Message 78
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 24:3-7; 12-15, Heb. 9:18-20, 22; 8:8-12; Lev. 16:11-16; Ezek. 36:26-27; Matt. 26:27-28; Heb. 13:20-21; 10:19-20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 22:14; 7:14-17
Exodus 24:8 says, “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words” (lit.). Many Christians may not be familiar with the term “the blood of the covenant” found in this verse. This expression is also used by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 26:28. Even readers of the Bible who are familiar with the term “the blood of the covenant” may not know the true significance of it. This matter comes from the heart of God. However, it has no place in the heart of the natural man. Certain things found in the Bible may correspond to what is in our heart. For this reason, when we come across these things in the Word, we automatically pay attention to them. Other matters, however, are far beyond our concept. When we read of them in the Word, we may not be impressed. This is the case with the blood of the covenant.
Why did Moses in 24:8 speak of the blood of the covenant? Why did the Lord Jesus say on the night He was betrayed, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28)? The Lord’s word here seems to be at least a reference to Exodus 24:8. Luke 22:20 speaks of the new covenant. This indicates that in 24:8 we have the blood of the old covenant and that in Matthew 26:28 and Luke 22:20 we have the blood of the new covenant. Both for the Old Testament and the New Testament the blood was necessary.
I do not believe that many of us have been impressed with the fact that the blood is the blood of the covenant. We may realize that the blood is the redeeming blood, the cleansing blood, the sanctifying blood, and the blood which overcomes the enemy. But have you ever paid attention to the fact that the blood is also called the blood of the covenant? This is a matter of great significance.
Before we consider the significance of the blood of the covenant, I would like to point out once again that in Exodus 24 we have the enactment of the law. Prior to this, the law was decreed by God and, through Moses as their representative, it was received by the children of Israel. As we have pointed out, Moses enacted the law in a way that was quite different from what we would expect according to the natural concept. Instead of charging the people to observe the law of God, Moses built an altar. An altar, no doubt, is for sacrifices. But what have sacrifices to do with the law? If we consider this matter, we shall realize that the law does not necessarily involve sacrifices. Why, then, in the enactment of the law did Moses build an altar? The altar points to the need for redemption, termination, and replacement. Because we are fallen, sinful, and corrupt, we need redemption and termination. We also need to be replaced by Christ.
Moses also built twelve pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. These pillars indicate, or signify, that after God’s people have been redeemed, terminated, and replaced at the altar, they can become the testimony of God reflecting what He is.
Exodus 24:6 says, “And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.” We have seen that, according to verse 8, Moses also sprinkled the blood on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant.” To be sure, the blood came from the sacrifices offered on the altar. It was the blood and neither the altar nor the pillars which made effective the enactment of the law. The covenant was established by the blood which came from the sacrifices offered on the altar. Thus, the altar with the sacrifices produced the blood for the enactment of the law. In the enactment of the law, the blood is the focus.
Apparently the altar, the pillars, the sacrifices, and the blood are not related in any way to the law. Why did Moses use all these things when he enacted the law? What Moses did in Exodus 24 is related to God’s economy.
In the foregoing message we placed great emphasis on the fact that it was not God’s intention to have His people observe the law He decreed. It is impossible for fallen, sinful, and corrupted people to keep the law. They simply do not have the ability to observe the law of God. Even though God did not intend for the people to keep the law, they presumed that since God had given them His law, they were expected to keep it. Exodus 24:3 says, “All the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Jehovah hath said will we do” (lit.). According to verse 7, the people promised, “All that Jehovah hath said will we do, and be obedient” (lit.). Here we see two different intentions. The intention of God in decreeing the law was different from the intention of the people who received it. These two intentions did not correspond to each other.
If it was not God’s intention that His people observe the law decreed by Him, then what was His intention in giving them His law? In decreeing the law, God’s intention was to reveal to His chosen and redeemed people what kind of God He is. This is the reason the law of God is called the testimony. As the testimony of God, the law is a portrait or photograph of God. Therefore, the first function of the law is to reveal God.
The second function of God’s law is to cause His people to realize that they are fallen and far away from God. As a sinful and corrupt people, it is not possible for them to please God. They need the Lord’s redemption. Only through the redeeming blood can they have contact with God. If through redemption God’s people are brought to Him and have contact with Him, they will then have God infused into them. The more contact they have with God, the more they will receive the infusion of God.
As the representative of the children of Israel, Moses was brought into the presence of God and stayed there for quite a time. If the redeeming blood had not been in view, God could not have tolerated a fallen, sinful, corrupted man remaining in His presence. Do you think that Moses was perfect? Do you think that he was not fallen, sinful, or corrupt? Moses was fallen, sinful, and corrupt, just as all the other children of Israel were. Then how could such a sinful person stay in the presence of God on the mountaintop for a period of forty days? Moses could remain in God’s presence because God had the redeeming blood in view. The blood was the ground which enabled God to permit Moses to come into His presence and stay there. This means that under the redeeming blood Moses could come into the presence of God.
We can prove that it was through the redeeming blood that Moses came into the presence of God by considering the various aspects of the tabernacle and the outer court. Inside the Holy of Holies was the ark with the propitiatory cover (mercy seat). God was on the propitiatory cover, which was over the ark. The law was in the ark. In the Holy Place there were the showbread table, the lampstand, and the incense altar, and in the outer court there were the brass altar and the laver. The children of Israel were not permitted to come into the Holy Place, much less to pass through the veil and enter into the Holy of Holies to stand before the propitiatory cover. The propitiatory cover equals the throne of grace spoken of in Hebrews 4:16: “Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help.” Although we may come forward boldly to the throne of grace, the children of Israel were not permitted to touch the propitiatory cover. The penalty for doing so would have been death. Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, were slain because they “offered strange fire before the Lord” (Lev. 10:1). In burning incense, they used fire from a source other than the altar. Who then was qualified to enter the Holy of Holies and touch the propitiatory cover? The only one qualified to do this was the one who brought with him the redeeming blood from the altar in the outer court. First the blood of the sin offering was shed on the altar. Then this blood was brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the propitiatory cover. This blood, which is the blood of the covenant, brought God’s people into His presence.
I repeat, in giving the law to the children of Israel God had no intention that they keep it or observe it. His intention was to show them what a wonderful God He is. His aim was to reveal to them that He is holy, righteous, and full of light and love. It was also His intention to cause the people to realize that, whereas He was holy, righteous, and a God of love and light, they were altogether unrighteous, unholy, and filled with hatred and falsehood. Then if they would realize their sinfulness and fallen condition, they would repent and receive God’s redemption. By means of this redemption they, as sinful persons who had been redeemed, would be brought into God’s presence and remain there to be infused with Him.
Moses’ experience with the Lord illustrates this. Although he was a fallen, sinful, and corrupted person, through the blood he was ushered into the presence of God. Staying in God’s presence for a period of forty days, Moses was infused with God and even became His reflection. This was the reason the skin of Moses’ face glowed when he descended from the mountain (34:29). It was shining with the element of God infused into him. Because Moses had been infused with God, he became the reflection of God. God’s intention in giving the law was to make all the children of Israel such a reflection of Himself.
The children of Israel, however, had absolutely no understanding of God’s intention. But Moses was a man who knew God’s heart and His intention. Therefore, he enacted the law not according to the intention of the children of Israel, but according to the intention of God. No matter how foolish and ignorant the children of Israel were, Moses nevertheless enacted the law according to God’s way. God’s way was to show the people that, in His sight, they were fallen, sinful, and corrupted and that they desperately needed God’s redemption and forgiveness. God, of course, was willing to redeem the people and to forgive their sins. After they received redemption and forgiveness, the redeeming blood would bring them into God’s presence where they could contact Him, receive Him into them, and be constituted into pillars as a living testimony of God, a reflection of what He is. This is a basic principle which operates in the universe unto this day.
According to this basic principle of the divine economy, the Bible first reveals to us what God is. Second, the Bible enables us to realize that we are fallen, sinful, corrupted, altogether hopeless and helpless. However, the Lord has accomplished redemption for us, and His blood is available to cleanse us and bring us into His presence. Now He is waiting for us to repent, turn to Him, and receive His redemption and forgiveness. According to the revelation in the New Testament, we are not only brought into God’s presence — we are brought into God Himself. Oh, the redeeming and cleansing blood brings us into God! This gives us the ground and the standing to receive God, to enjoy God, and to eat and drink of God. Eventually, by partaking of God in this way, we shall become pillars, His living testimony.
Do you have the confidence to say that you are a pillar of God? We all should be able to declare, “Yes, I was a fallen, sinful, and corrupted person. Hallelujah, the precious blood has redeemed me and brought me into God. Now I am filled with God and I have become a pillar.” If you do not have the assurance to make such a declaration now, I am confident that in eternity you will have the boldness to declare that you are a pillar testifying what God is and reflecting Him.
The way to become such a pillar is the way of enjoyment; it is the way of eating of Him as our life supply and drinking of Him as our living water. By eating and drinking Him we enjoy Him and are constituted of Him. This is God’s economy according to the revelation in the Word of God.
The enactment of the law in Exodus 24 was fully according to God’s economy. The principle is the same with the Bible as a whole. Just as the children of Israel were foolish in promising to obey all that the Lord had spoken, so many of today’s Christians are foolish in thinking that they are able to obey what the Bible says. When many believers read the Scriptures, they think that the commandments contained in the Word are for them to keep. For example, in Ephesians 5:22 and 25 Paul charges wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives. However, no husband is truly able to love his wife, and no wife can submit to her husband. In my entire life, I have never seen one husband who genuinely loved his wife or one wife who truly submitted to her husband. Rather, every wife is stubborn and rebellious, and every husband is full of love for himself. Thus, we simply are not able to observe the commandments found in the Bible. Instead of trying to carry out these commandments, we should confess, in the light of the revelation in the Bible, that we are fallen, sinful, and corrupt. We need to be convinced, convicted, and subdued so that we may repent and receive God’s salvation. Then the redeeming blood of Christ will bring us into the Triune God, and we shall be infused with Him to become pillars. Only such pillars can love their wives or submit to their husbands.
In this message we have seen the basic concept of God’s economy. This concept is not that God’s people should keep the law. The law was decreed by God not that His people might observe it, but that through it they might come to know God in a positive way and know themselves in a negative way. Having a proper knowledge of God and of themselves, they would then repent and receive God’s redemption. Through the redeeming blood, they would be brought into the presence of God to receive the infusion of God to become pillars as a living testimony and reflection of what God is.
