Would you turn to Exodus chapter
24. I want to read verses 9 through 11. I've entitled this message. Seeing
the God of Israel. See. the God of Israel. Verse 9, Then went up Moses and
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet,
as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were, the body
of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel, he laid not his hand. Also, they saw God. And did eat and drink. That's a very. Awesome passage of scripture,
isn't it? They saw the God of Israel. And they did eat and
drink. And when I read that passage
of scripture, part of me, it's fleshly, I realize that, but
I'm in this. Wouldn't you like to have been
in on that meal? Wouldn't you like to have been there? They
saw. They gazed upon. They had a true mountaintop experience,
didn't they? Of seeing the God of Israel and
eating and drinking in his presence. Now, it is interesting to me
that All that is described when they saw the God of Israel is
what was under his feet. There's no attempt made at describing
his person. Now they saw a body because they
saw something under his feet. And this is what is called a
theophany. a pre-incarnate appearance of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He made many of these appearances
in the Old Testament when he would come and appear. And this
is nobody less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the God
of Israel. All we will ever see of God is
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. But isn't that enough?
You know, he said, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. But his appearance is not described
only what was under his feet, which as we shall see describes
his work. You see, Christ is seen. He's actually seen spiritually.
He's perceived. He's understood. He's beheld
when we see His work. You see, you can't separate the
person of Christ and the work of Christ. His person is known
by His work. And His work is known by His
person. You can't separate these two things. Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter two for a moment? Now, I said I was somewhat jealous. Of course, I'd probably be scared
to be in on this, too. I mean, I'd be nervous, wouldn't
you? I'd be scared. But I feel some measure of envy
of being able to sit and behold and gaze upon the God of Israel
and to eat and drink in His presence, they actually saw God. But do you know the sight they
have is not as great as the sight you and I have tonight. It's
hard to get hold of it, but it's so. Now look what the writer
of the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9. But We see
Jesus. Now, you know, as well as I do,
that he's not talking about a physical sight at this time. He's talking
about a spiritual beholding of him. We see him. That we is a
reference to every single one of God's children. Every believer
has seen the Lord Jesus Christ. He that seeth the Son and believeth
on him hath everlasting life. Every one of God's people have
seen the Lord Jesus Christ. And while I look at this mountaintop
experience, I think, oh, I would have loved to have been there
with the 70 elders, eating and drinking in the very presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sight you and I have tonight
is a greater sight. You know, Peter talked about
seeing the Lord in the flesh. In 2 Peter 1, he talked about
seeing Him in the man of transfiguration. But he said, we have a more sure
word of prophecy than this. Now, they saw Him physically,
but he said, we have something better than this. Knowing this
first, then he talked about the Scriptures. Seeing Him in the
Scriptures. This is a more sure sight. And the writer to the Hebrews
says, we see Jesus. Now notice how we see him. It's
through seeing his work, but we see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. You know,
angels are mighty creatures. Men are somewhat below angels
and he was made lower than the angels. He was made a man and
for the suffering of death, how low he became crowned. with glory and honor that he,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Now, who
every man is, is described in the context of this passage of
scripture. It's obviously not talking about him tasting death
for every man, every son of Adam to ever live. As a matter of
fact, the word man is not even in the original. It could read,
He tasted death for the whole. He tasted death for the all,
everyone that He represented, everyone that He died for. Now
let's go on reading. For it became Him, verse 10, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of One united to Christ,
for which cause he's not ashamed to call them rather. He's not
ashamed to call me his brother, his brother. Little brother,
albeit but brother, I'm a brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
calls me brother. He's not ashamed to own you as
brothers and sisters to himself because of union with him. I
mean, worthy to be his brother. Worthy. Saying. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. Isn't that wonderful? He declares
the name of God to his brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee, and again I'll put my trust in him."
That's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. He's the one who trusted
God completely. And again, behold I and the children
which God hath given me, for as much then as the children
are takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage, For verily, he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took upon him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all
things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and a faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to
succor to help them that are tempted. Now we, every believer,
we see Jesus. And we see him in that passage
of scripture. We've not seen him physically,
but I've seen him with the eye of faith. And if you're a believer,
you have seen him. Now, faith is not blind. You know, some people think of
faith as a leap in the dark. It's a leap in the dark, trusting
somebody to catch us, trusting God to hold you up somehow. It's a leap in the dark. I can
remember seeing one of those Indiana Jones movies and remember
when he gets ready to walk off the precipice and he had to have
faith that somehow it would be caught. He couldn't see it. And
you thought, well, what if it's your faith? And there he walks
on that path, it was he did that, and that's supposed to be faith.
No, that's not faith. Faith is not blind. Faith sees.
Faith sees the Lord Jesus Christ. It sees who, you see, you see
him, and then you believe, and you won't believe until you see
him. But if you see him, you will believe. And if you believe,
it's because you do see him. Look back at our text in Exodus
24. Verse 10, and they saw the God of Israel. They perceived him. They understood
him. They recognized him. They saw
him. And there was under his feet,
as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were, the body
of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not his hand, also they saw God. And there,
that's a different word than the word translated saw in verse
10. It means they gazed upon him. They gazed upon him. Now can you imagine gazing upon
the God of Israel? And he didn't lay his hand on
them in judgment. They were fit to gaze on him. They were welcome
to gaze on him and to eat and drink in his presence. Faith is seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember how the Lord said, blessed
are the pure in heart for they shall see God. They'll see him. Now this pure
in heart, that's the heart God gives. That's the new heart given
in the new birth. And that's what believes. That's what sees
blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Would
you turn with me for a moment to John chapter six. Verse 40. And this is the will of him that
sent me. that everyone which seeth the
Son." You see who He is. You see that He's no mere man.
He's God, the God-man. You see Him in His power, in
His perfections, in His glory, in His all-sufficiency. You see
that He's God. You see that He's man. You see
him and what happens when you see him? Every, this is the will
of him that sent me that everyone would see it. The sun and believeth
on him may have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. You see the sun and you believe
it's a spiritual side of him. And when you see him, you believe
on him. And when you believe on him,
it's because you see him. Faith is not blind. Turn to second
Corinthians chapter four. Second Corinthians chapter 4.
You know, I know what the Lord Jesus Christ looks like. I've
got this whole book to describe to me what he looks like. And
I recognize when I hear another Christ preach because he doesn't
line up with the Christ of this book. We see him. We've got a
beautiful photograph of him. One of these days we're going
to see him face to face, but we know what he looks like. Every believer
knows what he looks like. He's holy. He's sovereign. He's
just. He's gracious. He's merciful.
He's all-powerful. He's all-wise. He's kind. He's meek. He's lowly. We could
just go on and on with these descriptions of the Lord Jesus
Christ from the Scriptures. We see Him. We see the one that
we trust. Look here in 2 Corinthians chapter
4, verse 18. While we look, we look. You look to see. While we look
not at things which are seen, but things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen, they're temporal. They're only
going to last for a little while. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. Now, I'm looking at things that
are not seen. I can't see Him physically, but I see Him as
the right hand of the Father as my righteousness before God.
I see Him. I can't see that I'm perfect
in God's sight, but I know I am because I see Him. I'm united
to Him. We see, we do not look at the things that you can see
the things which are not seen. Let me show you some other examples
of this. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is what's
called the hall of faith. Verse seven. By faith, Noah being
warned of God of things not seen as yet. Moved with fear. prepared an ark to the saving
of his house by the which he condemned the world and became
an heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. Look in verse
17 of the same chapter, by faith, Abraham, when he's tried offered
up Isaac and he that had received the promises. He didn't receive
the actual land, just the promises offered up his only begotten
son of whom it was said that in Isaac should I see be called
accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the
dead from whence also he received him in a figure. He believed
things that he couldn't see physically. Look in verse 22. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, something
that would take place 430 years afterwards. He didn't see it,
but God said it would take place, and therefore he believed it,
and he gave commandment concerning his bones. Verse 27, this is
talking about Moses. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, listen to this,
as seeing him who is invisible. Faith sees. It's not blind. It's not a leap in the dark.
It sees. They saw the God of Israel. Turn back to our text in Exodus
24. And they saw the God of Israel. Now, I love the way the Lord
God, the creator of the universe, so awesome, so majestic, so vast,
so infinite. We can't even describe Him. He
is called the God of Israel. That's very special. Where's
this come from? The God of Israel. Well, let's
see where Israel comes from. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
32. They saw the God of Israel. And if you and I ever see God,
we're going to see him as the God of Israel. Now look here
in Genesis chapter 32. beginning in verse 24. And Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with
him into the breaking of the day. Now, Jacob was scared to
death at this time. And there wrestled a man with
him. Notice, he didn't wrestle the
man. The man wrestled him. The man had an intent in what
he was doing. He was going to pin him down.
He was going to break him. There wrestled a man with him
into the breaking of the day. Verse 25. And when he saw that
he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his
thigh. He brought that out of joint.
I can't imagine how painful that must have been and how debilitating
that must have been. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh
was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, this is
the angel speaking to Jacob, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, here's Jacob's reply. He's, he's in this weakened state.
He said, I will not let thee go except you bless me. He was so desperate. He didn't
have anywhere else to turn. He said, I must have your blessing. I must have your mercy. I must
have your grace. I must have your presence. I
must have your favor. I must have your righteousness.
I must have forgiveness. I must have this. I will not let you go. And I
admire that. And if you and I are brought
to the same place, we'll never have his blessing. When you have
his blessing, it's gonna be because you must have his blessing. You
can't bear not having his blessing. I've talked with one fella here
in the church. It's Paul, David Daniel, and
I love what he said. He said he was grappling with
election, whether or not he was one of the elect. And he was
just grappling. How can I know if I'm one of
the elect? And he said, well, I don't know whether I'm one
of the elect, but I know this, I must have the Lord Jesus Christ. I've
got to have him. And that's where Jacob's at. I don't know if I'm worthy elect,
but I must have his blessing. I can't bear the thought of being
left to myself. I must, I must have him. And I'll tell you what, I feel
that way, don't you? I must have his grace. I cannot stand before
him on my own. If I'm left to myself, I'll go
to hell for sure. I must have his favor. I must have his blessing. I must
have him to look my way in favor. Here's Jacob. I will not let
you go except thou bless me. Now you can hold on. I know he's
mighty strong and he can whip you easy. You'd realize that.
There's no problem in this wrestling match. It's not like he wasn't
able to whip Jacob. He was getting something out
of him. But you can hold on to his feet and not let go. I won't let you go except you
bless me. Verse 27. And he said unto him,
The angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, this also is a theophany. Because
remember, if you go on down, he says, I've seen God face to
face and live. This was the Lord Jesus Christ
he was wrestling with. And he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
said unto him, what's thy name? And he said, Jacob. Now don't
you reckon the Lord knew what his name was? Of course he did. You see, Jacob means something. Turn to Genesis 27. Hold your
finger there and turn to Genesis 27. Verse 35. This is after Jacob had swindled
his brother. And Jacob, you look at the man,
you look at his character, he was a deceitful man. He was a
weak man. There wasn't really much commendable
about the man's character. You read the history of Jacob
and he got into trouble one time after another through deceit
and through lies and subtlety and so on. Jacob, and look what
his brother says about it. Verse 35, this is after his brother,
he swindled his brother again. Verse 35, and he said, thy brother
came with subtlety and have taken away thy blessing. This is, uh,
Isaac speaking of, of Jacob. He came with subtle deceit and
took away your blessing. And he said, Esau said, Is not
he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these
two times. He took away my birthright. Behold,
now he's taken away my blessing. He's a deceitful man. He's a
heel. He's a supplanter. He's no good. What's your name? deceiver. There's not an answer
true to me. I'm a sinful, evil man. What's
your name? Jacob. This is a confession. You know when you come before
him, when you come into his presence, you know something of your own
deceitfulness. You're just disgusted by yourself. You're scared. You
know you're a liar. You know it. You know you've
Fool people, but you can't fool him. You come into his presence
as Jacob. This is his confession of sin.
What's your name? The best thing that could be
said about me is Jacob. Verse 28. And he said, the angel
said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, a
prince with God. For as a prince has thou power
with God and with men and has prevailed. He changed his name
to Israel. I have a new name. I know my name's Todd, just like
old Jacob. Not much to that name, but I've
got a new name. My name is Prince with God. Israel,
I've got the same name as the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the
Lord Jesus Christ is the true Prince with God. He's a Prince
with God. He has power with God. God hears
what he has to say. God responds to him because of
who he is. He has a Prince with God. He has power with God and he's
prevailed. And every believer has that same
name. I'm in Israel. I've been given
His name. I'm a prince with God. Now this
is the covenant of grace. This is because of the blood
of Christ. This is because of Christ's righteousness. This
is because of everything about Him. Everything about Him. United
with Him. I've got the same name. I love
that there in Jeremiah it says, this is the name wherewith He
shall be called, Jehovah Tekin, the Lord our righteousness. It
also says in the three or four chapters over, this is the name
wherewith She shall be called, Jehovah Tekin, the Lord our righteousness. We've got the same name. Same
name. the God of Israel. Anybody who sees God sees him
as the God of Israel. Look in verse 29. And Jacob asked
him and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, wherefore
is it that thou has asked after my name? And he blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place. Peniel. For I have seen God face
to face, and my life is preserved." He saw God. And back to our text
in Exodus 24. Now, they saw the God of Israel,
but I think it's very interesting that no attempt is made to describe
what He looked like. And if there was an attempt,
can you imagine how many portraits would they have tried to make
and idols? And I can't imagine all the idolatry that would have
been created if they were able to actually give some kind of
description to some artists and say, well, here's what, you know
where that would go. But what, what does he describe? What is
described? What's under his feet. Now look
in verse 10. And they saw the God of Israel
and there was under his feet. as it were a paved work of sapphire
stone and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. Under his feet was a paved work
of sapphire stone. Now what do you think when you
think of pavement? Well, the first thing I think of is asphalt or concrete or
something like that. And I think of what roads are
paved with or mortar or something like that. But I look the word
up and you can do the same thing in Strong's Concordance The word
paige means whiteness. Whiteness. He saw a work of whiteness,
a work of dazzling whiteness underneath his feet. You see, he is white. That doesn't mean Caucasian.
That means his hair is white. That's talking about his purity.
That's talking about his holiness. John spake of the whiteness of
his hair. Remember the man of transfiguration? His Clothes became glistering
white, as no fuller can bright them, and his face did shine
as the sun. He is white, and because of his
whiteness, because of his holiness, because of his awesomeness, his
work is white. Turn to Revelation chapter 7. Verse 13, And one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now, the
blood of the Lamb. makes my filthy garment, makes
my filthy purse white and pure as the Cretan snow. His work
is a white work. It makes all of His people white,
pure, holy in God's sight. This is that white work that
He saw that was under His feet. It's what the Lord Jesus accomplished.
And I see who He is by what He accomplished. Turn to Revelation
19. Verse eight. And to her, the church, every
single believer was granted, was graciously given and bestowed
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. What's the righteousness of saints?
You know, I used to read that in It used to kind of bother
me. Righteousness of saints? What is the righteousness of
saints? There's only one answer to that. The righteousness and
merits of Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of the
saints. This is not talking about the
righteous deeds of the saints, as if they have righteous...
Do you have any deeds that would be pure in life? Do you have
anything about you that would be pure? Of course you do. This
is the righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
his work that's under his feet. A paved work of whiteness, paved
with a sapphire stone. Now, you'll remember that this
is one of the stones used for the foundation of the heavenly
Jerusalem. A sapphire stone. A sapphire
was a gem and Very hard. As a matter of fact, as I understand
it, the second hardest except for the diamond. But it was used
to inscribe and to score and to keep a tally. The word actually
means, sapphire, means score or keep a tally. You keep a tally
to see who wins. It has something to do with victory. It has something to do with achievement.
You know, when you play a game, you know, I like what Vince Lombardi
said. He said, if it doesn't matter whether you win or lose,
why keep score? You know, I mean, you want to win, don't you? And
you keep score to see who won. Christ won. Now, this is the
foundation. Christ Jesus, the Lord, has won. He is my victory. And through
him, we're more than conquerors. I'm more than conqueror through
him that loves us. I'm a winner. You know, we go around in our
house, we do each other, we say, loser, loser, you know, when
something doesn't go right, but you know, that's just the way
we do it, aren't we? You know what? Winner, winner, I'm a winner. In Christ, I'm more than a conqueror. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ. I always triumph in Him. I'm always victorious in Him. Now, this is the work of Christ
described back to our text in Exodus 24. And they saw the God of Israel,
and this was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire
stone, white, victorious, and as it were the body of heaven
in its clearness. Now, once again, this is the
work of Christ being described. It is as the body of heaven in
its clearness. Now, heaven. Well, there's where
the birds fly. There's where the sun, that's
the first heaven. There's the sun, the moon, and
the stars, the universe, and they say it's ever-expanding.
I don't know. I don't know how you prove something like that. I
guess it is. That's what I read. But it's vast. You know, the
galaxies, that's the second heaven. And the third heaven is where
the Lord Jesus Christ lives. That's where God is. Now, you
think of the vastness of heaven, the infinity of heaven. We can't
even... fathom it. You know, you think
of the ever-expanding universe just being in the hall of God's
hands. He himself is heaven. The vastness of heaven, this
infinite vastness is what describes the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This paved work, this white work, this victorious work, you think
of the vastness and infinite. Every believer has an infinite salvation. It
can't even be described as a matter of fact. I love the way Paul
calls it. Thanks be unto God. It's an unspeakable gift. It can't even be described. I have the righteousness of God.
You're getting tired of hearing that. I have the righteousness
of God. I have Christ in me. I'm a partaker of the divine
nature. I'm justified. not guilty. I'm sanctified. God says I'm
holy. I am holy. I am holy. I've got the promise of God's
providence working for me. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. I'm a child of God. God's my daddy. He's my father. I'm welcomed into his very presence. I'm always welcomed. He hears
what I've got to say and he cares. That's the vastness of this salvation. It's so infinite. It's so immense.
New creatures in Christ Jesus, a new creation. And I love this
word clearness. He speaks the body of heaven
in his clearness. Now the word means brightness,
transparency. unadulterated, undiluted, uncontaminated,
purity, clean, but I like clearness. Clearness. You know, if something's
clear, you can see it, can't you? I can see clearly. Now you listen
to me real carefully. I can see clearly that salvation's
utterly in Christ. I see clearly that salvation
is all You see that clearly? In your own experience, don't
you know that so? It's all the grace from the beginning to the
end. I see clearly. There's no mistaking about this.
I see clearly that in and of myself, I'm not living sin. I
see that clearly. I don't see it as clear. Probably
if I saw a little bit more clearly, I'd see it more accurately. I
realize that. But I see clearly that I have no ability to save
myself, nothing to commend myself to God. I see clearly the salvations
of the Lord. He chose me. I see clearly that
Christ is a successful Savior. I see clearly that everybody
He died for must be saved. Don't you see that clearly? I
can't stand to hear something contrary to that. When I hear
something that smacks of universal redemption, it just aggravates
me because it's so wrong. It's so dishonorable to the Lord
Jesus Christ. I see clearly that His grace is invincible and irresistible. I see clearly, you know, I was
talking to a fellow, it hadn't been that long ago. He said,
you know, I'm starting to lean toward the doctrines of grace. I thought,
lean? You ain't seen a thing yet. Yeah,
you ever see God, you won't be leaning. That's where you'll
see clearly salvation is of the Lord. Verse 11 of our text, and upon
the nobles of the children of Israel, He laid not His hand. His work makes us fit. There's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He's made
us fit. He's made us meet for the inheritance
of the saints in life. He's not going to lay His hand
on me in judgment. Oh, He's laid His hand on me in mercy, in love,
in grace. This is talking about laying
His hand in judgment. They saw God. No combination to them that are
in Christ Jesus fit for fellowship. Look what it says. And upon the
nobles or the children of Israel, he laid not his hand. Also, they
saw God and did eat and drink. On the contrary, we eat and not
not only is he not going to lay his hand on us in judgment, but
we eat and drink in his presence. That's talking about fellowship.
That's talking about communion. God speaks to me from his word. God speaks to me. God speaks
to me in the preaching of the gospel. God speaks. It's God's voice. And I speak
to him and he hears me through the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Fellowship. Nourishment. What do you reckon they were
eating and drinking? Did you think, I wonder what they were
eating up there? What were they eating? What were they drinking?
Well, it doesn't say, I realize that, but I think I know what
they were eating and drinking. Got a guess? Bread and wine. Bread and wine. I think this
prefigures the Lord's table. What was it that Melchizedek
brought to Abraham bread and wine. I think they were eating
and drinking this bread and wine. Except you eat the flesh of the
son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Now
we've seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Haven't seen him physically.
But here's a glorious thought. One of these days we're going
to see the God of Israel physically. Let's look at one last scripture
in first John chapter three. When I was a kid, they used to
sing this chorus. Isn't it grand to be a Christian?
Isn't it grand? I don't know what kind of chorus
that is, but it is grand to be a Christian, isn't it? It is
grand to see the God of Israel, to know Him. 1 John 3, verse
1. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, when every
eye is going to see him, when he comes through the clouds of
heaven with great glory, On his second return, his advent, we
know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, perfectly
conformed to his image, for we shall see him as he is. Don't you look forward to that?
Seeing him as he is. I like thinking about how he
was on the cross. I don't like thinking about that, but I like
thinking about what he accomplished, but that's not so much what I
don't want to see him as he was. I want to see him as he is. The God of Israel with this white
work. Sapphire stone victorious. so immense that it's bigger than
heaven. And oh, so clear. We shall see
him as he is, and I like what verse three says. And every man
that has this hope in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, what does
he do? He purifies himself, even as he is pure. Let's pray.