Every time I read the story of Moses going up to the mountain to receive the ten commandments, I am filled with awe about a very small but overlooked part of the story. This story is the basis of today’s post. Let us walk through bits and pieces of Exodus 24. I encourage you to read the whole chapter if you can.

Then the LORD instructed Moses: “Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. All of you must worship from a distance. Only Moses is allowed to come near to the LORD. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.” …Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!

Exodus 24:1,2, 9-11 NLT

From the story, we see God inviting Moses along with some of Israel’s leaders to come up the mountain to fellowship with Him. So, after many days of purification, these folks climb up the mountain to a certain elevation where they had an encounter with God. They met with the God of Israel and visited in his presence. How awesome that must have been! For most of the Israelites, their encounter with God at this point had been fire and billows of smoke on the mountain with a booming voice amidst thunder and lightning. And yet, these 75 people had the distinct privilege of encountering God in a more intimate manner.

This scenario is not unlike what the sacrificial work of Jesus on the cross has done for us. We have been called out from the world, the kingdom of darkness, into a glorious life in Christ. We have been invited into a place of fellowship in His presence.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10

But the story did not end there! After these folks had spent time in God’s presence, Moses received an invitation to climb higher up the mountain to meet with God. This was a different level of intimacy than the others had. Let us read on:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.” So, Moses and his assistant Joshua set out, and Moses climbed up the mountain of God. Moses told the elders, “Stay here and wait for us until we come back. Aaron and Hur are here with you. If anyone has a dispute while I am gone, consult with them.” Then Moses climbed up the mountain, and the cloud covered it…. Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 24: 12-15, 18 NLT

Moses was invited into a deeper place of intimacy than just eating and drinking in God’s presence. He was being invited to meet with God in a place where he could receive life-changing instructions; a place where his destiny as a leader/ teacher of the Israelites would be shaped.

As Christians, we too have received this invitation. Jesus invites us to a place beyond the superficial “eating and drinking” in His presence to a place of deep spiritual formation. Our encounter with Jesus should not just be relegated to the weekly church experience. Experiencing the undeniable presence of God during a Sunday or weekday service in the company of other Christians, while amazing, is not the be all and end all in Christ. there is so much more to be experienced. There are higher elevations up the mountain of God to be climbed. And it is in those precious one-on-one encounters that He bestows spiritual giftings to us (Ephesians 4:11-15)- just like He gave Moses the tablet of stones in that secret place up on the mountain. And as Moses’ face shone and was transformed from his encounter with God on the mountain (Exodus 34), we also are promised a similar transformation as we encounter more of God in a place of intimacy.

So, all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

2 Corinthian 3:18 NLT

Now if this has not convinced you enough of why intimacy with God is important, let me make my final appeal in the case for intimacy. For this, we pick up again in the story. Moses heads up the mountain with Joshua, his aide, and leaves the elders and the Israelites in the capable hands of Aaron and Hur two of his most trusted leaders. If you remember from the last blog post, these were the two who held up Moses hand in the battle against the Amalekites until victory was won. In fact, Aaron was Moses mouthpiece during the encounter with Pharaoh to free the Israelites from over 400 years of slavery. But neither Aaron nor Hur had the level of intimacy that Moses had with God. And so, a few days after they had spent time eating and drinking in the presence of God, the excitement wore off and Aaron did the unthinkable: He led the Israelites into adultery. While Moses was up the mountain with God, Aaron was making a golden calf.

When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” So, Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt! “Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD!” The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.

Exodus 32:1-6 NLT

Herein lies the danger of having no intimacy with God: Those one-off encounters with the presence of God are not enough to ground us in our faith. In the face of hardships, or in the absence of the counsel of other Christians whom we admire, or even outside the safety of our church family and weekly services, we have no true relationship with God. In the absence of Moses, neither Aaron nor the other elders had much conviction within them to sustain their devotion to the true God.

Had not these elders and leaders of Israel just sat feasting in the presence of God? Were they not seeing firsthand the thick cloud covering the mountain as Moses was having a conversation with God? How could their hearts be drawn away from the truth so quickly? Friends, the answer is simple: Their relationship with God was superficial and lacked real depth. They knew of God from Moses’ recounting of what God had instructed. In fact, earlier on, God had wanted to speak with them directly from the mountain (Exodus 19:9) but the people refused and insisted that they would prefer not hearing directly from God but from Moses (Exodus 20:19). And so, when Moses was absent for a period, they had no grounding, no foundation, no sense of direction.

So how do we apply this and what will your response be? Just as He did with Moses, God desires an intimate relationship with each of us. He is calling us to climb up the mountain (which represents the presence of God) to meet with Him. And in the place of intimacy, He transform us as we draw closer to His heart each day. If you feel Jesus calling you into deeper intimacy (and He always is), and you are not sure how to respond, might I suggest a scripture to guide your obedient response?

My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
 And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”

Psalm 27: 8 NLT

Yours Truly.