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 envious. Would you like to be in on that
meal? Would 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 had
seen me. Have seen the father. But his
appearance. He's 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. And look what the writer
of the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter two, verse nine. 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 has
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 chapter 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 talks 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 and bringing many sons unto glory
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings
for both he that sanctified 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. 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 you, 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 and he couldn't see it.
And you thought, well, let's fix your faith. And there he
walks on that path 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 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. understood
it. 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 and
birthed in. 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
him 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. Pure in heart,
that's the heart God gives us, 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? This is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone would seeeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. You see the Son, 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 2
Corinthians chapter 4. Second Corinthians chapter four.
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. 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 and 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 7. 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 strived
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 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. 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 does
this come from? The God of Israel. 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. Twenty four. And Jacob. Was left alone. And there wrestled a man with
him. Into the breaking of the day
and 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 going to be because you must have his blessing.
You can't bear not having his blessing. I've talked with one
fellow 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 going to be elected. And he was
just grappling. How can I know if I'm going to
be elected? And he said, well, I don't know whether I'm going
to be elected, 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 one of the
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've left him 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
swindled his brother again. Verse 35. And he said, thy brother
came with subtlety and hath taken away thy blessing. This is Isaac
speaking of Jacob. He came with subtlety and 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 his name? Jacob. He is a deceiver. There's not an ounce
of truth. 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
fooled 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 is 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. And 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
him. I've got the same name. I love
that there in Jeremiah, it says this is the name by which he
shall be called, Jehovah's Akin, the Lord our righteousness. It
also says in the third or fourth chapters over, this is the name
by which she shall be called, Jehovah's Akin, 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 hast 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. Now they saw the God of Israel,
but I think it's very interesting that no attempt is made to describe. And if there was an attempt,
can you imagine how many portraits would they have tried to make
and I can't imagine all the idolatry that would have been created
if they were able to actually give some kind of description
and say, well, here's what you know where that would go. But
what what does he describe? What is described was 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 its 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 do the same thing in Strong's concordance. The word paid 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 brighten, 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 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 8. 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 and 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 is the righteousness of the saints.
This is not talking about the righteous deeds of the saints
as if they had righteous. Do you have any deeds that would
be pure in life? 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. Sapphire was a gem and very hard. As a matter of fact, as I understand
it, the second hardest compared 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, 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 get 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. Here you think of the ever-expanding
universe just being in the hollow 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 be described as a matter
of fact. I love the way Paul called it,
thanks be unto God, but it's unspeakable here. It can't be
described. I have the righteousness of God.
Give me power to hear Him now. 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
promise working for me. We know that all things work
together for good today in the blood of 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 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 is utterly
in Christ. I see clearly that salvation
is all of grace. You see that clearly? In your
own experience, don't you even know that so? It's all of grace
from the beginning to the end. I see clearly, there's no mistaking
about this, I see clearly in and of myself, I'm not going
to 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. Christ, 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? Now,
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. 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. What? Lean? You haven't seen a thing yet.
If you ever see God, you won't be leaning. That's where you'll
see clearly salvation is of the Lord. 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. Always laid his hand on me in
mercy, in love, in grace. But this is talking about laying
his hand on me in judgment. They saw God and they lived. No condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. Fit for fellowship. Look what
it says. And upon the nobles of 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 do not 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. I don't know what kind of course
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 chapter 3
verse 1. Behold, what manner of love.
The father 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 does 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.
See 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 did he do? He purified himself,
even as he is pure. Let's pray.