ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHRIST
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST
EXODUS 24 Study Guide & Breakdown
Israel Affirms the Covenant
24 Now 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. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the [a]judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And 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. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”
On the Mountain with God
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very[b] heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not [c]lay His hand. So, they saw God, and they ate and drank.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
16 Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
NOTES Exodus 24 – (vv. 1-2, 3, 4-8, 15, & 18)
24:1-2: Moses alone could draw near to God because he had the unquenchable grace of the Spirit … St. Paul also said, “Do not quench the Spirit” – (1Thessalonians 5:19-22), for so shall we be partakers of Christ if we hold fast to the end the Spirit given to us at the beginning … By quenching the Spirit, he did not mean the Spirit is placed in the power of men and is able to suffer anything from them … Rather, evil, and unthankful people are such who wish to quench Him – (AthanG) …
1Thessalonians 5:19-22: 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
- The Holy Spirit is to be actively present in our daily lives and the daily lives of the Church … But there is a constant need of discernment and testing as to avoid being misled – (see also 1 Corinthians 12-14) …
24:3: The people said they would DO all the Lord’s WORDS, but saying is one thing and doing another … So, the Apostle John said we are to love “indeed and in truth” – (1John 3:18) …
1John 3:18: My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth.
24:4-8: Moses’ activity prefigured four things involved in worship: Scripture, the altar, the Church – (THE TWELVE STONES), and the Blood of Christ – (Hebrews 9:19-24) …
Hebrews 9:19-24: 19 For when Moses had spoken every [a]precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are [b]purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no [c]remission.
-If you were to start a v. 23 and read through v. 28, it is talking about how the Hebrews moves back to the sacrificial act of the Day of Atonement – (look at vv. 11-14 here is Hebrews 9) … The blood sprinkled here brings the life of the covenantal people into God’s presence: it reconciles God and man … The final reconciliation, the eternal one, is the presentation of Christ’s sacrificial blood – (Hebrews 12:22-24) to God in Heaven …
Hebrews 12:22-24: 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the [a]general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
-We are encouraged to approach and touch the heavenly mountain, for we already participate in the Kingdom and dwell there … It more like MOUNT ZION & JERUSALEM – (v. 22) than like Sinai (Popular Jewish images at that time), for Jerusalem was a habitable place and Zion a place of God’s holy presence … This Kingdom is not earthly but HEAVENLY, inhabited by ANGELS – (v. 22) as well as men … There is an unending ASSEMBLY – (v. 23), the divinely instituted gathering of God’s people of all ages, in which they know themselves as CHURCH … There everyone is FIRSTBORN – (v. 23) and has inherited all … There BLOOD – (v. 24) cries not for vengeance and further death- as did Abel’s (see, also Genesis 4:10, but also Hebrews 11:4)- but for mercy, forgiveness, atonement, and unending life … This is the blood of Christ given to us in the Eucharist … Heaven is not a place of the separation of the soul from the body … There, soul, and body come together are transformed into BETTER – (v. 24) reality … FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN ARE MADE PERFECT – (v. 23; see also Hebrews 11:40) in unity with their bodies: glorified, divinely energized, without the limitations we now experience … This passage is quoted in hymns for both the Trisagion and funeral services of the Orthodox Church … THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING – (v. 24) is that of Christ, which effects the new covenant – real blood, effective for the physical people …
Genesis 4:10: 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
Hebrews 11:40: 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
24:15: Joshua, too, was covered by the sacred cloud, for he had the grace of the Spirit – (AmbM) …
24:18: Moses broke the Law regarding the Sabbath, which requires rest but not fasting … Yet he was guiltless despite journeying on the mountain and fasting for forty days and nights … He directed his whole desire toward God, and his anger against the enemies of God … This foreshadowed grace, in which the Sabbath Day would be fulfilled … Under grace, we are no longer we no longer serve God one day a week, but we are to direct our whole desire toward God and our anger toward the devil throughout our life … We also cause our bodies to cease from sin and urge them forward to assist our obedience to the divine percepts – (JohnDm) …
PSALM 83 (84) Study Guide & Breakdown
PSALM 83 (84) Regards Christ – (THE END) and His Church – (THE WINEPRESSES, v. 1) … For His Church is the new wine – (the new covenant), formed in the Sacrament of Baptism … And those who keep their baptism – (WALK IN INNOCENCE, v. 12) long to see God and the world to come – (vv. 2-9) … As, the Nicene Creed says, “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” … For one day in this new world and its life is better than a lifetime – (A THOUSAND) in this present fallen world – (THE TENTS OF SINNERS, v. 11) …
We must direct all of our desires toward the Lord God just like Moses did … I'm sitting here and and just hit me, the Lord works in mysterious ways, His Will always gets done … Everyday is a test at our faith and so it's clear I need to shake off the dust and get back to my ministry in full force, Jesus is the only way, for He is the only way, and He is the absolute Truth …