Exodus 24:1-8 And he said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel… I. WHAT OCCURRED? The Law had been given, amplified (chaps. 21.-23), and endorsed by the people (Exodus 24:3). Necessary now to uncover that atonement which is ever the ground of God's dealings with man. Hence the altar. No soul was to touch it, for the atonement is the creation of God. Still man had a part in these covenantal transactions, hence twelve pillars = twelve tribes. But sacrifice on the altar — the burnt offering = life surrendered — and the peace offering = communion with God and one another. The sacrifices were slain by young men = the flower of Israel. The Levitical priesthood not yet. Every age has its own special service for God. The blood was preserved. Now the blood stands for life. Half disappeared in fire on the altar. Gone! = forfeited life of the sinner. Half thrown back upon the people = life restored to man. How Israel ascended to a higher plane of life (ver. 9). In the only possible way — representatively. Then came the vision of God (ver. 10). Then the banquet (see Song of Solomon 2:3, 4). II. WHAT DID IT MEAN? 1. Salvation has its ground in God and God alone. Calvary potentially before the Christian era, actually since, the Divine ground of salvation. 2. Forfeited life is given back to man on the ground of Christ's atonement. Life, capacity, faculty, are all given back now to be man's very own. 3. Now again to be given back to God in consecration. Being now my very own (in the sense just hinted), I give my own to God. This self-surrender is vital. The surrender is to be complete in intent and purpose. And the obligation presses now. Delay is disloyalty. 4. There will then be peace. With God; with ourselves; with men. 5. Life will move on a higher level (vers. 9, 12, 13). (Emphasize the meaning in the words "And BE there": "And Moses went up into the Mount of God.") Valley men have no idea of the bracing atmosphere, the brilliant light, the wider view, the grander visions, to be found on the mountain-plateau. It is so in Switzerland; so with the mountains celestial. 6. There shall be visions of God (ver. 10). Bushnell says: "So gloriously has my experience of God opened His greatness to me, I seem to have got beyond all physical images and measures, even those of astronomy, and simply to think God is to find and bring into my feeling more than even the imagination can reach. I bless God that it is so. I am cheered by it, encouraged, sent onward, and, in what He gives me, begin to have some very faint impression of the glory yet to be revealed." 7. And banquetings and satisfactions of soul (ver. 11). As the body has its nutriment, so the soul. No more "husks." High thought befitting immortal man. Manna: "Hidden manna." Here on earth. At the marriage supper of the Lamb. Thereafter to all eternity. (H. T. Robjohns, B.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. |
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