Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Exodus 24:4-11
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  April 1, 2021

What’s the best meal you’ve ever had? …I’m guessing that most of you are thinking about the food, right? But what’s the best meal you’ve ever had if the taste of the food isn’t the main factor? That changes things doesn’t it? I remember one of my first meals with my now wife was at a fast food place. I don’t remember what I ordered, and frankly, I didn’t eat much at all because I was so nervous. But, you know what? Thinking back, that was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The truth is, the real significance of a meal transcends taste buds. And that principle is never truer said than of the Lord’s Supper, the covenant meal we celebrate tonight on the anniversary of its institution.

Tonight, in order to uncover the significance of this meal, we will look at a very important, but rarely read portion of God’s Word from Exodus 24. It is the ceremony of an ancient covenant between God and his people and the significance of the meal that followed. From Meal to Meal, we focus on the covenant that God established with us and the significance of the meal which we still enjoy with him today.

In Exodus 24, the Israelites, God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, are gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai. There God gave Moses the 10 commandments and a bunch of laws that would become known as the Book of the Covenant. And that’s where our text begins: Exodus 24:4 “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.” Part of the process of a covenant entailed putting the agreement in writing. If you are going to commit to something, the details need to be clear. I’ll note here that from the earliest days, God wanted His Word in written form. This is a very important principle. The Word of God is and has always been critical to our relationship with God. God doesn’t want us to simply sign on the line, he wants us to read the Word, to know his commands and his desires, most importantly, what he promises to do.

Next we read this: “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. In the ceremony to be performed, the altar will represent the Lord and the pillars will represent the tribes of Israel; in other words, God and the people. The two parties will stand facing each other, just like, you guessed it, a wedding. Now the covenant ceremony begins. 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.” 

Note that Moses sprinkled blood on both the altar, representing God and on the representatives of the people. So in this ceremony, Moses symbolically binds God and the people together by the blood of the covenant. That’s why the phrase in Hebrew is actually “to cut a covenant”. You cut a covenant because establishing a covenant between two parties involved the physical, literal cutting of animals. It was a way of binding the agreement in a solemn oath of blood.

Sadly, I’m not sure that the people of Israel grasped the gravity of what they promised when they shouted, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” The people would forsake God before they left Mount Sinar by worshiping a Golden Calf. They couldn’t even keep the 1st commandment, much less everything that the Lord said. And perhaps that’s our struggle too. We sometimes don’t realize the gravity of what we promise God. We say we will live our life for the Lord, but somewhere between this altar and the outside world, our loyalty becomes polluted. We prioritize our desires over God’s will. We say we are committed, but hold back in so many ways. Like those ancient Israelites, if we had a contract with God, we would have no part with him at all. But, thankfully my friends, God didn’t make a contract with you, in pure grace he made a covenant.

With a contract, if one party does something in violation of the contract then it is considered broken. The whole contract becomes null and void. But with a covenant, both parties agree to hold up their ends regardless of whether the other one keeps their part of the agreement. A violation of a covenant by one party doesn’t change the other’s responsibility to continue to do what they agreed on.

God does not give us a contract. God has always wanted to be in a covenant with his people because he loves us. Moses sprinkled the blood of bulls on the people and said “This is the blood of the covenant” but in the upper room Jesus took the cup and he said, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Do you realize what he meant? He is saying that he would shed his blood so that we can walk with God in covenant. He died so that no matter how many times we fall short, God has bound himself in a solemn oath to forgive us. Through faith, Jesus’ blood is sprinkled on us and we receive the certainty of God’s forgiveness. It isn’t a contract, it’s a covenant. 

So how do we seal this incredible covenant? How do we celebrate it? With a meal, just like Moses and the Israelites did. 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. (Ex 24:9-11) Sharing a meal has always been a sign of a special fellowship, but even more so back then. Specifically, covenant ceremonies are always concluded with a meal. In Genesis 26:30, Isaac has a feast with the Philistines after a covenant was made with Abimelech. In Genesis 31, a covenant was made between Jacob and Laban, and it was sealed and concluded with a meal. Ancient weddings, like many of ours today, were always completed with a meal. 

This meal is very interesting here in Exodus 24. You see in verse 11 that “God did not raise his hand on the leaders of the Israelites…” Remember all the warnings: “Don’t go to the mountain. Only Moses goes up the mountain. Don’t get too close to the mountain.” The people even said, “Moses, you speak to us, because we’ll die if God speaks to us.” Now they have come, but they didn’t die. They were allowed to see some portion of his glory. Notice the grasping description. We see this in the phrase “under his feet was something like a pavement”. However God revealed himself, they couldn’t look directly at him. They didn’t even get to his feet. What grace is this: Sinful people saw God, if even so indirectly, and they ate and drank with him. And, by God’s grace, we too have this privilege before us tonight in the Lord’s Supper. 

In closing, I have distilled 5 points of significance from meal to meal.

#1. Covenant Memory Through the Lord’s Supper we remember that our God is a God of grace. He doesn’t give us a contract, but a covenant. We remember Jesus who gave his life for us and lives to bless us still today. Through this memory we are assured of our forgiveness and our identity as God’s people.

#2. Covenant Renewal  When we eat and drink we renew our covenant with God. We pledge ourselves to keep the covenant, just as Israel voiced its willingness to obey the covenant. It is a moment of rededication and recommitment. Holy Communion is the ritual moment when we renew our vows and receive the Holy Spirit’s strength to walk in keeping with those vows as we leave the church.

#3. Covenantal Presence God has always promised to live among his people and to be their God. We eat and drink with the Lord because Jesus said, this is his body and blood. He is truly present with us in the bread and the wine.

#4. Covenantal Fellowship  The covenant meal celebrates the fellowship between God and his covenant people. It testifies to the unity which exists between God and us, and the unity we have together as God’s redeemed people! I don’t care how different we may be. The blood of the covenant which binds us as one is stronger than any of our differences.

#5. Covenantal Promise  The Lord’s Supper is a celebration of God’s victory over death through Jesus. It is not a funeral, but an affirmation of hope in a sinful world. Through the covenant meal, we proclaim our faith in God’s promises, and we anticipate the ultimate banquet in God’s kingdom. As we eat and drink now, we look forward to that marriage feast of the Lamb in heaven.

With all this in mind, regardless of how the wafer and wine tastes, the Lord’s Supper is, in the truest sense, the best meal we’ve ever had.

Amen.