Exodus 24:4-8
~14 min read
💭 Consider this: How do you typically approach worship services? What areas in your life tempt you to lose sight of the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice as the only basis of your salvation?
TRANSCRIPT
Our text for tonight's message is taken from Exodus 24:4–8. In our previous message, we have considered how we ought to worship God, and we discussed about the awareness of entering into the presence of a holy God and the importance of preaching God's Word.
When Martin Luther, the reformer, was first ordained as a priest, he was assigned his first mass. Later, he wrote about his experience, and he said, ‘I thought to myself, with what tongue shall I address such majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I that I should lift up my eyes or raise my hands to the Divine Majesty? The angels surround Him, the earth trembles. I am but dust and ashes, and full of sin, and I am speaking to the living, eternal, and true God.’
Indeed, if God is so holy and awesome, who are we to approach His majesty? Who are we to come before Him to worship and render our voices even to praise Him? This is a lesson we want to learn from this passage. The title of our message is, ‘On What Basis Can We Approach His Majesty?’
I. The Significance Of The Sacrifice
Firstly, we want to understand the significance of the sacrifice. Let us begin by looking at Exodus 24:4, “And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel”. The people had worshipped God long before there was a tabernacle or temple, but they never worshipped Him without an altar. There was always the altar.
Noah and all the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, worshipped God, and they always started by building an altar. The altar represented the presence of God, and it was a place for offering sacrifices. As sinners, they could only worship the holy God on the basis of a sacrifice, and that was the purpose of the altar where the sacrifice was offered.
Therefore, verse 5 says, “And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD”. When the children of Israel offered the burnt offering, the entire animal was consumed by fire, signifying the full atonement for sin, reconciliation with God, and total dedication to Him.
After their sins were atoned for, then they could offer the peace offering, sometimes known as the fellowship offering, where the sacrificed animal was not totally consumed by the flames, and the people would share a common meal in the presence of God.
But before the animals could be sacrificed, the blood had to be drained. Blood was carefully collected in large bowls, and the first half was sprinkled on the altar. Then, after reading the book of the covenant, Moses took the other half and sprinkled it on the people. Verse 6, “And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar”. Why did Moses do that? What was the significance of it?
Firstly, the blood had to be shed to signify that the only way the people could come into the presence of God, be reconciled to Him, and worship Him, was on the basis of the blood of the sacrificed animal. An animal had to be sacrificed, and its blood had to be shed. Secondly, Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar to signify that the atonement was made, and God had accepted the sacrifice as payment for sin. Thirdly, the blood was sprinkled on the people to signify that they were washed by the blood and they had entered into a covenant relationship with God.
Dear friend, like the Israelites, because of our sins, we cannot come before a holy God, nor can we belong to Him or be reconciled to Him, but only on the basis of the blood. All these were done to point to Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the full significance of the old sacrifices when He died and shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary for our sins.
That is why all the New Testament verses describe Christ’s saving work in terms of blood. For example, Romans 5:9 says, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”. Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”.
Colossians 1:20, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself”. Revelation 1:5, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood”. It is by the blood of Jesus that we are justified, redeemed, reconciled, forgiven, and delivered from sin. We are saved by the blood.
That is why Jesus could not just die any kind of death. He did not die by drowning, or by fire, or by suffocation. It was through the crucifixion on the cross. Both His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and there was a crown of thorns placed on His head. As Jesus hung on the cross, with the full weight of His body resting on those nails, His blood was slowly drained from His body. Even after He died, a spear was pierced through His side to make sure He had died, and water and blood gushed out. All that, our Lord Jesus suffered for you and me.
Jesus was the ultimate Lamb sacrificed on the altar, and His perfect sacrifice was accepted by God for the payment of sin. And when Jesus saved us by grace and through faith in His finished work on the cross, we were washed by His precious blood. So, when we approach our holy God, He sees us washed by the blood of His only begotten Son, and we are clothed with His righteousness. It is only on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ that we can approach His Majesty.
Upon our conversions, we want to publicly profess our faith in Christ, to identify ourselves with Him through baptism. In baptism, we are sprinkled with water, not with blood, because Jesus was the only One sacrificed, never to be repeated. There is no other blood that can be shed, and no other blood is necessary to be shed again. God has given us the sprinkling of water in baptism as a sign that you and I are saved through His death and the shedding of His precious blood.
And Jesus has commanded us to have the Lord's Supper as often as we can in remembrance of what He had done for us. So, each time as we eat of the bread, we remember Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb. His body was crucified on the cross. As we drink of the cup, we remember His blood that was shed for us.
The difference between the children of Israel repeatedly offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, and us repeatedly participating in the Lord's Supper, is that they looked forward to the first coming of Christ, the ultimate Lamb that would come. But Jesus has come, so today, we look not to His first coming, but to His second coming. That is the reason why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come”.
Today, there are people who come to church for worship because they want to meet their friends, or to please their parents, or to fulfil certain obligations. Some would come as long as it is convenient and it does not encroach upon other preferred activities. Others will come with a careless attitude, ‘Oh, it is just another worship service, what is the big deal?’ with no consideration that the only basis whereby they can approach the majesty of God, to render their voices to praise Him, to give of their tithes and offerings, to worship and serve Him, is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you are a believer, but you are not baptised. What is the reason for the delay in baptism? Are you ashamed of publicly professing your faith in Christ? Are you ashamed of identifying yourself with Him? Or are you ashamed that you have been washed by His precious blood? God forbid!
When you come before the Lord's table, what is your heart's attitude? You know that every first week of the month, the church would have the Lord's Supper. Do you eagerly look forward to this day? Do you understand the significance of eating the bread and drinking the cup? Or do you simply miss the Lord's Supper because you have something more important in your calendar? Do you think God does not know? He knows, and He wants every one of His children to approach Him, understanding that it is all because of the sacrifice of His only begotten Son.
So, I pray that as we come to worship God, as we are baptised, as we partake of the Holy Communion, as we serve and worship God, we come with this understanding: it is all because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
II. The Significance Of The Covenant
Our second point is the significance of the covenant. Verse 7, “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient”.
A covenant is a binding agreement. Most of us have entered into some form of agreements in our lifetime – perhaps a business agreement or a housing agreement. We are familiar with contracts and agreements. Failure to keep the agreement carries a penalty. When two parties sign the agreement, it cannot be changed. A third party cannot come along years later and alter that agreement. To add anything to it or take anything from it would be illegal. If a human agreement cannot be changed, how much more the covenant of God?
When Moses read the covenant of God, or the book of the covenant, which essentially contained all the laws of God – remember, God promised to bless His people if they kept the laws, and they would be punished if they disobeyed the laws. When the people heard the laws of God, they all promised to obey. But what about the penalty if they were to break the laws? And who could keep all the laws perfectly? None.
To help us to better understand the significance of God's covenant, maybe you can turn with me to Genesis 15. When God called Abraham, who was known as Abram at that time, out of Ur of the Chaldees, He promised to give him the land to inherit, to bless him with descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, to bless them that bless him, and curse them that curse him.
Verse 6 tells us that Abraham believed in the Lord and He counted it to him for righteousness. So, on Abraham's part, he believed in the Lord, but Abraham was childless, so he could not understand how the promise of God could be fulfilled. So, he asked God in verse 8, “And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?”
God confirmed His promise by cutting or ratifying a covenant, and He performed a ceremony. He instructed Abraham in verse 9 to take a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon, and then cut them in half and lay the two sides of each animal opposite one another with a path in between.
Most of the time, both parties will walk between the path of the slain animals to seal the agreement, signifying the seriousness of the agreement, the obligation to keep the agreement, and the failure to keep it will result in them being like the slain animals. So, you can imagine, when both parties walk along this path, it would be a most awesome and terrifying experience.
But interestingly, after assuring Abraham of His promises, at sunset, God caused a deep sleep to fall on Abraham, and God alone symbolically passed between the animals in the form of a smoking furnace and a burning lamp – you can read about that in verse 17 – which means the covenant God made with Abraham was unilateral, to be performed by one party. It was entirely unconditional; the only obligation was on God Himself. God will make sure that it is fulfilled, and it will be fulfilled.
The covenant of God's promise was unilateral, performed by one person, unconditional and unchangeable, and it all has to do with one person, and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? If you can look with me to Genesis 22:18, God said to Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice”.
The original word for ‘seed’ in Greek and in Hebrew could be either singular or plural. So, simply reading Genesis 22:18, the meaning of ‘seed’ could be either singular or plural. But through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul made it clear that it is singular, referring to one person and not many. Let me read for you Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ”. In other words, God's covenant was a Christ-centred covenant, which will be fulfilled in Christ alone.
This reminds us of a much earlier promise given in Genesis 3:15, whereby the same word ‘seed’ was also singular, and we all know that was the first gospel message in the entire Bible, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” – a reference to Christ's death on the cross, where He dealt a potent blow to Satan, sin, and death. Every promise given in the covenant God made with Abraham, or with Moses, or with David, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It was the covenant of grace.
So, in the Old Testament, before the cross, every sinner was saved by looking forward in faith to the promised seed who would come, which is Christ. In the New Testament, after the cross, every sinner was saved by looking backward in faith to the promised seed who finished the work of salvation on the cross, which is also Christ. Salvation has always been provided by the perfect offering of Christ on the cross. So, theologians will say, when Jesus shed His precious blood, it covered sins on both sides of the cross.
Now back to our text in Exodus 24:8, “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words”. Most certainly, the children of Israel were not able to keep all the laws of God perfectly. It was not their abilities to keep or break the laws, but it was based on their faith in the blood of the sacrificial animals, pointing to the ultimate Lamb, the promised seed, Jesus Christ. So, Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people.
Dear friend, all the words of the Bible regarding salvation and condemnation, heaven and hell, life and death, blessings and curses, promises and judgments – you and I cannot keep, no matter how hard we try. We cannot keep all the laws of God, and we break them all the time. Man cannot succeed in perfectly keeping the law, and God cannot fail in perfectly keeping His promise. That is our covenantal God.
Like the children of Israel, we can only approach His majesty by the blood of the Lamb, by the blood of Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, “It is finished”, we truly believe that the work of salvation is finished. When we sing, ‘Jesus Paid It All’, we truly believe that Jesus has paid it all. If we believe in faith plus good works, or faith plus baptism, or faith plus our good church attendance, or our services, if we add anything to faith in salvation, we are actually saying that what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary is not sufficient. It is faith plus nothing else.
Sadly, sometimes there are people who are like the person who tries to put on makeup in order to look good before God, to appear righteous and spiritual before God, thinking that based on those things, they could come into His holy presence. How foolish!
D.L. Moody once shared this illustration about an artist who wanted to paint a picture of a sinner. He searched through the streets, poorhouses, and prisons to find a man wretched enough to represent the sinner, but he could not find one. One day, he was walking down the streets and met a beggar whom he thought would do. He told the poor beggar he would pay him well if he could come to his house so that he could paint a picture of him as a sinner. The beggar agreed, and a day was appointed for him to come.
The day came, and a man appeared on the doorstep of the artist. The artist did not recognise the man and said, ‘I've never seen you before; is there anything I can do for you?’ The man replied, ‘But we have made an appointment for you to paint a picture of me.’ The artist said, ‘You must be mistaken. I was expecting to see a beggar at this hour.’ The man replied, ‘Well, I am the beggar. I thought I would dress myself up a bit before I got painted.’ To which the artist said, ‘Then I do not want you. I wanted you as you were. Now you are of no use to me.’
This is an illustration of how you and I cannot come before a holy and awesome God with our makeup, whether it be our good works, or the money we have given to charity, or the things we have done or not done, or the services we have rendered. We come with nothing in our hands, only on the cross we cling.
Dear friend, the only way we can approach His majesty, to come before our almighty God, be justified, redeemed, reconciled to Him, and have our sins forgiven that we may render our voices to praise Him, to worship and serve Him, is on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the covenant of God's grace.
So, I pray that each week as we come to church, let us prepare our hearts and remember what our Lord Jesus had done for us on the cross of Calvary, where He died and shed His precious blood, without which we will have no basis at all to approach the Majesty of God.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, indeed we come before Thee and ask that Thou would forgive us if there are times whereby we cling onto this humanistic mentality that we have done well, that for certain reasons we are able to approach Thy majesty. Perhaps it is because of certain good works that we think we have done, or money that we have given to the needy, or services that we have rendered, and we thought of ourselves as spiritual and worthy to approach Thee.
Thou hast taught us through Thy Word that the only basis we can approach Thy majesty is through a sacrifice, and blood has to be shed. And all that points to our Lord Jesus, the ultimate Lamb of God, the promised seed. And He has come; He died and shed His precious blood, without which none of us can approach Thy majesty. And it is all because of Thy covenant of grace.
O Lord, as we come to worship Thee, as we come to praise Thee, to give of our tithes and offerings, to serve and worship Thee, to do all the things that Thou hast set before us, help us always to remember this truth, that it is only through the sacrifice of Thy only begotten Son that we are able to come to Thee. And we pray that we will always prepare our hearts as we approach Thee with this understanding. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF EXODUSGod’s Prophecy and Promise Had Come To PassGod’s Prophecy and Promise Had Come To PassExodus 1:1-7
From Prosperity to PersecutionFrom Prosperity to PersecutionExodus 1:8-14
God’s Protection in the Midst of AdversitiesGod’s Protection in the Midst of AdversitiesExodus 1:15-21
The Faith of JochebedThe Faith of JochebedExodus 1:22-2:10
Moses in EgyptMoses in EgyptExodus 2:11-15
Moses in the Desert of MidianMoses in the Desert of MidianExodus 2:16-25
Moses and the Burning BushMoses and the Burning BushExodus 3:1-9
Who Are You?Who Are You?Exodus 3:10-15
Who Am I?Who Am I?Exodus 3:10-15
God’s Message to Israel and EgyptGod’s Message to Israel and EgyptExodus 3:16-22
What If They Still Don’t Believe?What If They Still Don’t Believe?Exodus 4:1-9
Send Someone ElseSend Someone ElseExodus 4:10-17
Moses’ Return to EgyptMoses’ Return to EgyptExodus 4:18-20
When Things Seemed to Get Better, They Got WorseWhen Things Seemed to Get Better, They Got WorseExodus 5:10-21
When We Have Done Everything Right, and Yet Trouble ComesWhen We Have Done Everything Right, and Yet Trouble ComesExodus 5:22-6:5
Having to Learn the Same Lesson TwiceHaving to Learn the Same Lesson TwiceExodus 6:6-12
Faithful or UnfaithfulFaithful or UnfaithfulExodus 6:13-27
What God Wants Is Our Faithfulness and ObedienceWhat God Wants Is Our Faithfulness and ObedienceExodus 6:28-7:7
The First Plague - The River of BloodThe First Plague - The River of BloodExodus 7:14-25
The Second Plague - The FrogsThe Second Plague - The FrogsExodus 8:1-15
The Third PlagueThe Third PlagueExodus 8:16-19
The Fourth PlagueThe Fourth PlagueExodus 8:20-32
The Fifth PlagueThe Fifth PlagueExodus 9:1-7
The Sixth PlagueThe Sixth PlagueExodus 9:8-12
The Seventh PlagueThe Seventh PlagueExodus 9:13-35
The Eighth PlagueThe Eighth PlagueExodus 10:1-20
The Tenth PlagueThe Tenth PlagueExodus 11:1-10
The First PassoverThe First PassoverExodus 12:1-13
The Feast of the Unleavened BreadThe Feast of the Unleavened BreadExodus 12:14-28
Departure From EgyptDeparture From EgyptExodus 12:29-42
This Do In Remembrance of MeThis Do In Remembrance of MeExodus 12:43-51; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
Message 2: What is Church to you? My Covenantal Family!Message 2: What is Church to you? My Covenantal Family!Exodus 12:48-49, Colossians 2:11-12
Redemption and ConsecrationRedemption and ConsecrationExodus 13:1-2, 11-16
Precious Lord, Take My HandPrecious Lord, Take My HandExodus 13:17-22
Between the Desert and the Red SeaBetween the Desert and the Red SeaExodus 14:1-14
Crossing the Red SeaCrossing the Red SeaExodus 14:15-31
The Song of PraiseThe Song of PraiseExodus 15:1-21
Will You Obey Or Not?Will You Obey Or Not?Exodus 15:22-27
The Danger of a Complaining SpiritThe Danger of a Complaining SpiritExodus 16:1-3
God’s Response to Israel’s ComplaintsGod’s Response to Israel’s ComplaintsExodus 16:1-10
The Test of FaithThe Test of FaithExodus 16:11-20
Lessons About the SabbathLessons About the SabbathExodus 16:21-36
Do Not Test GodDo Not Test GodExodus 17:1-17
Lift Up Your HandsLift Up Your HandsExodus 17:8-16
The Blessedness of ReunionThe Blessedness of ReunionExodus 18:1-12
Why Do We Have Leaders?Why Do We Have Leaders?Exodus 18:13-27
I Will Carry You On Eagles’ WingsI Will Carry You On Eagles’ WingsExodus 19:1-6
Approach God Fearlessly or FearfullyApproach God Fearlessly or FearfullyExodus 19:7-15
God Reached Out And SpokeGod Reached Out And SpokeExodus 19:16-25
Thou Shalt Have No Other GodsThou Shalt Have No Other GodsExodus 20:1-3
Thou Shalt Not Make Graven ImagesThou Shalt Not Make Graven ImagesExodus 20:4-6
Thou Shalt Not Dishonour God’s NameThou Shalt Not Dishonour God’s NameExodus 20:7
Thou Shalt Keep The Sabbath DayThou Shalt Keep The Sabbath DayExodus 20:8-11
Honour Thy Father And Thy MotherHonour Thy Father And Thy MotherExodus 20:12
Thou Shalt Not KillThou Shalt Not KillExodus 20:13
Thou Shalt Not Commit AdulteryThou Shalt Not Commit AdulteryExodus 20:14
Thou Shalt Not StealThou Shalt Not StealExodus 20:15
Thou Shalt Not LieThou Shalt Not LieExodus 20:16
Thou Shalt Not CovetThou Shalt Not CovetExodus 20:17
The Response To The Ten CommandmentsThe Response To The Ten CommandmentsExodus 20:18-21
How God Wants Us To Worship HimHow God Wants Us To Worship HimExodus 20:22-26
Why Would God Allow Slavery?Why Would God Allow Slavery?Exodus 21:1-11
The Punishment Fits The Crime — a life for a lifeThe Punishment Fits The Crime — a life for a lifeExodus 21:12-17
The Punishment Fits The Crime — an eye for an eyeThe Punishment Fits The Crime — an eye for an eyeExodus 21:18-36
The Punishment Deters The Crime — property lawsThe Punishment Deters The Crime — property lawsExodus 22:1-15
The Character Of GodThe Character Of GodExodus 22:16-20
Reaching Out To The Down-And-OutReaching Out To The Down-And-OutExodus 22:21-24
The Compassion, Authority & Holiness Of GodThe Compassion, Authority & Holiness Of GodExodus 22:25-31
Truth Cannot Be Subjected To Anything But TruthTruth Cannot Be Subjected To Anything But TruthExodus 23:1-9
Remember Who God IsRemember Who God IsExodus 23:10-19
What Must We Do To Have VictoryWhat Must We Do To Have VictoryExodus 23:20-33
How We Ought To Worship GodHow We Ought To Worship GodExodus 24:1-4, 7
On What Basis Can We Approach His Majesty?On What Basis Can We Approach His Majesty?Exodus 24:4-8
Responding to God’s InvitationResponding to God’s InvitationExodus 24:9-18
The Right Attitude Of GivingThe Right Attitude Of GivingExodus 25:1-8
There I Will Meet YouThere I Will Meet YouExodus 25:9-22
If Thy Presence Go Not with Me, Carry Us Not Up HenceIf Thy Presence Go Not with Me, Carry Us Not Up HenceExodus 33:12-23
