of His own blood. We see this in the Lord’s Supper, in communion. Jesus gave us this to commemorate our forgiveness.
Jesus tells us that the cup represents His blood which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
The people unanimously agree to keep the commands and ordinances of the Lord.
The Lord ordered them in Exodus 23:22 to do all He says. We know that this will prove to be impossible. Indeed it is impossible.
For the people to agree to keep the commands/ordinances the Lord sets down is the right response. And I’m sure that really was their heartfelt intention. But it would prove to be impossible.
Indeed, it is impossible.
The Israelites’ obedience did not last long. Moses steps away for a few days and they disobey immediately. They’re a pretty good example of how not to behave.
Truth is, we all, like Israel, fail to obey. We cannot obey perfectly. The law was never meant to save, just to show our need of a Savior. So we look to the One who did obey perfectly, the One who provides us with His righteousness. The blood of Christ, shed for you—a new and better covenant speaks a new and better word: “He has washed us with His blood!”
>74 people ascended Mt. Sinai to represent Israel in the covenant meal.
What a meal—dining with God on God’s mountain!
They even catch a glimpse of God (vv. 10-11).
Now we know that no one can see God and live:
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
So they probably saw God vaguely—a glimpse of His feet and the pavement beneath made of lapis lazuli.
The people didn’t die after seeing God because they likely only had a partial view and because the meeting and the meal was God’s idea. They had an invitation!
They got a glimpse of His majesty. They got to eat and drink in His presence. It’s the most incredible privilege: to share a meal with the Almighty. We can’t begin to imagine, and yet, someday our frail imaginations of what that would be like will be surpassed with the reality of a meal with Him; we will dine with the Resurrected Jesus one day.
To share a meal is a symbolic act of friendship. It shows that they have fellowship with God thanks to the work of the mediator and the sacrifice and blood.
By Jesus’ sacrifice and blood, we are reconciled to God—that is, we are made friendly with God. This is the only way into fellowship with Him.
After the covenant meal, the Lord calls to Moses:
12 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 law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
Moses ascends the mountain and the cloud covers it. Moses stayed on that mountain for forty days and forty nights, in the presence and glory of God.
“Lucky Moses!”
Let me tell you: we have it even better than Moses, and certainly better than the Israelites. The glory of God was made clear to us in Jesus Christ. We have seen [God’s] glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We trust in Christ, in His victory. We seek to obey Him. By faith in Him, we receive all the blessings. We who were once far off have been invited to come near by the One who was obedient in our place. He sacrificed Himself, poured out His blood, and forgave us our sins so that we can enjoy fellowship with God.
The Israelites had a pretty sweet set-up. Ours is better still, by far: Jesus is our victor, our blessing, our sacrifice, and our glory.