Like the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, humanity descended from innocence to sin in Adam. And personally, each one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I think of those years of my life where gratifying the lusts of my flesh was the norm, where rebelling against God was my way of life. I was involved in pornography and gluttony and drunkenness, and I was in so deep I thought I would never get out. Even if you haven't been involved in any of those things, there still must be recognition of being born into bondage, born into sinful desires and wrong thinking, born into selfish living.
And what happened to us when we descended into sin? Sin "stripped us, beat us, and left us half dead." Sin robs us of all good things. It strips us of everything good, right, healthy, and God-honoring. And it leaves us "half dead." Half-dead is an excellent description because, in this condition of sin, we are alive physically but dead spiritually.
And even though religion had no power or desire to save us, but instead passed us by on the other side, Jesus Christ did not pass by. He had compassion for our miserable condition. He was moved with pity, and in mercy, He came to where we were, beaten and bruised by sin, and lying half-dead. He bandaged us with His love and mercy, and as a magnificent display of His amazing grace, He went to the cross and purchased our healing, and our rest, and our forgiveness.
It cost Jesus something to help us in this manner; it cost Him His life. Just like the Samaritan who purchased rest for the bruised man, so Jesus Christ bought our rest in Him and our healing from the wounds of sin, with His very life. Now that is mercy. And it is seen best at the cross.
Next, let us move to an Old Testament illustration that teaches the mercy of God's character, and connects that mercy, again, to the cross of Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament worship system, there was a covering for the Ark of the Covenant. This covering was actually a "seat" where the High Priest was required to sprinkle blood, once a year, for the forgiveness of the sins of the nation of Israel. The name of this piece of furniture, with the blood sprinkled on it, was called the Mercy Seat. Directly over the mercy seat was the presence of God, dwelling between two Cherubim. As God looked down upon the blood, He would have mercy on His erring children. Please examine these Scriptures:
"You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.” Exodus 25:17-18
“And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.” Exodus 25:21-22
Question 3. From Exodus 25:22, what two specific things happened at the mercy seat?
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From Exodus 25:22, we see that God would "meet with" the high priest and "speak with" him at the mercy seat. Please keep these truths in mind as we read additional verses about the mercy seat:
“And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you.” Exodus 30:6
“And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.” Leviticus 16:14
The cross of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the "Mercy Seat" of the Old Testament. God looks down upon the death of His Son, Who shed His blood for our forgiveness, and He has mercy on His people. Just as God met with the people and spoke to them from above the mercy seat, so He meets with us at the cross and speaks to us at the cross.
The Words He speaks at the cross are words of mercy. If we linger at the cross and examine it with eyes of faith, here are the words we will hear:
Forgiveness: "To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43).
Acceptance: "to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved" (Ephesians 1:6 NKJV).
Redemption: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7).
Reconciliation: "More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Romans 5:11).
Peace with God: "and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20). "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
Eternal life: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
Where do we see the correlation between the Mercy Seat and the cross of Jesus Christ? This is an excellent question to ask and is a most enlightening study. Here is a hint that gets us started in this study: notice Romans 3:25, which we studied earlier in these lessons:
“...whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Romans 3:25
The word "propitiation" (the removal of God’s wrath that happened at the cross) is defined this way in Strong’s Concordance:
Neuter of a derivative of G2433; an expiatory (place or thing), that is, (concretely) an atoning victim, or (specifically) the lid of the Ark (in the Temple): - mercy seat, propitiation.
https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/greek/2435.html
Here we find that the Greek word for the Mercy Seat, hilasterion, is used in the New Testament in reference to the "propitiation", or the cross of Jesus Christ. In fact, the same word translated "propitiation" in Romans 3:25 is actually translated as "Mercy Seat" in Hebrews 9:5:
“Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” Hebrews 9:5
Question 4. Please think through this truth. How is the Mercy Seat in the Old Testament comparable to the cross of Jesus Christ?
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