Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Monday after Quinquagesima

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: Exodus 24:1—25:9 (NKJV)

24:1 Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”

3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.

16 Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

25:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 3 And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; 5 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 6 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.”

Devotion

“Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.'” (Ex. 24:7-8a)

The Children of Israel had just been saved. God had delivered them from slavery by causing them to pass through the waters of the Red Sea; He had entrusted them with the Ten Commandments; and now, He marks them with the Book of the Covenant, and the Blood of the Covenant. This passage, by the way, drives rabbinical scholars nuts! Israelites are to have no contact with blood. And yet here the Lord is, sprinkling blood on His people.

How similarly He saves us! We were enslaved to sin, death, and the devil. God delivers us by causing us to pass through the waters of Holy Baptism. He gives us His Word, and the “take, drink, this is my blood of the new Testament (or Covenant).” And even more intimately in contact with the saving blood of Christ, we are marked as the redeemed of the Lord.

Dear ones in Christ, be obedient…”listen up”…to God’s Word. It shows you your sin by way of the Ten Commandments. But listen up to the word of Gospel too…your sins are all forgiven you, and you are marked as the Lord’s, by way of Word, and water, and blood. Amen.

“Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You for Your very Great salvation. Grant me so to treasure it this day, that I live out my redemption to Your praise and honor and glory. Amen.”

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