They Saw the God of Israel

(A Pavement of Sapphire)

Exodus 24:1-11

Key Verses 24:10-11

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.

We can categorize all peoples on earth into three classes which I would like to call: 1) the first story man; 2) the second story man; and 3) the third story man. Imagine in your mind an apartment building which has three stories. The first story man lives on the first story, the second story man on the second, and the third story man on the top floor. You can characterize the three stories according to the Apostle Paul’s terminology: body, soul, and spirit (1Th 5:23). The first story man is primarily dominated by bodily instincts. The man living on the second story operates as the faculties of his soul dictates, such as his will power, intelligence, or imagination. The third story man however lives on a spiritual level, for he lives in step with God’s spirit. Esau, Jacob’s elder brother is a first story man. Jacob which is Israel’s original name used to live as a second story man, for he was a man of will power and imagination. But Israel is a third story man. He understood God’s will for him. He lived as a source of blessing for many. 

Today we are dealing with the Israelites who came out of Egypt about three months before. We can characterize them not as the first story man, or second or third, but a man who lives in the “basement.” They used to live at the bottom of a heathen society. The good spiritual heritage they received had been long forgotten. Now, the Lord God had pulled them out of slavery. The Lord invited them to the fellowship with him. In their fellowship they saw the God of Israel. God did this to elevate them from a lowly existence to God’s level, so they would function as children of God. 

 Several Sundays ago we studied Exodus 6 with the title, "I Am the Lord." While the Israelites were suffering in a slave camp as a slave nation, the Lord planted faith in them through Moses, so that by faith in the Lord they would come out of the slavery. Indeed, the book of Exodus shows us that by faith in the Lord they came out of Egypt. Now that they came out, and put up a camp at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they came to look forward to the life that awaits them in the days to come. Today we would like to think about the way the Lord further helped them. 

Part I. They saw the God of Israel (1-10a)

We can divide the passage for today (Exodus 24:1-11) into two parts: preparation to meet the Lord (1-8); and the meeting with the Lord (9-11). The first part consists of a ceremony. The ceremony (like reciting the contents of the covenant, the shedding of blood and sprinkling it on the altar and the people, etc.) is kind of difficult to understand.  The meanings are deep that it requires another day of Bible study to explain them. But for our own purpose this morning it is sufficient to say that essentially we can compare it to a wedding ceremony of sorts, between a bride and a bridegroom. Before the two get married, they go through a ceremony. The bridegroom gets in first. Then, the bride comes in according to a wedding march. Then, there comes the important moment where the two say to one another, "Yes, I do." Then they exchange wedding rings. Then the marriage gets consummated. In this case the bride was Israel as a nation. The groom was the Lord God. In fact in the Bible the Lord God calls himself as the husband of the chosen people Israel, and the Israelites a wife.

After the two parties having gone through a ceremony, the two came to have a fellowship. And then in v. 11 we see an eating fellowship take place, which is again similar to a sort of wedding reception. 

Each time we are invited to a wedding ceremony and attend the occasion, we closely look at the couple and entertain questions like, "Hmm, are they a good match? How long are they going to stay married?" As we read the passage for today (particularly, the expression 'But God did not raise his hands against them,’ and especially the word 'but') similar questions arise in our mind like, "Is this union going to work?" "How long will the relationship last?" But the important truth (which is truly fascinating) is that it was the Lord who wooed the Israelites to get into the relationship with him! 

So now let us think about the parties who just tied the knot. 

First, the Israelites as represented by the seventy elders.

We can say many good things about them like how good they are in making bricks or who cooks best dishes using garlic and hot pepper, etc.  But a close study of Exodus 1-23 indicates that they were not a good candidate as a bride, for these Bible passages indicate that they had a lot of problems. The primary factor is that they used to live in Egypt as a slave nation for a long period of time (over 400 years). So we can easily understand that they were steeped in a slave mentality. As such slave people have a lot of problems: no self confidence, low self esteem, refusal to accept freedom, blame-passing, habit of grumbling, rebellious spirit, and the list goes on. There many Bible passages showing their slave mentality. Would someone rise and read Exodus 14:10-12? Let us also read Exodus 16:1-3. [For other instances revealing their undesirable character traits read Numbers 11:1-6 or Lev chapters 18-20 for there we find a list of the pagan practices which must have influenced them.]

When we think about the Israelites from a Biblical perspective, however, these problems are not the real problems, for these problems are merely manifestations of the root cause, that is, the lack of faith in the Lord. For a long period of time, they abandoned their faith in the Lord. Living at the bottom of a heathen world, they picked up a lot of undesirable character traits. 

Second, the God of Israel.

Now what did the Lord do for them? How is the Lord going to help them? God’s solution is simple: he revealed himself to them so they could live by faith. He did this to help them grow in faith! As I mentioned earlier, thus far while the Israelites were in Egypt, the Lord kept encouraging them through Moses to put trust in the Lord. Then, as they journeyed to the Mt. Sinai, through "the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions," each time they ran into troubles such as finding no water, the Lord provided them with what they needed, and thereby helped them to live by faith in the Lord. 

The Lord's patient efforts paid off. At first they did not listen to the Lord or Moses. But gradually they came to trust Moses and the God who sent Moses. And after experiencing great miracles, they came to feel good about the Lord. So when Moses recited the words of the Lord, such as the Moses' Ten Commandments, they all said, "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey" (24:3,4,7). In exchange for their trust, what did the Lord do for them? Look at verses 9-10a. "Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel." They "saw" the God of Israel! God rewarded them with the vision of himself: the Lord revealed himself to them! 

At this important moment (of making a new beginning) then, what does the vision of the God of Israel mean to them? Many things can be said, but in view of the name Israel, we can say that the Lord revealed himself to them as the God of Israel, so that the Israelites would no longer live by sight, but by faith in him. The Lord helped them to believe that he is their good shepherd! The Lord showed himself as the God of Israel to convince them that just as the Lord God shepherded over Israel so also he would shepherd over them!

Notice that the Scripture does not say "the God of Jacob" but "the God of Israel." Jacob was an earthbound man. But Israel denotes a spiritual man. Most of the time Jacob lived by sight. But the Lord shepherded over him. During his young adulthood, in a dream the Lord revealed himself to him. Then according to the vision he saw at night the Lord kept shepherding over him. So eventually Jacob opened his eyes to the God of heaven. And he got the new name: Israel!

Now let us stop for a moment and think about how the Lord shepherded over him. Jacob lived to be 147 years old. In Genesis 48:15, in blessing Joseph (and his two sons) Jacob prayed for his children saying, "May…the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day...bless these boys!" He confessed that the God of Israel is a personal God, testifying that God shepherded over him all the days of his life. And the Lord God was with him, until he, Jacob (an earthbound man), became Israel (a spiritual man who put his hope in God's kingdom). Think about the expression "all my life." What does "all" mean? All means all. Moses lived to be 120 years. But Jacob lived 120 plus 27 more years. And 147 years is a long period of time. Multiply 147 with 365. How many days do you get? Every single day (hours, minutes, and seconds) the Lord shepherded over him! At first Jacob did not realize this. But as he breathed his last, he realized this fully.  

Living by faith in the Lord who is a personal shepherd for each person is the key to overcoming all the challenges of life; it is the key to living a life that is truly fulfilling. The Israelites who camped at the Mt. Sinai numbered about 2 million. At that particular moment, the Israelites had a lot of problems - problems inside, problems outside. Inside they had all sorts of problems especially character flaws. Remember, you've got a slave nation who used to live in a slave camp for a long period of time. Pharaoh worked mercilessly to destroy God’s image in them. Having lived in the Egyptian Empire worshiping idol gods, the Israelites came out with all sorts of sin problems. They had so many sinful habits that it was absurd to call them a “chosen people.” 

Aside from their inner problems they were faced with external problems. First of all, their journey to the Promised Land was not going to be easy. Rather they had to go through battle after battle. And their enemies were ready to jump out of nowhere, prey upon their weaknesses, and finish them off quickly.

But these hardships and difficulties are no problems at all, because they had none other than the God of Israel as their personal shepherd. 

"[They]...saw the God of Israel!" In the past they used to say, "If only we had died in Egypt..." But now they were to no longer say that. Rather they were to say, "If only we live by faith in the Lord, all things will go well." 

The event described in the passage took place at Mt. Sinai about 14 centuries before Christ. The God of Israel as the shepherd for his flock was more fully revealed in the life of Jesus, the offspring of Jacob (Genesis 28:14). In fact, when Jesus came he said to the Jews, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11,14). In the day of Jesus, the Israelites lived under Roman rule, headed by Caesar. Their situation was more or less the same as that of the Israelites in Egypt, for just as Pharaoh was a dictator, so also Caesar was a dictator. Living under Caesar, the new Pharaoh, the Israelites had a lot of problems. But several disciples of Jesus' day found Jesus as their personal Shepherd. By faith in Jesus, they overcame difficulties and hardships. By faith they could build the highway to Bible Israel and the World Mission. 

In our generation many find political leaders such as George Bush or Barak Obama as modern day Pharaohs. In America, as of last Friday, fourteen U.S. states and Washington D.C. reported the unemployment rate hitting double digits. According to the U.S. national debt clock, the outstanding national public debt is about to hit $12 trillion. About three decades ago, Des Griffin wrote a book entitled Descent into Slavery, predicting the destiny of the U.S. In this book primarily he is dealing with the economy. But the problems we Americans are facing go far deeper farther and broader than just the economy. We have problems at home, at school, on the streets, and in every sector of our society. 

Yet, the root cause of all these problems is this: abandoning faith in the Lord. Last Sunday Shepherd William served a message on Jesus the cornerstone. Jesus is the cornerstone and the capstone. Our life becomes secure only to the extent that it is built upon Jesus, the rock foundation. In the past we used to be known as the nation where Christianity is dominant.  But a number of researches indicate that the U.S. is getting increasingly secular. There are tangible evidences, such as the increase in the divorce rate, that testify a massive number of people are departing from Jesus' lifestyle, and a rapidly increasing number of people are not just getting unproductive but counter productive. 

At this critical juncture of U.S. history, what should we do? We must pull our eyes and noses away from the mundane things such as the economy. We must stop watching TV too much. We must start reading the Bible, so we can fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus Christ. And we should no longer live by sight, but by faith in the Lord! Then God will heal you and me. As we come back to the Living Word of God, God will heal the land and bless America. As God blesses America, we can live once again as a City on a hill. 

II. A pavement of sapphire (24:10b-11)

Look at vs. 10b-11. "Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank." Verse 10b says that they saw not only the God of Israel but also under his feet something else, that is, something like a pavement made of sapphire. It was not exactly a pavement but something "like" a pavement. And it looked like a pavement made of sapphire. 

Why did God show this to the Israelites? It is anyone's guess. But an educated guess can be made to say that it refers to the outcome of the life that walks by faith in the Lord. In Hebrew the word pavement is the same as the word "bricks". Bricks are used to build a house or a walkway. While in Egypt the Israelites used to make bricks made of dirt and straw. But since they came into the relationship with the God of Israel, they are to walk by faith in the Lord, and work to build the house (or kingdom) of God. The material (sapphire) that the pavement is made of is symbolic of the key characteristics of God's children who consciously and persistently choose to live by faith in him, As we all know sapphire, a gem stone, has many good characteristics, such as durability (or reliability), purity, beauty, and value. It is durable. Unlike straw, sapphire lasts virtually forever. Despite external forces such as pressure or heat, it maintains its integrity. For example, sapphire's melting point is 2030-2050 degrees centigrade. So to melt it you need to heat it up to such a high temperature, and you must do it for several days. And sapphire is pure in quality. It is infusible and insoluble. Naturally, it is rare, beautiful, and precious.  

The color of sapphire they saw was sky-blue, as crystal clear as the sky itself. This description denotes God's character, especially his holiness. This characterization of the sapphire indicates the outcome of the life that lives by faith in the Lord - a man of godly character, as godly as Joseph in Genesis, as spiritual as the apostles of our Lord Jesus such as the Apostle Peter or the Apostle Paul. Despite persecutions coming in wave after wave, they kept their faith in the Lord, and thereby proved themselves to be precious gemstones like sapphire. 

Speaking of the admirable outcome of the life in the Lord, the Apostle Peter spoke to the early Christians who were undergoing fiery persecutions: "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1Pe 2:5). Would someone rise and read 2Pe 1:1-8 as well?

Through today’s passage we learn that by God's mercy the Israelites were saved from slavery. By God’s grace they came to the intimate fellowship with the God of Israel. Then they could begin their journey to the Promised Land together with the Lord. On the way, they would encounter hardships. But as they live by faith in God, God would help them meet the challenges successfully. Like the Israelites we too are faced with tons of challenges. Yet, we are very thankful to the God of Israel because in his mercy God sent us Jesus, the good shepherd.  Each and every day then, let us climb up to the spiritual mountain where we can see the Risen Jesus and live by faith in him and do his will. 

One word: a pavement of sapphire

      Deu 8:15

 Before we get to the passage I would like to share something about the God of Israel based on yesterday’s daily bread passage, for in Isaiah 30:15 the God (the Holy One) of Israel says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation. In tranquility and trust is your strength.” Notice the four words: repentance, rest, tranquility, and trust. These four words denote the stages in which a soul to be saved goes through transition from this world to the world to come. Thus repentance refers to the mission we are called to do, rest stands for the cessation of our existence in a physical body, tranquility denotes the major characteristic of the perfected world to come, and trust will be the dominant characteristic of the resurrected life in the Lord.] Now if you are a sincere believer, you can experience these four stages even while in a physical body, although somewhat in an opaque and limited manner. Having said this, we can consider the meaning of the rest as it is related to salvation. At night when you fall asleep your body is at rest. As you sleep all of the faculties of your soul are also at rest except the imagination. Jacob was a man of strong will power. Yet, on his way from his father’s house to Paddan Aram, he reached a certain point. There night fell. Then he lied down on a roadside, and there as he fell sleep, his will power rested. In his imagination then he conceived various images. He met the God of Israel (Genesis 28:10-15). Now, nearly five centuries thereafter, the Lord God revealed himself to the descendants of Jacob.