THE LORD'S INVITATION TO COME UP
INTRODUCTION:
We will continue our study on the Book of Exodus.
We are now in chapter 24 when the elders of Israel saw God and had a time of great fellowship with Him.
It all started with the invitation of the Lord to Moses telling them to come up together with the seventy elders of Israel.
They were to worship at a distance but only Moses is asked to approach the Lord personally.
Then, when Moses told the people all that the Lord's words to them and the laws that they need to obey.
They all responded and agreed together with one voice: "Everything that the Lord has said we will do."
Moses then wrote down everything that the Lord has said.
The next morning, Moses, got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
Then, he sent young Israelite men who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Moses then took half of the blood and put it in the bowls and the other half he splashed against the altar.
Then, he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.
Again, the people responded with one voice, "We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey."
Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."
It was a sign that their sins have been atoned for and they are now ready to come near God.
After that, Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel.
Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright as the sky.
During that time of fellowship, they were privileged to see God and together, they ate and drank.
Then, the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here.
I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction."
Then Moses set out with Joshua, his aide, and they went up on the mountain of God.
He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you.
Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them."
Then, it was said that when Moses went up on the Mountain, the cloud covered it.
The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai.
For six days, the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day, the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.
To the Israelites, the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
Then, Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain.,
And he stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
That means he fasted and prayed during that time.
No wonder, the glory of the Lord was upon him.
This is a remarkable incident upon the lives of Moses and the elders of Israel when they had been given a special privilege or opportunity to see the Lord and lived.
Actually, it is impossible to see God face to face.
Only God is immortal while humans are mortal and subject to death because of sin.
The Bible says that "No one may see me (God) and live." Exodus 33:20 (NIV)
But in here, we read Moses and his team being invited by God, responding to the invitation and having fellowship, eating and drinking with the God of the universe Himself.
They did not die but they lived to tell the story.
It is a remarkable and extraordinary phase of the history of Israel as a new nation under God.
But today, we will examine the story in Exodus that led to this amazing time of fellowship with God.
We will look closely at that invitation and examine our response to it.
How did it happen that Moses and the elders were given such a great authority or entitlement to see God?
It all started with the first verse of chapter 24 when the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord."
It was a special invitation to come up.
God was inviting them to have fellowship with Him.
How many of you would like to receive an invitation such as this to attend a special party?
Many of you would probably get so excited when you receive a beautiful invitation card to attend a party such as wedding, a graduation or a birthday party set for instance in a beautiful landscape overlooking a mountain and the spacious blue sky above.
And what if that invitation will carry an addendum that it is OK to bring along your loved ones with you if they want to.
That will even be more exciting because that invitation is not just for you but it can extend to every member of your family and even to your friends and acquaintances alike.
That is the kind of invitation that is set forth here.
God invited Moses to come up to God's presence.
He accepted the invitation.
And he brought along seventy elders of Israel.
Together, they enjoyed meeting God, eating and drinking in that beautiful pavement called lapiz lazuli, as bright as the sky.
But you see, whenever we receive an invitation to attend a party of such gathering, we often look at four important things.
The person who gave you that invitation, the occasion or the event, the date and the time.
Sometimes, we just ignore the invitation of a person for several reasons:
When we are NOT familiar with him
When we have personal conflicts or struggle with the person.
When we are too busy with our schedule.
When we do not know anybody else in that party.
However, when we receive an invitation for instance from somebody influential or important such as a high government leader,
a celebrity or a royalty, we get so excited and regardless of how busy we are, we make time to attend to that gathering.
What if you will receive an invitation from God, the creator of the universe?
He is more important than the highest leader of the land.
How do you respond to his invitation? Will you be that excited as well?
Will you take time to respond even if you are too busy?
Do you know that everyday, God is inviting you to come to Him?
Everyday, He is inviting you to trust Him, to pray, to accept His plans and purposes for your life.
In fact, the Bible has lots of invitations.
Here are just three of the many invitations by Christ Himself:
The invitation for sinners to repent.
Matthew 9:13 (NIV) "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
The invitation for the weary to find rest in Christ.
Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
The invitation for daily Christian discipleship.
Luke 9:23 (NIV) "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Invitations of such kinds are numerous.
But the response, sad to say are not too many.
And so, we will study God's invitation to Moses in Exodus and how he responded to such invitation.
The goal is that we will learn to respond properly when God calls us.
1. HE RESPONDED BY BUILDING AN ALTAR TO THE LORD
Exodus 24:3-7 (NIV) He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
The first thing we can learn about the invitation from God is that Moses responded early the next day by building an altar to the Lord.
He did not wait for several more days, he did it the next day.
He set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
Then, sacrificial burnt offerings and fellowship offerings were given to the Lord in that altar.
Afterwards, he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.
They all responded to obey everything that the Lord has said.
Building an altar to the Lord is a symbol of their commitment and dedication to God's plans and purposes.
The burnt offerings is a symbol of the sins that must be atoned for before they could be received by God.
While the fellowship offerings are the symbol of their new association or camaraderie that has been established due to the covenant.
Reading the Book of the covenant is a symbol that the people are now ready to receive all that God wants them to do.
After that, the people responded in unison: "We will do everything the Lord has said: we will obey."
That is the same thing we need to do when we receive the invitation from the Lord.
We must not wait for several more days or months before we say, "Yes" to God.
We must obey God and be His disciple the next day by our daily devotion.
To do this, we must build an altar to God in our hearts as a symbol of our commitment to Him.
This is one way to develop our relationship with God.
Because building great relationships take time.
And we must invest a lot of time in our devotion to God.
This is the time when we search our hearts and ask God to cleanse us from any sin and unrighteous thoughts because of the blood of Christ.
This is the time when we read diligently God's Word for our daily instructions.
This is one of the most important part of our Christian calling.
Without this daily devotion, we will grow weak in our spiritual walk with God.
There are several good reasons why we need to respond to this invitation:
- we can more easily find out what God wants for our lives when we spend more time with Him.
- we can refocus and get our mind off the world and worries around us when our minds are in Christ.
- we can find it easier to worship Him and we can avoid any distractions.
- we naturally become more like Him.
- the more we spend time with God, the more we can show our love to Him.
Jesus Himself when he was on mission on earth had this daily devotion and prayer.
Mark 1:35 (NIV) "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where
he prayer."
He built an altar to God of prayer and seeking the heart of God the Father.
In the same manner, we need to do the same.
Again, in Luke it says: Luke 5:16 (NIV) "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
The word "often means usually, regularly, repeatedly.
He did it not just once or twice but many times over and over again.
And think of it, the Son of God, the Messiah needed a regularly devotion in prayer and worship to God, how much more we.
We often go through the day with so much pressures and stress.
Many times, we go home badly beaten, tired and exhausted after a days work.
It is only by starting the day with a time of quiet devotion to God that we can overcome all these things.
That is the time of seeking the Lord wholeheartedly and receiving fresh revelations from God.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31 " 29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath."
Look at the underlined words: "in distress" - it means you are in pain, in agony, irritated and disappointed with the things happening around you.
The solution is to return to the Lord, seek the Lord, pursue Him, follow after Him, look for Him.
Then, we can respond with all the elders of Israel "We will do everything that the Lord has said., we will obey."
Many of us ignore the invitation because we are too busy with a lot of things.
We are too busy with our work, busy with our hobbies, busy with our self.
But God is waiting for our response to that invitation.
Here is something for us to think about that has great spiritual implications.
Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said, “We can't keep Christians from going to church. "We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."
"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ."
"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered,
"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children."
"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."
"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive." "To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly."
"This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."
"Invade their driving moments with billboards."
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."
"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. "Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus."
"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."
"It will work!" "It will work!"
It was quite a plan!
The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.
Having little time for their God or their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.
What do you think?
Has the devil been successful?
Yes, indeed.
Being too busy with a lot of non-essential things will keep us away from our relationship with God.
Satan knows that our daily devotion to God is very important.
And so, he tried his best to prevent this by allowing us to get tot busy with many non-essential things in life.
Do you know that the word "BUSY" mean?
B- eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke.
We need to take time with God.
2. HIS RESPONSE WAS TO ENJOY THE TIME OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
Exodus 24:9-11(NIV) 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
The next thing that Moses did in response to God's invitation is to enjoy a time of fellowship with God.
They appreciated the moment when they could eat and drink together in the presence of God.
Twice in these verses, we read that "they saw the God of Israel."
God allowed them to see Himself, but it was actually only under the feet of God that they saw.
The text says that they saw the pavement under God's feet made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
According to the Wikipedia, Lapis Lazuli is actually a deep, blue semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
They are usually mined in Northern Afghanistan and in Pakistan used for jewelry, carvings, ornaments and vases.
Their color is like the bright blue sky - so immense and so vast and so spacious just like the galaxy in the sky.
This truth signifies that the entire universe is under his footstool.
Acts 7:49 (NIV) "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool."
Psalms 115:16 (NIV) "The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind."
1 Cor. 15:27 (NIV) "For He has "put everything under his feet."
All of these verses above talks about the power and authority of God above all the heavens.
Think of it. The elders of Israel are having such a great time eating and drinking with the ruler of the Universe.
That is why they enjoyed every moment of it.
In the same manner, after building our altar for the Lord, we must enjoy our fellowship with God.
The word "enjoy" means you love it, you savor every moment of it, or take pleasure in it.
When we worship Him, we enjoy it.
When we read God's Word, we enjoy it.
We don't need the things of this world to be happy.
We don't need the pleasures and the pursuits of this life to be happy.
The real path to happiness is following the Lord and living a consecrated life for Him.
In God's presence is the fullness of joy.
Psalms 16:11(NIV) "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
Look at the words: "eternal pleasures" at your right hand.
It means that there is an endless, abiding and everlasting pleasure that we can derive in our fellowship with God.
It will never end and will always be permanent in our hearts.
You see, the pleasure of having money will only last as long as you have it in your hands.
But once you spend it away, there is no more joy.
You have to work hard gain to earn more money.
The pleasure of enjoying food such as ice cream will last only for a moment.
Once you have eaten all the ice cream in that container, the pleasure is gone.
You have to buy again another can.
That is always the same thing in all the material things that this world can offer.
They will not last long.
They are only temporary, transient and perishable.
But the joy, the satisfaction, the pleasure and the comfort in God's presence is eternal, never ending and timeless.
Truly, we can find divine contentment and serenity in Him.
That is why the invitation is for all of us to respond.
He is calling you to fellowship with Him.
Everyday you wake up, God wants spend time in fellowship with you.
Revelation 3:20 (NIV) "20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."
In here, Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart.
This is an invitation for you to dine with Him.
Will you accept that invitation.
All you have to do is to open the door of your heart and He will come in.
Four years ago, in April 29, 2011 there was a story of a royal wedding that gathered global attention between Prince William to Kate Middleton.
They now have two children.
Royal weddings are quite exclusive affairs.
The invitation lists are usually limited among family members, heads of states, other royals and individuals of great means and celebrity.
Invitations are often prized and coveted.
However, during that time, there was also a report in newspapers about a Mexican teenager by the name of Estibalis Chavez.
She was dead serious about her desire to attend.
In the process, she staged a hunger strike and has not eaten for several days.
Her aim is to draw attention of the royal family in the hopes of garnering their sympathy and a ticket to the wedding.
"Are they going to let me die just because they wouldn't give me an invitation to the royal wedding?" she wrote on one flyer outside the embassy. "This is my only dream."
Finally, a good Samaritan gave her the money to travel on a plane and head to London.
But Chavez's dream trip has turned into a bit of a nightmare.
After landing in Spain with the intent to fly to London, she was denied entry into England because she did not have enough money to cover her stay.
She only had about 10,000 pesos for expenses or about $862 or 523 pounds.
Mexican citizens are allowed to travel to England without a visa but they have to show they have a place to stay and enough money to cover their expenses.
CNN reported that Chavez has lived a tough life.
Her mother died while giving birth to her and while growing up, everyone told her that her mother was a huge Princess Diana fan.
She left the Mexico City slum in which she lives to try to realize her dream and her mother's dream.
If only we have such desire and dream as Chavez to have such devotion to respond to the invitation of Christ.
The invitation went over 2,000 years ago.
It was not offered exclusively to the noble and noteworthy of the land.
It was dispatched along the highways and byways by preachers of all ages.
All are welcome to come and dine with Christ as a prelude to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb which will culminate in heaven.
However, only a few responded.
Chavez had to starve herself to be able to attend the marriage celebration of an earthly king.
But how do we respond when the King of Kings sent you that invitation to open the door of your heart and receive Christ?
Christ is patiently waiting for your response.
Chavez was "dying" to attend to that royal wedding but Christ "died" so that we can attend His.
I hope you can respond well.
Isaiah 55:1-3 (NIV) "“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David."
This then is an invitation for us to join Him in a special fellowship where we could dine and drink together.
It says, "Come, if you are thirsty, come, buy and eat.
In fact, even if you have no money, you can come as well and enjoy the pleasure of wine and milk.
Many times, we use our money on things that do not really satisfy and do not really last for eternal benefit.
We work hard, we spend our money and then, it's gone.
3. HIS RESPONSE WAS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH GOD IN GLORY
Exodus 24:15-18 "When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the gloryof the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights."
The last response of Moses on God's invitation to come up is to spend more time with God in glory.
God is full of glory and majesty.
The glory of God is manifested in Christ.
John 1:14 (NIV) "14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
The more we spend time with Him, the more we will receive His glory that will spread in the surrounding places around us.
That is why it was said that when Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord settled on it.
The entire mountain was covered or enclosed with the glory of God.
In the same manner, we first have to build an altar to God.
Then, we enjoy our fellowship with God.
And then we spend more time with God in glory.
When we spend more time with God, we will manifest such glory.
It was said that in July 2010, the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy announced that they had discovered the brightest star ever found in the universe.
While the mass of the star is only 265 times that of our sun, its brightness is disproportionately greater.
This is due to its superior density.
The star, initially cataloged as R136a1, is not just twice as bright as our sun, it's not 10 times brighter, its' not a hundred times brighter, it's not a thousand times brighter.
It is not even a million times brighter.
R136a1 is a full ten million times brighter than our sun!
My retina hurt just thinking about it.
Eventually, star r136a1 will be given a real name.
I would like to suggest that it be called, "The Jesus Star" because no one shines brighter than He.
He is the bright and morning star in Revelation 22:16.
That means, He is the brightest star in the universe.
That is why whenever you spend more time with Christ, you will see the light in your life, light in your character, light in in your relationship an din your finances.
To respond therefore to the invitation of Christ means to partake of that light for eternity.
And every moment we spend time with Jesus means reflecting that light to others around us.
This is what it means to abide in Him.
John 8:12 (NIV) "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
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