Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank. The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them." Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:9-18
There is another thought in these verses that must occupy our attention before we go further. It has been pointed out that throughout the chapter there is a series of concentric circles with each coming nearer to God; the people (3-8), the seventy elders (8,11), Joshua and Moses (13), and finally Moses alone (18). There is something important for us to learn in this. We can draw as near as we allow ourselves to come, that is, by the quality of our lives and consecration. It is we ourselves, as much as God, who settle how closely we may approach His presence, and at what point unsurmountable barriers are erected to prevent us coming any closer. There are some who, by the quality of their spiritual lives, inevitably relegate themselves to the foot of the mount, and others who by the very white heat of their passion for God press on and into the very presence of the Most High. Fellowship with God is a moral question. No one can complain - to change the metaphor - 'God has not opened my eyes to see Him in that way'. We see so little because we do not want to see, and in this measure we finally become unable to see, having resisted the truth of God until our eyes become clouded. The Psalmist's words assume a new kind of significance in this connection, 'Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest and causest to approach unto Thee'. It is true that the divine sovereignty is ever the determining factor in the human situation, but human responsibility is inexorably real within that sovereignty, and men are accountable for their unwillingness and refusal to enter the intimate fellowship with God for which they are destined.