Bible Study 
No Comments Exodus 23-25: Drawing Near to God
There are degrees of nearness to God. The people remained at a distance because of their fear of the Lord. Moses, Joshua, Nadab, Abihu, Aaron, and seventy of the elders went up the mountain to meet God. Then Moses and Joshua went further, and finally Moses went into the glory cloud alone.
J. Oswald Sanders wisely commented, “We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be.” God invites us to draw near (James 4:8), but often we are unwilling to do what is necessary to meet Him. The people below had the Book and the blood, and they made promises to obey God; but they did not have the vision of the glory of the Lord that Moses had on the mount.
You would think Exodus 24:11 would read, “So they saw God, and they fell down and prayed.” But it says, “They ate and drank.” The vision of God’s glory should not make us careless or impractical. We can eat and drink to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). But beware lest nearness to God lead to careless familiarity, for “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28–29). Nadab and Abihu would find that out (Leviticus 10:1).