Exodus 24:1-11 (Teaching)

[0:00] In the Old Testament, the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 24. A whole lot's gone on in Exodus, up to Exodus 24.

[0:25] ! We've seen a pharaoh come to power that knew not Joseph. We find that in Exodus chapter 1. And then we all know the account of Moses, I'm sure. Moses is born. And Pharaoh is issued an order to have all the Hebrew babies killed. When they're born, Moses' mother takes Moses, puts him in a basket, and puts him in the river.

[0:43] And Pharaoh's daughter finds him. All these things have happened. Pharaoh spends 40 years in the palace of Egypt. And keep in mind, him doing that, he would have gotten Egyptian education, which was top-notch at the time.

[0:57] He would have gotten military training, which was top-notch at its time. And he would have pretty much had access to anything and everything that he wanted. Which is why the book of Hebrews is so profound when it states in Hebrews chapter 11 that Moses chose to suffer with his own people.

[1:17] Rather to enjoy sin for a season. Rather to enjoy the company of the Egyptians. He chose to forsake Egypt, is the way the writer to the Hebrews puts it.

[1:28] And he forsook Egypt for his own people. But he spent 40 years in the palace of Pharaoh. Then, but anyway, we know the account of Moses. God calls him out of the burning bushes.

[1:40] He's watching Jethro's sheep on the backside of the Sinai Desert. And Moses goes. And he tells Pharaoh, let my people go. Folks, by Exodus 24, where we're going to be this evening, the plagues have already fallen.

[1:53] God has already delivered his people. He's already parted the Red Sea. They've already crossed. They've already celebrated. In Exodus chapter 15, they've already sung their song.

[2:03] And banged their tambourines. And done their dance. And all those things. Then we come to Exodus chapter 20. Where the Ten Commandments are given. Some say the law is given.

[2:14] The law is, or the Ten Commandments, I should say, are part of the law. But the Ten Commandments are not the law. The law is the entire Torah.

[2:25] The entire first five books of the Bible. You've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That's the law. The word Torah actually means law.

[2:36] So when you read in the New Testament about the law, we read in John chapter 1 how the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

[2:47] Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. So that law, Genesis through Deuteronomy, that's the Torah. And that word Torah means law. But the Ten Commandments are given in Exodus chapter 20.

[3:00] And these laws, or these commandments, or judgments, statutes, however you'd like to phrase that, those are more direct.

[3:12] Those are commandments that are given. Therefore, they're called the Ten Commandments. But there's all kinds of other commandments given throughout Scripture. But the commandments have already been given.

[3:24] Then there's some other commandments that are given after that. Exodus 21, 22, and 23. Then we come to Exodus 24. Exodus 24 changes gears a little bit.

[3:36] And we're going to get into that tonight just a little bit. So we're going to take this a verse at a time. Exodus chapter 24, though, in verse 1. It says, So it says, And he said unto Moses.

[4:01] Who said? The Lord is talking to Moses. And he tells Moses. He said unto Moses. Come up unto the Lord. Thou, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu.

[4:13] Nadab and Abihu, of course, being sons of Aaron. And I explained not too awful long ago how the sons of Aaron are the only ones that were to be priests.

[4:24] You have Levites. Then you have the sons of Aaron. There's a separation there. So we've got Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel.

[4:35] And worship ye afar off. God inviting them. Now, folks, they're still at Sinai at this point. They're still at Mount Sinai. I understand that the Ten Commandments were given back in Exodus chapter 20.

[4:48] A few chapters back. But they are still there. And that's where God is inviting these people to come up. If you notice how it's phrased here.

[4:59] And he said unto Moses. Come up unto the Lord. It's an invitation. Much like it was an invitation when we got saved.

[5:10] You know, God convicted our hearts. God showed us ourselves. And God showed us himself. And then salvation can happen. But it's an invitation that's given.

[5:22] Just like when Noah built the ark. God says, come thou into the ark. It was an invitation for Noah to go inside of the ark. It was an invitation that God gave him. And it's an invitation to Moses and Aaron and his two sons and these 70 elders to come up unto the Lord.

[5:43] Folks, what an invitation that is. Now, we know because we've read the Bible, right? We know that Moses was the mediator between God and the Israelites.

[5:57] We know that Moses has already been up on the mountain to receive the law. Because we find that out in Exodus chapter 20. We know all these things. But here he is inviting not only Moses, but Moses' brother, Aaron's sons, and 70 other people, 70 other men, elders of Israel, to come up unto him.

[6:18] It says, and 70 other elders of Israel. But it says, and worship ye afar off. God's given an invitation. And it's a very special invitation to men who aren't so special, by the way.

[6:32] They're men just like you and I are human beings. They were human beings. Nothing different about them. They were all sinful. Aaron was sinful. Moses was sinful. There's some Jews that would argue that with you.

[6:44] But Moses was a sinful man. You know, there's only one perfect man in Scripture, and that was Jesus Christ. Moses, Moses had sin about him.

[6:54] Aaron had sin about him. The sons of Aaron had sin about them. You read more about their sin later on in the Bible, and particularly in Leviticus. But, and the 70 elders.

[7:07] Every one of them were sinful. God says, come ye unto me. But he says, you worship afar off. God is giving an invitation. And while God is about to reveal himself to these people, there is still a restriction there.

[7:25] There's still distance there. Because he tells them, worship afar off. You come up into the mountain. You come up as far as I tell you to.

[7:37] But you worship me afar off. Verse 2 says, and Moses alone shall come near the Lord. But they shall not come nigh. Neither shall the people go up with him.

[7:48] Moses can go a little bit further than these others can go. Again, Moses being the mediator between God and Israel. So God gives Moses permission to go further.

[8:00] He says, Moses alone shall come near the Lord. But they shall not come nigh. Neither shall the people go up with him. So he tells them, you all come up.

[8:12] You worship afar off. Moses can come just a little bit further. But you all stay in the back. But he never says, stop worshiping. He never says, y'all just hang out.

[8:24] Have yourselves a barbecue. Do whatever you want. Kick back in the easy chairs. No, he has commanded them. You worship afar off. And Moses can come just a little bit closer.

[8:36] Verse 3, 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 hath said we will do.

[8:49] So Moses, and again, his brother Aaron, and Aaron's sons, these 70 others, they go up. Moses goes a little bit further. And God has told them to worship afar off.

[9:02] But in verse 3, we find Moses came after all this. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord. I want you to pay attention to what it says.

[9:14] He 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 hath said we will do.

[9:29] Moses came and gave the law. Moses came and gave the commandments of God. He came and gave the statute of God. And these people said all the things that the Lord has said we will do.

[9:46] Well, folks, we have to read this in the broader narrative of Scripture. We know that that's not the case. We know not very far from where we're at right now.

[9:56] You flip over a few pages in your Bible. And you'll find all these Israelites gathered around a golden calf worshiping it. So we know that their intentions were right.

[10:09] But we also know that it's not intentions that gets us to heaven. I'm sure you all have heard the saying just as I've heard the saying. The road to hell is made with good intentions.

[10:20] And there is a lot of truth in that statement. A lot of people say, I'll get saved tomorrow. I'll get right with God tomorrow. I'll pray tonight. You might not have tonight to pray.

[10:30] Just like the man in the parable that Jesus Christ spoke. When he said, you know, he's going to tear down his barn. He's going to build bigger and better. And he's going to do all this.

[10:41] And God called him a fool. He says, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. You ain't going to have time to do all that. You may not have time to pray tonight.

[10:53] Or tomorrow. Or next week. Some of us might not make it out of this sanctuary tonight. We don't know. But these people had the best of intentions. They said, we will do everything that God said.

[11:08] But folks, that's the whole reason that the greater mediator had to come. A mediator that was greater than Moses. That is greater than Moses. Jesus Christ.

[11:19] He's greater than Moses. He's greater than any of the prophets. He's greater than any of the prophecy that was even spoken about him. He's greater than all.

[11:31] And again, you can read in the book of Hebrews about all that. And particularly in the first two to three chapters of Hebrews. You read about how Jesus was better than this and better than that.

[11:42] He's better than angels. He's better than Moses. You read a little bit further on. And you read about how he was better than all the sacrifices. He's better than anything and everything.

[11:54] But these folks here, when they heard the word of God come from Moses, they said they would do everything that God told them to do.

[12:06] And they said it with confidence. Peter did that too. The Lord said, you'll all be ashamed of me before this night's over with.

[12:20] Peter said, I'll never be ashamed of you. I'll never deny you, Lord. I'll go with you all the way. Even unto death, I'll go with you. And we all know Peter's account. Peter denied the Lord three times.

[12:33] I've said many times we can't look down our nose at Peter, though. Because how many times have we denied Jesus? With our actions. Maybe not with our speech, but with our actions. You know, just with our attitude.

[12:45] We can deny Jesus Christ. How many times have we done that? You know, I wish I could say I'd only denied him three times. But that's not the case. And if you're honest with yourself, it's not the case with you either.

[12:58] Verse 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar under the hill and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

[13:10] This is why I wanted you to pay attention to the previous verse. 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 hath said we will do.

[13:25] Moses told the people the words of the Lord. Here in verse 4 it says, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. How important is the written word of the Lord to you?

[13:37] It's very important to me. And it should be very important to you. It should be so important that there should not be a day pass in our lives that we don't read something.

[13:50] And or meditate on something from this book. There should not be a day in our lives that we don't think about something in this book that we don't read about, meditate on, pray over, study it, however you want to do it.

[14:06] But folks, this book is life. This book not only shows us that we're condemned before we're saved, but it shows us how to live the Christian walk after we're saved.

[14:18] This book is a living, breathing thing. It is not something to be tossed to the sides. It's not something to be left on the dash or in the back seat or whatever the case is.

[14:30] Now, if you're like me, you've got 50, 60, 70 Bibles at the house. So if you leave it sitting in the church pew, then no biggie. You've got a whole bunch of other ones at the house. But, you know, either way, don't neglect the word of God.

[14:46] Moses wrote down the words of the Lord. Moses preserved what God had said. Why are things preserved? So that no one forgets them.

[14:58] And so that you have access to go back to it at any time that you can as far as this word is concerned. As far as the words of God are concerned. Moses wrote it down in verse 4.

[15:09] It says, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar under the hill. This is actually a very sobering verse.

[15:20] Not only that Moses wrote down the words of God. That's sobering enough. It wasn't just enough to go in the previous verse and tell the people. He needed to write it down, too. So, no, I could say, well, you didn't tell us that part of it.

[15:33] We didn't know this part. We didn't know that part. Hey, it's written down. But it says, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built an altar under the hill.

[15:44] And 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. What is significant about this? He built an altar where? Under the hill. Under what hill?

[15:55] Under Mount Sinai. But he not only built an altar, but he built 12 pillars on the back side. So you have these 12 pillars representing the people.

[16:08] You have a mountain called Mount Sinai. And between the pillars and the mountain, there's an altar at the base of the hill. That's very significant.

[16:21] That's very significant. We're going to read why. Remember, God's here. The 12 pillars are here representing the people. God's here. There's an altar between them.

[16:33] Verse 5. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. Where did they offer these burnt offerings?

[16:45] Where did they have the peace offerings? Where did they sacrifice these oxen? At the altar. Where was the altar? It was between the people and God.

[16:57] What's significant about that? Folks, we cannot approach God without a sacrifice. It cannot happen. It didn't happen for these, although they had a personal invitation from God that we read in verse 1 of chapter 24.

[17:16] For Moses, Aaron, Aaron's boys, and 70 of the elders to come up unto God. They had a personal invitation, but they still needed a sacrifice.

[17:28] So, these young boys went up, and they offered these sacrifices. They offered the burnt offering. What does the burnt offering signify? What was it for?

[17:39] If you read Leviticus chapter 1, you learn that the burnt offering is for atonement. There had to be atonement. What's the peace offering for? I'm sure you all heard me say it before.

[17:52] Leviticus 1, you had the burnt offering. Leviticus 3 is the peace offering. The peace offering is not to obtain peace with God. It is offered because you have peace with God.

[18:03] How is peace made with God? Through the burnt offering. With the atonement. Same way with Jesus Christ. But the beauty, the beauty about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made is that he is not only the burnt offering, but he's also the peace offering.

[18:21] He's also the grain offering. He's the drink offering. He is every offering that you can think of. There's a sin offering that you read about in Leviticus chapters 1 through 7.

[18:32] All those offerings are brought up in those 7 chapters. He is all those offerings. But his offering was final. There's no more offering to be made.

[18:43] That's something else that's brought up in the book of Hebrews. There's no other sacrifice that is needed. And there is no other sacrifice that is available outside of Jesus Christ.

[18:56] But here in Exodus chapter 24, he sent young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.

[19:09] There had to be a sacrifice at the altar that stood between God and the people. There had to be bloodshed that was made. There had to be atonement.

[19:20] But then the peace offering. Because of the peace that they had with God through the burnt offering, they could have peace with God.

[19:31] When we have peace with God, we can have communion with God. Which is what we'll get to in the last verse of this passage that we're going through tonight. Is the communion with God. Verse 6, And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

[19:48] So half and half. What does this signify? Well, the 12 pillars representing Israel. The altar, which represents God.

[19:58] They are going into covenant. That's what this entire thing is about. God gave the law in Exodus chapter 20. Then he gave a few extra laws and commandments in the following chapters.

[20:11] Then we get to Exodus chapter 24. What is going on here? The commandments have been given. And all these things have happened.

[20:24] But here, God is preparing for communion with his people. Preparing for relationship with his people.

[20:36] Not just with Moses. But with his people. With all of them. What is being done here is everything that's happened up to this point is being ratified.

[20:48] But how is it being ratified? It's being ratified with blood. With bloodshed. We know from, again, from the book of Hebrews. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

[20:59] There had to be bloodshed. And it's ever been that way. In the Old Testament. And on into the New Testament. But again. Christ shed. The shed blood of Christ was final.

[21:11] Moses took half of the blood. And put it in basins. And half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. This is something that God is doing.

[21:24] He is going into covenant. And again, he is ratifying this covenant with his people. Half of it is for him.

[21:34] And half of it is for the people. Takes two people to have a covenant, does it not? Does no good to have a covenant with yourself. Even if you break it, nobody is ever going to know about it.

[21:47] It takes at least two. To have a covenant. And that's exactly what God is doing here. He is bringing his people. Not just Moses. Not just the priests.

[22:00] Not just the Levites. Not just the 70 elders. Not just a certain sect. He is bringing his people into covenant with him. In doing this.

[22:11] That's why half of it was put in basins. And half of it was sprinkled on the altar. Verse 7. And he took the book of the covenant. And read in the audience of the people.

[22:23] And they said, All that the Lord hath said we will do. And be obedient. So the first time we read this. Moses just went to the people and told them what God said.

[22:33] This time the Bible says he took the book. Of what? The covenant. He took the book of the covenant.

[22:45] The book of the law. He took the book of the words of God. And read it to the people. And how did the people react? The same way they did the first time.

[22:55] All that the Lord hath said we will do. And then they add. And be obedient. And again folks. We know that that was not the case. Although these people had perfectly good intentions.

[23:09] I'm sure that they felt in their heart. They were going to do everything that God said. Just like you might wake up some mornings. And I might wake up some mornings. And say I ain't going to sin today.

[23:21] And we don't even get out the front door to our house. And we've already sinned. If we have that thought we've sinned. Because that's a prideful thought. And pride is sin.

[23:32] Pride goeth before destruction. And a haughty spirit before a fall. If we even have a thought like that. But these folks here. They heard the word of the Lord from Moses.

[23:43] They said we'll do it all. And here they heard it again. As it was read to them. And nothing changed in it. The law is the law.

[23:54] The word of God is the word of God. Nothing was changed. It's just we went from having it orally spoken. Without it being written. To having it orally spoken with it being written.

[24:04] They said all these things we're going to do. We're going to obey God. And we know from again the broader narrative. That they did not. It didn't take them very long to not obey.

[24:17] It didn't take them very long to find an idol. It didn't take them very long to lust. It didn't take them very long to do any of these things. He took the book of the covenant.

[24:28] And read in the audience of the people. And they said all that the Lord has said. We will do. And be obedient. Verse 8. And Moses took the blood. And sprinkled it on the people.

[24:41] So we've got a couple verses before this. He takes half the blood. Puts it in basins. Takes the other half and sprinkles it on the altar. He's already sprinkled it on the altar.

[24:51] On behalf of whom? God. The altar was there for God. God never asked us to sacrifice anything unto ourselves. He sprinkled the blood on the altar.

[25:03] On God's behalf. Now he takes the blood. And he sprinkles it upon the people. Now the people have been drawn into this covenant. With God. And folks this is beautiful.

[25:16] In it's own right. You might think. What is sprinkling blood on anybody? What is beautiful about that? It's beautiful. Because this is the way God ordained it. And God wanted.

[25:27] To be in covenant. With his people. He wanted to have communion. With his people. That's the beauty of it. But the terrifying part of it.

[25:38] When you're drawn into a covenant. With blood. And the Jews weren't the only ones to do this. This was actually pretty customary. All over the Near East. Over there. A covenant was sealed with blood.

[25:51] Regardless of if you were a Jew or not. It was that way in the outside nations too. But. Once you were in a covenant. That had been sealed with blood. If you broke that covenant.

[26:02] Then you stood at the other parties. In their wrath. And you had to fall upon their mercy. If you broke covenant with that.

[26:14] Same way with these Jews. Same way with the Israelites. This blood. When Moses sprinkled on them. The blood had already been sprinkled on the altar. Symbolizing God's half of the covenant.

[26:26] Now it's being sprinkled upon the people. Symbolizing the people's part of the covenant. Folks. We cannot. Perfectly keep covenant. These Jews.

[26:37] Could not. Perfectly keep covenant. That is why. We don't rely. On our ability. To perfectly keep that covenant. We don't rely on our ability.

[26:48] To perfectly keep the law. But we rely upon Christ's. Ability to do that. We're not entering heaven. Because of our own works. We are entering heaven.

[26:59] Because of the finished work of Christ. He lived the perfect life. That you and I could not live. And we are throwing ourselves on the mercy of God. Cleaning the blood of Jesus Christ.

[27:10] Cleaning the perfect life that he lived. The perfect death that he suffered. And the perfect resurrection. That he performed. That's what we rely upon. These people here.

[27:22] We're relying upon their own hearts. And we look down on them. For doing that. When we've been guilty of doing the same thing. We've been guilty of doing exactly.

[27:35] As these people do. We forget about Christ. And we say. I'm going to do this on my own. And it's not very long. For a child of God. To realize what they have done.

[27:47] That they have forgotten Christ. They've tried something on their own. And they've failed miserably. At whatever it was. And I promise you. Salvation is that way. As far as I know.

[27:58] You know. I don't. You know. You know. Anybody. That's. Here saved. You relied on Christ. At some point in your life. For salvation. Whether it was last year.

[28:11] Or whether it was. 50 years ago. You relied on Christ. Don't stop relying on that. Because it will get you in trouble. It will get you in trouble.

[28:22] These folks here. Brought into covenant. With God. Folks. How beautiful is that? That God. Wants communion.

[28:33] And wants people. To be in covenant. With him. He. Who made everything. And could make anything. That he wants to. Chooses us.

[28:44] Lowly. Filthy. Rotten. Sinners. To save. And to bring into relationship. With him. How wonderful is that? So Moses takes the blood.

[28:57] Says. And he sprinkled it on the people. And said. Behold. The blood of the covenant. Which the Lord. Hath made with you. Concerning all. These words. Again. He's. Reiterating.

[29:07] The words. Of God. That had been. Written down. That he had read. Allowed. To the people. And he says. The blood. Of the covenant. He says.

[29:17] The blood. Of the covenant. Which the Lord. Hath made. With you. That is so important. You and I. Would never. Make a covenant. With God. On our own.

[29:28] Even if we could. We wouldn't do it. But it's wonderful. Because it shows. That God. Initiates it. God initiated.

[29:39] The invitation. We read about. In verse one. When he said. Come. Come. You up to the mountain. Come up here. With me. He's about to reveal himself.

[29:49] To these people. He gives them the invitation. And here. It says. Behold. The blood. Of the covenant. Which the Lord. Hath made. With you. Folks. Back in Genesis. One book back.

[30:02] He ordered. Abraham. Commanded Abraham. To divide up. A bunch of animals. Because he had made. He had made a covenant. With Abraham. We refer to it. In theological terms. As the Abrahamic covenant.

[30:14] He said. I'm going to make. A great nation. Out of you. They're going to be. Numbered. As much as the sand. Of the seashore. As much as the stars. Of the sky. And he made a covenant. With Abraham. And he commanded Abraham.

[30:25] To divide all these animals. But Abraham. Had nothing to do. With that covenant. And God made sure. That we knew that. Because he caused a sleep. To fall on Abraham. And God himself.

[30:36] Come down. And walked through the animals. That had been divided. The covenant. Was completely. Totally. And utterly. Of God. And this covenant here. In Exodus chapter 24.

[30:47] Is no different. And the covenant. That we have. Through Jesus Christ. He that is the testator. Of a new covenant. Of a better covenant. That is completely.

[30:59] Totally. And utterly. Of God. It is not us. Do we need to believe? Yes. Who gives you the ability. To believe? God.

[31:09] Do we need to have faith? Yes. Who gives you that faith? God. God. It is all. Of God. We cannot. Lay. Any claim. Whatsoever.

[31:22] To heaven. Outside of Jesus Christ. Inside of Jesus Christ. We can. Lay claim to heaven. But it is only. Through Jesus Christ. That we can do that. We need to keep that in mind.

[31:34] This covenant. Was of. God. It is a covenant. Of the Lord. And God. Himself. Is the one. That initiated it. God. Himself. Is the one. That ordained it.

[31:45] God. Himself. Is the one. That accepted. The sacrifices. You think about that. He could have rejected. The burnt offering. If he had wanted to. But he didn't. He accepted. The burnt offering.

[31:56] Obviously. Because of what we are reading. Here in the scriptures. Verse 9. Then went up. Moses and Aaron. And Nadab. And Abihu. And the 70 elders. Of Israel.

[32:06] And they saw. The God of Israel. Folks. This is an amazing statement. So. Moses. And his brother. His brother's boys. And the 70 elders. They all go up.

[32:18] Verse 10. Says. And they saw. The God. Of Israel. What do we know. From the scriptures. About seeing God. You cannot see God.

[32:30] And live. So. Did they truly see God? Yeah. Because the Bible says that they did. Did they see God. In all of his glory. No.

[32:41] They saw him. Just like Moses would have. Just like Moses did. In the scriptures. Because no man. Can stand before God. In his flesh. And live. To see. Another second.

[32:52] Because of the holiness. Of God. Because of the righteousness. Of God. But. It says. They saw. God. There's very few people.

[33:05] In the scriptures. That can say. They saw. God. Now. If we go to the New Testament. We know that the word became flesh.

[33:15] And dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. We find all that in John chapter 1. Did the original 12 see God? Yes. Because Christ is God.

[33:27] Did they see him in his full glory? No. No. You go to the battle of transfiguration. In a couple of the synoptic gospels. Actually.

[33:37] In all three of the synoptics. But. If you go to the mount of transfiguration. Yes. Jesus. Shown in glory. And there were only three there. To witness it. Peter opened up his big fat mouth.

[33:49] Says. Lord. It's good that we should be here. Let's build a tabernacle. One for you. One for Elijah. And one for Moses. We'll just hang out here. For a little while. But folks. That was still not seeing God.

[34:00] In all his glory. Because man cannot do that. Because the Bible says. That man cannot do that. But God will reveal himself.

[34:11] God revealed himself. Fully. Through Jesus Christ. Not in all of his glory. But fully through Jesus Christ. The Bible says. Jesus Christ was the express image.

[34:21] Of God. In other words. He was revealing. Everything about God. That God wanted us to know. About him. He was the express image.

[34:32] But again. 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.

[34:44] Notice. First. Taking into consideration. Everything I just said. About seeing God. These men saw God. Plain and simple. The Bible says. So they saw.

[34:55] The God of Israel. But what is noted here. Not the brightness. Of his glory. Not his holiness. Per se.

[35:07] What is notated about it. And there was. Under his feet. Notice that. Not the face of God. Not even the torso.

[35:17] Of God. Not the brightness. Of God. There was. Under. His feet. There was under his feet. As it were. A paved work.

[35:28] Of sapphire stone. And as it were. The body. Of heaven. In his clearness. Where were they. When they were seeing God. They were down there. At the base of the mountain.

[35:38] Looking up. At God. And what were they seeing? What were they seeing? It tells us here. They saw. Under his feet.

[35:49] As it were. A paved work. Of sapphire. Folks. They were not above God. Looking down. God would not have had that. Nothing is above God. And that's what this. Verse here.

[36:00] Is getting at. They are looking at. What is under. God's feet. Because there is. Nothing higher than God. Again. Was under his feet.

[36:10] As it were. A paved work. Of sapphire stone. What does that speak of? That speaks of. Purity. Of God. That speaks of. The beauty. Of the heavens. Speaks of. The beauty. Of God. And it was.

[36:23] Under. His feet. Because he is. Above it all. He is above. It all. And as it were. The body of the heaven. In his clearness.

[36:34] So it's speaking about. Not only. The beauty. And the purity. But it's also talking about. The transcendent. Of God. Not the transience.

[36:45] The transcendent. The transcendent. Of God. Talking about. The clearness. There. The body of heaven. In his clearness. So there's. Down here.

[36:55] Looking up at God. And they can see God. But not fully. Not clear. Just like. Moses. You know. Moses begged God.

[37:06] And let him see him. And the Bible says. Let him see his hindered hearts. But not him. All of his. All of his glory. And all of his brightness. And all of his holiness. And here.

[37:18] These men. Are looking up at God. They're seeing everything. Under his feet. Because there is nothing. Above him. But they're seeing. The transcendent. They're seeing the beauty.

[37:29] And they are seeing. The purity. Of almighty God. Here. Verse 11. This is as far as we'll get tonight. Verse 11 says. And upon the nobles.

[37:41] Of the children of Israel. He laid not his hand. That's an important verse. Because as I said. No man can see God.

[37:51] And live. Remember. In verse 1. That we read tonight. He gave an invitation. For these men. To come up there. They did exactly.

[38:02] As they should. They worshiped. The far off. They built the altar. Moses built the altar. Set up the pillars. They offered.

[38:13] Burnt sacrifice. They offered. Peace offerings. And it says. That God. Did not. Lay his hand. Upon these nobles. That's important.

[38:24] Means that. Even though they saw him. In verse 10. Verse 11. I read nothing. About their destruction. I read nothing. About their death. Read nothing.

[38:36] Along those lines. At all. Because they did. Everything right. Right. Folks. You and I. Cannot do everything right. These men here.

[38:46] Were sinful. But at this time. They had guidelines. To go by. And they followed. Those guidelines. But God. Did not destroy them. Just because.

[38:57] They followed. The guidelines. We've got to continue. Reading this verse. And upon the nobles. And the children of Israel. He laid not his hand. Also. They saw God. And did eat.

[39:09] And drink. That's amazing. They saw God. Twice now. We've read. That these men saw God. But the amazing part.

[39:20] They did eat. And they did drink. What does that signify? That signifies. Communion with God. That signifies. Celebration with God.

[39:31] And it signifies. Peace. With God. It signifies. All of these things. You don't commune. With those.

[39:41] That are your enemy. You commune. With those. That are your friends. You commune. With those. That you have. Relationship with. That you have. A good. Relationship with. That's the significance. Of the very end.

[39:52] Of this passage. That we just read. It says. And they. And did eat. And drink. They were communing. With God. They were communing. With one another. God had not only.

[40:02] Brought them. Into right. Relationship. With him. But they were experiencing. Right relationship. With one another. And that's. One of the beautiful things. About salvation.

[40:13] Not only does God. Save us. From his wrath. But he saves us. From our own sin. Saves us. From our own stupidity. And he saves us.

[40:26] From having. Bad relations. With people. People. Who. Either are. Or will be. In the same family. As we are. We commune.

[40:38] With brothers and sisters. In Christ. We have. Fellowship. With brothers and sisters. In Christ. These men here. Had fellowship. One with another.

[40:49] Why? Because they were all. Part of the same family. They were part. Of the Jewish family. And the Jewish family. Is what was being brought. Into covenant. With God. These 70 elders. Represented the entire.

[41:01] Nation of Israel. There were elders. From each tribe. And those 12 pillars. Were set up there. To represent. The 12 tribes. Of Israel. So. When these.

[41:12] Were communing. With one another. They were also. Communing. With God. And that signified. That the. The whole. Of Israel. Was in fellowship.

[41:23] And communion. And most importantly. Covenant. With God. Now we know. Again. From the broader.

[41:34] Reading of scripture. That covenant. Didn't last long. The covenant. Was broken. Obedience. Ceased.

[41:46] Folks. That's why. As I said. At the beginning. Another mediator. Was needed. And another mediator. Is still. Needed. Because we have no access.

[41:58] To God. Outside. Of Jesus Christ. These Jews here. Had no access. To God. Outside of Moses. Moses. Is the one. That God. Chose. I can't explain.

[42:08] To you. Why God. Chose Moses. All I know. Is that. Early. In the book. Of Exodus. That his mother. Saw. That he was. A goodly child. God. And that's why.

[42:20] She done with him. What she did. And I'm sure. She loved him too. But. God. Chose Moses. Just like. God. Chose Abraham. Abraham.

[42:30] Did nothing. Significant. That we read about. In scripture. Noah. Did nothing. Nothing significant. That we read about. In scripture. God. Simply looked down. And chose.

[42:41] Them. They were all. Sinful. Noah. Was sinful. Moses. Was sinful. Abraham. Was sinful. Paul. Was sinful. And Paul.

[42:52] Wound up. Writing half. Of the new. Testament. We're all. Sinful. But we all. Have need. Of that. Mediator. Why? Because we.

[43:03] Cannot. Keep the covenant. But Christ. Being. Our ultimate. Mediator. Kept the covenant. He kept the law.

[43:14] He kept it perfectly. And once again. That is why. We rely. Not only on his death. But on the perfect life. That he lived. Because had he not lived. A perfect life.

[43:25] His death. Wouldn't have mattered. Anything. It would have mattered. Nothing. But he did live. A perfect life. While he was here. And he has a perfect life. Now. It's like Paul says.

[43:36] In Romans chapter 5. He says. If we're reconciled to God. Through the death. Of Jesus Christ. How much more. Are we now. By his life.

[43:47] What life. Christ had done. Ascended. By then. Christ had been. Ascended. For a few decades. At that point. What was Paul talking about. When he said.

[43:58] How much more. By his life. The life. That he currently lives. Doing what. Mediating. On behalf. Of everyone. That repents. Of their sin. And believes.

[44:08] The gospel. That's the life. That Christ has now. How much more. If we were reconciled. Through his death. And by his death. How much more.

[44:19] Now. By his life. Folks. We have no one else. To depend on. We have nothing else. To depend on. We certainly. Can't depend upon.

[44:30] Self. We can't depend. Upon each other. I hate to tell you. You can't depend on me. Not for salvation. And I can't depend on you.

[44:40] You. You.