How Will You Ever Be Able to See God?

10th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/29/18
Exodus 24:3-11


How Will You Ever Be Able to See God?
I. By listening to his word
II. Through the forgiving blood of Jesus


Top ten lists used to be more popular than they are today, but I’m sure you’re still familiar with them, right? They’ve been made for a countless number of categories.

But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a top ten list of the type I’m asking you to help me create this morning. Are you ready?

What are the top ten events in Bible history? Give that a few seconds of thought. Well, surely the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus need to occupy positions 1-3 on that list, don’t they? And with Jesus in mind, you might add his ascension into heaven, just as we do in our creeds. But after those four, what makes your list?

The parting of the Red Sea? The six days of creation? The conversion of St. Paul? Maybe so. But we still need a few more. David killing Goliath? The angel of God putting to death 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night? Now we’re getting rather subjective on what makes the list and what doesn’t.

You might be surprised to know that for one Jewish Christian historian, the event before us in this morning’s text from Exodus 24 makes his list. In his opinion, “This transaction [between the Lord and the people of Israel] is the most important in the history of Israel” (A. Edersheim). Really? That might surprise you. It makes you want to ask, “Just why is this event so important?” Because the people ratified the covenant or contract which the Lord was making with them. It was the covenant by which they became his people.

That might not impress us so much because it has little to do with us in the New Testament. But there is something in this account that astounds us and makes us consider that it is worthy of making our Top Ten List of Most Important Biblical Events. That astounding event is described in these words, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. They saw God, and they ate and drank.” Can you imagine that? Better yet, wouldn’t you like to be able to do that?

On this Sunday our focus is on having fellowship with God. How would you like to see God and eat with him? But how could that ever happen? How will you ever be able to see God?

Let’s keep that question in front of our hearts and minds as we take this biblical account to heart.

Part I.

Contracts. Agreements. Treaties. If you’ve been paying attention to the national and international news lately, you’ve probably heard enough already. No matter what they’re called, they all state the same principle: There are two parties and they both agree to do something. When both sides comply with the conditions, both parties benefit.

I hope you’ll pardon that elementary refresher course on contract law, but that’s what was happening in this description of activity in Exodus 24. The only true God was establishing a covenant with Abraham’s descendants, the Children of Israel. True to form, both sides agreed to certain stipulations. Listen to Israel’s side of things, “Then [Moses] 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.’” What did the people agree to do? Take a look at the preceding four chapters. They describe what God was demanding in the way of their worship and their behavior as God’s people. He gave them worship laws and civil laws to obey to show that they were his people, that they were different from the heathen people all around them.

In return, the Lord promised to be their God. Imagine that! The eternal God who fills all the universe binds himself to an agreement with sinful human beings—words that stipulated what they could expect from him. He promised to bless them and to lead them safely to the Promised Land. He promised to be their God.

Sounds like a winner, doesn’t it? What human being wouldn’t jump at the chance to enter into that kind of binding contract? Well, you know what happened. This contract’s ink was still wet when Moses descended Mt. Sinai and was horrified to see these very people worshipping a golden calf and carrying on like immoral heathen people. So much for that contract!

What happened? Bottom line: the people didn’t listen. They heard the words; they just didn’t obey them. They had clearly heard what Moses read to them; they just decided not to abide by them.

But at the time that the event of our text occurs, that heinous violation of the covenant was still a few days into the future. For now, the people were all in. They were committed, at least for now, to upholding their end of the covenant. And the result? Their representatives saw God and ate and drank with him.

Can you imagine that! Maybe not. How will you ever be able to see God? By doing what these people did: they listened—at least for the time being—to his word.

Sounds fairly simple, doesn’t it? Listen to God’s word and see God. But you know it can’t be that simple. That’s because God never intended our listening to his word to be some sterile environment in which sounds are simply heard by our ears. His intent is that his word would affect our hearts. His will is that his word creates faith in our hearts—a faith that trusts God, loves him for what he does for us, and lives according to that word. That’s the pre-requisite for seeing God. How’s your confidence level now? Sinking? Disappearing? Mine too. My sins and yours have ruined our relationship with God. On our own, we can forget about seeing God other than through hate-filled, pain-filled eyes as we suffer in hell. But that’s why God drew up another contract, another agreement. In this one, we do nothing and he does everything. He sends his Son to this earth and that Son always listens and always does what God demands, and he does so for us. He came to do what we could never do—obey God perfectly. That Savior died and rose again and now lives in the presence of God because he is God. And he lives there in order to bring us into his presence. That’s what his faithful word promises us. How will you ever be able to see God? By listening and believing that word of God.

Part II.

Have you heard of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City? It’s a 389-year-old church that was nearly empty a few years ago. Now it’s bursting at the seams and it’s doing so with millennials—one of the hardest demographics for Christian churches to reach and retain. So, what is Middle Collegiate Church doing? Well, just about anything goes. Church leaders encourage worshippers to feel free to text message during worship. You can stand up in the middle of the service in order to Snapchat what’s going on. And there’s no “judging others” allowed. By that, this church means you can live your life however you want, no matter what the Bible says.

I’m going to guess that type of church really doesn’t appeal to you and that’s one of the reasons you’re here in worship at this church this morning. One of the reasons you’re here at this church is because we all believe and confess that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God. You expect to hear that word proclaimed and to worship in ways that are in keeping with that word and honor our Lord Jesus. That’s what you expect.

But what if I decided to take a bowl of water down the center aisle here and sprinkle it on you from side to side as I made my way from front of the sanctuary to the back? Would you wonder what I was doing? Would you object by asking me, “What was going on?”

Quite likely. But if that situation wouldn’t be to your liking, listen to what happened with Moses and the Children of Israel on this day described in Exodus 24. “Then [Moses] sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 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.’ 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.’” You might not appreciate it if I sprinkle water on you this morning, even if I explain what I’m doing. Can you imagine getting sprinkled with animal blood? If I did that to you, I would guess I wouldn’t see many of you ever again.

So why would Moses perform that daring liturgical rite on these people? I’m guessing you know why. It represented something far better, something more precious than all the gold and silver in the world. Every sacrifice in the Old Testament was intended to remind the people that the shedding of blood was necessary for the forgiveness of sins—forgiveness which the promised Messiah would one day win for them. In fact, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, no life with God, and absolutely no possibility of ever seeing him.

Contrary to what modern people think, it was absolutely necessary for Jesus to shed his blood on Calvary’s cross. It was necessary for our forgiveness. Says who? Says our God.

How will you ever be able to see God? Through the forgiving blood of Jesus.

Contrary to what our world and our sinful nature want us to think, sin is not desirable or beautiful; it’s ugly. Worse yet, it damns us. It’s punishable by an eternity of suffering apart from God. Because of sin, we have no hope of ever seeing God. Not on our own. But we have Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin. It was absolutely necessary for him to shed his blood for us on Calvary’s cross as the payment for the whole world’s sins—yours and mine included. And the result is that we can and will one day see God. In fact, we will live in glory with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

How will you ever be able to see God? Your Savior Jesus has already made certain that you will. Make that event number one on your personal top ten list. Amen.