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. He sprinkled THE BOOK in his hand. It was the Bible of his day, and yet it needed sprinkling. And we hold our Bibles — do they need sprinkling? The Bible is the transmitted mind of God — it is perfect truth, it is essential holiness — must it be sprinkled? Human words are all unclean. The mind of God must pass to men through the organs of the human voice — and that humanity mingling even with the revelation of God, wants washing. The materials of which the book is made are human. And again and again with our defiled hands we have soiled it — and we never open the book but it is a sinner's hand that touches it. Our Bibles need the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. II. And he sprinkled THE ALTAR — for he had reared it. The altar was a holy thing — dedicate, consecrated, yet for the manhood which was associated with it, it needed the sprinkling of the blood. And we have our altars. You rise in the morning, and you set up your altar on your bedside-and when you rise from your knees, how many wandering thoughts, what coldness and dulness of soul, what mixture of motive, calls out for mercy. The altar of the bedroom — it must be sprinkled. You come down, and you gather round the family altar. But is there no one there, in that little assembly, whose heart is wrong with God? Does the worship of the family all go up in purity? Is it not a dull thing — that family prayer each morning — a mere routine? And does not it want the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus? III. Moses sprinkled THE PEOPLE. There is no part of man that does not need that sprinkling. IV. The sprinkling of the blood was the token THAT WHATEVER IT TOUCHED BECAME COVENANT. We have our covenanted Bibles and our covenanted altars; we ourselves are in covenant with Christ. Do you know that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is on you? And all that you must recognize if you would obey God. You must not rely upon "All the words that the Lord hath spoken we will do." But you must go as a sprinkled and covenanted people, or you will not go at all. (J. Vaughan, M. 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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