Last week we looked at the meaning
of the Ark and its contents and we concluded that God wants us to
come to Him under the new Covenant, always and without restraint.
His 'door' is always open to us. And with Him is all the provision
we will ever need. We never need to worry, in His presence we will
find all that we ever need, never lacking in any good thing.
Today we will have a look at the
mercy seat and the two cherubim protecting it. This piece was made
of solid gold, with no wood beneath it.
"You shall make a mercy seat of
pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit
and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of
hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy
seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other
end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece
with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings
above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall
face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the
mercy seat." Exodus 25:17-20
The whole design is just wonderful
for me. It was as if the cherubim were guarding the mercy seat,
ensuring that what was sprinkled on the mercy seat was truly a
worthy sacrifice. The High Priest on the Day of Atonement brought
in the sacrificial blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat. It was
to atone for the sins of the people. And God would then forgive
their sins for that year. Fortunately for us Jesus came and
sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat on our behalf. He was our
perfect High Priest, offering Himself.
"But Christ came as High Priest
of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not
with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He
entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption." Hebrews 9:11, 12
He took His perfect blood into the
Most Holy Place in Heaven:
"Therefore it was necessary
that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified
with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places
made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Hebrews 9:23,
24
Jesus is now in the presence of God
the Father for us. And we have now been sanctified through His
offering once and for all (Hebrews 10:10). He sat down at the right
hand of God in power and might (Hebrews 10:12). By one offering He
perfected us forever (Hebrews 10:14).
I don't think we can always truly
comprehend what He has done for us. He came to free us from this
world, to give us access to the Father with a righteous sacrifice.
And now He has perfected us forever and we are one with Him (1
Corinthians 6:17). And where is He sitting? At the right hand of
God. And where are we sitting if we are one in Spirit with Him? At
His right hand too. And should we be stressed if we are sitting at
His right hand? Should we be worried and frantically scramble to
make ends meet? Should we complain about our lives and our
situations? Should we look with jealousy and contempt at
others?
I think the answers go without
saying. At His right hand we have more than enough, we are blessed
and favored. We are truly and deeply loved. We are content and full
of hope for the future. We are filled with His grace and mercy. We
simply need to believe that this is true of us; we need to stay
alongside Him and not rebel. We should love Him. That is all. Love
trumps all.
Dearest Father, love love love.
That is all. You are love and when we live alongside You, it will
consume us and flow out to all around us. What a wonderful
proposition. Thank you dear Father that we are so blessed, that
Jesus opened the way for us. We are deeply grateful and we love You
for all eternity. Amen