ECWA Daily Devotions As Our Daily Manna

THURSDAY, 26 JANUARY 2023

TEXT: Exodus 24:1-18

1. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,

2. but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

3. When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.”

4. Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. 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.”

8. 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.”

9. Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up

10. 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.

12. The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

13. Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.

14. 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.”

15. When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,

16. and 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.

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.

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: ENJOY GOD’S PRESENCE ALWAYS

The Lord allowed Moses and the Elders of Israel to go nearer and see Him but did not die. It was a special privilege God granted them. However, as it later turned out, this did not immune them from God’s wrath and punishment whenever they became careless and abused their offices.

Israel’s covenant of Law with God, setting them apart for His glory and use, was ratified by the blood of animals. Our covenant of grace with God, saving us from our sins and setting us apart for God’s glory and use, was ratified with the precious, sinless, perfect blood of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a much more superior covenant! (Hebrews 8:13, 12:24). While Moses was called to go up higher and closer to God for forty days and forty nights, the Israelites had to worship from a distance.

Like Moses, we believers in Christ are greatly privileged to enter into God’s presence through “the new and living way” not only for forty days and forty nights but always (Hebrews 10:19-25).

QUESTION: Do you enjoy God’s presence always?

PRAYER: Lord God Almighty, help me to enjoy Your living presence at all times, in Jesus name, Amen.