Most Christians read Exodus 24 and see a simple transaction. God gives Moses the Law. Moses delivers it to Israel. Case closed.

They miss the divine council meeting happening right in front of them.

The clues scatter throughout the text like breadcrumbs. Paul's cryptic reference in Galatians 3:19 about the Law being "put in place through angels by an intermediary." The strange detail about seventy elders eating and drinking in God's presence. The sapphire pavement under divine feet.

These aren't decorative flourishes. They're evidence of something profound.

The giving of the Law involved all three persons of the Trinity, each playing distinct but harmonious roles in establishing the covenant with Israel.

The Intermediary Who Changes Everything

Paul drops a theological bomb in Galatians 3:19-20 that most evangelicals defuse too quickly. The Law was "put in place through angels by an intermediary," he writes, then immediately adds: "Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one."

This passage has been recognized by biblical scholars as asserting proto-trinitarian theology.

The logic cuts deep. If the intermediary were merely human like Moses, or just another created angel, it would challenge God's oneness. Paul's statement suggests something else entirely.

The intermediary must be a unique divine figure who can mediate without compromising monotheism. Someone who is fully God yet distinct from the Father.

This points directly to the pre-incarnate Christ.

The Book of Jubilees, a Second Temple text, provides crucial supporting evidence. It contains one of the earliest references to the idea that God gave the Law to Moses through an angelic mediator.

In Jubilees 1:27-29, God dictates the Law to "the Angel of the Presence," who then delivers it to Moses. This isn't administrative delegation. It's divine mediation.

The angel doesn't just carry messages. He embodies God's presence and authority, bridging the transcendent Father and human recipients.

This mediator appears throughout Scripture as the Angel of the LORD. The same divine figure who wrestled with Jacob, spoke from the burning bush, and led Israel through the wilderness.

The pre-incarnate Christ.

The Vision That Reveals Divine Persons

Exodus 24:9-11 describes something unprecedented in Old Testament narrative. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders "saw the God of Israel" and lived to tell about it.

They didn't experience an abstract spiritual encounter. They witnessed a theophany of the Presence of God, complete with anthropomorphic details that demand explanation.

Under God's feet lay "a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself." This imagery evokes a royal throne room, symbolizing divine kingship and authority in tangible, visible form.

The sapphire pavement connects to other throne visions throughout Scripture, particularly Ezekiel's vision of the divine glory associated with a human-like figure on a sapphire throne.

But the most striking detail comes next. After seeing God, the leaders "ate and drank."

This covenant meal signifies intimate fellowship, not distant spiritual experience. The normalcy of eating and drinking indicates a relational, embodied divine presence.

Such meals with God echo other biblical instances where the divine appears in human form. Abraham's encounter with the three visitors. The commander of the LORD's army meeting Joshua.

These theophanies consistently point to the second person of the Trinity revealing himself in accessible form to mediate God's covenant purposes.

The Spirit's Hidden Activity

While the Father initiates and Christ mediates, the Holy Spirit operates as the divine enabler throughout the Sinai event.

The Old Testament doesn't describe permanent indwelling as in the New Testament era, but it frequently shows the Spirit coming upon individuals to empower them for specific divine purposes.

At Sinai, theophanic phenomena surround God's presence. Fire, smoke, and rushing wind. These biblical symbols consistently link with the Spirit's activity throughout Scripture.

The Spirit enables Moses and the seventy elders to participate in this covenant ceremony, equipping them to receive and transmit divine revelation without being consumed by God's holiness.

Exodus 31:3 explicitly states that God filled Bezalel with the Spirit to perform tabernacle work. This divine enablement reflects the Spirit's broader involvement in establishing covenant worship.

The Spirit's activity at Sinai anticipates his fuller work in the New Covenant era, when he would write God's Law on believers' hearts rather than stone tablets.

Law and Grace United

This Trinitarian understanding demolishes the false dichotomy that has plagued modern Christianity. Law versus grace. Old Testament versus New Testament. Judaism versus Christianity.

If Christ himself gave the Law at Sinai, then his later declaration in Matthew 5:17 takes on profound significance. "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them."

He's not replacing someone else's work. He's completing his own.

The covenant meal in Exodus 24 prefigures the Lord's Supper. Christ was present at both meals, providing continuity rather than replacement between the covenants.

This transforms how Christians should understand "fulfilling the Law." Christ doesn't abolish the Law's moral and relational essence. He enables believers to live it out through the Spirit's power.

The ceremonial and sacrificial aspects find their fulfillment in his once-for-all sacrifice. But the Law's call to love God and neighbor remains, deepened and internalized in the new covenant community.

Grace doesn't oppose the Law. Grace empowers believers to fulfill the Law's righteous requirements joyfully, motivated by love rather than fear.

The Misconception That Divides Christianity

Modern Christianity's most damaging misconception treats law and grace as mutually exclusive opposites. This leads to the idea that being "under grace" means freedom from God's commandments.

The result? Minimal obedience, selective morality, and fundamental misunderstanding of both sin and redemption.

The Trinitarian analysis of Exodus 24 reveals the Law as an expression of God's grace, given by the triune God to guide redeemed people in holiness and fellowship.

The Law emerges from covenant relationship, not legal obligation. It flows from grace, not toward it.

When believers understand that Christ himself gave these commandments at Sinai, their entire approach to Old Testament law transforms.

Living the Trinitarian Vision

Recognizing Christ as the pre-incarnate lawgiver changes everything about daily Christian life.

The Old Testament commandments become divine instructions from Jesus himself, not obsolete regulations from a distant era. This fosters profound reverence for Scripture's moral guidance.

Law and grace integrate harmoniously. Christians can embrace the Law as fulfilled and empowered by Christ's grace and the Spirit's work, leading to joyful obedience motivated by love.

Spiritual life becomes dynamic relationship with Christ, who transforms hearts and empowers believers to reflect the Law's true intent. Obedience flows from union with Christ rather than external conformity.

The Law's call to love God and neighbor motivates holiness and ethical living that impacts both church community and broader society. Believers live responsibly, knowing their conduct reflects Christ's character and honors the covenant established at Sinai.

This understanding encourages deep engagement with Old Testament law, seeing it as revelation of Christ's character and will. Such study enriches understanding of God's redemptive plan and equips believers for authentic faith in a complex world.

The Divine Council Continues

The Trinitarian activity revealed at Sinai didn't end with the Old Testament. It continues in every believer's life.

The Father still initiates covenant relationship through electing love. Christ still mediates as the one who gave the Law and fulfills it perfectly. The Spirit still empowers believers to live out God's righteous standards.

The same divine council that met at Sinai meets in the life of every Christian. The Law that Christ gave then, he fulfills now through his people.

This vision transforms how believers read Scripture, understand salvation, and live daily life. It reveals the profound unity of God's redemptive work from Sinai to the cross to the believer's heart.

The covenant meal continues in every celebration of the Lord's Supper. The same Christ who ate with the seventy elders invites believers to feast with him today.

The sapphire pavement under divine feet reminds us that our God is not abstract or distant. He reveals himself in accessible form, inviting intimate fellowship with those he calls his own.

Most Christians still read Exodus 24 as a simple transaction. They miss the divine council, the Trinitarian involvement, the profound unity of law and grace.

But once you see it, you can't unsee it. The entire Bible opens up as one coherent story of the triune God's covenant love.

The secret hidden in Exodus transforms everything.