Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 6
Exodus 24:1-18
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - July 7, 2010
BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION
*The LORD God of the Old Testament who appeared to men was God the Son, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. We are studying these appearances because each of them has something to say to us today.
*Nobody in the Old Testament had more meetings with the Lord than Moses. Tonight we continue looking at Moses on Mount Sinai with the pre-incarnate Christ. We will see the end of Moses’ fourth visit up the mountain and the beginning of the fifth, with a pause in the middle for the people to worship the Lord and confirm their commitment to be in covenant with God. (1)
*The events in Exodus 24 are very important to us today. Bob Deffinbaugh stressed the importance of this covenant with these words:
-“We can recall or read of the treaties which have been signed, concluding the two world wars of the 20th century, but they pale in the light of this chapter. . . The events of this chapter are critical in the history of Israel. . . The ratification of the Mosaic Covenant here is the key to the remainder of Exodus. . . We cannot possibly understand the meaning of the Old Testament apart from an understanding of the old covenant here in Exodus 24. And we cannot understand the New Testament apart from an understanding of the Old.” (2)
*This crucial time between Moses and the Lord speaks to us today.
1. First, it speaks about sprinkling of the blood.
*In Exodus 24:3, “Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments.”
*Over the last couple of weeks we studied the Lord’s detailed laws from Exodus 20-23. In those chapters, God talked about a lot of different things: Proper worship, idols, sacrifice, slavery, stealing, how to treat strangers, honesty, the Sabbath, being sympathetic to your enemies.
*How can we boil it all down? -- The Lord Himself did that for us in Matthew 22, when a lawyer came to Him and asked:
36. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?''
37. Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38. This is the first and great commandment.
39. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
*The bottom line is this: God cares about relationships. God cares about how we treat Him, and how we treat other people.
*When the people heard the details, Exodus 24:3 tells us that: “All the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has said we will do.’” This was the same commitment they made back in Exodus 19:8, and here in Exodus 24:3&7 they repeated their commitment twice.
*Now the covenant would be sealed in blood:
4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Those stones represented all the people of the 12 tribes of Israel.)
5. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.
6. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
7. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.''
8. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.''
*J. Ligon Duncan explained this amazing scene: “Moses takes the hyssop branch and dips it in the blood and begins slinging it out on the people of God until the blood has been spread on the people of God, symbolically indicating that they have been brought into a blood relationship and life and death commitment with the God of Israel.” (3)
*Rodney Buchanan explained the death commitment by saying, “A covenant is not just an agreement between two people, like a contract. It was a binding agreement committed to under the penalty of death. (4)
*So the blood of the sacrificed animals showed the seriousness of the covenant. But the sacrifices were also a shadow of the sacrifice that Jesus would make for us on the cross.
*As J. Ligon Duncan said:
“Those animals symbolized the sacrifice that is necessary to establish the relationship between God and Israel. . .
-That slaughter of the animals represents the principle of vicarious sacrifice, that we cannot come into fellowship with God apart from a sacrifice on our behalf, because we’re sinful and we’re in need of atonement.” (3)
*But it was all a shadow of what was to come. And in Matt 26, on the night before the cross, we read:
26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body.''
27. Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
*The new covenant, the New Testament, was infinitely greater than the Mosaic Covenant.
-Hebrews 9 tells us that the new covenant was sealed with an infinitely greater sacrifice; the new covenant was sprinkled with infinitely better blood.
*Moses’ meeting with the Lord speaks to us about sprinkling of the blood.
2. But it also speaks to us about supper with the Savior.
*Exodus 24:9 is the beginning of Moses’ fifth trip up the mountain to meet with the Lord, and the first thing we see is God’s people sharing a covenant meal with the Savior. Listen to vs. 9-11:
9. Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel,
10. and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, (It was brilliant blue.) and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.
11. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
*Supper with the Savior! -- Baptists like to eat together. We are known for that, and that’s a good thing. If you think about it, most of the best times in our lives are celebrated around food: Birthdays and weddings, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
*The Gospels tell us that Jesus liked to eat with people. Aren’t you glad? -- Luke’s Gospel includes ten occasions of Jesus sharing meals with people.
-For example, Luke 5 tells us about a feast in Matthew Levi’s home:
27. After these things (Jesus) went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me.''
28. And he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
29. Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
30. But their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?''
31. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick.
*Jesus liked to eat with people. This means He wants to share close friendship and fellowship with us.
-The ultimate meal will be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that believers will share with the Lord in Heaven.
-But also remember what Jesus said in Rev 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Right now the Lord wants to spiritually sit down and share supper with us.
*And then there are those times when we worship the Lord through the Lord’s Supper. Last Sunday was a tremendous example. Surely the Lord was there with us. And the purpose of that supper was to remind us of the new covenant, the covenant sprinkled with infinitely better blood, the new covenant that can save our souls, and change our hearts forever.
*John Paton was one of the greatest missionaries of modern times. In 1858, he and his wife began serving among cannibals in the South Pacific. Their lives were in danger many times. The turning point came when John decided to dig a fresh-water well for the people.
*At first, the islanders were terrified to bring “rain from below. But John dug deeper and deeper until finally, at 30 feet, he hit a stream of water. Opposition to his mission work ceased, and Chief Mamokei accepted Christ as Savior.
*Then a few others made the daring step. When John led his first Lord’s Supper service, 12 converted cannibals took part. He later wrote: “As I put the bread and wine into those hands once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems of the Redeemer’s love, I had a foretaste of the joy of Glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces.” (5)
*Moses’ meeting with the Lord speaks to us about supper with the Savior.
3. And it speaks to us about serving the Lord together.
*Over and over again the Bible stresses the need for God’s people to work together. We see it again in vs. 12-14:
12. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.''
13. So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. (i.e. up higher.)
14. And he said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.''
*Moses was depending on these elders, and especially Aaron and Hur care for the people while he was away. Most of you know that Aaron would drop the ball in a big-time way. And we will talk about that later. But God’s plan was for all of these men to do their part in leading God’s people.
*We need each other. This is never more evident than where God calls His church the “Body of Christ.” Everybody has a part to play in the Body. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t realize that.
*Scott Bayles told about a preacher who was approached by a man who wanted to join the church. But the man said, “I have a very busy schedule. I can’t be called on for any service, such as committee work, teaching, or other such things. I just won’t be available for special projects or to help with setting up chairs or things like that. And I’m afraid that I’ll never be able to go on visitation, as my evenings are all tied up.”
*The minister thought for a moment and then replied, “I believe you’re at the wrong church. The church you’re looking for is three blocks down the street, on the right.” The man followed the preacher’s directions, and he soon came to an abandoned, boarded-up closed down church building. It was a dead church. (6)
*We need to ask ourselves: If the church was only made up of people like me.
-How would the giving be?
-How would the going be?
-Would anyone be invited to come?
-Would people be greeted and made to feel at home?
-Would anyone be taught?
*Moses’ meeting with the Lord speaks to us about serving the Lord together.
4. And it speaks to us about steadfastly waiting on the Lord.
*Here we are in vs. 15: “Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.” What happened next? -- Verse 16 tells us that for six days, nothing happened: “Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.”
*Moses was there. He was waiting for God to speak. But for six whole days, the Lord was silent.
-Do you think Moses got a little worried?
-Do you think he wondered, “What’s going on?”
*Have you ever had to wait on the Lord? -- All of us have.
*And some very famous people got into trouble, because they stopped waiting on the Lord.
-In Genesis 16, Abraham and Sarah got tired of waiting for Isaac. The result was Ishmael and a flood of trouble that continues to this day.
-In 1 Samuel 13, King Saul got tired of waiting for the Prophet Samuel. So Saul disobediently offered the sacrifice and wound up losing the kingdom.
*But Moses waited here. He patiently stayed in his place, waiting on the Lord, waiting for the Lord to speak.
-It is always a wise thing to wait on the Lord. As we read in Isaiah 40:
28. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. There is no searching of His understanding.
29. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall,
31. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
*Moses teaches us to wait on the Lord.
-I told you about missionary John Paton leading Chief Mamokei and eleven other cannibals to the Lord. They took the Lord’s Supper together. But how long did that take? -- Almost 11 years went by before that first Lord’s Supper took place!
*We must learn to wait on the Lord.
*So Moses meeting with the Lord speaks to us tonight.
*It speaks to us:
-About sprinkling of the blood.
-About supper with the Savior.
-About serving the Lord together.
-And about steadfastly waiting on the Lord.
*May God help us to apply all of these lessons from Moses on the mountain.
1. Good explanation of Moses’ time on the mountain: “Seven Ascents” by Richard Gamble - www.heraldmag.org/2006/06mj_3.htm
2. Adapted from online message “The Magnificent Meal on Mt. Sinai” by Bob Deffinbaugh - Exodus 24:1-18 - http://bible.org/seriespage/magnificent-meal-mt-sinai-exodus-241-18
3. Online sermon “The Glory Blood of the Covenant” - Exodus 24:1-11 - First Presbyterian Church, Jackson MS - Pastor: J. Ligon Duncan
www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/exodus/Exodus%20Vol%203%20&%204/32bExo.htm
4. Online sermon “Christmas and Covenant” by Rodney Buchanan - Luke 1:68-79 - 12/10/06
5. Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 2000
6. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Phoebe - An Example for our Time” by Scott Bayles - Romans 16:1-2
