Exodus 24:8-12: a reflection

8Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.” 9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. 11He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank. 12The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”

The covenant at Sinai is sealed in a striking way. Moses takes the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkles it on the people, declaring, this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you. Blood binds the covenant, sealing the relationship between God and his people. And then something astonishing happens: Moses, Aaron, and seventy elders go up the mountain and see the God of Israel, with what looked like a pavement of sapphire under his feet, and they eat and drink in his presence, and God does not strike them down.

Two wonders meet here. First, the blood of the covenant: the relationship with God is established through sacrifice, pointing forward to a greater covenant sealed by the blood of Christ, who would say at another meal, this is my blood of the covenant. Second, the fellowship meal: sinful human beings eat and drink in the very presence of God and live. God did not lay his hand on them; instead he welcomed them to a covenant meal in his presence. Sacrifice and fellowship, blood and table, come together.

What was foreshadowed here is fully yours in Christ. The blood of a new and better covenant has been shed, and through it you are welcomed not merely to survive God's presence but to feast in it. The God whom the elders saw and dared to eat before is the God who now invites you to his table through Christ. Marvel at the grace of it: by the blood of the covenant, you are brought near, welcomed to fellowship with the holy God. Come to his table with wonder and gratitude.

Lord, at Sinai you sealed your covenant with blood and welcomed the elders to eat in your presence, a foreshadowing of the greater covenant sealed by Christ's blood. Thank you that through him I am brought near, welcomed not merely to survive your presence but to feast in it. Let me marvel at such grace, and come to your table with wonder and gratitude, one whom the blood of the covenant has brought home. Amen.