July 3, 2005
Exodus 24:1-18
We are still at Mount Sinai. We will be at Mount Sinai for several more weeks. The whole rest of the book takes place at Mount Sinai. God has redeemed His people and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai. And He has come to Mount Sinai in power. He has "touched down" in the most amazing way. Something that Steven Spielberg could never come close to approximating on film:
God has come in His holiness!
And to His redeemed people, God has given a Law: 10 Commandments and a series of laws often called the "Book of the Covenant."
And now, in chapter 24, God is set to ratify, to confirm, to clinch a covenant relationship with His people, Israel.
In chapter 24, God and Israel clinch their covenant.
This is "closing" on their contract. It is "signature time."
These two parties are going to enter into a binding relationship initiated by God and accepted by Israel. God is going to become in a new and special way–Israel’s God. And Israel is going to become in a new and special way–God’s people.
And the ceremony of covenant confirmation will include...blood.
"The Blood of the Covenant."
I’m going to read Exodus chapter 24 to you now. And as I read it, I want you to not only observe the details of this covenant ratification, but I also want you to think about how this Old Covenant Confirmation points towards the New Covenant that we have just celebrated in bread and cup.
The pointers should be obvious if you are looking for them.
Let’s read. Exodus chapter 24, verse 1.
"Then he [that is, God] 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, but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.’
[God is holding a special meeting. Everyone is included, but not everyone is invited. Priestly leaders are invited but only so far up. Moses is the only one who is to go all the way. The invitation has been offered. Verse 3.]
When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws [chapters 20-23], they responded with one voice, ‘Everything the LORD has said we will do.’
[Remember last week what we saw that God requires? Worshipful obedience. Obedient worship. Israel is committing themself to that kind of obedience. It will not last. It’s the right response. But we’ll see in chapter 32 that it won’t last. But is is the right response. ‘Everything the LORD has said we will do.’ Verse 4.]
Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said [chapters 20-23 are written down and put in a book–the Book of the Covenant]. 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.
[The people are allowed near this altar. It’s at the base of the mountain. And it stands for the people. Verse 5.]
Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.
[There are no true Levitical priests yet. Perhaps these young men are the forerunners to those priests. Perhaps they are the firstborn sons who were redeemed at the Passover. They kill lambs and goats and calves and bulls for a sacrifice. Verse 6.]
Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls [one half], and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. [Propitiation of the wrath of God. Atonement. Sins paid for. Sins redeemed. Verse 7.]
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people [reminding them what they were getting themselves into]. They responded, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.’ [We accept this covenant.]
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.’
[Can you imagine having blood sprinkled on you like this? When one of our children was born, when I cut the umbilical cord, the blood was under pressure and it sprayed all over the room–all over the equipment, all over my clothes, my mother-in-law, everything. This was Moses taking bowls of blood from freshly slaughtered animals and sprinkling them on the people–how, I really don’t know. But it was dramatic! "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." Verse 9, the leaders ascend Mount Sinai.]
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel [!]. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. [They saw the God of Israel? This same book (Exodus 33:20) says that no-one can see God and live! V.11] But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank [!].
[Now, I don’t think they really saw God. Not in the sense of seeing God’s face. The Bible clearly says no one has ever seen God (except God Himself). (John 1:18). No one can directly see God’s glory and live. But these men "saw God!" They had a vision of God that was real, and they did not die. Instead, they ate and drank in His presence. Wow!
I love how verse 10 talks about this vision of God. It seems to say that they basically only saw under God’s feet! They saw God’s footstool and that was enough to blow them away. "Under his feet was something like (notice how there are no words to describe it accurately–something like...) a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself." God is enthroned above the heavens. And seeing His footstool is about all that Moses can describe. And then Moses is invited further up and further in. V.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 commands I have written for their instruction.’ Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. [He leaves the other behind.] He said to the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.’ [Leaving Aaron in charge doesn’t turn out to be such a good idea.] When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. [And Moses went up into it!] Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights." [NIV]
Now, I want to point out 3 features of this Covenant Confirmation and talk about how they relate to the New Covenant.
The first is a Mediator. #1. A COVENANT MEDIATOR.
Who is the covenant mediator in Exodus chapter 24? It’s Moses, right?
Everyone is entering into the covenant (even God!), but Moses is the go-between. He is mediating this covenant. V.1
"Then he 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, but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.’"
Moses is serving as the Mediator of the Covenant. God talks to Moses. Moses talks to the people. The people talk to Moses. Moses talks to God. He is the mediator. The go-between.
Does the New Covenant have a mediator?
Yes, it does. A better mediator! "There is one mediator (now) between God and man–the Man Christ Jesus."
The Book of Hebrews is dedicated to proving Christ to be a better mediator than Moses. (Especially chapter 3.) And to be mediator of a better covenant, built on better promises.
Moses was a great mediator. "Found faithful in all God’s house." But Jesus is a greater mediator. The greatest imaginable. The difference between a servant and a son!
Our go-between was both God and Man. The perfect mediator. And therefore, the perfect mediation. Hebrews 9:15.
"Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant."
Do you know this mediator?
He is the only way to an "eternal inheritance" and freedom from sin.
The Old Covenant required a mediator. The New Covenant has a new and better mediator.
Second, THE SACRIFICE OF THE COVENANT.
The confirmation of this covenant required a blood sacrifice. Something had to die. V.4 again.
"[Moses] 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. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 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.’ 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.’"
"The Blood of the Covenant."
Now, I don’t know all of what that means. It appears to mean, for one thing, that this blood on the altar was (in some sense) blood on God. That is to say, God is committing Himself to this covenant, and He is promising His death, His blood, if He doesn’t keep His end of the bargain.
And of course, that means that in some sense, the blood on the people stands for their obligation. "We will obey." And you can kill us if we don’t.
But there is surely something deeper going on here. This blood is an atoning sacrifice. It stands for a death that is propitious. A death that satisfies wrath. A death that cleanses and makes holy.
I know this from Hebrews chapter 9, too. You might want to turn there this time. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 16. The one right after the one about the mediator that I just read to you. Hebrews 9:16.
"In the case of a will [also the Greek word for "Covenant"], it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died [somebody has got to die!]; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people [Exodus chapter 24], he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.’ In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and [here’s the reason!] without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." [Hebrews 9:16-22]
This is not just blood of commitment. This is blood that provides forgiveness. And cleansing.
And there is a blood sacrifice in the New Covenant, isn’t there? Jesus’ blood.
And Jesus’ blood is a better sacrifice. For lots of reasons. Hebrews goes into it again and again and again. Here’s one reason. It doesn’t need repeating. Skip down a few verses in Hebrews 9. To verse 25.
"Christ did [not ] enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."
The New Covenant has a sacrifice. And it, too, is bloody. But it is better.
What did Jesus say on the night He was betrayed?
On the night that He passed the cup to His disciples?
"This is the New Covenant in my blood."
Doesn’t that sound a lot like Exodus chapter 24, verse 8?
Jesus is claiming to be the New Covenant Sacrifice. Whose blood must be sprinkled on His people.
And that’s just what happened.
1 Peter chapter 1 says this, "God's elect [are] strangers in the world...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood..."
The Sacrifice of the Covenant.
The Blood of the Covenant.
Sprinkled on us.
In one sense, we drink it–symbolically. Deeply meaningfully.
In another sense, we were sprinkled by it. We were claimed by it. We were committed by it. We were washed and cleansed by it.
What Can Wash Away My Sin?
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
What Can Make Me Whole Again?
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
Oh! Precious Is the Flow That Makes Me White As Snow
No Other Fount I Know, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus (Robert Lowry)
This is the blood of the covenant, that YHWH has made with you!
Nothing but the Blood Of Jesus.
The Sacrifice of the Covenant.
And #3. THE MEAL OF THE COVENANT.
Having been sprinkled by the blood, they were prepared to go up the mountain and eat in God’s presence.
They saw God (or at least the soles of His shoes!), and they ate and drank.
Now, you need to know that in Ancient Near East, most covenants were confirmed by a covenant meal. There are several examples of this in the Old Testament itself.
This meal symbolized the fellowship, the communion, that was now present between God and His people, Israel. It was made possible by a Mediator and a Sacrifice. And it was true fellowship between God and Man.
"They saw God, and they ate and drank." Probably what was left of the bull fellowship offerings of verse 5.
Does the New Covenant have a meal?
Yes, we just ate it. Did you know that you were eating a Covenant Meal?
Of course, the Lord’s Supper is more of a remembrance meal than a covenant confirmation meal. We don’t eat it again and again because God needs to re-affirm His covenant with us. We eat it again and again to remind us of what it took for us to come into fellowship with Him.
Jesus’ body and blood. His death.
But it is a covenant meal. And, in a sense, when we eat it again and again, we are re-affirming our faith in His covenant with us.
And because it is a New Covenant meal, it is a better covenant meal than the one in Exodus 24. Yes, they saw God and ate. But only a glimpse. Only a shadow of what we know of God now that Christ has come! And only a fraction of what we will see when we see Him as He is.
John chapter 1, verse 18: "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."
"No one has ever seen God [not even Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu], but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side [the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant], has made him known."
Our covenant meal is a better covenant meal. Because of Jesus.
Our fellowship with God (now enjoyed in heaven by Moses and his brothers who had faith) is much greater than they knew even right here on the burning mountain.
Because we know Jesus.
He has made God known.
Now, some of you "practical types" are wondering if we are ever going to get to application. This has been a very theological message, so far. Deep and meaningful, but somewhat abstract.
You’re wondering, "So what?"
So what if there is a Mediator, Sacrifice, and Meal of the New Covenant?
What difference does it make?
I’ve got two points of application this morning.
Turn to Hebrews 10 for the application.
Here’s the first one.
#1. WE MUST HAVE OUR HEARTS SPRINKLED BY THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT.
If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your King and Rescuer, you have never had your heart sprinkled with the blood of Christ.
"Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
Look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22.
Look what it says the blood can do.
"Our hearts [can be] sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience."
Is your conscience guilty? It should be. You and I are sinners who have rebelled against a holy God in thought, deed, and attitude. We deserve wrath for our sin. Our consciences are guilty before God.
"Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
But Jesus’ blood, Jesus’ death, is powerful to redeem us, to cleanse us, to make us clean before God, to give us forgiveness and set us free from sin.
We need a savior. We need to be saved.
And Jesus blood saves.
For my pardon this I see,
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
For my cleansing, this my plea
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
Oh! Precious Is the Flow That Makes Me White As Snow
No Other Fount I Know, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
Do you know this Mediator? You must be sprinkled with His blood to be saved.
Turn from your ways of trying to live your life and put your trust in this Mediator as your Rescuer and Your King. And you will have a heart that is sprinkled by His blood.
By faith, you will become a participant in the New Covenant which was inaugurated in His blood.
I invite you today to be sprinkled.
Most of us in this room have. And that leads us to application #2.
WE MUST LIVE LIKE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SPRINKLED BY THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT.
And no lip-service here. We need to live like it. That’s the point of Hebrews chapter 10, verses 22 through 25. The author makes 5 points of application for those who have been sprinkled by this blood. V.22
"Let us (#1) draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."
Are you drawing near to God? What does your prayer-life look like? What does your worship-life look like? Are you coming to God in full assurance of faith? Draw near to God. I was struck two weeks ago when were visiting that church in Gaithersburg with how sincerely and heart-full they were visibly drawing near to God. We can do that because our hearts are sprinkled! Draw near to God. #2. Verse 23.
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
If your heart has been sprinkled by the blood of the New Covenant, don’t back down! Persevere! Move forward in faith. In hope. Don’t waver. Don’t pretend you don’t know Jesus when you are at work. Don’t get second thoughts about following him when you are given an opportunity to give testimony. Don’t think about going back to your old way of life. Hold unswervingly to the hope you profess. God is faithful! He will keep His end of the covenant! Trust Him. #3. Verse 24.
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."
Let’s get in each others’ faces and move each other towards love and good deeds. Actions not just words. Sprinkled hearts lead toward Christ-like lives. Live the life. You have been sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. A better covenant! Not just one that condemns. Not just one that shows us how we should live but doesn’t empower us to do it. But a New Covenant that is written our hearts. And actually works in us what which it requires! You have been sprinkled with that blood! And it has power to make you holy and help others be holy. Do it. Spur one another on toward love and good deeds. #4 and #5. Verse 25.
"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but [#5] let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
Stop Dating the Church! Don’t pull away from other Christians. Get into a small group and encourage the dickens out of one another.
Get in each other’s face and say, "Your heart has been sprinkled by the blood of the covenant. Live like it!"
We Must Live like Those Who Have Been Sprinkled by the Blood of the Covenant.
If you have, it should affect every area of your life.
We should live holy lives. Because the God who sprinkled us is holy. Exodus 24:17, "To the Israelites, the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain."
He hasn’t gotten any less holy!
And the Blood of the Covenant brings us into fellowship with Him so that we are now seated at His table.
And through that fellowship with Him, we too, can be holy.
We Can Live As Those Who Have Been Sprinkled by the Blood of the Covenant.
We can draw near.
We hold to the hope we profess.
We can spur one another on to love and good deeds.
We can keep meeting together.
And we can encourage one another...all the more as we see the Day approaching.
The Day when faith shall become sight. The clouds be rolled back as Scroll.
And we see God. As He really is. We will see God.
Because of the Blood of the Covenant.
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