Confirmation of the Covenant

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<Ex 19-24>: Law

<Ex 19>: Preparation to meet holy God
<Ex 20>: Ten Commandments
<Ex 20:22-23:33>: Covenant Code
<Ex 24>: Confirmation of covenant

Covenant essential: Mediator.

<Ex 24> 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

How can wretched sinners stand before holy God?
Sinners cannot worship God without a mediator.
God’s presence brings us both assurance and fear.
Tension between coming near to God, yet maintaining reverent distance from Him.

Covenant essential: God’s words and laws.

3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

One cannot truly worship God unless he is honoring and obeying God’s word.

5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

God’s words/laws repeated twice in covenant confirmation.
Important to hear God’s word again, for humans are forgetful. Hearing again can help to cement commitment.
Obedience is not a cause but effect of (response to) God’s grace.
“Covenant-keeping”: Keep all the covenant terms, not only some of it.

8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The covenant with God must be on God’s terms, based on what He says, promises, likes, hates.

9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Covenant essential: Blood.

“Blood” is a sign of God’s mercy: A way to atone for sins and remain in covenant.
Half the blood splashed against the altar; half sprinkled on the people.
- Blood on the altar: Atonement made and accepted; forgiveness of sins, God’s wrath turned away.
- Blood on the people: Consecrate, cleanse them, signifying they are now accepted by God into the covenant.
Both parties – God and His people are bonded together by “blood” in a covenant relationship.
God is the initiator of this covenant relationship.
<Heb 9:22> In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
<Heb 9:18> This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
<Heb 10> 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Today, we have a better and greater sacrifice, Christ Jesus.
<Mt 26:27-28> Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus is the perfect fulfilment of the blood of the covenant.
He is a much more superior Mediator than Moses.
The book of the covenant points to a better and new covenant.
<Heb 8> 6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises…10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Covenant essential: Relationship.

A relationship for us to worship and obey God.
Not just rules, but relationship.
Doesn’t mean rules are not necessary, but it is more than rules.
<v11> “they saw God, and they ate and drank”:
- Eating has great significance.
- Only people who are at peace with one another can eat together.
<Heb 10:19> …we have confidenceto enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus
<Heb 10:25> not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.