Read Exodus 24, Job 42, and Luke 6.
This devotional is about Exodus 24.
God commanded Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders to come to worship him (v. 1). They were to come nearer than the rest of Israel, but to worship “at a distance” (v.1b). According to verse 2, only Moses was chosen from among them to approach the Lord.
After Moses instructed the Israelites and made preparations (vv. 3-8), the 74 men God had chosen did approach the Lord’s presence according to verse 9.
In verse 10, what they saw was “The God of Israel….” but there is almost no description of what God looked like in this manifestation. Rather, the only description we are given is merely what he was standing on: “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.”
God is pure spirit and does not have a body; however, for this revelation, he made himself visible in some way. Whatever they saw had feet, according to verse 10, but that’s all we know.
Based on other appearances of God in the Bible and the fact that they saw feet, whatever they saw probably resembled a man in some form. However, what they saw was so wonderful and so terrifying that Moses did not even attempt to describe Him, only what he was standing on.
This is our God; his nature is beyond what words can describe or the human brain can even comprehend. Although we do not deserve to stand in his presence, his grace compelled him to reveal himself to us. More than that, he did everything in Christ that we could not do for ourselves to reconcile us to himself and even adopt us into his family. Someday we will know God “face to face.” We will fall before him and worship in awe but also in perfect love and acceptance in Christ.
Part of living a godly life is to recognize that this holy God, who was too incredible to describe, is watching us day and night. Everything we do and even our thoughts and reasons for doing what we do are completely seen and known by God. As Christians, we do not fear God’s wrath any longer but the knowledge that he is watching us should change how we live. We are accepted in Christ in God’s sight and, because of that, we should live holy lives in his sight as well.
Are you trying to hide anything? You may be successful at concealing it from other people but our perfect and holy God sees all and he is terrifyingly powerful and perfect in holiness. Since we have perfect standing with him by grace in Christ, let’s strive to live holy lives in his sight each day.