Exodus 24:9-11 (NASBStr)
Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.
The above set of verses sounds more like it should come from the New Testament than the Old. The vision of the Old is that God is a fierce God; a consuming fire. In fact, in other places in these Exodus passages we read about the nation of Israel being fearful of God. Yet, what we have here in this passage is a communion service setting. There is fellowship alluded to in this passage. This is a communion between the people of God and God Himself. God is here to fellowship with Moses, Arron and Arron's sons and the leadership of Israel. You wonder why the nation would fall away after this. Yet, the same is true with us. We attend church and have sweet fellowship with God on Sunday, only to fall away and sin on Monday. God is, in this passage, communion with His creation. The backdrop here is the Law. God is given the Law and, yet, in the midst there is fellowship. That lesson should not be missed. We tend to think of the Law in another way. God wants to fellowship with man. The Law was meant to instill that. The Law is God giving us the picture of His grace. If we read the Law we can see how much it asks us to have mercy and grace with others, as God is expressing mercy and grace to us. We ought not think of the Law in fear and trembling. Moses and the other leaders of Israel had fellowship around the giving of the Law. God is gracious and merciful in ever age. We ought not make Him to be the Just God in the Old and the Gracious God in the New. He is always Just and Gracious no matter what passage we find ourselves reading or studying.
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