Let's turn tonight to Exodus
chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24. This chapter
begins with the Lord calling Moses and others to come and
worship afar off. And he said unto Moses, come
up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the
elders of Israel, and worship you afar off. And Moses alone
shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come nigh, neither
shall the people go up with him. They were called to come up and
worship afar off. What a difference between the
old dispensation and the new dispensation. As I look at that
word there, worship afar off, I think about the leper. In Matthew
chapter 8, when the Lord came down from the mountain and he
came and worshiped the Lord, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. He came right up to the Lord
Jesus Christ and the Lord did will his cleansing. I think of
the verse in James that says, draw nigh to God and he will
draw nigh to thee. But in this old dispensation,
they were called to worship afar off. But as we go through this
chapter, we will see that before they go up to worship, In verses
three through seven, they're going to confirm, or Moses, rather,
is going to confirm the covenant that God made with Israel here
at Mount Sinai. And I've divided the message
into two parts. The first part concerns the confirming
of the covenant, and the second part Moses and the elders who
were called to go up upon Mount Sinai to worship. So first the
covenant being confirmed, verses three through eight. And Moses
came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all
the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said,
all the words which the Lord has said will we do. And Moses
wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning
and built an altar under the hill. and 12 pillars according
to the 12 tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the
children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half
of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled
on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant
and read in the audience of the people and they said, all that
the Lord has said will we do and be obedient. And Moses took
the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, behold,
the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning
all these words. Now, a few days before this took
place, we know the children of Israel had come to Mount Sinai. And we read about that in chapter
19. And Moses received from the Lord a message. And he told the
people that God who had delivered them out of Egypt, they'd just
been out three months when they came to Mount Sinai. And Moses
told the people that God would make a covenant with them, the
God who had delivered them and brought them to Mount Sinai. And in this covenant, there would
be stipulations on their part, stipulations that they must do. And then there was blessings
which were promised by their obedience. And the people responded,
all that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. The Lord then, this
is, I'm going to bring us up from chapter 19 to this chapter. The Lord then told Moses to make
sure that no one came up on that mountain. In fact, he told him
two times to to somehow secure the mountain, Mount Sinai, so
that no person would come and touch that mountain or animal.
And if they did, they would be destroyed. They would be killed
immediately. Well, we read that Mount Sinai
was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in
fire. and the smoke thereof ascended
as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And in Hebrews, we learned that
Moses himself said he feared greatly. Then chapter 20, that's
in chapter 19, then in chapter 20, it opens with these words,
and God spoke all these words saying, and we're given the 10
commandments. God spoke, many believe, and
as you read through this, it seems that this is the case,
that God spoke from heaven, the 10 Commandments, and the people
heard. They heard the words, the 10
words, and all the people heard. Then it was the people asked
Moses to be a mediator. Speak thou with us, and we will
hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. If you look
back to chapter 20, let me point this out to us. Chapter 20, verse
one, we read, and God spake all these words. Say, and then we
have the commandments, the 10 words. God spake. And as I said, many believe,
and it seems to be so, that God spoke these words from heaven
and the people heard. But if you look down further
in that chapter, verse 22, we read, and the Lord said unto
Moses, do you see the difference there? In verse one, God spake
all these words. Then in verse 22, and the Lord
said unto Moses. And what we have from that point
through chapters 21, 22, and 23 are judgments, are judgments
which God gave Moses, which comprise the law along with the 10 commandments. And our Lord said, search the
scriptures. He told this to some religious
people when he was here in the flesh. He said, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have life, but they are they that
testify of me. And so as we've looked at at
least three types in these judgments, we look first of all, the first
judgment that was given concerned the Hebrew servant. And what
a beautiful picture that is of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came
into this world not to be served, but to serve and give his life
a ransom for many. And why did that man remain a
servant? Because he loved his master,
he loved his wife, and he loved his children. Isn't that a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved God Almighty with all
his heart, all his mind, all his soul? as we are commanded
to do, but we've all failed, but he loved God, his father.
And not only that, but he loved his wife, that is the church,
and the church is also his seed, his children. So he loved the
father, he loved his wife, and he loved his children. And then
we looked at the type of the cities of refuge, and these are
just hinted at here in Exodus, But we thought about the fact
that Christ, he's the sinner's refuge. He's the sinner's refuge. I mean, one day soon, God's going
to come in judgment. And those who are not in the
refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ, they're going to be punished
with everlasting damnation, separation from God Almighty. There's a
refuge for sinners and that refuge is Christ. And we looked at the
contrast mainly between the cities of refuge and the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then we looked at three feasts
that were the three annual feasts that are mentioned in these verses
from chapter 20 to here we are in chapter 24 now. covenant is being confirmed here. And it's interesting that at
least three times, when you read through these chapters, at least
three times when Israelites, the Israelites, when they heard
the words of the covenant, they said the same thing every time.
All that the Lord has said, we will do. We see it two times
here in these verses that we're looking at tonight. And there
are three things that are brought out about Moses confirming the
covenant with the nation of Israel. First of all, he built an altar,
verse four. And Moses wrote all the words
of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar
under the hill and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of
Israel. Now God had given him commandments
about how to build an altar, remember? Look back in chapter
20, one of the first things that God commanded after giving the
commandment concerning the Hebrew servant in chapter 20, verse
24, We read, an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt
sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy
sheep and thy oxen in all places where I record my name. I will
come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me
an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, for
if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps
upon mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. So the first thing we read that
Moses did in confirming this covenant that they agreed to.
They agreed to, at this point, two times already. He built an
altar. And I'm sure, as the scripture
says, the altar had 12 pillars. And I would imagine those pillars
were made of stones for each of the tribes of Israel. And they couldn't use a tool
on those stones. Doesn't that bring out the depravity
of man, the sinfulness of man, that if we even try to make an
altar unto God, upon which to worship him or approach unto
him, that if we put our hand to it, it's polluted. And isn't that so concerning
the work of salvation? the work of salvation, when the
Lord Jesus Christ said, it is finished. If man tries to say,
well, yes, he did his part. Now we have to do our part. No,
no. If we do our part, it's polluted.
It's not accepted of the Lord. Yes. And so that's the first
thing that Moses did. The first thing, yes, he built
an altar. And second, he had young men, the scripture here
says, he had young men offer burnt offerings and sacrifice
peace offerings. Now, it's useless as far as I'm
concerned to speculate as to who these young men were. I would
just mention this. The tribe of Levi, at this point,
the tribe of Levi had not been set apart to the priesthood.
So until the tribe of Levi was set apart, usually the head of
every home was a priest in that house. And these young men, whoever
they were, they offered offerings of oxen and the The offerings were not sacrifices
of atonement either. We notice that. They were peace
offerings, burn offerings and peace offerings. Verse five,
and sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burn
offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. Not sin offerings, but burn offerings
and peace offerings. A burn offering showed complete
surrender unto God. As these five offerings will
be given in the book of Leviticus, the first offering is the burn
offering. And it pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ completely dedicated unto God. The whole animal was burned. And then the peace offerings,
of course, is a picture of fellowship that believers have with the
Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and with other believers. And the third thing about this
confirming this this covenant, the blood was then sprinkled
upon the altar. Notice verse six, and Moses took
half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood
he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant
and read in the audience of the people. And they said, now here's
the third time. He went back over this covenant
one more time. read all the words of this covenant,
the book that he had written, the words that the Lord had given
him, and the people responded a third
time, all that the Lord has said will we do and be obedient. And then Moses sprinkled that
blood that was caught, he sprinkled some on the altar, he sprinkled
some on the people. We're talking about a million
people. Of course, he didn't sprinkle blood on every person
there, but on the elders, the 70 that are being called up with
Moses and Aaron and his two sons to worship the Lord. No doubt
it was upon those elders of Israel, which were representative of
all the 12 tribes. Now, I want you to keep your
place here, but look in Hebrews chapter nine, this is mentioned. And in Hebrews, we're told not
only did he sprinkle the altar and sprinkle the people, but
he also sprinkled the book, the book of the covenant. And Hebrews
chapter nine, and here the apostle is writing of the new covenant
as a testament, a last will and testament. Hebrews 9 and verse
18, whereupon neither the First Testament was dedicated without
blood, for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the law, He took the blood of calves and of goats
with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled, and notice
both the book and the people saying, this is the blood of
the Testament, which God hath enjoined upon you. The covenant
was then confirmed. It was confirmed by blood, but
it was the blood of animals, wasn't it? The blood of animals,
which here in Hebrews The writer reminds us it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats can take away sins, but it pictured
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by which the new covenant, the
everlasting covenant, is ratified. When he instituted the Lord's
Supper, the Lord's table that last night before his crucifixion,
you remember, he said, this is my blood of the New Testament,
new covenant. which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. All right, let's go back to the
second part. Moses and the elders going up on Mount Sinai to worship. Verse nine, we read, then went
up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of
Israel. Now that's At 74 men, many believe that
Aaron's other two sons also went up. And we know that Joshua,
we're going to see as we read through these verses, Joshua
was also the servant of Moses, was along with them. Then went
up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of
Israel. And they saw the God of Israel.
That's interesting, isn't it? 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. Those are very important words. They saw God and did eat and
drink. And the Lord said unto Moses,
come up to me into the mount and be there and I will give
thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have
written that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up and his
minister Joshua. And Moses went up into the mount
of God and he said unto the elders, Tear you here for us until we
come again unto you. And behold, Aaron and her are
with you. If any man have any matter to
do, let him come unto them. And Moses went up into the mount,
and a cloud covered the mount, and the glory of the Lord abode
upon Mount Sinai. And the cloud covered it six
days, and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the
midst of the cloud, and the sight of the glory of the Lord was
like the vowing fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the
children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst
of the cloud and get him up into the mount, and Moses was in the
mount 40 days and 40 nights. The Lord called this large number
of men up to see the God of Israel, to see God. God called these
men, no doubt, to be witnesses. Now they had heard the voice.
They had heard the voice that told them this was God speaking. But now they're going to see
God, as it says here, So that their testimony, or their witnesses
rather, to the fact that the law that Moses is giving to the
nation of Israel, it was truly from God. It's the law of God. He didn't just go up on this
mountain and make this out himself. No, he received the law from
God. And the purpose must have been
that they could be witnesses to the other people, these 70,
that the divine person that spoke to Moses and delivered these
laws unto him. When we read that he saw God,
we know that this is one of those appearances of the eternal son
of God. There are several of those in
the Old Testament when he appeared as a man. And this is one of
those times. And we know that it was a pre-incarnate
appearance of the eternal son of God because in Acts chapter
seven, Stephen in his long discourse there He speaks about the angel. Now the word angel, of course,
means messenger. The messenger which spoke to
him in Mount Sinai. The messenger that spoke to Moses
in Mount Sinai, he tells us is the same angel that appeared
in the bush that burned, but was not consumed. And we know
who that was. We know it was I Am that I Am,
that is Jehovah. And that is how they saw God. They saw him in the person of
Christ. And consider that these who saw
God and he laid not his hand upon them. That's what the scriptures
say. 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 its clearness, and
upon the nobles of the children of Israel, he laid not his hand. Coming to the presence of God
to be accepted, and God not strike them, consume them. But remember, I think this is
important, very important. Every one of these men who came
into the presence of God saw God and God's hand was not laid
upon them. You remember what had taken place
just before? The blood, the blood had been
sprinkled upon them. Isn't that a picture or truth,
truism of the fact that for any man to see God and God not lay
his hand on him, not destroy him. It must be that he has had
the blood of Jesus Christ applied. We've been made nigh, the scripture
says, by the blood of Christ. But then the Lord called Moses
and Joshua to come up higher on the mountain, and the elders
They no doubt returned to the camp where the bulk of the people
were. And he gave them instructions
if there was any matter to be determined that Aaron and Hur
would be there to take his place. If you consider Moses here as
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, what had Moses done before he
entered this cloud? which is also, we read here,
the glory of the Lord. Well, first of all, he had erected
the altar. He had sprinkled the blood. The
Lord Jesus Christ, he is our altar. In Hebrews chapter 13,
we're told we have an altar. We have an altar. And our altar
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have blood that has been
sprinkled upon us and it is the blood of the Son of God sprinkled
upon our conscience. The Lord Jesus Christ is himself
the altar and he's the sacrifice. It's his blood that is sprinkled
upon his people. And I notice also in this old
dispensation from the giving of the law, there were six days
men were to work and on the seventh day they were to rest. And it
is pointed out to us here in verse 16, and the glory of the
Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six
days, and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the
midst of the cloud. And so Moses entered into the
cloud on the seventh day. As the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he was here in the flesh, he said, I must work the works of
him that sent me while it is day. For the night cometh when
no man can work. The Lord worked and finished
his work and then entered into his glory, just like Moses here
entered on the day of rest, the seventh day entered into the
glory. The covenant here was confirmed
at Mount Sinai with the blood of animals, the everlasting covenant,
the covenant that we have as our assurance of our salvation
is confirmed with the blood of Jesus Christ. Think of that verse
in Hebrews 12, which tells us the blood of Jesus speaketh better
things than the blood of Abel. And the blood of Jesus speaks
better things than the blood of animals, too, doesn't it?
It speaks forgiveness. It speaks acceptance with the
Lord. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
these thoughts to us here this evening.