Eating with God

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for worship. For those of you who are new,

my name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church, and we are in a sermon series

in the book of Exodus. So if you would please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 24.

Exodus 24 · chapter mention

And if you don't have a Bible, feel free to raise your hand,

and we'll bring a Bible over for you that you can use while you're here.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, forgive me that I cannot do this passage justice,

but I ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would use my snavering tongue to praise your name,

exalt the name of your Son, Jesus.

Point to the glory, your glory revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be pleasing to you,

O Lord, our Rock and Redeemer.

Amen.

If you would please stand for the reading of God's Word from Exodus 24, verses 1 to 18.

Exodus 24 · chapter mention

Then he 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.

Moses alone shall come near to the Lord,

but the others shall not come near,

and the people shall not come up with him.

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.

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.

And he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings

and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins,

and half of the blood he threw against 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.

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.

Then Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,

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.

And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel.

They beheld God and ate and drank.

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.

So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua,

and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

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.

Then Moses went up on the mountain,

and the cloud covered the mountain.

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 mist of the cloud.

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.

Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain,

and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Vivek Murthy is the United States Surgeon General,

and that makes him our federal government's leading spokesman

on matters of personal health, public health.

And even before the pandemic,

he wrote a book entitled Together,

The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

In the book, he makes the case that loneliness is a public health concern

and claims that our society is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness

of the same scale as the opioid epidemic or obesity.

This is driven, he argues, in large part

by the accelerated pace of life

and the spread of technology into all of our social interactions.

When we are preoccupied with efficiency and convenience,

real relationships, which are often inconvenient

and take time and hard work,

get relegated to the back burner.

According to neuroscientists from another article,

our brain registers loneliness as a threat,

so it triggers our flight or fight response to stress hormones.

Your heart rate rises,

your blood pressures and blood sugar level increase

to provide energy in case you need it.

Your body produces extra inflammatory cells

to repair tissue damage and prevent infection

and fewer antibodies to fight viruses.

They say that subconsciously,

you start to view other people more as potential threats,

sources of rejection or apathy,

and less as friends,

remedies for your loneliness.

Not only does the feeling of loneliness

put us at greater risk for emotional disorders

like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse,

it also makes us more susceptible

to seemingly unrelated physical disorders

such as cancer, dementia, hypertension,

heart disease, stroke, and premature death.

People with weak social relationships

are 50% more likely to die prematurely

than people with strong relationships.

Meta-analysis by psychologist and neuroscientist

Julianne Holt-Lunstad

compares the health risks of loneliness

to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

The so-called loneliness epidemic

has gotten worse since the pandemic.

According to a citywide survey

administered in New York City,

57% of city residents said that they feel lonely

some or most of the time.

We feel loneliness acutely

and loneliness affects us negatively

because it goes against God's design.

God himself is triune.

One God in three persons,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And he created us, humanity, in his image

so that we were created for fellowship,

to be in relationship with one another.

But not only did God create us

to be in relationships with fellow human beings,

even more fundamentally,

God created us for fellowship with himself.

And spiritual separation from God

is at the root of all the dysfunction

and disorder in this world.

To give you an example,

people suffer from psychological alienation

within themselves.

Anxiety, panic attacks, anorexia,

bulimia, depression, bipolar disorder,

gender dysphoria, schizophrenia.

Our society is also plagued with social alienation,

with other people.

Everywhere we turn, we hear of wars

and rumors of wars,

of prejudice and injustice,

of loneliness and isolation, of hatred.

Our world also suffers from physical alienation.

Nature is full of thorns,

earthquakes, drops, droughts, and hurricanes.

And our bodies succumb to various diseases,

dementia, diabetes, COVID, migraines, cancer.

All these dysfunctions, disorders,

and alienations, psychological, social,

and physical,

they are all horizontal alienations

that are symptoms of our vertical alienation from God.

At first, when God created Adam and Eve,

they enjoyed communion with God,

fellowship with God,

unbroken fellowship with God,

and they lived in peace,

in shalom, in wholeness.

But when they sinned against God,

they were expelled from His presence

from the Garden of Eden

because of their sin.

And it's that vertical alienation

that has produced all of this

horizontal alienation.

Alienation.

As human beings,

many of our jobs are working toward peace

and order and health and community

trying to fix this.

But utopia is always out of reach

because it can only be had

when we have perfect union with

and communion with the living God.

We see in this passage

a powerful evidence

of God's ultimate plan

to restore us

into fellowship with Him.

And this passage teaches us

that the Lord makes the blood

of the covenant with us

so that we might have fellowship

with Him.

So we're going to look at first

approaching the Lord,

consecrating to the Lord,

beholding the Lord,

and finally dwelling

with the Lord.

Let's look at verses 1-2.

Talk about approaching the Lord.

Previously in Exodus 20,

after God addressed all the Israelites

and spoke the Ten Commandments

over them,

the people were so afraid

that they asked Moses

to please go up

and speak to the Lord yourself

and then relay what He says to us

instead of having God

speak directly to us

because we might perish.

So people asked Moses to do that.

And so from Exodus 20, 22

to 23, 33,

all the words and rules

were spoken directly by Yahweh

to Moses

and not to all of the Israelites

with the expectation

that Moses would then relay it

to the rest of the Israelites.

But briefly in chapter 24,

verses 1-2,

the Lord addresses Moses individually

with this specific instruction.

Come up to the Lord,

you and Aaron,

Nadab and Abihu,

and 70 of the elders of Israel,

and worship from afar.

Moses alone shall come near to the Lord,

but the others shall not come near,

and the people shall not come up with him.

So Moses,

it's not uncommon for the Lord

to speak in the third person

referring to himself.

He's a triune God.

And so here,

Moses and Aaron

are invited to come up to the mountain

along with Nadab and Abihu,

two of Aaron's sons,

and 70 of the elders of Israel

who had some kind of governing role

within Israel

at this stage of their national life.

But there is still a distance.

Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,

and the 70 elders

worship the Lord from afar,

it says.

Moses alone shall come near to the Lord.

The others shall not come near.

And there's still yet more distance

for the rest of the people of God.

They are not even to come up

to the mountain.

They are to remain

at the foot of the mountain.

So there are three tiers

of intimacy with God here.

Kind of like going to a theater.

You guys have been to

Broadway theater shows.

You know,

you have the orchestra seats

right up front,

and then you have the mezzanine seats

slowly behind that and above,

and then you've got

the nosebleed seats

in the,

what do you call that,

in the balcony.

Yeah.

And for that,

it's really just a matter

of how much money

you can pay

or are willing to pay,

but this is something

far deeper

and significant than that.

The people of Israel

can worship

only at the foot

of the mountain.

There's a distance

that they cannot bridge.

They offer sacrifices

at the foot

of the mountain

to make atonement

for sin.

They may not come up.

The soon-to-be priests,

Aaron, Nadab,

and Abihu,

along with the 70 elders,

can come up partway

up the mountain,

but they still must remain

far away.

They cannot come near

to the Lord.

This pattern

of Mount Sinai,

the three tiers

of Mount Sinai,

will be reflected later

when Israelites

build the tabernacle

in the following chapters.

In the tabernacle,

the tent of God,

there were three levels,

were three sections.

The outer court,

where the people of God

offered sacrifice

and worshiped,

and the tent proper,

the tent of meeting,

the tabernacle proper

inside which the holy place

that only the priests

could enter.

And even within that tent,

there was a section

cordoned off by a curtain,

a veil,

separating the holy place

from the most holy place.

And to the most holy place,

only the high priest,

the one high priest,

could enter,

and that only once a year

on the Day of Atonement.

So the tabernacle becomes

a portable version

of Mount Sinai,

of God's dwelling place

traveling with Israel

through the wilderness

and into the promised land.

But why doesn't God

just let everyone

come up the mountain?

Why does he have

to be so exclusive?

The enforced distance

communicates God's holiness.

As it says in Exodus 19, 20,

the Lord came down

on Mount Sinai,

but Moses and Aaron

and Erebe and Abihu,

they have to go up

the mountain to the Lord.

Mount Sinai functions

as a sort of middle ground

between the Lord

who dwells on high

in the highest heavens

and the people

who dwell below.

It's not that God

physically lives

in the heavens.

He is spirit

and he is omnipresent.

He's in all places

at all times.

Yet this language

of coming down

and the people

going up to meet him

communicates the vast chasm

that lies between them.

There's a distance

that they cannot bridge.

Another way to say that

is that God is holy,

meaning set apart from us,

consecrated, special, holy.

To be holy,

it's the opposite

of being common.

The fact that God is holy

means that he is not like us.

He's uncommon.

He is set apart from us.

And he's not just qualitatively

or quantitatively different from us.

He's not just a superlative

version of man.

He is quantitatively

different from us.

No matter how advanced

or perfected

our artificial intelligence gets,

it will never be human.

Likewise,

no matter how advanced

or perfected

we human beings get,

we will never be God.

When prophet Isaiah

and apostle John

saw visions of the Lord,

they both saw angels

and creatures

attending him,

singing,

holy,

holy,

holy.

Our triune God

is thrice holy,

perfect in holiness.

There's no one before him

or after him,

and there is none

beside him.

There's no peer.

He has no peer or rival.

He is unlike any other.

That's what it means

that God is set apart.

He is holy.

During college,

I studied abroad

for a year in England

and used that year

to travel on cheaply

and visited dozens

of art museums.

I don't remember very much

from the museums

that I visited,

but I do distinctly remember

one place,

and that was the Sistine Chapel

inside Vatican City,

famed for the murals

painted by Michelangelo

and the papal enclaves

that take place there

where the Catholic cardinals

elect their new pope.

And that visit stands out

in my memory

for a number of reasons.

One is because

they require absolute silence

inside the chapel

when you go in.

And using mobile phones

or taking photos

is not allowed.

They ban phones

and cameras

and impose silence

because they want

to convey the sense

of sacredness

of the space

because the camera flash

and the shutter sound

going off constantly

and tourists chattering

all around the place

would detract

from the solemnity

of the place.

And it's very effective,

this practice.

As soon as you

enter the chapel,

a hush comes

over the place.

No one is distracted

on their phones

and everyone

is standing in awe

of the artistic masterpieces

that surround you

on the walls

and on the ceiling.

And the whole experience

leaves an indelible impression.

This is no common,

ordinary place.

It's a sacred space,

set apart space.

If the Sistine Chapel

is set apart

in its way,

how much more

Mount Sinai

upon which Yahweh,

the Holy One Himself,

has personally descended.

Sinai is a place

like no other

and the enforced distance

communicates

the holiness of God.

But the distance

is enforced

not only to preserve

the holiness of God

but also to protect

God's people.

Habakkuk 1.13

says that God

is of purer eyes

than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong.

The Lord dwells

in unapproachable light

before whom

all our hidden sins

are exposed,

past, present,

and future.

Our Lord is often

described as

a consuming fire.

The fire is useful,

of course,

in many ways.

It kills bacteria

and it makes

certain foods edible.

It burns up the dross

and refines

precious metals.

But we have this saying

for a reason,

don't play with fire

because fire is dangerous

and it's foolish

to play with it.

Sinners

who approach

the Holy God

perish.

God is not

someone to toy with.

He is not someone

we can push around

or presume upon.

And that's why

in verse 11,

Moses notes

with some surprise

that when he

and Aaron

and Nadab

and Abihu

and the 70 elders

ascended the mountain

partway

and beheld God

and ate

and drank with him,

he notes that

Yahweh

did not lay

his hand

on the chief men

of the people of Israel.

And that expression,

laying his hands,

refers to punishment

and judgment.

Because our Holy God

cannot countenance sinners,

his fiery judgment

breaks out against sinners

and consumes them.

So it is remarkable

that these men

were not consumed

and it's because

of the blood

of the covenant

that they make

with the Lord

as we'll see shortly.

The three tiers

of nearness

on Mount Sinai

and the command

to maintain a distance

therefore serve

to protect

God's people

from the wrath of God,

from his holy justice.

And that's precisely

because Yahweh

is holy

and set apart

and his people

who wish to approach him

must be consecrated.

They themselves

must be set apart

for him.

And that's what

verses 3 to 8

are speaking of.

The Israelites

are set apart

for God

by two things.

One is the book

of the covenant

and the other

is the blood

of the covenant.

And before we talk

about those things,

we need to understand

what a covenant is

and the covenant

is a legally binding

relationship

confirmed with an oath.

You can take

various forms

but the covenant

between the Lord

and his people

most closely follow

the model

of ancient

Near Eastern

suzerain vassal treaties

where a more powerful

king,

the Lord,

the suzerain

and a weaker king,

the subject,

the vassal

enter into a covenant

relationship

with one another.

And the weaker king

pays tribute

to the more powerful king

and fulfills

other obligations

and the more powerful king

makes certain promises

and protects

the weaker king

from hostile powers.

The Lord

is the suzerain

and his people

are his vassals.

And this covenantal

relationship is marked

like I said

by two things,

the book

and the blood.

First the book,

it says in verse 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.

Since the

Ten Commandments

were spoken

directly by the Lord

here to the people

of Israel

in chapter 20,

those did not need

to be relayed

to the Israelites.

So the words

and rules

being referred to here

are likely

what follows

the Ten Commandments,

the specific application

of the Ten Commandments

in chapter 20 to 23.

All of these things

that the Lord

has spoken,

they say,

we will do.

And then in verse 4,

Moses writes down

all the words

of the Lord

and compiles it

into a book

which becomes

the book of the covenant.

And on the next day

in verse 7,

he takes the book

of the covenant

and reads it

in the hearing

of the people.

And after that,

the people say again,

all that the Lord

has spoken,

we will do

and we will be obedient.

This repetition

of their

voluntary commitment

in allegiance

to the word of God

emphasizes the importance

of the book

of the covenant

in defining the identity

of God's people.

Ever since then,

God's people

have been known

as people

of the book.

We are not

people of the times

or people

of the phone,

but people

of the book.

In particular,

we are people

of this book,

the word of God,

because God

governs his people

by his word.

Christianity

is not merely

about keeping the law.

It's about

a covenant relationship

with God.

You can tell

whether or not

a subject

is loyal

to his or her king

by their obedience

to his decree.

Likewise,

we can tell

that God's people

are loyal to God

by their obedience

to his word.

It's our faith

in and obedience

to God's word

that consecrates us,

sets us apart

from the world.

This is how

we are to be identified.

Not by our

political prowess,

not by how many

followers we have

on social media,

not by how

in sync

we are with

the changing times

or the world,

but by our allegiance

to God's unchanging word.

That's how

we are to be known

as the people of God.

If we do all

that God has spoken,

we will stand out.

We will be set apart.

God consecrates

us to himself

by his book.

The second thing

that God uses

to consecrate us

to himself

is the blood.

After writing down

the book

of the covenant,

it says in

verses 46,

Moses rose

early in the morning

and built an altar

at the foot

of the mountain

and 12 pillars

according to the 12 tribes

of Israel.

And he sent

young men

of the people

of Israel

who offered

burnt offerings

and sacrificed

peace offerings

of oxen to the Lord.

And Moses took

half of the blood

and put it in basins

and half of the blood

he threw it

against the altar.

And an altar

is a place

for worship

and sacrifice

and the 12 pillars

represent the 12 tribes

of Israel

standing before

the presence

of God

at the altar.

After Moses

builds the altar,

some of the young men

of the people

of Israel

offer burnt offerings

and peace offerings

to the Lord.

Leviticus 1.9

specifies that

burnt offerings

were some of the

most costly

kind of offerings

because it involved

burning the entire

sacrificial animal.

Burned completely

as a pleasing aroma

to God.

It's dedicated

completely to the Lord.

So in that sense

it served

to represent

God's people

being wholly

consecrated to the Lord.

Belonging to Him

and not to another.

Wholly to Him.

The peace offering

was a little different.

The peace offering

the blood was poured out

the sprinkle on the altar

and then some of the organ

and the fat

of the animal

were burned up

as sacrifice to God.

But the rest of the meat

was eaten

by the priests

and by the worshippers

who brought the sacrifice.

It was a meal

with God

that celebrated

their covenant

fellowship with Him.

But the blood

of the animal

was never to be consumed

for as the Lord says

in Leviticus 17.11

the life of the flesh

is in the blood

and I've given it for you

on the altar

to make atonement

for your souls.

For it is the blood

that makes atonement

by the life.

That's why

in verse 6

Moses throws

half the blood

onto the altar itself

to consecrate it

for its use

in worship and sacrifice

and then he takes

the other half

and then he throws it

on the people.

Similar to the way

blood is placed

on Aaron

and on his sons

in Leviticus 8

when they are being

ordained to the priesthood

Moses sprinkles

the blood

on the people of God

to atone

for their sin

to consecrate them

to God

and then he says

to them

behold the blood

of the covenant

that the Lord

has made with you

in accordance

with all these words.

We are

as human beings

sinful

and for that reason

we cannot dare

to approach

the holy God

the consuming fire

without making

atonement for sin.

We all fall short

of the glory of God

instead of living

for him

our creator

we have lived

for ourselves

which is an act

of treason

prideful rebellion

against God

our very presence

is contaminating

and repulsive

to a holy God

and because

the penalty

for sin

is death

the price

for atonement

is life

atonement

requires

bloodshed

recalling

this blood

of the covenant

in Hebrews 9

19 to 22

the author says this

for when every

commandment of the law

had been declared

by Moses

to all the people

he took the blood

of calves and goats

with water

and scarlet wool

and hyssop

and sprinkled

both the book itself

and all the people

saying

this is the blood

of the covenant

that God commanded

for you

and in the same way

he sprinkled

with the blood

both the tent

and all the vessels

used in worship

indeed under the law

almost everything

is purified with blood

and without the shedding

of blood

there is no

forgiveness of sins

but of course

a mere animal

can make no atonement

for the sins of man

these sacrifices

in the Old Testament

were but a shadow

that pointed

to the reality

of Jesus'

ultimate atoning

sacrifice

on the cross

when he establishes

the new covenant

with his people

and that same passage

in Hebrew

that I read

also says this

for if the blood

of goats and bulls

and the sprinkling

of defiled persons

with the ashes

of a heifer

sanctified for the purification

of the flesh

how much more

will the blood of Christ

who through the eternal spirit

offered himself

without blemish to God

purify our conscience

from dead works

to serve the living God

the blood of Christ

is so effective

that he can purify

our consciences

give us a clear conscience

knowing

that our sins

have been atoned for

that we really

have been cleansed

most of us

have sinned

and done wrong

in ways that we are

ashamed to admit

sins that you committed

after peeking

over your shoulders

to make sure

no one is watching

sins that you

lower your voice

to share

during confession

because

you don't want anyone

to overhear it

sins that make you feel

like people

would never

look at you

the same way

if only they knew

if that's the case

with sinful humans

how can we ever

lift our heads

in the presence of God

who is unimpeachable

in his holiness

how can we ever

look at the face

of the holy God

what would he

think of our sins

but God does

know all

of our sins

and he has

made a way

for our cleansing

by sending

Jesus Christ

his son

as our substitute

to die the death

that we deserved

on the cross

and to be raised

to life again

as the lyrics

to the song

amazing love

puts it

I'm forgiven

because you

were forsaken

I'm accepted

you were condemned

I'm alive

and well

your spirit

is within me

because you

died

and rose

again

this is the power

of the gospel

that when we

renounce our sins

and bring them

to God

in the light of God

the blood of Jesus

God's son

cleanses us

from all

sin

the blood

of Jesus

really

cleanses us

of our sins

the blood

of Jesus

really covers

our shame

the blood

of Jesus

really

consecrates

us

sets us

apart

so that

we might

have

fellowship

with God

so that

we can

draw near

to his

throne

so that

we can

look upon

his glorious

and gracious

face

that's what

this

consecrating

does

and we

continue to

progress here

in the mountain

after consecrating

to the Lord

Moses and Aaron

and Nadab

and Abihu

and the 70

elders

get to

behold

the Lord

it's an

amazing

verse

it says

in verse

90

11

that

Moses

and Aaron

and Nadab

and Abihu

and 70

of the elders

of Israel

went up

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

and he did

not lay his

hand on the

chief men

of the people

of Israel

they beheld

God

and ate

and drank

they got

to see

God

he says

that they

beheld

God

and ate

and drank

they are

sharing

the peace

offering

that they

had

offered

to God

sacrificed

to God

with him

eating

with him

and doing

table

fellowship

with him

this is

significant

I mean

even today

in our

modern world

where this

is far

less

significant

or emphasized

when you

have someone

over to your

house for a

meal

it signifies

a progression

in your

relationship

you've gone

beyond just

acquaintance

to acceptance

to friendship

even being

invited to be

a part

at least for

that time

to belong

to your

family

and that's

what

table

fellowship

in the

ancient

near east

represented

it means

you get

to belong

to the

same

family

you get

to share

life

together

when you

break

bread

together

when you

eat

together

so when

we speak

of here

these men

eating

with God

don't picture

in your

mind

going to

a restaurant

and everybody

ordering his

or her

separate dish

and then you're

just kind of

eating next

to each

other

imagine

inviting

someone

into your

home

a family

style meal

where you're

dipping into

the same

sauces

cutting meat

off of the

same

meat plate

and eating

together

and conversing

with one

another

Moses

and Aaron

and Nadab

and the

elders

got to do

that with

God

imagine

that with

me for a

minute

many of you

will share

a meal

together

after service

today

and many

of you

do that

throughout

the week

but imagine

if you could

invite

God

Yahweh

the Lord

over to

your house

for dinner

after church

today

what I would

prepare for

him

what I would

give to

just sit

there

listen to

him

it's almost

too much

overwhelming

just to

imagine

eating with

him

speaking

to him

but in

fact

that is

what we

get to

do

as a

people

of God

there's a

reason why

the Lord's

supper

is called

the Lord's

supper

it is the

Lord's

meal

the Lord

is the

host

presiding

over the

meal

Jesus

offered his

own body

as the

peace

offering

to

reconcile

us

sinful

people

to

God

the

father

and

he

offers

himself

for

our

spiritual

nourishment

his

body

broken

for us

like bread

his

blood

poured

out

for us

like

wine

so that

we

can

enjoy

eternal

fellowship

with

God

God

this

is not

an

empty

ritual

we

come

to

it

and

experience

it

as a

foretaste

of the

eternal

fellowship

we have

with God

and we

dine

with him

that's

why

Jesus

in his

parables

often

uses

the

metaphor

of

the

banquet

referred

to

the

kingdom

of

God

in

Luke

14

for

example

in

Revelation

99

teaches

us

that

all

Christians

should

look

forward

to

the

marriage

supper

of

the

lamb

of

God

the

elders

and

Moses

Aaron

their

meal

with

God

here

is

foreshadowing

that

eternal

heavenly

banquet

we're

gonna

get

to

feast

with

God

forever

and

the

Lord's

supper

which

we

celebrate

every

week

he

is

an

earthly

foretaste

of

the

heavenly

reality

Moses

and

Aaron

and

Nadab

and

Abihu

and

the

70

elders

got

to

enjoy

this

unspeakable

privilege

but

they

didn't

get

to

behold

God

in

his

fullness

because

that

time

has

not

yet

come

though

it

says

that

they

saw

the

God

of

Israel

when

Moses

actually

starts

describing

exactly

what

he

saw

he

starts

describing

what

was

under

his

feet

even

Moses

after

he

ascends

further

up

the

mountain

does

not

get

to

behold

God

in

his

fullness

which

is

why

later

in

Exodus

33

he

asks

God

to

reveal

more

of

him

he

asks

God

show

me

your

glory

and

then

God

tells

him

you

cannot

see

my

face

for

man

shall

not

see

me

and

live

because

he's

too

holy

too

glorious

these

verses

are not

contradictory

Moses

really

did

see

God

in

some

sense

but

he

did

not

see

God's

fullness

he

did

not

see

God's

face

he

saw

what

was

under

God's

feet

and

that's

anthropomorphism

of course

giving human

characteristics

to God

so that

we can

understand

it

and

relate

to

it

and

look at

this

even

that

experience

looking at

what's

under

God's

feet

is

so

dazzling

that

it's

beyond

description

it says

there was

under

his

feet

as

it

were

a

pavement

of

sapphire

stone

like

the

very

heaven

for

clearness

anybody

understand

what

that

means

I

don't

it

doesn't

make

sense

you

can't

really

imagine

it

because

it's

beyond

description

every

time

the

prophets

have

a

glorious

vision

of

God

like

this

they

always

resort

to

comparison

it

was

like

this

it

was

like

that

it

was

as

it

were

like

this

they

used

comparison

because

there's

nothing

in

their

real

life

experience

that

they

can

point

to

and

say

that's

it

it

was

this

thing

it

was

that

thing

they

can't

say

that

it's

not

unlike

anything

they

have

seen

before

so

they

can

only

compare

it

it's

kind

of

like

that

it's

like

this

it's

so

glorious

and

beautiful

they

can't

they

have

no

words

for

it

and

after

that

meal

Moses

gets

to

ascend

even

further

he

appoints

Aaron

and her

as

stand-in

judges

to take

his place

during his

absence

to decide

disputes

among the

people of

God

and he

goes up

further up

and further

in

drawing

near to

God

and there

Moses

is to

receive

the tablets

of stone

with the

law

and the

commandment

as it

says

in

verse

12

we

know

that

according

to

Deuteronomy

4

13

the

tablets

contain

the

Ten

Commandments

so

Moses

himself

wrote

down

the

book

of

the

covenant

which

followed

the

Ten

Commandments