If you’ve been with us for a while, you may know that I was looking at the Book of Exodus and the lessons which we learned from the event of the Jews coming out of Egypt. And, in Corinthians Paul tells us that these things which happened are examples to us who have come to faith in Jesus the Messiah.
As we look at the pattern of events which took place with the Exodus, we can see that there are many things which apply to us, which connect to the New Covenant and to Yeshua Jesus as the Messiah.
Last time I spoke on this I was looking at the Ten Commandments. I want to move on now to Exodus chapter 24. So, if you have your Bibles we’re going to read Exodus chapter 24.
Let’s just have a word of prayer as we come to the Word of God. Lord, we would like to you thank you for your Word; we thank you that it is truth and pray that you bless the reading and the preaching of your Word and guide us into all truth. We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Yeshua Jesus the Messiah, amen.
This chapter is actually pivotal in our understanding of the Hebrew scriptures of the Tanakh, the Old Testament. It shows how God sealed the covenant with Israel through the Torah (the Law) and how this was going to be the means by which He would communicate and relate to His people in the time between Moses and the Messiah.
When the Messiah Yeshua would come in, He would bring in the New Covenant but, up until this time, God would communicate through the Covenant with Moses.
We see that this is a covenant sealed with blood, a covenant which God makes which is of great significance in our understanding of the Hebrew scriptures and indeed, of the whole of the Bible.
There are a number of significant parallels between what happens here and what happens in the giving of the New Covenant, particularly in the day of Pentecost.
Interestingly, these two events (Old and New Covenants) took place at the same time in the Hebrew calendar, on the day of Pentecost, the feast which the Jewish people hold called Shavuot which is the equivalent of Pentecost.
Now I want to make a few points on this subject if I can get through them all.
As part of our study into Exodus 24, we’ve looked at:
Okay, the last point. I’ll be brief on this one but it’s a very important one and perhaps we’ll say more about this one another time.
Exodus says:
10 and they saw the God of Israel.
Exodus 24.10
There are rare occasions in the Bible when God actually reveals Himself in a particularly strong way; generally, when there is a change in the dispensation.
Now we have the beginning of the dispensation of the Law and God reveals Himself in a particularly special way by opening up the windows of Heaven and giving the 70 elders of Israel the revelation of the God of Israel.
It says in verse 9:
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy 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, 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.
Exodus 24.9-11
You have the most basic words for ‘see’ there. It says in Hebrew the basic word for ‘to see’. They saw God meant that they saw God. That is the only way you can explain it.
You have an issue in the Bible which says you can’t see God and live (Deuteronomy 4.12, Deuteronomy 4.15, Exodus 33.20, Exodus 33.23, Job 35.14, John 1.18, 1 John 4.12, John 5.37, 1 Timothy 6.16, John 6.46, 1 John 3.6, 1 John 4.20, Isaiah 38.11, Isaiah 64.4, Exodus 3.6, Acts 7.32).
But they did see God at this point. There are occasions when God sort of peels back the veil which separates us from Him and reveals Himself in a special way. And He did so on this occasion.
It also says He did not lay His hand on them. They didn’t see God and die, they saw God and they lived. It says also they saw God and they ate and drank. Again, the most basic words for ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ used in Hebrew. Therefore, they did the most fundamental things which we humans have to do to live: they ate and they drank. But they saw God at the same time.
And so, there’s this coming together of Heaven and earth as they see God and God, who is in Heaven, reveals Himself in this unique way to the people.
It doesn’t happen often. In fact, it happens very rarely. And I am a bit suspicious of people who keep telling me they’ve seen God. Sometimes, it’s because they’ve seen something in their imagination but here, we see that it was a genuine experience, that these elders of Israel saw God and lived.
It will happen to us when we go to be with the Lord, either at death or at the Rapture of the church. We will see God! It’ll be wonderful! It’ll be beyond anything that we can experience in our present state on earth.
We will not generally have visions of God. It may happen to some, but not very often. But we did see God in the person of Jesus Christ and when we come back to John’s Gospel, those who saw Jesus on earth actually saw God. It says in John chapter 1:
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
John 1.14
John has already told us that the Word was with God, that the Word was God, that all things were created through Him (John 1.1-3).
He has re-defined the Word as being God: the Son, the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 1.14-18
If we want to see God, look at Jesus. We may not see Him in the flesh since we won’t see Him in the flesh as the disciples saw Him. We will see Him when He comes again. But, in the meantime, we see Him by faith and we see His Word which has been revealed to us, which is the Word of God the word of truth which will lead us into all truth because He is the way, the truth, and the life.
We can come to the Father through Him, come to Him uniquely, to God through Jesus the Messiah. The Covenant with Moses was good but we have a better Covenant through Jesus Christ.
Let’s enter into it and be made one with God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Yeshua and you will be saved both now and for all eternity, Amen.
Lord we do thank you for the Salvation you come to give to us. We thank you for the Word of God. We thank you that you gave the Law through Moses but grace and truth through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah that may we all enter into that Covenant with God through Jesus. Thank you for the blood that you shed for us at the cross. Thank you that is sufficient to cover our sins and to make us one with God, with our Holy God now and for all eternity. We give you thanks for this in Jesus name, amen.