God’s Covenant Confirmed in the Wilderness

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Ligon Duncan
If you have your Bibles that invites you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 24. Exodus 24, in many ways is the swing chapter of this book. For the rest of this book, there is going to be an occupation with the issue of worship. That will even be apparent in the passage that Andrew Wilson is going to open to us when there’s when there’s a problem with idolatry. The rest of the book is really devoted to worship in many ways, the theme of the book of Exodus could be saved, to worship, God, saved his people delivered his people out of Egypt out of bondage, in order that they might meet with him on the mountain, worship Him and worship Him in all of life. Now immediately, if you have your Bibles allow your eyes to peek back to chapters 2122 and 23. Because right before chapter 24, you’ve heard JD expound the 10 commandments. After the 10 commandments are given in chapters 2122 and 23. The covenant code is given where the principles of those commandments are applied to every aspect of life. They are applied to worship, slavery, murder and manslaughter, the death penalty, laws about bodily injuries, proportionate judicial penalties, theft, negligence, restitution, seduction, significant societal capital crimes, the care of strangers, widows and orphans, lending to the needy respect for rulers, giving of the first fruits, ceremonial consecration directives against sinful bias or favoritism or partiality, whether in the courts or in neighbor relations, or as influential leaders, and more. And those laws are going to be recounted by Moses in the passage that we are about to read. Now the passage that we are reading is a covenant ratification ceremony. And so it’s probably good for us to remember what a covenant is. A covenant is a God initiated, binding, living relationship with blessings and obligations, may be the Bible’s favorite illustration of a covenant is marriage, where two people who are not related to one another, are brought together and made one. And they are brought into a relationship with mutual blessings and obligations. That starts out in the very early chapters of Genesis Genesis two. And it’s illustrated in Ephesians. Five, it’s the Bible’s favorite illustration for what a covenant is, while you’re going to look in this passage at a covenant, ratification ceremony. So let’s hear God’s word from Exodus chapter 24, verses one to 11. This is the Word of God. Then he said to Moses, come up to the Lord you and Aaron Nadab, and a by WHO and 70 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. Then Moses came and recounted to the people, all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do. Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the sons of Israel and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord Moses took half of the blood and put it in Basin’s and the other half of the blood he 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, then Moses went up with Aaron Nadab, and a by WHO and the seven 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. Amen. And Dustin’s this reading of God’s holy, inspired and inerrant Word, may he writes eternal truth upon all our hearts. Moses fills our hearts with at least six huge truths in this passage, which I’m going to outline under six words, representation in Scripture, raishin, substitution, sanctification, communion, and culmination. In this passage, we learned that our covenant God Yaqui, remember how John explained that to us last night, our covenant God Yaqui communes with us by His scriptures, his sacrifice and his savior. So let’s look at those six words. As we look through this passage together tonight, the first word representation in this passage, the principle of representation is seen in Moses alone, being allowed to approach close to the Lord. Now this principle of representation has been occurring over and over in the book of Exodus. You even heard it in HB Charles sermon, representation, and especially the idea that Israel needs someone to mediate for them. They need someone who is a go between they need someone who represents them to God, they need someone who’s intercedes for them with God, they need a mediator, and Moses is their representative. He is their mediator, look at how this is spelled out in verses one and two. Then God said to Moses, come up to the Lord, you and Aaron and Nadab and Obi who and the seven the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. Moses alone, however, shall come nearer to the Lord Moses has a unique role as the mediator that will be spelled out later in this passage when Moses goes up on the mountain alone, and dwells with the Lord for six days, and then inhabits the cloud of fire and glory on the seventh day. In fact, Moses is going to be up on the mountain by Himself all the way to Exodus chapter 32. The people of God are even going to use that as an excuse for why they engaged in idolatry while he was gone a long time up on that mountain. But he was up on that mountain because he was the representative of God to the people and of God’s people to God. He was the mediator and of course, the author of Hebrews wants to make the point that we have a better mediator than the children of Israel.

Our mediator is greater than Moses, it will be one of the themes of the letter or the sermon of the Hebrews. But the point, of course, is, we cannot worship God without a mediator. Why? Because of our sin. We need mediation. Because we were born dead in trespasses and sins, as the Apostle Paul says, in Ephesians, chapter two, we need a mediator. They needed a mediator, Moses was the mediator that the Lord had provided. And that’s made clear even by the fact that he alone is allowed to draw nearer to the Lord, and everyone else must stand at a distance. So that’s the first thing that we see in this passage representation. We need a mediator Moses, this is the mediator that the Lord provided. Here’s the second word in Scripture. raishin, not a word that you use every day. But there’s some amazing stuff happening in this passage. In this passage, we see the canon of Scripture beginning to be written. Did you notice in verse four, that Moses writes down all the words of the Lord. Moses write down the book of the Covenant, he writes it down. And of course, later on, God will write with his own finger, his testimony, the 10 commandments, which will be put as JD just explained to us in the ark of the covenant. We see here the beginning of the Canon paging Mike Kroeger. This is the in Scripture raishin of the spoken word of God, God spoke to Moses, Moses recounted what God spoke to him to the people, but then he wrote it down. Because these are the terms of the Covenant, these are the requirements of the covenant. And from this comes this glorious canon of 66 books in the Bible. But notice, not only does he write it down, you see this in Scripture narration of the word, he reads it to them, having written it down, look at verse seven, then he took the book of the Covenant, now it has a name. Now, there have been other books already mentioned in the Bible, there’s the book of Adam in Genesis five one. And then you’ll remember in Exodus 17, that the conquest of AMOLED is supposed to be written down as the testimony in a book. But this is the book of God. This is the book that God has given an instruction to his people. And we read, then he took the book of the covenant and read it. In the hearing of the people, this is enormously significant. This is the first worship service in the Bible public service of worship in the Bible, where the minister reads the Word of God to the people. And from now on, the reading of the Word of God will be central to the worship of God’s people. Because God must reveal Himself to us if we are to know Him. And so the reading of His Word is essential to our knowing him. No wonder Paul will say to Timothy, until I come give attention to the public reading and preaching or teaching of the scriptures, it’s not just the preaching of the word, but the reading of the word, which is a means of grace to God’s people, please do not take that for granted. It is important for the people of God to have worship services that are filled with the reading of the Word of God. We ought to come out of worship services and saying, Man, there was a lot of Bible in that worship service. It’s at the very heart of what worship is. Because we need the word of God in order to live life with God. We cannot know God as He is unless he reveals us, him to Himself to us, and He reveals Himself to us in His Word. And so we need that word read to us. That’s one of the main ways we grow in grace. Yes, it’s important for us to read the Bible on our own. Yes, it’s important for us to study the Bible on our own. Yes, it’s wonderful to get together in a small group and study God’s word, but we need to hear the Word of God read in the public gathering of God’s people to us Lord’s day after Lord’s day as a means of race, it’s a big deal. And we take it for granted. And I try and find ways to remind my congregation how significant it is. Sometimes I’ll say this, you are about to hear something that over 5 billion people alive on this planet right now have never heard the word of God, read in a public service of Christian worship by the minister as a means of grace in your own language. our forebears died so that you could hear that Lord’s day after Lord’s day Do not take that for granted. There are many people that will live and die in this world and never hear that the word of God read to them in a public service of worship. My students at the seminary, this last week, undertook to read through the entire New Testament starting at 4am. On Friday morning, and continuing until I don’t know when it took them to read the New Testament. That would not have been uncommon, I think, in the days of the early church to read the word that much to value the word that much, you need the Word of God to live life with God. In this passage, we see the word written down, we see the word recounted, and we see the word read to the people of God by Moses. Third, substitution. In this passage, this covenant making ceremony, this covenant making ceremony is ratified with sacrifices of burnt offerings and the sprinkling of blood. Look at verse four B and following, then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with 12 pillars, for the 12 tribes of Israel. So an altar is erected at the base of the mountain, there are pillars there representing all of the people of God and all of the tribes of Israel. And then he sends young men of the sons of Israel to go get the animals to be sacrificed. Why not priests, because the priests haven’t been appointed yet. And you’re going to have to have somebody strong enough to bring those animals there and bind them to the altar, lift them up and bind them to the altar. And so young men of the sons of Israel are sent. And they offer these animals as burnt offerings, they sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. And then Moses takes half the blood puts it in basins, and sprinkles half of the blood on the altar. Then after reading to them, the book of the Covenant, he then sprinkles the people with that blood. And what’s happening here, the the principle of substitution of vicarious sacrifice is seen in the burnt offerings and the sprinkling of the blood. Now, many commentators point out that in a covenant, the sprinkling of the blood could indicate the bringing together of two people from different bloodlines into one. And that’s certainly true the application of Moses, the the application of the blood of the people by Moses indicates they’re being joined to God, they’re being united in fellowship with Him by blood. But in the Mosaic Law, blood rights are forgiveness rights. Blood rights indicate that you need forgiveness of sins. And the book of Hebrews explicitly says when it’s talking about this passage, that everything is forgiven by the shedding of blood. So this this shedding of blood is an indication that the people of God need forgiveness. They need to be cleansed by the blood by sacrifice God’s people are brought into and kept in the covenant. This comes back to that principle of mediation, again, so important. The Mosaic Covenant, as JD so beautifully, just argued, beautifully expresses God’s Grace, God does not say, obey my commandments, and then I’ll think about bringing you out of Egypt. He brings them out of Egypt, he delivers them out of the house of bondage out of the land of slavery, and then he gives them the commands. The commands are not the means by which he delivers them. He delivers them by His grace.

And here again, we see that God’s people need sacrifices offered on behalf of their sins. In fact, you’ve ever thought about it. A third of the Mosaic Law is about what you do. When you’ve broken it a third of the Mosaic Law is about what you do when you’ve broken it. It tells you what sacrifices to offer. Bowls and goat sacrifices are offered in your place as your substitute. The sacrifices bear the penalty that you should have born. And so we see a principle of substitution. The people of God need mediation because of their sins. And we learn here again that we cannot worship God without a vicarious atoning sacrifice. Because of our sin. This is clearly not a covenant of works. We see this in the very next point as well. Here’s the fourth word, sanctification. Sanctification when Moses reads the book of the cup, when he recounts the book of the covenant, and then again, when he reads the book of the covenant of the people of God, look at verses three and seven, all the people answer and say, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do verse three, and then again in verse seven, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. Now, some commentators criticize the children of Israel for answering that way. JD Greer mentioned CI Scofield who said the children of Israel should have said we don’t want law, we want grace. But I don’t see anywhere in the passage where they were given an option as to how they were to answer. This is like when I showed up on the campus of RTS my first year as a newly minted assistant professor of systematic theology, I discovered that my boyhood pastor was the chairman of the pastoral theology department. And he was an interim pastor in a local church, and he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, Boy, you’re going to be my assistant. And I did what any southern boy would have done. Yes, sir. That he was not looking for some other answer other than Yes, sir. And so Israel is not to be criticized for this answer. But we need to understand what is happening here. Sometimes people have characterized the Mosaic Covenant this way that it was in by grace, stay in by obedience. The fancy word for that is covenantal nomadism. Now, I want to suggest to you that the text of Exodus totally disproves that theory. I enter into evidence, Exodus 32. Within a week of having said all that the Lord has commanded we will do they are worshiping a golden calf. And yet, and yet God is not done with them yet. They will just have a In fact, for about 800 years before God finally says, That’s it, you’re going into exile. So how then would you carry it obedience clearly was important to God. And the Mosaic Covenant certainly spends a lot of time on obedience. But how would you characterize the relationship between God and His people in the Mosaic Covenant, here it is, it’s not, in by Grace stay in by obedience, it’s in by Grace stay in by mediation. With the goal being obedience, and by Grace stay in by mediation with a goal being obedience, in fact, in the Christian life in the Old Testament, and the new grace always precedes and produces obedience in the Christian life. Paul talks about this in a number of passages in the New Testament, Philippians, 212, and 13 or Ephesians, two, eight to 10, four by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God? For we are His workmanship, created for good works, notice, not saved by good works are saved by grace and good works, but saved to good works. Yes, there’s a role of obedience in the Christian life, but it is not the basis of our justification. It’s not grace plus obedience equals justification. It’s God’s grace. His mediation gives us justification. One and leads to our sanctification. It’s the same here in Exodus chapter 19, and 20. God brings them to Sinai on eagle’s wings, then he gives them the commandments God gives these commands, they respond to all that the Lord has spoken, we will do their obedience is the response to God’s grace. John Piper puts it this way. Grace doesn’t mean that obedience is unnecessary. It means that it’s finally possible. Grace doesn’t mean that obedience is necessary, unnecessary, it means that it’s finally possible these people are saved, to worship God in all of life, as well as in their public gatherings. And how do they do that? If you love me, someone once said, If you love Me, keep My commandments. That’s how they love God. Or love God, love your neighbor. These are the two great commandments and all the commandments hang on them. Grace always precedes and produces obedience. In the Christian life. Sanctification is something that we see and learn about in this passage beautifully. The fifth thing that I want to draw to your attention is communion. In verse nine, we read that Moses went up with Aaron, just like he had been commanded. In the first verses, he goes up with Aaron Nadab, and Obi who in the 70 Elders. This represents every class of leadership in Israel going up to the mountain of God. And when they go up, something astonishing happens. Look at verse 10. And they saw the God of Israel. Now, even in the immediate context, we’re going to learn the principle that you can’t see the fullness of God’s glory, and live. So what is this mean? They saw the God of Israel, they see some kind of a manifestation of God. Interestingly, no description is given. The only thing described is what is under his feet. Just take this in for a second. under his feet, there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky itself. You can imagine coming back down the mountain, we saw God, what does he look like? Well under his feet, no, no, no. What does he look like? Well under his feet, but listen to what it’s saying. under his feet, was pavement, as sapphire as clear as the sky itself. They saw the God of Heaven and Earth, with his feet, standing on the sky. Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. And then something even more astonishing happens. Verse 11, they saw God and they ate and drank. God says to them, slide your knees up under my table and eat a meal with me. You know from stories like Joshua and the Gibby knights that covenants in the Old Testament, were often sealed with a meal. A meal often establishes a certain intimate bond of relationship. And these leaders of Israel are invited to sit down and have a meal with God. What? A picture of communion.

That’s the goal of the Covenant YOUR COMMUNION WITH THE LIVING GOD breaking by bread and drinking with the living God. Now, of course, the culmination and that’s the last word that I want to use to outline the passage. The culmination is something that I’ve skipped over. Look back at verse eight. As Moses ratifies the covenant, we read, He took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you. And many of you will know, that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, when he took the last Passover with His disciples, and when he established the Lord’s Supper, he did so using these words found in a number of places output from Matthew chapter 26, verse 28, this is my blood of the covenant. He says this to his disciples. This is my blood of the covenant. It’s an almost exact quotation of the Greek translation of Exodus 24, eight with one difference. It’s not the blood of the covenant. It’s my blood of the covenant. You see what Jesus is saying? Do you know how many sins were forgiven by all the sacrifices of the Mosaic system 1000s upon 1000s upon 1000s of them, over 1500 years, how many sins were forgiven? The author of Hebrews tells you, none. The blood of bulls and goats cannot forgive sins. But the blood of Jesus Christ forgave all the sins committed under the first covenant. In other words, Hebrews nine tells you that those sacrifices in the Mosaic system only pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And here is Jesus saying to His disciples, the night before he goes to the cross, I want you to understand what I’m doing tomorrow. Tomorrow, you are going to think that my enemies have had the last word, you are going to think that I had been unjustly put to death that I’m a victim of murder, but no man takes my life. I lay it down for myself. This is my blood of the covenant, I am going to bring about the forgiveness of sins, that the Mosaic Covenant could only foreshadow. I am going to forgive all my people sins in the shedding of my blood, this is my blood of the covenant. No wonder Turn, turn with me to Hebrews nine No wonder, the author of Hebrews in this I mean, it’s, it’s been described as a sermon, disguised as a letter. And I agree. It’s no wonder that in the middle of this sermon disguised as a letter, he says this. Hebrews 918, therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses, to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, and 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 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. Thus, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. And then again, down in verse 26. He has appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. If that’s what Jesus is explaining to the disciples, this is my blood of the covenant. And so what did we learn in this passage? We come to God through His appointed mediator, a mediator better than Moses, Jesus, the son. We come to God according to God’s word inspired by his spirit and embodied in his son, we live life by his word. We come to God by substitutionary atonement by the saving sacrifice of Jesus, our Savior by which we are forgiven. We are saved by grace to obedience, not saved by works to grace. And the goal of the Covenant fulfilled in Christ is eternal communion with God foreshadowed in the elders, eating with the Lord on the mountain and foreshadowed every time you gather with the people of God around the Lord’s table, where you are invited to slide your knees up under the table of God, and sup with him, because of what Christ has done for you. Hallelujah. What a savior. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father we thank You for Your Word. We ask that you would work its truth into our hearts that we would trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and not look any where else and that at last, you would bring us to yourself to commune with you forever. In Jesus name. Amen.