Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. / And they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet there was something like a paved work of sapphire, even like heaven itself for clearness. / And He did not stretch out His hand upon the nobles of the children of Israel. And they beheld God and ate and drank. (Exod. 24:9-11)
When we come to chapter 24 of the book of Exodus, there is a juncture from a journey out of the worldly life in Egypt and into a life of building according to the pattern given in the following chapters in Exodus. Chapter 24 and 25 are crucial as the initial revealing of what today as believers we are entering into — this vision of the tabernacle. But there is a requirement to arrive at this juncture; we need to be one of the nobles mentioned in this chapter.
Who are the nobles? What makes them noble? Are they called noble by God because of doing great deeds, coming from a bloodline of royalty, holding a high position or given the title “elders” here? None of these concepts seem to explain this scene or offer a key to truly live differently — so what is God’s definition of nobles?
In this picture, these nobles follow Moses to go up the mountain; they were no longer at the base of the mountain with the multitude. They also didn’t just hear about God as knowledge anymore; these noble men all saw God! God was no longer a far-away concept but a very specific person to them in experience. And in this encounter, they saw a vision — God was standing on something precious — “paved sapphire, clear as heaven.” Strangely, we see that in this vision they are not only beholding, but eating and drinking. This description of noble men is definitely not according to a typical day-to-day routine. They were pursuing something higher, heavenly. Their position and focal point shifted from the ground — earthy complaints and desires at the base of the mountain — to a heavenly vision. And this encountering or subjective experience with God changed their lives forever. Their life on the earth had a new meaning, purpose. They saw a paved work of precious stone, sapphire…like heaven in clearness. This “paved work” is something built, constructed, processed — the work of a mason. This encounter instantly brought them into the vision of God’s building. Their lifestyle now had a focal point for serving God — eating and drinking for the building. They were no longer common people; they were separated out to minister to God and His dwelling place.
Today, we are also called out and up to live a life in the vision of His building as nobles in this age. What is noble is not determined by our human effort but through a specific process to be acceptable to God. We too, are looking for and following those spiritually mature ones as patterns who are leading us to go up to receive and realize this heavenly vision. Our eyes are shifted from being occupied with base, earthen entanglements that drag our daily life down, to seeing our Lord and what matters most in His heart, the builded church (Matt. 16:18). As today’s nobles, we need to eat and drink to realize and become the vision.
Just as God was pursuing His people in the book of Exodus, He is calling out His overcomers to dwell and reign with Him. We are thankful for what Exodus 24 reveals to us — our living today can only be defined as noble if we have subjective experience of encountering Him and beholding, eating and drinking the vision of building.
(Above are notes of fellowship from a gathering of the church in Toledo on 9/24/2023, not reviewed by the speaker.)