January 18, 2008

• Discovering God’s Character:
  
  
  
  Exodus 19-31: The Consecration of the People and the Covenant

  After their three month long trek across the land and having reached
  the wilderness of Sinai, it would seem from the wording that it was
  exactly three months long. They had started from Rephidim and came
  there and camped in front of the mountain.

  Moses gets the call from God to come up the mountain and He says to
  Moses that they have seen how He had brought them over to Himself as He
  puts it “on eagle’s wings” which is as much to say they were brought in
  a “speedy and protected fashion”. He also makes note of what He did to
  the Egyptians for their sake.

  It is here that the Lord makes His offer to Israel. If they are to obey
  His voice and keep His covenant, then they would be His own possession
  among all the peoples out of all the earth. If they were to agree to
  this He would make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

  Before we go any farther here, we need to realize what was being
  offered and what was not. God had presented the offer to them which
  would require of them more than the average nation. While they would be
  His, they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. If one pays
  attention here, it is not saying that they would be the most blessed of
  all nations although that might come along indirectly with this. They were offered a special place in God’s economy where
  intercession and holiness would be the hallmarks for all the world to
  see. If we miss this, we find that the rest of the all the Law (moral
  and ceremonial portions) make little sense. It will also explain why a
  little later on that the Lord’s tone toward Israel changes somewhat
  because of their infidelity toward Him.

  It has been a couple of months that I’ve pondered over this situation
  and now realize that if there were ever a point of tension in the
  entire Bible, this would be one of them. Prior to this point, God had
  been very patient with them. Once they accepted the terms (and they
  will), from that point on, things would be different. God will be
  setting up His kingdom of priests and His holy nation. The requirements
  of this covenant would be much more than the people would understand at
  the outset. Indeed, it would be since there would only be one person
  who could fulfill it, Jesus Christ Himself.

  So Moses takes the Lord’s proposal before the sons of Israel and as we
  are told, they responded, and Moses conveys their response back to the
  Lord.

  
  So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them
  all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people
  answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!”
  And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.  Exodus
  19:7-8 (NASB)

  Upon receiving that agreement from the people, the Lord instructs Moses
  how He would present Himself to the people and how He would speak to
  him in a manner that would cause all the sons of Israel to believe in
  Moses as well. As we will see, the Lord is making sure that as He
  approaches the people that they will not be harmed in the process and
  that He fully intends to convey that Moses would be His appointed
  leader for them.

  The details of this visitation is that the Lord would come in a thick
  cloud so they could hear Him speak to Moses. The people will be
  required to be consecrated for two days, that present day and the next
  and on the third day He would meet with them by coming down on Mount
  Sinai for all of them to see.  The mountain itself would be cordoned
  off so that no one was to touch it or the border of it. Those that did
  would die. It was even instructed that sexual relations be prohibited
  during that time. It is quite clear that coming before the Lord was
  very serious business.

  In the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning
  flashes and a thick cloud of smoke like the smoke of a furnace on the
  mountain, a very loud trumpet sound and the mountain quaked violently.
  It was a very frightening display. In spite of this, Moses brought the
  people out of the camp to meet God and they stood at the foot of the
  mountain.

  As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God
  answered Him with thunder. The Lord tells Moses to come to the top of
  the mountain and Moses obeyed.

  The Lord told Moses to warn the people not to break through to the Lord
  to gaze because many would perish and that the priests who come near to
  the Lord should consecrate themselves or they would perish as well.
  Moses repeats the Lord’s earlier words that there would be boundaries
  set around the mountain and they cannot come up because He has warned
  them earlier about that.

  Moses is told to go down the mountain and come back up again, this time
  with Aaron with him. The priests and people must not come up or the
  Lord would break forth upon them. So Moses goes down and tells the
  people of all this.

  Before Moses and Aaron return to the top of Mount Sinai, Then God
  speaks out for all the people to hear and we see in Exodus 20-23 what
  the Lord Himself desires for them to obey. First, they must be rightly
  related to their God and then be rightly related to their fellow man
  and have proper conduct toward one another. Please take the time to
  read those chapters with the idea of how His character shows through
  those ordinances and consider how much He desires that not only we are
  in right relation to Him but that our relations to each other is good
  as well.

  Upon the completion of that message, God says to Moses… in Exodus 24

  
  Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and
  Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a
  distance. Moses alone, however, shall come near to the LORD, but they
  shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”  Exodus
  24:1-2 (NASB)

  While Moses will receive stone tablets outlining the covenant between
  the Lord and Israel, Moses recounts all the words God had spoken to
  them and all the ordinances and they agreed to them. So then he writes
  them all down and arose early in the morning, building an altar at the
  foot of the mountain with 12 pillars for each of the tribes of Israel. They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. Half the blood was put in basins and the other half was sprinkled on the altar.
    
  
  Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the
  people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we
  will be obedient!” So 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 in accordance with all these words.” Exodus 24:7-8 (NASB)

  What happens next is amazing…

  
  Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the
  elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet
  there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky
  itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the
  sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. Exodus
  24:9-11 (NASB)

  Once this is over, the Lord said to Moses to come up to Him on the
  mountain and remain there, where He will give Moses the stone tablets
  with the law and the commandment which He had written for their
  instruction.

  But Moses does not go alone…

  
  So Moses arose with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. Exodus 24:13 (NASB)

  Yet the elders were to remain with Aaron and Hur in his absence and
  they were to deal with all the legal matters until he returned.

  In the rest of Exodus 24 we learn of some details about Moses’ visit with God on Mount Sinai and for how long…

  
  Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
  The glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it
  for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst
  of the cloud. And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of
  the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.
  Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and
  Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Exodus 24:15-18
  (NASB)

  During those forty days and nights, Moses would receive instructions
  for the tabernacle and the ordinances for the priests, etc.

  
  When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses
  the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the
  finger of God. Exodus 31:18 (NASB)

  However, due to Moses’ long duration on the mountain, some unhappy things were to occur but we’ll save that for another time.

  Where we saw a similar covenant being drawn between God and Abraham in
  less detail in Genesis, we see that this one is quite detailed and its
  implications were wide-ranging. In it all, however, if we care to look carefully, we see a good God who
  requires the best from us simply because those things are good and
  honoring to Him and ultimately honoring to us as well. In what place do
  we see harshness except toward things that simply are “not right” and
  should not be done anyway? We simply do not. What the Lord required of
  man morally was good and right and would be a protection for all. What
  He required of Israel was only appropriate for its position as a
  kingdom of priests and a holy nation before God. Those things He asked
  of them were right and fitting. Indeed, when Christ came he did not
  come to abolish the Law, it was in fact, good. He came to fulfill it
  because it showed us what man was really like. He set the good standard
  and we in our fallen state cannot come close to meeting it. Thanks be
  to God for His mercy so that we might have a hope of having a character
  as good as His through His Spirit.  Mr.Vee

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