“And
thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put
the testimony that I shall give thee.”
(Exodus 25:21)
There was only
one seat in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and it was God’s. When the
priests ministered in either section of the tabernacle, they always remained
standing. They were never seated for any reason. Besides being God’s exclusive
resting place there, what else do we know about this holy “seat?”
It was the
covering (the lid, if you will) for the Ark of the Covenant, a box roughly 4½
by 2½ feet, made of wood and overlaid with gold that denoted the presence of
God in their midst. The covering—the Mercy Seat—was made of pure gold, with two
golden cherubim on either side that covered the Ark with their wings. Inside
the box were three things: the broken tables of the Law, Aaron’s rod that
budded, and a pot of manna. It was the only piece of furniture transferred from
the Tabernacle to the Temple, where it housed only the tables of the Law.
There is much
symbolism for the Church of Jesus Christ to be found in the Tabernacle and it’s
furnishings, as the book of Hebrews points out so vividly, but I want to draw
your attention to only two aspects of God’s mercy seat that spoke to my own
heart recently.
Authority
First, as I
said, the Mercy Seat belonged to God alone. Obviously, it speaks of a place of
authority, as in “the seat of government.” When there is a question of who had
the final authority on any subject, the answer was, and always will be, God. We
may not agree with God’s judgments, but He is the judge of all the earth, and
He is right (Gen. 18:25), especially when it comes to how we must approach Him.
Once a year, the Ark was approached by the High Priest, who brought blood with
Him to sprinkle on the Mercy Seat (Lev. 16:14). There was no other way. And our
only route of entry to the presence of God requires the same thing: Blood.
Remember I said that the Ark contained the broken Law? Well, the
blood-sprinkled Mercy Seat covered
that Law. The Blood of Jesus Christ, Who fulfilled the Law, is the only thing
that can neutralize the penalty of its
demands against us; and now redeemed sinners, you and I can n come boldly to
God’s Mercy Seat and commune with Him. (“And
there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy
seat…” Exo. 25:22).
But wait, there’s more!
Attention
When someone
offers to sit down and talk to you, it’s a sign you will have his or her
undivided attention. Of course, God didn’t have a human form in the Holy of
Holies, only appearing as a cloud (Lev. 16:2); but that cloud served to assure
Israel that God was with them in the camp. And our cloud of witness is the
indwelling Spirit of His Son within us that cries, “Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6).
Now, when we approach God as Blood-washed believers, He’ll be there. He won’t be standing around, shifting from one foot
to the other, impatiently. He’ll be seated.
And it’s not for nothing that He chose to call His chair a “Mercy Seat,”
because that’s what He dispenses from there: mercy. Mercy that is great (Num.
14:18), abundant (1 Pet. 1:3), tender (Psl. 103:4), rich (Eph. 2:4), new every
morning (Lam. 3:23), high as heaven (Psl. 103:11), and filling the whole earth (Psl.
119:64). God may not give us everything we want, but He will always give us
mercy. He can’t help Himself; it’s part of His character (Exo. 34:6; 2 Cor.
1:3). And when He refuses us, it’s only because of His mercy (Psl. 84:11).
So come to your
God of mercy, dear friend. Approach His Mercy Seat with a confident heart and a
Blood-cleansed conscience. He is in the seat of authority and you have His
undivided attention. And best of all, there is a fresh supply of mercy just
waiting for you there.
“Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat,
fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded
hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth hath no sorrow that
heaven cannot heal.
No comments:
Post a Comment