Exodus chapter 24 contains a reconfirmation of God’s covenant with His people. Remember, God first made a covenant with Himself to Abraham that included the blood sacrifice of bulls and goats (Genesis chapter 15). God promised Abraham his descendants would be as the stars in the sky, too numerous to count. “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness“. God promised Abraham the land, God promised Abraham would be a great nation, and God promised Abraham a Savior. Now here in Exodus, Moses declares God’s law and in one voice, the People reply, “Everything the Lord has said, we will do“. Then Moses Writes down all that God said, and read it to the people. And the people responded, “We will do all that the Lord has said; we will obey“. Moses took the blood of bulls that had been sacrificed and sprinkled it on the altar, and then he sprinkled it on the people saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words“. We would be horrified to see all the blood and could not even imagine being sprinkled with blood. The people understood, the blood signified the seriousness of disobedience to God. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).
We too have God’s written word and we have God’s promise of forgiveness. In Matthew chapter 26, at the end of the Passover meal, Jesus declares a new covenant through His sacrifice. “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin“. Unlike the blood of bulls and goats which had to be repeated over and over; the sacrificial blood of the Savior was shed once and for all. And like Abraham all that is required is to believe, “For whoever will call upon the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). While we might be repulsed by the thought of a blood sacrifice, it is only by the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we can be restored to perfect fellowship with God.
Exodus Chapter 24 ends with God calling Moses to “come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction“. Moses told the elders to “wait here” and he went up the mountain “and the glory of the Lord settled on mount Sinai“. Interestingly, “to the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain“. Moses entered the cloud as he climbed the mountain, “and he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights“. The things of God can look scary from a distance, but when we draw near to God, we experience His love and forgiveness and never want to leave. “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the thrown of grace, that we may receive the mercy and may find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrew 4:16).