"The Mercy Seat"

Session 3 Overview

Mercy Seat in the Hebrew literally means “covering over.” In 1 Chronicles 28:11, the Holy of Holies is called “The House of the Mercy-seat.” This piece of furniture was the lid to cover the articles of judgment against the children of Israel and all mankind. God’s law, which was kept inside the Ark, condemned man-Romans 3:19-20, as did also His truth and life symbolized by the manna in the pot and the fruit-bearing rod of Aaron. Man could not keep God’s law, did not believe God’s Truth and could not appropriate His life. Without a cover, the Ark of the Covenant would have been a judgment throne.

This cover was not to be made of wood representing humanity, but of pure gold typifying Deity. Mercy is of God not of man. Man did not advise God with regard to a propitiation for sin, a way of redemption. God alone fashioned it before the fall of man.

The term “mercy-seat”- forming the top of the Ark is the seat of mercy or mercy at rest. It speaks of propitiation, the root idea of which is covering. David understood this in Psalm 32:1 –“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Propitiation means to cover and is translated as “pitch” in Genesis 6:14, “appease” in Genesis32:20, “purge” in Isaiah 6:7, “pacify” in Ezekiel 16:63, “reconcile” in Ezekiel 45:20 and “forgive” in Psalm 78:38. The noun form of this word is translated as ransom, price of expiation or satisfaction in Numbers 35:22, Job 33:24, and Isaiah 43:3. In the New Testament, this word means conciliate, atone for in Luke 18:13, and Hebrews 2:17. We see the word “propitiation” also in Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:5, and 1 John 2:2, 4:10. Think on the meanings of these words:

1. Redemption-price paid or act of power in delivering the purchased one.
2. Reconciliation-satisfaction given to God because of sin: this is the Divine side. Slaying of enmity and making a friend of the sinner: this is the human side.
3. Justification-judicial act of God whereby the believer is acquitted and pronounced righteous in God’s sight.
4. Salvation-preservation, position of safety, the result of regeneration and rescuing grace.
5. Propitiation or covering is not anything experienced by man but something in and by God towards man. It is God’s gracious attitude concerning all men, saints and sinners. It is the ground on which God can approach and deal with the sinner in grace. True atonement is God-ward, not man-ward. Our guilt is covered. True atonement is satisfying God about sin by sacrifice. (Note “appease” in Genesis 32:20 and “purged” or “atoned for” in Isaiah 6:7)

Above or upon the Ark was the Mercy-Seat of pure gold. At either end, the cherubim of pure gold. The cherubim here are linked with mercy rather than judgment as at Eden, Genesis 3:24. The law was covered by the mercy-seat of pure gold. Only the God who gave the law could forgive the man who broke the law and show him mercy rather than judgment. The covering of sin is all of God and all of grace.

“Under the Mercy-Seat” we see the witness of God’s holy law that is righteous in its demands. “Above the Mercy Seat” we have the witness of God’s presence in the “glory-cloud.” “On the Mercy Seat”, we see the witness of the sprinkled blood that speaks better things than Abel’s (Heb. 12:24). Once was sufficient for the eyes of God. And “before the Mercy-Seat” and 7 times to confirm the completeness of the standing ground that Christ has obtained for His people.

The Mercy-Seat resting upon the Ark was to point out to us that God would find His rest in that perfect work which His incarnate Son would perform. Christ, as the Mercy-Seat, is the One who has covered the law or satisfied all its claims. By His life of obedience, He “magnified the law and made it honorable”, (Isaiah 42:21). The Mercy-Seat was made of pure gold to display the glory of God. Once God is satisfied, man can now be reconciled to Him. (Hebrews 2:17) The blood on the Mercy-Seat tells us that Christ by His death has met the demands of the law to justify every sinner. Without the law covered by the mercy seat, the wrath of the law was visited on sinners like the men of Beth-shemesh in 1 Samuel 6:19, 20 and Romans 4:14.

The publican’s prayer in Luke 18:13-14 is not only “God, be merciful to me a sinner”, but actually “Oh God, be propitiated to me the sinner or become my Mercy Seat.” The sinner would mean that he considered himself the only sinner in the world. In other words, “Oh God, do not look at me, the sinner, but look at the Mercy Seat.” The blood is there atoning for my sin. This man manifested confession, humiliation, repentance, and faith. No wonder he went home justified, made righteous like Abel (Hebrews 11:4), just as if he had never sinned.

The Mercy-Seat was stained with the blood of the sin-offering on the great Day of Atonement. Only on that day and by the High Priest alone, could entrance be made into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood once upon the Mercy Seat eastward and seven times before it. The gold can represent Divine righteousness. Without Divine righteousness being satisfied, there could be no outpouring of God’s grace to guilty man. The blood of the sin-offering typified the precious blood of Christ. We can say that the gold demanded righteous satisfaction. The blood met that demand and so it became a Mercy-Seat. There was no place in the Tabernacle for the Aaronic priest to sit, for his work was never finished. Jesus, the Melchizedek priest, finished the work of redemption on the cross, John 19:30, and is now seated at the Father’s right hand. (Hebrews 10:12)

The Mercy-Seat was God’s throne on the earth. Today, for the Christian, God’s throne in Heaven is a throne of grace and mercy because of Christ’s blood sprinkled on the Heavenly Mercy Seat. We now have access to the heavenly Holy of Holies through that precious blood and may we heed the admonition of Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly, or with confidence, unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” James 2:13 tells us “mercy rejoiceth against, or triumphs, over judgment.”

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