The Church of Old Made New

Pentecost 10 (August 13, 2006)

Rev. Steven D. Spencer, Pastor

Exodus 24:1-11

1 Then God 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." 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. 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 sprinkled on 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." 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." 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 sapphire, clear as the sky itself. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.    So far the text!

Quite a sight! Moses brings the priest to the foot of the mountain of God. Aaron, Nadab and Abihu along with the seventy elders to be in the very presence of God. There, Moses erects an altar, there they were congregating and eating and drinking in the presence of God. This was a time to be away from the world, away from others, set apart to be in God's Holy Presence.

Does that sound familiar? It should! It's what you do every Sunday when you come to church. You leave the world, to be in the very presence of God, to eat and to drink, to hear and to believe. Make no mistake about it they were at church. But they couldn't stay there.

The text following our verse tells us that God called Moses up the mountain.  So he and, his assistant, Joshua go up the mountain. And it's there that God's with His writes out the 10 commandments. It is there that Moses receives the two tablets to take back to the people of Israel.

It's interesting when you think about it, why did God bother to write out the Ten Commandments? After all in our text Moses goes through the law of God with the Israelites. Verse 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."" Evidently they knew it, because they were giving their approval - amen (so be it). Of course they knew it, but how? Because it was written on the tablets of their heart! Just like it's written on the tablets of your heart. God called Israel to be His people, a Holy Nation, set apart. That's what holy means, set apart. Set apart from what? The World! Set apart by their actions, their morality, and their worship to God. The law is written upon the hearts of men. But you see that's where the problems lay. The flesh had corrupted the law written on the heart of man. The influence of a fallen world tainted it. The law became interpreted by experience and personal bias, and it still is!

God sent Moses with the Ten Commandments so the Law would stand out clear even as He had written them. So that we would know when we kept them, or failed them. Perhaps you remember what happens to the first set of tablets. While Moses was gone his brother Aaron was persuaded to make an idol of Baal, the Egyptian god. The people were worshipping an idol. God tells Moses on the mountain what had happen. And then set His mind to wipe out Israel. But Moses pleads for mercy upon Israel and God relents.

Moses returns from the mountain with the tablets. As he and Joshua approach the camp, Joshua says, "It sounds like a war cry." But Moses understands what it is. The people are singing, they are singing hymns to Baal. When he sees the idol and the sinful abandonment of worship it's just too much for him to bear. In his anger he thrust down the law and it is broken.

How appropriate! Because the people of Israel had broken the law and they had broken their relationship with God. Sin does that! It breaks relationships. When the sin is against God it can break the relationship with him. When the sin is against a spouse it can break the relationship. That's why the divorce rate is so high.  When there is sin in a family, the relationship is broken, it's as if that person doesn't exist anymore. When sin is at work and the relationship is broken with the employer someone is going be fired or transferred. When there is sin between nations and relationships are broken there is war. And to make things worse, sin always has collateral damage. If you're in a relationship where the spouse sinned against you, and you remained faithful, sin still affects you. If a child runs into the streets during a war and gets shot it will still kill him. Sin kills and kills relationship too.

But you see, we're not innocent of sin. We sin daily just as the Israelites did. God knows that! The law that was written both on our hearts and upon the stone tablets so that we would know our sin and be without excuse.  Unconfessed sin, sin that is not dealt with is damning. Damning to souls and damning to relationships!

When Moses returned he called the people to repentance. He called those that believed upon the true God to join him, to come and stand at his side. Aaron had sinned by making an idol, but he repented and stood by Moses side. Over 3000 people died that day and several more later by a plague. The church is all about seeing our sin, repenting and knowing that when we come to God He forgives us.

In the day of Moses only the priest could enter into the presence of God. But today we have been granted a greater blessing. All may now come into the presence of God. In our New Testament lesson we see Jesus feeding the 5000. Food is associated with the presence of God. Jesus is God and as we eat the meal He prepares we are in His presence. Truly locally present is Christ. And with His body and with His blood we receive the forgiveness of sin. Moses before ascending the mountain  "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." All the bloody sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed to the One Sacrifice for the sins of the world - when, on the cross that altar of Calvary when Jesus was crucified, the Blood of God was shed to pay for all our sins ... to atone for every one of your sins. Moses in all that he wrote directed the hearers of the Word as did John the Baptizer in all that he preached pointed the hearers to behold the Christ, "the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Indeed, Jesus is "'I AM' before Abraham was" (John 8:58) and thus, Moses wrote of Jesus (John 5:46). Jesus, the Son of God come into this world at Bethlehem for you, to begin bearing your burden of sin, disease, and death to the place of the Sacrifice. Three decades later, with the weight of the world's sins on His whipped back, He ascended the cross where and when His Blood was shed for the forgiveness of all your sins, where your diseases afflicted Him, and the death you deserved He died in your stead. That is the Good News ... the Gospel and it differs from the Law in that there is forgiveness of sins ... and since this Gospel grants forgiveness, it also gives salvation and eternal life. Through the law we know that we cannot save ourselves. Through the Gospel we know who saved us.

The Church of old looked for the savior to come. The Church made new knows what the savior has done. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away your sin. Therefore confess your sins and know beyond a shadow of doubt that all your sins are forgiven for Jesus sake, in Jesus name. Amen