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Exodus chapter 24. So we've come 
to the ratification of the old covenant. We'll look at the first 
half this evening and God willing the latter half next Wednesday 
night. Then we'll take a break for a 
couple of weeks because of the Christmas holidays. So I want 
to read the chapter and then our focus tonight will be on 
verses 1 to 8. So beginning in chapter 24 at 
verse 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. And Moses alone shall come near 
the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people 
go up with him. 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. 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. Then he sent young men of the 
children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed 
peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the 
blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on 
the altar. 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. 
Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy 
of the elders of Israel. 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. But on 
the nobles of the children of Israel he did not lay his hand. So they saw God, and they ate 
and drank. 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. So Moses arose with his 
assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 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. Then Moses went up into the mountain, 
and a cloud covered the mountain. 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. 
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. 
So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into 
the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain 
40 days and 40 nights. Amen. So we come to the conclusion 
of the book of the covenant, chapters 20 to 24. And essentially, as I've said, 
you've got the Ten Commandments in chapter 20, and then you've 
got the application of those commandments in chapters 21 to 
23. And in that section, we've seen the laws concerning servants, 
the laws concerning homicide and bodily injury, laws concerning 
property damage and theft, miscellaneous laws concerning society, the 
emphasis on justice for all, the law of Sabbaths, the annual 
feasts, and then ultimately it ends in chapter 23 on the promise 
of the conquest. So they're getting prepared to 
go into the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
So he gives them a programmatic view of what that's going to 
look like. God's blessing will rest upon the people, but the 
people need to be faithful to God. And that brings us to chapter 
24, where they ratify that covenant and where they swear fidelity 
to Yahweh. So I'm going to look first at 
the instructions given by God in verses 1 and 2. Secondly, 
the compliance rendered by Moses in verses 3 to 6. And then the 
ratification of the covenant in verses 7 and 8. So notice 
first the instructions given by God in verses 1 and 2. So 
the associates of Moses. Now we know that Aaron is going 
to be the priestly line. That's going to come, it's going 
to be identified in chapter 28 at verse 1, so most likely that's 
why he is included along with his sons, Nadab and Abihu, who 
will function as priests unto God Most High. And then the 70 
of the elders. We've already seen counsel by 
Jethro, who is Moses' father-in-law, in Exodus chapter 18, concerning 
the selection of men to help Moses with the adjudication that 
would be necessary in Israel. If Moses was to take it on himself, 
he would ultimately die. It was too big of a task. And 
so Jethro wisely counsels him that he selects other men and 
puts them in charge, sort of a lower court function. Moses 
would function as the Supreme Court. Well, in Exodus 18, it's 
not specified that it's 70 men. Later on in Numbers chapter 11, 
we'll see that it is specifically 70 men. That's what the Sanhedrin 
ultimately is when we get to the New Testament scriptures. 
So there was this body of elders made up amongst the community, 
men of prestige, men that were godly, men that were faithful, 
most likely the same sorts of men Jethro counseled Moses to 
select. in Exodus chapter 18. So all 
of these are to go up on the mountain. But you notice specifically 
that you have only Moses that shall come near the Lord. Verse 
2, Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not 
come near, nor shall the people go up with them. Robert Alter 
says, there is evidently a tripartite deployment. Moses alone goes 
up to the mountaintop. The 70 elders, Aaron, Nadab, 
and Abihu remain at a stopping point partway up the mountain. 
And the people stay at the foot of the mountain as they were 
instructed to do in chapter 19. If you go back to chapter 19, 
you see the same sort of an emphasis. Moses is permitted by God to 
ascend the mountaintop. And I think the function of Moses, 
not a federal head, as we're learning on Saturday mornings 
in our theology study, but he is the mediator of the old covenant. He goes on behalf of the people 
to God, and then he communicates to the people on behalf of God. 
So he functions in that particular capacity. He has got an intimacy 
with the Lord. So notice in chapter 19, specifically 
at verse 17, Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet 
with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount 
Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon 
it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, 
and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of 
the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses 
spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down 
upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called 
Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And so again, 
the people of Israel stood at the base of the mountain. They 
were not permitted to go any further. And then at the end 
of the giving of the Decalogue in chapter 20, we see Moses return. In chapter 20, verse 20, Moses 
said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, 
and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. 
So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick 
darkness where God was. So Moses is granted access to 
go into the very presence of God Almighty. And so we see that 
same emphasis here, the nearness of Moses and the distance of 
the people. Now notice, secondly, the compliance 
rendered by Moses. So Moses comes now to the people 
and he tells them, notice verse 3, all the words of the Lord 
and all the judgments. And this small phrase encapsulates 
chapters 20 to 23, all the words of the Lord most likely as a reference to 
the Decalogue in chapter 20. And then the judgments are those 
laws applied in chapters 21 to 23. So Moses rehearses with the 
people the things that he has received on behalf of the people. So the words refer to the Decalogue. 
The judgments refer to the judicial law that we find in chapters 
21 to 23. So verse 3, So this is an expression 
or an oath concerning their fidelity to the covenant. When we see that repeated in 
verse 7, that's the formal ratification. It's more of an informal expression 
of the people relative to the terms involved in this covenant 
made by God with them. And Matthew Poole, I think, helpfully 
comments here. He says, This they said so readily and 
rashly promise, because they were not sensible of their own 
weakness, and because they did not understand the comprehensiveness 
and spirituality and strictness of God's law, but thought it 
consisted only in the external performances and abstinences 
expressed. And I think the same thing is 
true when we drop down to verse 7, because after we leave this 
particular scene, we start to get instructions concerning the 
tabernacle, but by the time we get to chapter 32, there is defection 
and apostasy on the part of these people that promise, in verses 
3 and 7, that everything that Yahweh commands, we will do and 
be obedient to it. So there is a rashness and a 
hastiness there. Now notice the written record 
in verse 4a. So after Moses reviews the words 
of the Lord and the judgments, and they say all the words which 
the Lord has said we will do, notice what Moses does in verse 
4. Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. So this is the act 
of writing out of the covenant. Now, the covenant would eventually 
be placed into the Ark of the Covenant. You'll see that later 
in Exodus 25, and then in Deuteronomy chapter 10. But this forms the 
basis, or it's the formal substance of the covenant. It's the documents 
that record God's purpose for Israel, and it expresses Israel's 
responsibility before God. Meredith Klein said the origin 
of the Old Testament canon coincided with the founding of the Kingdom 
of Israel by covenant at Sinai. The very treaty that formally 
established the Israelite theocracy was itself the beginning and 
nucleus of the total covenant cluster of writings which constitutes 
the Old Testament canon. So this is significant, that 
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. He's not simply doing 
this to sort of keep the minutes, but this is foundational with 
reference to the institution of this theocratic society under 
God. And it's the covenant documents 
that would undergird their position before God, and it would outline 
or specify their particular responsibilities to God. And in terms of the writing 
down of these words, it would be important for successive generations. It would be important not just 
for the people that were at the foot of Sinai, but subsequently 
to their children, to their children's children after them, unto the 
end of the age, as far as they knew. Stuart says, writing down 
the law was important if it were to be a permanent and accurate 
basis for continuing instruction of newer members of the community. 
Children would need to be instructed in the covenant as fully as their 
parents initially had been. Newcomers to the community from 
foreign places who accepted Yahweh's worship and integrated themselves 
properly into the Israelite nation needed to have the clearest possible 
understanding of everything the law required. This makes sense. This is what 
covenant is all about. There is this document that undergirds 
it. And lo and behold, when you turn 
to the pages of the New Testament, you'll see very close parallels 
with reference to the New Testament writings. Deuteronomy 4, for 
instance, appends a curse to adding to the Word of God. You 
see that in the book of Revelation. There is a demand for public 
reading, Deuteronomy 31, 11 and 12, when the children of Israel, 
along with their little ones, gathered together, the Word of 
God was to be read to them. What does Paul say in the New 
Covenant with reference to those covenantal documents? He commands 
that they be read in the churches, that they be exchanged among 
the churches, and they be given by way of instruction to the 
churches. And then there's a similar function in the structure of 
the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Pentateuch is 
parallel, or the Gospels rather, are parallel to the Pentateuch. 
You've got the historical books in the Old Testament. You've 
got a historical book in the New Testament with the Book of 
Acts. And then the prophets are somewhat, or the epistles of 
the apostles, are somewhat similar in nature to the prophets. And 
so this whole emphasis on covenant document, in terms of New Testament, 
we see the beauty of the New Testament with the backdrop of 
the Old Testament, and that they were, in fact, the people of 
the book. They were a people entrusted with these writings. 
They were a people that understood the nature of these writings. 
They deposited in the Ark of the Covenant for safekeeping 
and as a record of the covenant that obtained between God and 
men. And not only would these written 
words be necessary for the successive generations in terms of children 
and catechism and that sort of thing, but for the judges. The 
judges were going to have to make the hard cases and apply 
the law of God in civil society. They couldn't kind of scratch 
their heads and say, well, you know, I think that it was said 
way back when such and such is what we are supposed to do. No, 
they have written documentation on how to execute the law of 
the covenant. when it comes to infractions 
or transgressions in the civil polity. So that's a very significant 
statement in verse 4. Moses wrote all the words of 
the Lord. But not only does Moses write 
all the words of the Lord in terms of this covenant ratification, 
he also engages the formal elements involved in this service. The 
people are going to swear fidelity to Yahweh. They're going to swear 
an oath to God. Deuteronomy 6.13 indicates that 
swearing oaths is an act of worship. And when you look at what Moses 
undertakes at this particular venture, you see that it's an 
act of worship. God is meeting with His people. 
His people are meeting with Him. We don't just do that in some 
willy-nilly sort of a meeting way where we have just a discussion. 
It's an act of worship. They're going to swear an oath 
to God in terms of their fidelity, so all of the formal elements 
involved in worship are put in place by Moses. Notice in verse 
4b, so after he writes, it says he rose early in the morning. 
and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. Now certainly 
an altar is built there for worship, but specifically the altar is 
there for sacrifice. When we approach a holy God, 
we don't come empty-handed. We saw that in chapter 23. We 
come before God with blood. We come before God with those 
things that are required. Now it's going to be further 
detailed in terms of the legislation in the book of Leviticus, but 
they knew enough at this point, they had had enough revelation 
at this point, to bring blood into the presence of God Almighty. 
And then notice at the end of verse 4, "...and twelve pillars 
according to the twelve tribes of Israel." If you look back 
in chapter 23 at verse 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." 
They are to break down the sacred pillars of the pagans. With reference 
to their pillars, these 12 signify the 12 tribes of Israel. It signifies 
the people of God. It's not just Moses that's involved 
in the ratification ceremony. Moses is the mediator. Moses 
stands before God on behalf of the people, and Moses communicates 
to the people on behalf of God, but it's the people that make 
the covenant with Yahweh. And so these 12 tribes indicate 
it's a comprehensive covenant in terms of the nation of Israel 
as a whole. In fact, Poole says that. Twelve 
pillars representing the people of Israel, the other party. So 
here are the outward signs and symbols of a covenant made between 
God and the Israelites. Now, when it comes to a situation 
like this, ceremony and pomp and circumstance is very effective, 
it's very good. It solemnizes the event and it 
tends to put it into the hearts and minds of the people that 
participated in the event. So when we come to this particular 
situation, there is a specific purpose. They're going to ratify 
the covenant God has made with them. So after the pillars, then 
we see the sacrifice in verse 5. Then he sent young men of 
the children of Israel. We don't know who these young 
men are. As I said, the family of Aaron or Aaron's family is 
going to be identified specifically in chapter 28 as the priestly 
line. So were these sons of Aaron removed? We don't know. Gill makes the 
observation that the 70 elders that were called would have been 
men of prestige, men of responsibility, men that had their acts together. And so we can conclude the same 
thing with these young men. They were young men that were 
proven and responsible and certainly up to the task at hand. Poole 
says, it matters not whether they were the firstborn or others. 
It is sufficient that they were persons appointed and authorized 
for the present service, not without God's direction. And 
so Moses appoints these young men, and notice what they do 
in terms of offering. So verse 5, then he sent young 
men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and 
sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. Later, legislation 
will explain those particular offerings. We've seen some stuff 
along the way, but as one man says, burnt offerings are offerings 
dedicated entirely to God, burnt to ashes on the altar. Fellowship, 
or peace offerings, are offerings eaten by priests and worshipers 
alike, with a portion of fat from the animal being sacrificed 
symbolically, dedicated to God, and burnt to ashes on the altar. 
If you look at this same chapter specifically in verse 11. Eating 
and drinking was very consistent with covenant making. Eating 
and drinking was very consistent with that whole process with that old event. It was a time of celebration. 
It was a time of fellowship. It was a time to express their 
unity. It was time to reflect upon their obligations in terms 
of that covenant setting. No accident that the covenant 
renewal ceremony in the New Covenant has to do with bread and wine, 
has to do with the ingestion of tangible things to call us 
to reflection upon the blessed work of our Redeemer. And then 
notice the blood in verse 6. Verse 6 says, Moses took half 
the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled 
on the altar. Now the significance in this 
is very simple. The two parties involved in the 
covenant had blood sprinkled on them. If you go back to Genesis 
chapter 15, remember the covenant ratification ceremony there, 
when Abraham asks for proof or evidence 
that the promises of God are going to be yea and amen. It's 
in that context that God says, get animals, cut them in half, 
and separate them onto either side, and then the parties of 
the covenant walk between the animals. And the significance 
there is that if one of the parties of the covenant reneges on their 
obligations, then what they are admitting, or what they are confessing, 
then may what happened to these animals happen to me. So it's 
a very solemn, and again, a very serious thing. So when they invoke 
or use blood in this particular context, Sam Renahan says, the 
sprinkling of blood is an oath of loyalty and a vow of accountability. It is the placement of sanctions 
in the covenantal relationship. If you don't have sanctions, 
you don't have a covenant. That's part and parcel of a covenant. A covenant is not just a promise, 
it's not just a contract, but there are sanctions involved 
for the parties that renege on those particular promises or 
obligations. So he says, the same be done 
to us and more also is the idea behind it. As they had pledged 
in Exodus 19, so here they are pledging to be obedient. So that's 
the significance behind the blood. So in verse 6 it says he took 
half the blood and put it in the basins or bowls, and half 
the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Gil says the altar here 
seems to represent the Lord, who is one of the parties, covenanting, 
and therefore is sprinkled with blood as a ratification of the 
covenant on his part and the promises of it. So when Moses 
takes that basin of blood to sprinkle on the children of Israel, 
he can't very well sprinkle that blood up into high heaven upon 
God himself, so he sprinkles it on the altar, which is representative 
or signifies the presence of God in this particular transaction. Stuart says the portion of blood 
that Moses put in bowls was for sprinkling on the people, as 
a sign that they were recipients of the advantage that the shed 
blood provided. The portion sprinkled on the 
altar was God's, signifying that he was the other party to the 
covenant, as represented in the ceremony of sacrifice by his 
altar. So you've got the parties involved, 
you've got the stipulations present, you've got the sanctions appended. 
Everything is present in terms of covenant. When you study the 
Bible and you look at this concept of covenant, those are the things 
that are present. You've got parties, you've got 
promises, you've got sanctions, you've got stipulations, you've 
got blessings. All those things are present 
in covenant making. That's what's here in the ratification. And that brings us finally to 
verses 7 and 8. Notice this is the formal expression. So verse 7, then he took the 
book of the covenant and read in the hearing of the people. 
He'd say, well, he already did that. This is the formalized 
version of that. And it's absolutely requisite. 
You don't sign a covenant. You don't enter into a transaction 
without reading the terms, without knowing the obligations, without 
seeing the fine print, not suggesting there was any fine print in this 
covenant given by God. But that's the point. In this 
formal ratification ceremony, Moses takes the Book of the Covenant 
and he reads it in the hearing of all the people. Gil says, 
which contain the words of the Lord which he is said to write, 
and consisted both of laws and judgments required of the people. 
and to which they had given their assent, and promised obedience 
to, and of promises made by the Lord of sending His angel before 
them, to guide them in the way, and bring them to Canaan, and 
to drive the Canaanites from thence, and put the Israelites 
into the possession of it. So that here were promises on 
both sides, a restipulation of parties, which made a formal 
covenant." So it's not just the children of Israel that are swearing 
fidelity to this covenant, but the God of Israel is swearing 
fidelity to this covenant as well. He has made big promises. Look back at chapter 23, beginning 
in verse 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. Beware of him and obey his voice. 
Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, 
for my name is in him. 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. And then over in verse 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. And I will send hornets before 
you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the 
Hittite from before you. So you see, God has skin in the 
game as well, metaphorically speaking. God has made promises 
that are quite large. And so God is involved in this 
covenant. And so this would hopefully be 
an encouragement to the children of Israel. It's not just us that 
are swearing our fidelity to Him, but it is Him as well swearing 
His fidelity to the oath that He has sworn, to the covenant 
that He has enacted. And so then we move on to their 
statement. So verse 7 it says, and they 
said, all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. So the people heard the reading 
of the book of the covenant. They couldn't say, well, you 
know, later on, You know, we just really didn't know the terms. 
We were rushed into it. You know, they gave us a 2,000-page 
bill at 3 a.m. and said, have it read by 7 a.m. 
It wasn't like that. The covenant was read in the 
hearing of the people. They understood the terms involved 
in the covenant. They understood their commitment. They understood Yahweh's commitment. 
And so they swear fidelity in verse 7. They said, all that 
the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. And then the 
formal ratification is concluded in the sprinkling of blood. So 
verse 8, 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. So he sprinkled it on 
the people. Now, there were lots of people. 
So how did this blood get sprinkled on all of them? Well, probably 
the ones that were close, or it could have been upon the elders 
who were representative of the people of Israel. Either way, 
the significance is obvious. There's blood sprinkled on the 
altar, one party of the covenant, and then blood sprinkled on the 
other party of the covenant, which is the children of Israel. 
Now hopefully this reminds you of another covenant, specifically 
in Matthew chapter 26, a passage that we read typically every 
Sunday night that we take the supper. In Matthew chapter 26, 
the Lord Jesus uses this same sort of language. In Matthew 
26, 27, then he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it 
to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood 
of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission 
of sins. And then turn to the book of 
Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9 shows comparison and contrast, excuse 
me, between old and new covenant. And in Hebrews chapter 9 specifically 
at verse 16, for where there is a testament there must also 
of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament 
is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all 
while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first 
covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken 
every precept to all the people according to the law, he took 
the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and 
hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 
saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded 
you. Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle 
and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law, almost 
all things are purified with blood, now here's the principle, 
and without shedding of blood there is no remission. And then 
he goes on to say, Therefore it was necessary that the copies 
of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, 
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 
For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, 
which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to 
appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer 
himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every 
year with blood of another. He then would have had to suffer 
often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the 
end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice 
of himself. And as it is appointed for men 
to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered 
once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for 
him, he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." 
So, both covenants, both of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant 
are ratified in the sprinkling of blood. You see that emphasis 
here at the foot of Sinai in Exodus 24 and verse 8. You see 
that emphasis in the New Covenant relative to the blood of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 10 tells us that 
the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. It 
prefigured or typified or foreshadowed or looked forward to the coming 
of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So 
this is typological pointing forward to the anti-type which 
is Jesus Christ our blessed Lord. So in conclusion, it's a solemn 
occasion, and it's a very serious occasion. The people of Israel 
had been blessed by God. They had been redeemed. Remember 
the three sort of emphases in the book of Exodus. You've got 
deliverance, you've got demand, and you've got dwelling. We've 
just about concluded with the demand section. We've concluded 
deliverance. That's chapters 1 to 18. It shows 
us, when we get to the book of Exodus, the children of Israel 
are not in the land. They're in a foreign land. They're 
in Egypt. They're under bondage. They're 
under slavery. It's a very difficult situation. 
So God, with a mighty outstretched hand, brings them out. He brings 
them to Sinai, chapters 19 to 24. He gives them demand. He gives them command. He gives 
them instruction on how they're to live as a body politic, as 
individuals before Him. And then in chapter 25 to the 
end of the book, we will see the emphasis on dwelling. Now, 
I'm not certain we're going to go through every jot and tittle 
of Exodus 25 to 40. There's a lot of furniture and 
a lot of details and a lot of repetition in there, so pray 
for me that I have wisdom on my Christmas break on how best 
to sort of approach that. There's certain points, obviously, 
that we cannot neglect. But in terms of, you know, every 
loop and every curtain and all that sort of thing, that may 
just be overview-ish when we get there. But those are the 
three emphases in the book of Exodus. God's deliverance of 
his people, God's demand upon his people, and God's dwelling 
with his people. So it's a solemn occasion, it's 
a happy occasion. Now obviously, when we get on 
further in the book, we'll see that they were not faithful relative 
to their promise in verses 3 and 7. And then the final thing I 
want to say is the nature of this particular covenant. Now, 
in the history of theology, some have identified the Old Covenant 
as an administration of the Covenant of Grace. In fact, the Westminster 
Confession very clearly tells us this covenant was differently 
administered, and this is in the context of the Covenant of 
Grace. This Covenant of Grace was differently administered 
in the time of the Law and in the time of the Gospel. Under 
the Law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, 
circumcision, the Paschal Lamb, and other types and ordinances 
delivered to the people of the Jews, all four signifying Christ 
to come, which were for that time sufficient and efficacious 
through the operation of the Spirit to instruct and build 
up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they 
had full remission of sins and eternal salvation, and is called 
the Old Testament." So the Westminster divines, the Presbyterians, saw 
the Old Covenant as an administration of the Covenant of Grace. When 
you read our Confession of Faith, you'll notice they don't copy 
that part. For the most part, 2nd London 
follows Westminster very closely, except at certain key points. 
And this is one of those key points. In chapter 7, paragraph 
3, speaking of the covenant of grace, it says, this covenant 
is revealed in the gospel. First of all, to Adam in the 
promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterward by 
farther steps. So it views the old covenant 
as a farther step. It's kind of like a football 
and moving it down the field. The various historical covenants 
took that football, that promise given by God in Genesis 3.15, 
and moved it down the field until the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
So it says, first of all, to Adam and the promise of salvation 
by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, 
until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament. 
So there is a significant difference between the credo or believer 
Baptists in Second London Confession versus the Presbyterians in the 
Westminster Confession. And it turns on this old covenant. The Presbyterians saw it as an 
administration of the covenant of grace, and the Baptists said, 
no, it's not an administration of the covenant of grace, rather 
it's a republication of the covenant of works. So what was given to 
Adam in the garden is given to Israel. When Christ comes, Christ 
is the last Adam and the true Israel. The operation of Christ 
in the covenant of grace is a covenant of works. He keeps it for us. And I should say, it's not just 
Baptists in history that have seen the old covenant as a republication 
of the covenant of works. It was John Owen, Samuel Petto, 
other sort of big names did not think that the Old Covenant was 
an administration of the Covenant of Grace. In fact, Owen says, 
they, the Old and New Covenants, differ in their subject matter, 
both as unto precepts and promises, the advantage being still on 
the part of the New Covenant. He says the Old Covenant and 
the preceptive part of it renewed the commands of the Covenant 
of Works and that on their original terms. The Old Testament absolutely 
considered had no promise of grace to communicate spiritual 
strength or to assist us in obedience. So again, it was common amongst 
at least the Westminster divines to see the Old Covenant as an 
administration of the covenant of grace. But that was not straight 
across the board. So the Baptists had a lot of 
solidarity and people like John Owen, Samuel Paddoe, others that 
saw the Old Covenant as a covenant of works. But most importantly, 
we look at Paul in Galatians 3. We'll end here. Galatians 
chapter 3. How does Paul treat the Old Covenant 
and New Covenant? There's other places we could 
go in, Paul, but I think Galatians 3 is a good place to go. Notice 
in Galatians 3, 10, for as many as are of the works of the law 
are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who 
does not continue in all things which are written in the book 
of the law to do them. So that's out of the book of 
Deuteronomy. So Paul interprets the Old Covenant as a curse-bringing 
covenant for those who do not obey the terms of the covenant. 
And then he sees that this is consistent even in the Old Covenant. Notice in verse 11, but that 
no one is justified by the law in the sight of God, is evident, 
for the just shall live by faith. Within the Old Covenant itself, 
there was this acknowledgement that it was faith in the promises 
of God that was the means by which we entered into favor with 
God. Not our law-keeping, not because law-keeping is bad, but 
because we're bad, and we're not going to keep the law in 
the manner that God demands us to keep the law. And then he 
says, yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall 
live by them. That's Leviticus 18. So there's 
this emphasis in the Old Covenant on obedience in order to maintain 
your covenant status. Well, that's not a covenant of 
grace. We're in the covenant of grace 
based on the obedience of Jesus Christ, not based on our obedience. He's our covenant head. He's 
the mediator. We have this blessed and gracious 
reception by God as a result of what Christ has accomplished 
on our behalf. But then drop down to verse 19, 
what purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of 
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise 
was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of 
a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate 
for one only, but God is one. And then he says in verse 21, 
is the law then against the promises of God? I don't think he's dealing 
with law in just a unique, narrow sense of Ten Commandments. When Paul uses the word law in 
the New Testament, it's the Greek word namos, you've heard antinomian, 
that means against the law, antinomos. You've heard neonomian, that 
means new law, ism. When Paul uses You can't just 
assume every single time he uses it the exact same way. I'm convinced 
he's not using it here with its narrow meaning of the Ten Commandments 
or Decalogue. I think he's talking about the 
Old Covenant in verse 21. Is the law then against the promises 
of God? Certainly not. For if there had 
been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness 
would have been by the law. But the scripture is confined 
all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might 
be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were 
kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would 
afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor 
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 
But after faith has come, we are no longer under tutor. So 
if we take it as narrowly defined as moral law, then verse 25 basically 
ends in antinomianism. But after faith has come, we 
are no longer under the law? Well, I know that some people 
like that concept. The dispensationalists like that 
concept. I'm not suggesting they use it 
as a means to sin, but it fits their weird theology. But he's 
talking about the Old Covenant. Verse 24, the law was our tutor. It kept us together. That was 
one of the functions of the Old Covenant as a republication of 
the covenant of works, was to keep the people together, not 
to jeopardize the seed. and to bring them ultimately 
to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has 
come, I think he's speaking about the new covenant there, we're 
no longer under the old covenant. That's the distinction in the 
book of Galatians. You don't take some of those 
old covenant elements vis-a-vis circumcision bring them into 
the new covenant and think that you're going to get acceptance 
with God as a result of those old covenant things. So Galatians 
3 is showing us comparisons and contrast between the covenant. 
So when we look at Exodus 24 and we see them swear fidelity 
to Yahweh in verses 3 and 7, they mean business. God meant 
business, this was in fact a covenant of words Now, there's grace and 
there's blessing and there's promise throughout. There's a 
provision made for, you know, the sacrificial system. They got benefit as a result 
of that. But the covenant, as specified here in chapter 24, 
is a republication of the covenant of works. I'll close in prayer, 
and then if you have questions, we can try to deal with those. 
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you 
for the clarity that we find here in Exodus 24 in terms of 
worship and in terms of solemnity and the seriousness of this arrangement 
between you and Israel. We thank you for this new covenant 
era and for the fact that Christ is the true Israel, that in him 
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of your grace. We rejoice in 
your loving kindness and in your mercy to us. We rejoice in that 
new covenant that you have blessed us with, and we pray in Jesus' 
name.