Jesus The Mercy Seat
It has been a while since I last wrote about the symbolism of Jesus found in the Old Testament. And it’s not for lack of trying. It’s not even because there is no symbolism of Him to be found. It is always there and it is always everywhere. Perhaps it can be more accurate to say that I have found other treasures worth sharing with you. The Holy Spirit has written the Bible in the richest possible way that regardless of what you think you know, you can easily be blown away again and again. Even if you think you know about a particular passage, keep coming back to it and you will find that you encounter something entirely new.
If I were to illustrate how the Bible describes Jesus, it would be as if I a light shone through a prism which produces seven different colours. That’s exactly how our Bible works. We shine the light of God’s revelation to the Bible and out came the absolutely beautiful, colourful and dazzling person of Jesus Christ. Take, for example, this particular passage from the seventh book of Numbers.
Numbers 7:89
Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him.
In this passage, God spoke to Moses from above the mercy seat. This, of course, was God’s fulfilment of His promise that He will speak with Moses from above the mercy seat. He’s enthroned between the two cherubim.
Exodus 25:22 NKJV
And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
What many Christians did not know is that each furniture inside the Tabernacle symbolises our Lord Jesus Christ. And naturally, this mercy seat is one of them. It also happens to be one of the most important pieces of furniture in the Holy of Holies.
The mercy seat, or in some translation also called “covering”, signifies that Jesus gave us undeserved mercy and also covers our sins through the sprinkled blood of the lamb.
The three things that the mercy seat covers of the Ark were:
— Aaron’s staff
— the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments
— a pot of manna.
Each one of the above items represented some form of the disobedient attitude of the children of Israel. The three items represented humanity’s rejection of God’s leadership, their rejection of God’s laws and their rejection of God’s provision and love. By the same token also, Jesus covers our sins completely. Furthermore, He became our propitiation by taking and receiving God’s punishment which was really meant for us.
Romans 3:25 NKJV
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed’
Propitiation? What in the world does that mean? If you are like me then you are probably lost and frantically Googling the word now. I did the same thing. Fortunately, there is some help. The Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament) translated the Hebrew word for mercy seat with the word ‘hilasterion’. Paul used the same word in the passage above. So we are getting somewhere.
According to the Strong’s Concordance, hilasterion is a word which means “a sin offering, by which the wrath of the deity shall be appeased”. In other words, it is the means by which sins are forgiven. The New Kings James Version (NKJV) also helpfully provided a footnote next to the word ‘propitiation’ referring to the “mercy seat”.
Leviticus 16:15 NKJV
“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.
My friends, both the mercy seat and the blood of the Lamb that was sprinkled was God’s way of telling us that He will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 8:12). It is completely covered by the blood of His most precious Son, Jesus Christ. Our rebellion was forgiven and forgotten.
When I started this journey of writing for you how the Bible is a story about Jesus from cover to cover, I was honestly concerned because I have no idea what exactly to write. I just started in faith. But thanks to the guidance from the Spirit, the spirit continued to surprise me and reminded me of how beautiful our Lord Jesus Christ and His words are. I hope reading this will give you the same sense of awe and worship. I can’t wait to write more and discover more, together with you.
Love,
Suwandy
