GETTING TO "CORAM DEO": BEFORE GOD'S FACE

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Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him."
Exodus 24:1‭-‬2 ESV

¶In the temple and the tabernacle, there were those who represented God's people at the Altar, and then there was the high priest who yearly approached God at the Holy of Holies. Here on Mount Sinai, this is where that started. The temple and tabernacle become the visual representation depicting approaching God on Mount Sinai; and the books of the Law become the verbal representation of approaching God. The regulated life of Israel, called to be a holy nation, was to be the communal representation of a people living "coram deo", before the face of God.

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