You're watching:
Exodus 23:14-24:18
By Skip Heitzig
Exodus 23:14-24:18

In this study from Exodus 23-24, we discover some interesting parallels between Israel and the church. We'll consider three Jewish feasts, the Promised Land, and the covenant relationship between God and his people through a mediator.

From the teaching series 02 Exodus - 2011

Buy a CD

Exodus 23 (NKJV™)
14	"Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
15	"You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
16	"and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
17	"Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
18	"You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning.
19	"The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
20	"Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21	"Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
22	"But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23	"For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.
24	"You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
25	"So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
26	"No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
27	"I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
28	"And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.
29	"I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you.
30	"Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
31	"And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
32	"You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33	"They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."
Exodus 24 (NKJV™)
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.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

<p><strong>Exodus 23:14-24:18 - Exodus 23:14-24:18</strong><br /> From the series: 02 Exodus - 2011<br /> <em>By Skip Heitzig </em><p></p> <p><strong>MESSAGE SUMMARY</strong></p> <p>In this study from Exodus 23-24, we discover some interesting parallels between Israel and the church. We'll consider three Jewish feasts, the Promised Land, and the covenant relationship between God and his people through a mediator. </p> <p><strong>DETAILED NOTES </strong></p> <p><ol type="I"> <li>Introduction <ol type="A"> <li>Purpose of the Law <ol> <li>Safety</li> <li>Responsibility</li> <li>" The law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate," (<span class='verse'>1 Timothy 1:9</span>)</li> <li>paidagōgos – a boy's guardian or tutor, a slave who had charge of the life and morals of the boys of a family, not strictly a teacher; (See <span class='verse'>Galatians 3:24</span>)</li> <li>Points us to Christ</li> <li>Tethers the raging of the old nature</li> <li>"Do this and live, the law demands, But gives me neither feet nor hands. A better word the gospel brings, It bids me fly and gives me wings."</li> </ol> </li> <li>Believers and the Law <ol> <li>Not bound by the law</li> <li>Slaves of Jesus Christ</li> <li>Not  lawless lives, but better lives than the law could ever provide</li> <li>Our motivation is love for Jesus;</li> </ol> </li> <li>Precepts of the Law <ol> <li>According to Rabbi Shammai, Moses gave 613 laws <ol type="a"> <li>365 prohibitions</li> <li>248 positive commands</li> </ol> </li> <li>David reduced them to 11 precepts (See Psalm 15)</li> <li>Isaiah reduced them to 6 (See <span class='verse'>Isaiah 33:14-15</span>)</li> <li>Micah reduced them to 3 (See <span class='verse'>Micah 6:8</span>)</li> <li>Habakkuk reduced them to 1: "The just shall live by his faith." (<span class='verse'>Habakkuk 2:4</span>)</li> <li>New testament reiterates: The just shall live by faith</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Exodus 23:14-33 <ol type="A"> <li>Annual Feasts <ol> <li>Feast of Unleavened Bread <ol type="a"> <li>Followed the Passover; the 15-21 of the 1st  month (mid-March - mid April)</li> <li>Unleavened bread <ol type="i"> <li>Bread without yeast</li> <li>When leaving Egypt, no time to let bread rise</li> </ol> </li> <li>Eat matzah bread (5 grains); no leavened bread</li> <li>Not "empty;"  <ol type="i"> <li>Empty handed: "They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed." (<span class='verse'>Deuteronomy 16:16</span>)</li> <li>Give in proportion to how you've been blessed</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Feast of Harvest <ol type="a"> <li>Pentecost; 50 days after the sheaf offering</li> <li>6th day of the 3rd month</li> <li>Feast of Weeks;  <em><span dir="RTL">שבועות </span></em><span dir="LTR"> </span><span dir="LTR"> </span> Shavuot: weeks- 7 weeks after the Feast of Unleavened Bread</li> </ol> </li> <li>Feast of Ingathering: 15-22 of the 7th month</li> <li>Given based on the agricultural year</li> <li>Common names <ol type="a"> <li>Redemption <ol type="i"> <li>Feast of Unleavened Bread</li> <li>Deliverance from Egypt; blood of the lamb</li> </ol> </li> <li>Pentecost <ol type="i"> <li>Provision</li> <li>Feast of Harvest</li> <li>Gratitude for the harvest</li> </ol> </li> <li>Tabernacles <ol type="i"> <li>Protection</li> <li>Feast of Ingathering</li> <li>Remind them of the wilderness</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Three times a year came before the Lord in Jerusalem <ol type="a"> <li>Families went</li> <li>Socially and spiritually uniting</li> <li>We gather frequently; "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (<span class='verse'>Hebrews 10:25</span>)</li> <li>The Jewish year revolved around God</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." (v. 19) <ol> <li>Straightforward command</li> <li>Jews separate meat from dairy <ol type="a"> <li>Say if you eat meat with dairy the food churns, boils in your stomach</li> <li>Breakfast: fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh grains, dairy</li> <li>Lunch: if meat served, no dairy</li> </ol> </li> <li>Ras Shamra excavations <ol type="a"> <li>Canaanite practice</li> <li>Worship of pagan gods</li> <li>God will be worshiped differently</li> </ol> </li> <li>Jewish prohibitions are a stretch <ol type="a"> <li>Far-fetched as Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse blood transfusions based on the prohibition of drinking blood</li> <li>"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees…who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" (<span class='verse'>Matthew 23:23-24</span>)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>The Angel <ol> <li>We may entertain angels unaware (See <span class='verse'>Hebrews 13:2</span>)</li> <li>"My name in Him"</li> <li>Key to victory</li> <li>Joshua's encounter with the Captain of the Lord's Army (See <span class='verse'>Joshua 5:13-15</span>) <ol type="a"> <li>Joshua worshiped</li> <li>The Angel told him "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." (As God told Moses)</li> <li>Angel of the LORD could be a Christophany: pre-incarnate, visible form of Jesus Christ</li> <li>"They drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (<span class='verse'>1 Corinthians 10:4</span>)</li> <li>"We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes." (<span class='verse'>1 Corinthians 10:9</span>)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>God promised to miraculously preserve them and displace their enemies</li> <li>The Promised Land <ol> <li>Canaan was a free gift <ol type="a"> <li>They didn't earn it</li> <li>Received by grace</li> <li>Like Salvation: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast." (<span class='verse'>Ephesians 2:8-9</span>)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Occupying Canaan was a process <ol type="a"> <li>Dependence on God every day</li> <li>Christian maturity is not instantaneous <ol type="i"> <li>Daily dependence</li> <li>"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." (<span class='verse'>Philippians 3:12</span>)</li> <li>"Walk in the Spirit," (<span class='verse'>Galatians 5:16</span>)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Canaan was never totally possessed <ol type="a"> <li>God promised Egypt to the Euphrates</li> <li>They had to appropriate the promise for themselves</li> <li>Of the 300,000 miles promised, they took 30,000 (1/10)</li> <li>Christians often settle for far less than what God has promised</li> <li>"Most Christians, as to the river of experience, are only up to the ankles; some others have waded till the stream is up to the knees; a few find it breast-high. And but a few—oh! how few!—find it a river to swim in, the bottom of which they cannot touch."—C. H. Spurgeon</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Exodus 24 <ol type="A"> <li>Climax of Exodus: Children of Israel become a nation <ol> <li>Covenant relationship: agreed to, written, and ratified</li> <li>A theocracy: one nation under God</li> </ol> </li> <li>God's summons to worship-upreach <ol> <li>Our highest privilege</li> <li>Our greatest responsibility</li> <li>Both inreach and outreach are predicated upon upreach</li> <li>They worshiped from afar; except Moses</li> <li>Moses: the mediator <ol type="a"> <li>Acts as the go-between</li> <li>Represents Israel to God (priest)</li> <li>Represents God to Israel (prophet)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Jesus Christ our Mediator <ol type="a"> <li>"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (<span class='verse'>1 Timothy 2:5</span>)</li> <li>Jesus is the mediator in the new covenant</li> <li>Not a priest, pope, or pastor <ol type="i"> <li>Direct access to God through Christ</li> <li>Perfect mediator <ol type="a"> <li>As God incarnate, He represents God perfectly</li> <li>As Man, He can represent humanity before God perfectly</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Under the Law worship was from afar</li> <li>"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (<span class='verse'>Ephesians 2:13</span>)</li> </ol> </li> <li>For the second time, the people promised to obey God in everything <ol> <li>They were saying they were able to meet God's standards on their own</li> <li>Deception: "I can please God on my own." <ol type="a"> <li>Overestimate self, underestimate God's standard</li> <li>God's standard is perfection</li> <li>"There is none righteous, no, not one;" (<span class='verse'>Romans 3:10</span>)</li> <li>"Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is evil? Of course not! The law is not sinful, but it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.' But sin took advantage of this law and aroused all kinds of forbidden desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. I felt fine when I did not understand what the law demanded. But when I learned the truth, I realized I had broken the law and was a sinner, doomed to die.  So the good law, which was supposed to show me the way of life, instead gave me the death penalty." (Romans 7:7-10 NLT)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Written teachings <ol> <li>First mention</li> <li>Critics say writing wasn't invented yet <ol type="a"> <li>1000 years before Moses people were writing</li> <li>Hieroglyphics <ol type="i"> <li>Rosetta Stone - parallel languages</li> <li>"And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." (<span class='verse'>Acts 7:22</span>)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Tel Amarna Tablets: <em>lingua franca</em>, common language of the time.</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>Sacrifices <ol> <li>Young men: firstborn sons who acted as priests until the priesthood was established</li> <li>Sacrifice of blood <ol type="a"> <li>A sacrifice of blood had to be made to forgive sins</li> <li>Blood represents the essence of life and the ending of life</li> <li>"And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission." (<span class='verse'>Hebrews 9:22</span>)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Vicarious atonement; substitutionary atonement: innocent life given up for forgiveness of sin</li> </ol> </li> <li>Book of the Covenant <ol> <li>Sefer ha berit: the Book of the Covenant</li> <li>Includes the instructions of Exodus 20-23</li> <li>New Testament also sealed by blood <ol type="a"> <li>Testament: Latin: <em>testamentum: covenant</em></li> <li><em>"</em>For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (<span class='verse'>Matthew 26:28</span>)</li> <li>New Covenant predicted by Jeremiah (See Jeremiah 31:31-34)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>They saw the God of Israel <ol> <li>Seems to be a contradiction: <ol type="a"> <li>"No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (<span class='verse'>John 1:18</span>)</li> <li>"And he said, 'Please, show me Your glory. 'Then He said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' But He said, 'You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.'" (<span class='verse'>Exodus 33:18-20</span>)</li> <li>Jacob: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (<span class='verse'>Genesis 32:30</span>)</li> </ol> </li> <li>Rabbis explanation: Saw a manifestation of God</li> <li>They saw as much of the visible presence of God as they could without dying</li> <li>Maybe Angel of the Lord</li> <li>Maybe a vision: (See Isaiah 6)</li> <li>Perhaps a vision of the throne of God: "And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it." (<span class='verse'>Ezekiel 1:26</span>) (See Ezekiel 10)   </li> </ol> </li> <li>Covenant sealed with blood and a meal <ol> <li>Unity</li> <li>Intimacy</li> <li>"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (<span class='verse'>Revelation 3:20</span>)</li> <li>We confirm the New Covenant with the Lord's Supper</li> </ol> </li> <li>Moses team (See Exodus 18) <ol> <li>Joshua went with him up the mountain</li> <li>In Moses absence: executive team: Aaron and Hur  (Caleb's son and the grandfather of Bezelel) </li> </ol> </li> <li>Moses on the mountain <ol> <li>שָׁכַן ; shakan - shekinah; to dwell</li> <li>Moses on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights <ol type="a"> <li>He will be there through Exodus 31</li> <li>Blueprints for the tabernacle</li> <li>40 is a number of testing and probation <ol type="i"> <li>The children of Israel were being tested</li> <li>They failed (the golden calf)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> <li>With every law came a choice: to obey or disobey <ol> <li>"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;" (<span class='verse'>Deuteronomy 30:19</span>)</li> <li>Eternal life through Jesus Christ</li> <li>Eternal damnation without Jesus Christ</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol><p>Hebrew Terms: <em><span dir="RTL">שבועות </span></em><span dir="LTR"> </span><span dir="LTR"> </span> Shavuot: weeks; שָׁכַן ; shakan - shekinah; to dwell; sefer ha berit: the Book of the Covenant<br /> Greek Terms: paidagōgos – a boy's guardian or tutor, a slave who had charge of the life and morals of the boys of a family, not strictly a teacher;<br /> Figures Referenced: Rabbi Shammai; C. H. Spurgeon<br /> Cross References: <span class='verse'>Genesis 32:30</span>; Exodus 18; <span class='verse'>Exodus 33:18-20</span>; <span class='verse'>Deuteronomy 16:16</span>; <V>Deuteronomy 30:19</span>; <span class='verse'>Joshua 5:13-15</span>; Psalm 15; <span class='verse'>Isaiah 33:14-15</span>; Jeremiah 31:31-34; <span class='verse'>Ezekiel 1:26</span>; Ezekiel 10;  <span class='verse'>Micah 6:8</span>; <span class='verse'>Habakkuk 2:4</span>; <span class='verse'>Matthew 23:23-24</span>; <span class='verse'>Matthew 26:28</span>; <span class='verse'>John 1:18</span>; <span class='verse'>Acts 7:22</span>; <span class='verse'>Romans 3:10</span>; <span class='verse'>Romans 7:7-10</span>; <span class='verse'>1 Corinthians 10:4</span>; <span class='verse'>1 Corinthians 10:9</span>; <span class='verse'>Galatians 3:24</span>; <span class='verse'>Galatians 5:16</span>; <span class='verse'>Ephesians 2:8-9</span>; <span class='verse'>Ephesians 2:13</span>; <span class='verse'>Philippians 3:12</span>; <span class='verse'>1 Timothy 1:9</span>; <V>1 Timothy 2:5</span>; <span class='verse'>Hebrews 9:22</span>; <span class='verse'>Hebrews 10:25</span>; <span class='verse'>Hebrews 13:2</span>; <span class='verse'>Revelation 3:20</span></p></p> <p> </p>

Who We Are:

We pursue the God who is passionately pursuing a lost world; we do this with one another, through worship, by the Word, to the world.

What We Do:

Upreach
We express our adoration of Jesus through dynamic worship and uncompromised obedience.

Inreach
We explain the relevance of the Bible to empower and transform lives for service.

Outreach
We extend hope to a hurting world by proclaiming the gospel and demonstrating Christ's love.

Our Beliefs

We Believe that there is one living and true GOD, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; this triune God created all, upholds all, and governs all.

We Believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, fully inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, and the infallible rule of faith and practice.

We Believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in Holiness, wisdom, power, and love; that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men; that He hears and answers prayer; and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.

We Believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

We Believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and teaching, His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth.

We Believe in the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all that believe in Jesus Christ for ministry.

We Believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide.

We Believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all the Biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We Believe that all people are sinners by nature and choice and, therefore, are under condemnation; that God regenerates by the Holy Spirit, those who repent of their sins and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

We Believe that Jesus Christ baptizes the seeking believer with the Holy Spirit and empowers the believers for service, often subsequent to regeneration.

We Believe in the universal church, the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the head, and all regenerated persons are members.

We Believe that Jesus committed two ordinances to the church: 1) Baptism and, 2) the Lord's Supper. We believe in baptism by immersion and communion open to all believers.

We Believe also in the laying on of hands for baptism of the Holy Spirit, for ordination of pastors, elders, and deacons, and receiving from the Holy Spirit through the believer the gift of healing.

We Believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to the earth and the establishing of His Kingdom, in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.

We Believe in what is termed the Apostles Creed as embodying the fundamental facts of Christian faith.

Contact Us
Calvary Albuquerque
4001 Osuna Rd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
505-344-0880
info@calvaryabq.org

Fill out the form to email us.

Name:

E-mail:

Phone: (Optional)

Subject:

Comments:

Exodus 23:14-24:18
By Skip Heitzig
Exodus 23:14-24:18

Buy an Audio CD $4.00

From the Series:
02 Exodus - 2011

Beginning in the brickyards of Egypt and ending in the tabernacle filled with God's presence, the book of Exodus chronicles the deliverance of God's people from Egypt and records the end of their oppression under Pharaoh. It also provides an account of the beginning of a prophecy fulfilled: God promised Abraham descendants beyond number, and on the pages of Exodus we see Israel become a great nation.

In this verse-by-verse study, Pastor Skip Heitzig presents an in-depth look at Moses, the ten plagues, the ten commandments, the desert wanderings, the construction of the tabernacle, and more. As we study, we'll see the grace of God, witness the glory of the Lord, and a catch a glimpse of Israel's coming Savior.

Visit expoundabq.org for more information on this series.

Buy Series