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Exodus 23:20-24:18

If you have your copy of God’s Word (and I hope you do), then let me invite you to take it and turn with me to Exodus 23-24. All of us are familiar with military rankings (yes?). Some more than others, for sure, but we all know that there’s some sort of pecking order in the military. Privates are on the bottom, followed by corporals, then there are sergeants. That’s the NCO ranks (non-commissioned officer positions), and of course, there are various levels and degrees of these privates, corporals and sergeants. And above NCO’s are the commissioned officer rankings: Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Colonels and Generals.

There are rows and rows of books about famous military leaders, and in our history some of those people include the generals and commanders of WWII and perhaps more recent wars in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. One of my personal favorites was a guy named Richard “Dick” Winters. He was the lead character in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, which aired back in 2001. He rose to the rank of Major, becoming the 2nd Battalion Commander of the 101st Airborne Division. His troops highly respected him and his leadership and character, and thus they would follow his commands – whether that was parachuting behind German lines on D-Day, attacking a battery of German 105mm howitzers at Brécourt Manor in France, or holding the line in the Ardennes during the famous Battle of the Bulge.

Likewise, we need to pay attention to God’s voice. We need to listen to Him and follow His instructions. He’s our ultimate Commander in Chief. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and follow Him, but they don’t listen to the voice of a stranger (John 10:4-5). Jesus led with holy character and unparalleled sacrifice, and those of us that follow Him should delight in His Word.

In today’s passage we’re going to see a number of important expressions related to obedience. We’re also going to find important truths related to trusting God, following Him, receiving His blessing, and living for His glory. As always, I’m going to break this down for us into three sections. But before we go any further, shall we pray:

“Father, we ask for the enabling of the Holy Spirit as we study these verses together. Grant, O Lord, that we might enter into all that You have for us as You instruct us from Your holy Word. And we offer this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

The first section is what many of your Bibles list as the conquest of Canaan. I’m calling it…

The Conquest Promised

Follow along beginning with verse 20, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites (and mosquito bites and termites), and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and I will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.”

There’s much debate about who this angel is, and to be fair the text doesn’t explicitly say, but I believe this is another one of those rare instances in the Old Testament where we get a glimpse of the pre-incarnate Christ. I believe this angel is Jesus. Now, I can’t prove that, so if you find it more helpful to view this angel as a human messenger like Moses or Joshua, or even an actual angel like Gabriel or Michael, then that’s fine. I think a strong argument could be made that this is Jesus, but the more important thing to notice is that God brings the victory.

Notice all of the first-person singular pronouns: I send an angel… the place I have prepared… all that I say… I will be an enemy… I blot them out… I will bless your bread and water… I will take sickness away… This is a work of God. The victory and glory belong to Him. He went before them. He drove out the enemy. He blesses their food and water and takes away their sickness. This is all about God. Just as it is in our lives as well.

When it comes to our salvation, God has done all of the work. He’s already won the victory. He’s gone before us. He’s conquered the dual enemy of death and the devil. Since He’s won the ultimate battle over sin, we can rest assured that He will be with us in our smaller battles. Yet, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a part to play. That doesn’t mean that we’re simply passive observers in our day-to-day sanctification. It just means that we don’t fight alone.

God made two essential demands on the Israelites. First, they were forbidden to worship the gods of the Canaanites. Second, God told them to destroy the idols and sacred stones of the Canaanites. The same is true of us. We should never compromise in giving God all our worship. We need to take inventory of the idols in our own hearts that seek to compete with our affections for the Lord. And remember, idols are not always innately bad things. We can make good things into “god things,” and when that happens, we need to remove them and destroy them.

I’ll grant to you that it’s not always easy recognizing the idols that we’ve allowed to take up residence in our lives, but here’s a good rule of thumb: when you sin to get it or sin when it’s taken away, then it’s likely an idol. These things, whether they be power and influence, sex and beauty, money and success, education and knowledge, or a million other things will trap us and draw us away from God. And the instruction, the demand, is not simply to avoid them, but to destroy them.

When we take the steps necessary to identify our idols and act to put them away, then God blesses us. That’s what He promised to the Israelites. He promised food and water, good health, large families, long life, and most of all the promised land, the inheritance He had prepared for them. Understand this word of caution: this doesn’t mean that if we obey the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law that we’ll never get sick, never starve, have lots of children, and live a long life. It also doesn’t mean that when Christians suffer it’s necessarily due to disobedience. Jesus suffered. He promised His disciples that they would suffer and be hated (John 15:18-20).

Nevertheless, God gave the people of Israel a promise and it was a good promise – a land of their own. For those of us that have placed our faith and trust in Jesus, we have an even better promise – an eternal land. Are you ready to see and experience our eternal home? Do you long for that? Do you savor the certainty that God keeps His promises and will lead you into Hs eternal promised land where there’s no more hunger or suffering or mourning – a place where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). I hope you do!

That leads us to the next thing that we see and that’s…

The Covenant Confirmed

Look at chapter 24, beginning with verse 1, “Then [God] said to Moses, ‘Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.’

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. 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. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 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.’ 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’”

When we talk about covenants, remember that for any covenant to be established it had to be confirmed by both parties and that’s what happens here. You’ve got this contingent of 70 elders, plus Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu – those are the two oldest sons of Aaron – and they come up to worship God. It appears to me that Moses is the only one that truly gets to come directly before God, but the others were also invited further up the mountain or perhaps closer to the mountain than the general population of Israel. In either case, we see the honor and respect and reverence and awe that God’s holiness demands.

And we also realize that we can only draw close to God and be in His presence (as it were) if we come on His terms, in the way that He’s appointed – through a mediator. In this case, it was Moses. Later, it would be the priests. Today, it’s only through Jesus Christ, the “one mediator between God and man” (1 Timothy 2:5). And after God set the terms, the people affirmed it (twice). They promised to do all that God had said. In fact, if you count their promise in chapter 19, verse 8, then they’ve confirmed the covenant three times. But in these verses, they confirm it twice. Why twice? Do you see a parallel between something that we do?

The first time was to declare their intent. The second was to so they could promise to obey – they took their vows (so to speak). What does that sound like (marriage)? First, we declare our intent (“I will” or “I do”); second, we say our vows. When you consider the confirmation of God’s covenant, are you determined to obey the word of God? Are you resolved to obey God no matter the circumstances, by His grace, for His glory? The Israelites weren’t too good at it, and I’m afraid we aren’t either. Like Israel, we all fail to obey. But when this happens, thankfully we can look to the One who did obey perfectly, the One who provides us with His righteousness.

There are some church denominations, when they celebrate the Lord’s Supper, they say to one another, “The blood of Christ, shed for you.” What a powerful statement and reminder of the work of the Lord Jesus. Do you dwell on this truth? That Jesus shed His blood to purchase your salvation. It’s such a common thing in churches and worship, that sometimes we have to stare long and hard at the cross or in our mind’s eye to see the beautiful blood that was poured out for us. Jesus ushered in a new covenant, sealed with His own blood. What an inexpressible joy to know that our ransom has been paid by the King of Kings.

Don’t you like some of these new praise and worship songs that Ray has introduced us to over the last year and a half? Today’s song, King of Kings, has this wonderful line that we all sang, “By His blood and in His name, In His freedom I am free, For the love of Jesus Christ, Who has resurrected me.” It’s all because of the blood of Jesus. And if you don’t know this Jesus and the provision of grace that He offers, then I pray you might find rest in the work of Christ today.

That brings us to the last point for today, which is…

The Glory of God Beheld

Pick up at verse 9, “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under His feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

12 The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’ 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.’

15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the LORD dwelt 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. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

When was the last time you went out to a fine dining restaurant? Do you recall a time that you had dinner with someone important? Maybe a boss. Maybe a guy/girl you were dating. Maybe the parents of the guy/girl you were dating. Perhaps you’re the parents of the guy/girl and you’re just as nervous as the kids. Perhaps it was a politician or a famous athlete. Several of you have had the privilege of sharing a meal with some pretty significant people.

Shoot, some of you were the significant people that I’m talking about. I remember meeting Paul Vidovich for the first time and being impressed that I was talking to a CEO of a large international corporation, then I met Kitty and she told me he wasn’t all that. The same was true of Bill Canata and his Pfizer career, Dave Schaub and his acquaintance with Édouard Michelin, great-grandson of the founder of Michelin, and several others. Then I met Martha and Linda, and they invited me behind the curtain. But seriously, imagine dining with God on His mountain!

Granted, they probably did not see or experience the fullness of God’s glory, after all, according to Exodus 33:20, “no one can see [God] and live.” And when you consider the fact that God didn’t raise His hand of judgment against them, then they probably only saw a general shape or a vague or partial vision of Him. What they likely saw was a view of God from below, since the description we have is of God’s feet and the pavement. Whatever that was like, God gave them a glimpse of His majesty and it got better because they actually ate and drank with Him. It demonstrated that they had fellowship with God, that He was a party to the covenant. And one day there’s coming another meal – a “marriage feast of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9) – where all who have trusted in Christ Jesus for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins will dine with the risen Lamb of God. In that moment, no longer will there be any veil, no longer will there be any cloud, no longer will there be a dim mirror. No, we will see Him face to face, just as He is.

Whatever wonder we’ve witnessed here on earth, heaven is guaranteed to be better. Whatever joyous news we’ve already heard, heaven’s news reaches far beyond. Even the most incredible wonders we can dream up fade before the realities God has planned for those who love Him and follow Him. We know it will be the most incredible experience of our lives to be with the Lord in heaven, but for now, we can only imagine how outstanding it will be.

You might recognize the name Bart Millard. He’s the lead singer of a Christian band named MercyMe. They had a little hit a few years back that made it into mainstream music called I Can Only Imagine. What you might not know is the backstory behind the song.

The band was trying to complete its first worship song album and they were a song short. Late at night on the band’s bus, Millard found an old notebook with the phrase “I can only imagine” written in it. He began to write a song, basing it on his personal feelings about his father Arthur’s death. Early in Bart’s life, Arthur had been physically and emotionally abusive towards his family, with Bart being beaten severely at points; Arthur and his wife Adele eventually divorced, and Bart was sent to live with his mother after an especially extreme whipping.

Bart kept in contact with his father, however, who was later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when Bart was 15. His father began to make amends for his actions and started becoming more religiously observant, reading the Bible and going to church regularly. As Arthur progressively became more ill, his relationship with his son improved dramatically; by the time Arthur died in 1991, when Bart was 18, the two were very close. Bart said that “I got a front row seat to see this guy go from being a monster to falling desperately in love with Jesus. By the time he passed away when I was a freshman in college, not only was he my best friend, but he was also like the godliest man I’d ever known.”

That’s the story of God’s instruction to Moses and the Israelites. The conquest has already been promised. The covenant has already been sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and all that’s left is to behold the glory of God. Like Arthur, all you need to do is accept this – by faith – and trust in the completed work of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Then, one day, when the Lord calls your name, you won’t have to imagine the eternal promised land – you’ll experience it, along with all of God’s glory.