The Covenant Meal on Sinai.
The Old Testament contains no mention of any other meal so wonderful as this. Newly entered into covenant with God, fresh from the blood of sprinkling, which was representative of the blood of Christ, Moses, Aaron with his two sons, and the seventy elders, half-way up Sinai, engaged in the sacrificial feast upon the peace-offerings (Exodus 24:5), when lo! the heaven was opened to them, and there burst upon their astonished sight a vision of Jehovah in his glory and his beauty, standing on pellucid sapphire, dazzling in its brilliance. As the meat and drink entered their mouths, God shone in upon their souls. It was indeed a "wondrous festivity," and certainly not without a spiritual meaning, extending to all time, and even beyond time into eternity. Surely, we may say, without over-great boldness, or any undue prying into holy things:—
I. THAT THE MEAL WAS A TYPE OF THAT DIVINE FEAST WHICH THE LOUD INSTITUTED ON THE NIGHT OF HIS BETRAYAL, FOR THE SUSTENTATION OF HIS PEOPLE. The Holy Communion is a feast upon a sacrifice—the sacrifice of Christ—partaken of by Christians as the most solemn rite of their religion, in the wilderness of this life, for their better sustentation and support through its trials. It brings them very near to him, as it were into his presence. As they partake of the bread and wine, they partake of him; his light shines into their souls; his beauty and glory are revealed to their spirits; they obtain a foretaste of heaven. Blessed is the man who thus eats and drinks in his kingdom—eating and drinking and seeing God.
II. THAT THE MEAL WAS, FURTHER, A TYPE OF THAT MARRIAGE-SUPPER OF THE LAMB, HEREOF ALL THE FAITHFUL SHALL ONE DAY PARTAKE IN HEAVEN (Revelation 19:7-9). There the saints shall eat and drink in the Divine presence, their meat the heavenly manna, angels' food, their drink the wine which they "drink new" in their Father's kingdom. The glory of God shall shine on them. For the place of their dwelling "has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it;" for it is "the glory of God that lightens it, and the Lamb that is the light thereof" (Revelation 21:23). The sapphire of Sinai has there its counterpart; for "the first foundation" of the city wherein they dwell "is jasper, and the second sapphire" (Revelation 21:19). The Divine presence is with them perpetually; for the "throne"of God is there, and they "see his face," and "his Name is in their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4). Thrice blessed they who attain to this heavenly feast, and are counted worthy of that beatific vision!
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
A vision of God.
Prior to the ratification of the covenant, God had given Moses instructions that, immediately on the conclusion of the ceremonies, he, together with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu (representatives of the future priesthood), and seventy of the elders of Israel (representatives of the body of the people), should again ascend the mountain (Exodus 24:1, Exodus 24:2). The design was to partake of a sacrificial feast, perhaps held on the flesh of the peace-offerings of Exodus 24:5, by way of solemn conclusion to the proceedings of the day. Another part of the design was that the eiders might receive a new revelation of Jehovah, setting forth the milder glories of his character as a God reconciled with Israel, in contradistinction to the manifestations on Sinai, which revealed him solely as the God of law and terror. The later revelation was the counterbalance of the earlier. It does that justice to the character of God, as standing in friendly relations to his people, which was not possible in harmony with the special design, and within the special limits, of the revelation from the summit of the mount. It showed him as the God of grace. It taught Israel to think of him, to love him, to trust him, and to worship him as such. It kept them from being overwhelmed by the remembrance of the former terrors. It forestalled that view of the graciousness of God which was afterwards peculiarly associated with the mercy-seat and with Mount Zion, and is now the aspect of his character predominant in the Gospel (see on Sinai and Zion, Exodus 19:16-19). We are told, accordingly, that when the company ascended the mount, "they saw the God of Israel" (Exodus 24:10). What they did see is not further described than that "there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness" (Exodus 24:10). The vision, however, was plainly one addressed to the outer or inner sense, an "appearance" of God in some recognisable way. So mild and beneficent was the spectacle, nevertheless, that it seems to have disarmed all terror; and Aaron and his sons, with the "nobles," ate and drank while still witnessing it. We may regard the vision, in its relation to the situation of Israel, as—
1. Declarative. It gave a view of the character of God.
2. Symbolic of privilege.
3. Prefigurative of future blessedness. The goal of the kingdom of God is the feast of perfected bliss in glory, where the saints shall eat and drink and see God with no intervening veils, and in the full beauty of his love and holiness.
4. A warning. These seventy elders ate and drank in God's presence, yet at last perished in the desert. Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire. Cf. the warning (Luke 13:26, Luke 13:27).
Lessons—
1. The vision of God in Christ disarms fear.
2. Let us try to see God, even in our eating and drinking (1 Corinthians 10:31).
3. Those sheltered by Christ's blood are safe. Note the following—"