Today we will see an offer made by God to Israel. It is a relationship that begins with a good deal of promise but will be a tragic story.
Last week we looked at Israel as they celebrated Pentecost and the giving of the Law and now we are to the moment in which Israel must decide if they are going to follow God.
Israel had been rescued by God from Egypt, had traveled from the Red Sea to Mt. Horeb
Israel had witnessed the power of God on Mt. Sinai as he came down in fire and loud noise upon the Mountain. God had just given Israel the Law.
Literally God had spoken His word to Israel. This would be a life changing Law that is the very breath of the Creator.
The Law of Israel would be so important to the Israelites that they would claim that one would have to be born again each time they read the Law.
Literally a man would have to be reborn when they engaged the very word of God.
The Hebrew writer tells us that the word of God is living and active. God's word is powerful.
Will Israel accept God's challenge to live by His word?
Will the marriage between God and Israel go through? Will Israel accept God's call to covenant?
Exodus 24
Will Israel accept the offer of God? Will they accept the Law and be His people?
Exodus 24: 1-11
1 Then He said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. 2 "Moses alone, however, shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him." 3 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 !" 4 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 twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on 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 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." 9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 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. 11 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.
Intro to this Passage lets us know who is going up on the mountain with Moses. Moses will take up the Seventy Elders along with his brother Aaron and Aaron's two sons Nadab and Abihu.
This passage can be broken into three sections.
The first section is the introduction telling us who went up on the Mountain with Moses. The end of this passage is framed with the eating of the covenantal meal in verses 9 through 11.
It is the in between verses of verses 3 through 8 and it is in this passage we see God's marriage to Israel.
First sign that God gave Moses – Exodus 3 - 1st sign God gave to Moses that I have called you, at this mountain all these people will be gathered together and will celebrate a festival at Horeb or Sinai.
Verse 6 – half of the blood in basins and throws on the altar and half of the blood on the people. Israel and Yahweh share the same blood – This is a sign of kinship- blood kinship.
Blood is the key sign of the covenant. They share the blood in verse 6 - Adoption and marriage are the closest we can come to in our culture to understanding ancient covenants.
Verse 7 – the book of the covenant Moses reads – they respond that all that they is said they will do. The Torah is the marriage proposal – Israel has said Yes to God and enter into this covenant with God.
It is important to understand HOW this covenant is ratified by God. The people and God share the blood of sacrifice.
This takes us to our first point this morning.
1)Blood was involved.
Why did Israel offer sacrifices? Earlier in our lessons on Exodus we discussed that Israel was asked to sacrifice the very animals that were worshiped in Egypt. That is one reason they were asked to sacrifice.
Another reason is the point I want to focus on now and that is that the life of the animal was put in place of the life of the person that offered the sacrifice.
The penalty for breaking of a covenant is the life of the person that breaks the covenant. The animal stood in place for the life of the person.
Now in this covenant with God we see Israel share the blood of this covenant with God.
Moses calls this the Blood of the Covenant.
In the Gospels we will read in Matthew 26: 27-28
27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
Jesus tells us that His blood is the blood of the covenant- Just as Moses calls this the blood of the Covenant we see Jesus tell us that His blood is the blood of the Covenant.
Luke's Gospel adds to this and tells us in Luke 22: 20-
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
But what does this mean? When we say that Jesus' blood is the blood of the covenant or more specific the blood of the New Covenant?
You may wonder what connection there might be between Jesus and His blood to the Exodus story and the answer may be shocking to see how closely tied in the ministry of Jesus is to the Exodus account of Israel.
Let us just look at some of the similarities in Israel and the life of Christ especially found in the Gospel of Matthew -
What we are getting at is this – Jesus will become Israel – Jesus will do what Israel could not do. He will be born of a woman, under the Law.
IN this passage Israel says to God – We will do what you say but they will not, they will disobey- Jesus will become Israel and do exactly as the Law says- he will be perfect in obedience where Israel was disobedient.
1)Jesus was the Child of Promise – Just as Israel was supposed to be (Matt 1:18)
2)Jesus was delivered from a King that wanted to kill him as an infant just as Moses and Israel experienced (Matt 2:1)
3)Jesus will be called out of Egypt (Matt 2:15)
4)Jesus will pass through the waters of baptism (Matthew 3)- The Jews before Jesus day equated the Red Sea passing with baptism. When one wanted to be a Jewish proselyte they had to be circumcised, baptized and offer sacrifice. Baptism and the Red Sea were tightly bound together in Jewish thought.
5)Jesus entered the wilderness for 40 days (Matt 4)
6)Jesus calls 12 sons of Israel to become the new twelve tribes (Matt 4:18)
7)Jesus gives His law or teaching from a mount (Matthew 5-7)
8)Jesus performs 10 miracles in Matthew (Matt 8-9) just as there were 10 plagues in Egypt
9)Jesus sends the 12 into the Land – just like the 12 spies (Matt 10:1)
10)Jesus feeds the multitudes just like God fed the Israelites with manna (Matt 14:15 and Matt 15: 32)
11)Jesus is transfigured on the mount of Transfiguration, remember Moses had to wear a veil because of his face shining from seeing the face of God (Matt 17)
We could continue with these images of How Jesus literally fulfilled the mission of Israel but we get the point.
But where does all this lead us?
I think it is one of the most fascinating things about the Gospel and what God did through Jesus.
This takes us back to the blood of Christ.
This morning I want to talk specifically and concisely about what the blood of Jesus does for us.
1)Jesus blood brings peace
Israel was disobedient. Man was separated from God by sin.
The Temple was a great place to illustrate that point. In the Temple in Israel there was what was called the wall of Separation. The entire Temple system was an elaborate zone of holiness and it was a constant reminder that we are separated from God.
First of all the blood of Jesus destroyed the dividing wall with God.
Ephesians 2: 12-16
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
The message of Paul here is specifically to the Gentiles of his day but it applies to us today. The wall in the Temple that once reminded the Gentiles that they were not allowed has been abolished.
The blood of the Christ that was shed on the cross brings peace.
We no longer have to worry about God being angry at us. God loved us so much that he became the sacrifice. The blood that the covenant required for disobedience was shed by Christ.
In Christ we have the perfect obedient servant but also the sacrifice for our own disobedience.
How radical is that thought?
Imagine how the message of the Gospel sounded to the people of the ancient world when they first heard it?
A God that cares so much that he did what we could not do and then turned around and took on the penalty for our offense.
That is earth shattering news.
Today we need to hear that message afresh. We are de-sensitized to that message.
It is not a head message but a heart message. We need to hear it with our heart and be reconverted every time we hear it.
There is a difference – the OT a sign of the kinship of the covenant but now in the New Covenant the blood is a reality - The blood of Jesus is freely offered.
2)Christ's Blood Justifies Us before God.
Further illustration of Christ's blood at work:
Romans 5: 8-9
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
The simplest way to understand Justification is to go back to the scene of a Hebrew Law court.
In the Hebrew Law court you have a plaintiff, a judge, and a defendant. We are the defendants and Satan is the accuser. We stand in the great law court of God in which man is on trail for the breaking of God's covenant. God is covenantly faithful where man is faithless.
The very name Satan means Accuser- He is the one the brings the charge against God's elect.
A good picture of this Law court scene can be observed in the OT book of Zechariah 3: 1-4
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan ! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire ?" 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes."
In this passage we see God's high priest being accused by Satan before God but we see God vindicate this high priest and give him clean clothes.
As we stand before God, we know that we are sinners, we know that we have no hope, How do we stand before the most Just Judge of all and have any hope.
When Satan comes before God and says of any of us, He is a sinner! I would have to respond Yes I am.
So do we throw in the towel and just give up? We cant live up to the standards of perfection so what are we to do.
Revelation 12: 10-12
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
We win the victory by the blood of the Lamb – we overcome the accuser and stand justified before God by the blood of the Lamb.
In the ancient world of Jesus the word Justified is synonomous with the word vindicated.
By the blood of Christ we will be vindicated. We will be victorious. Because of the gracious gift of Jesus blood we can look forward to a day in which we will vindicated for the life we lived in Him. If we sacrificed in this life and are ridiculed for the Kingdom's sake, we will stand vindicated in the end and declared Justified in the great Law Court of God.
3)Jesus Blood is a propitiation for our sins.
Romans 3: 23-25
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus ; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed ;
This is a big word but its meaning is fairly simple. One day a year the high priest of Israel could go into the most holy place and offer the blood of atonement for the people of Israel.
Blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant and this blood was called the propitiation.
This was known as a place where God's presence would come and atonement would be granted for another year.
How does that apply to us?
It goes back to a term used a good bit in the Bible that is connected to the term atonement and that is redemption.
God went into the slave market of Egypt and bought back His son Israel. God literally redeemed Israel from the slave market of Egypt.
Now we need to see our own situation as a type of Cosmic slavery. The whole universe is in the bondage of sin. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the entire world groans in travail because of the bondage of sin.
God created and that is true but what is more significant that that is that God redeemed us too.
God bought us back. Christ was the offering for our redemption. God has gone into the cosmic slave market of sin and offered His Son as our propitiation.
The blood of Jesus was given so that we can come back into God's family.
No longer slaves but children and heirs of the promise. We are no longer slaves to sin and treachery but Now our identity is Hidden in Christ and it is no longer I that live but Christ living in me.
Just as the Israelites shared the blood of offering with God, Now God shares with us the blood of His Son.
The family blood line is intact again and the blood that grafts us back into the family of God is the blood of Christ.
In Conclusion:
There is a little piece of silk in the museum of Springfield, Illinois, that could not be bought for any amount of money. Why the value attached to it? Because of its significance. That little bit of silk is all covered with blood. It was once a part of a dress worn by a beautiful girl, who sat by Abraham Lincoln when he was shot; and it was that beautiful girl who took his head in her lap, as a mother would receive the head of a baby, and it was that girl who held him while he bled his life out. The State of Illinois purchased that dress, and cut out this piece of silk covered with the blood of the great statesman, emancipator of an enslaved race, and the man who in the programme of God became a cohesive force in the salvation of this great nation.
If a state would do that for the blood of a man, what should the world do for the Blood of Jesus with all its emancipating power, and all its cohesiveness for a scattered race? For, if the race of man, without regard to nationality or colour or condition of life, is ever to be united and held, it will be by the cohesiveness of that Blood.
How important is the blood of Christ to you?
The blood of Jesus brings us peace with God
The blood of Jesus justifies us before a perfect Judge
The blood of Jesus brings us redemption and atonement from the slave market of sin.
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