Exodus 24:16  And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17  And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18  And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

It is important to be in the presence of the glory of the LORD. That cannot happen unless you personally draw nigh to God. You cannot make God in your image and expect to know His glory. The majority of religion has redefined God. Most religious people who claim to be Christians have a Christ that cannot be identified from the Bible. That is a tragedy, but it is also true.
Every person can know for sure if the God they follow is true or not. The fact is that most people do not want to be bothered with that. That is why Jesus warned of the broad way that leads to destruction. He said that in the same chapter where He made this warning:

Matthew 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The wise person stops and considers what God says. That is what God was doing with Moses and with Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and the seventy elders. They needed to know the true God before they could be a help to anyone else.
As we have noticed and will see, Aaron did not know God very well. When Moses was ‘too long in the Mount’ he led the people into idolatry. That is not trusting in the true God. Yet, God chose Aaron as the first high priest. God did not make a mistake. Aaron lacked true faith in God. Nadab and Abihu would tempt the Lord. They played around with the holiness of God and it cost them their lives. It also brought grief to Aaron because his sons defied God and were killed by God. The elders were also weak in their faith. In fact, Moses had his failings as well.
The fact is that we need to consciously enter into the place where God’s glory is. You will not find Him in a bar or in a rock concert, or in an ecumenical religious institution, etc. Moses was commanded to go and join God, the LORD in the cloud in the mount. God had already prepared Moses for this moment. God did not drag a wicked rebel into His presence. He drew a true saint, a true man of God into a closer walk with Him. For six days Moses was in that cloud. He was not in a fog. He was in the presence of the glory of God. The cloud is a picture of putting the world out of our mind and putting on Christ. The faithful child of God must choose the right way and reject the world.

James 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Moses was brought by God, away from everything else. He was separated from his own people so that he could be brought closer to God. On the seventh day God called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Moses would later ask to see God. He did not need to see God with his naked eye. He needed to see God with his spirit.
In verse 17 we read that Moses saw the glory of the LORD “like a devouring fire”. He obviously was not going to devour Moses. He was also not going to devour Aaron and the others. However, He would intervene where sin was seeking to rule. The children of Israel needed to understand the necessity of the fear of the LORD in their lives. God started with Moses. Moses needed to understand this. He would discover that his act of defiance at the rock would keep him from being able to enter the promised land. No amount of pleading or begging would change that. He made a drastic error in judgment and he sinned. He is still in heaven. He did not lose his “salvation”. He lost the opportunity of walking and living in the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Matthew 17 Moses was on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus and Elijah.
We read in verse 17 of our text that God appeared as this devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel. They had a glimpse of what was happening in this mount even though they were not in the mount.
In verse 18 we read that Moses went into the midst of this cloud. God did not drive him away. The fear of the Lord is clean:

Psalm 19:9  The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

It is important for us to have that healthy fear of the LORD that He requires. Those who submit to His will, are able to draw nigh to Him. We read here that Moses would spend the next forty days and nights in that mount. He would learn many important truths in that time. God designed this time to be a time of learning and also a time of blessing. Serving the LORD is a blessing. Knowing the LORD is a blessing.
Today is the Lord’s Day. It is the day that the Lord Jesus Christ set aside as the day for His children to meet with Him in His house for fellowship. Lost people need to come to hear the truth and be challenged with the need to be saved. Saved people can fellowship with Him. It is one day in seven that God has given us to set aside the busyness of regular life and to focus in on learning of God.
God directed the writer of the book of Hebrews to challenge the saints on this fact. The danger is to become complacent and become a friend of the world. The Lord’s day is not a two hour window on the first day of the week. It is called the Lord’s day. When a person’s heart is right with the Lord, then he will understand the blessing of setting aside the world for that day and seeking ways to be with God’s people and learn of God. Part of that day is spent in the formal meeting in a local church to be subject to the preaching of the Word. The rest of that day can be spent in visiting with other saints and looking further into the things that were said during the formal part of the day. It is not a time to “roast” the pastor. It is a time to consider how we can provoke one another to love and good works.
Be sure you seek out a good local church that will bless your heart and soul.
Pastor Bartel