Exodus 24: A Meal on Sapphire, The Beginning of Impossible Fellowship

Exodus 24: A Meal on Sapphire, The Beginning of Impossible Fellowship

"They saw God, and they ate and drank." (Exodus 24:11, NIV)

Humans die when they see God. This is the limitation of the creature and the destiny of the sinner. However, Exodus 24 records an astonishing moment when this solemn spiritual law of faith is broken. The leaders of Israel encountered God face-to-face yet did not die; rather, they ate and drank in His presence. That meal is a covenant feast proclaiming that God and humanity have become 'family.'

The text does not specifically describe God's form but depicts what is 'beneath His feet.' The pavement clear as sapphire symbolizes not the wilderness dust of this earth, but the splendor of heaven. In other words, the Sabbath is a time when we are lifted up before God's throne to taste the peace of heaven spread beneath His feet. "Standing on earth yet experiencing heaven"—this is the ultimate point toward which the Fourth Commandment directs us.

Yet even before this mysterious invitation, we still become absorbed in futile zeal. Rather than enjoying the essence of the Sabbath—fellowship, rest, and communion—we obsess over regulations about how to keep it. The debate over whether to observe the Sabbath or the Lord's Day is like calculating the calories of food at a banquet table God has spread, while criticizing one another. The Sabbath is not a day when we accomplish something, but a day when we disarm ourselves and enter into the rest God has already accomplished and ordained.

Jesus Christ, through His prayer in John 17, has opened this exclusive table to all of us. He has invited us into the eternal fellowship between the Triune God—between the Father and the Son. Now we are no longer beings who fear death and merely steal glances at God's feet. In Christ, we have become the true protagonists of rest who boldly approach His throne and share the bread and cup of life.