THE next thing that is brought before us is the mercy seat, made of pure gold. It was a part of the ark, as it formed the lid, and was held in its place by the crown of gold on the top.
It is called a mercy seat, for God was providing a way that He, as a righteous God, could be in the midst of a sinful and failing people, and yet not consume them. He wanted to show them mercy, but His holiness and righteousness could not be forgotten.
On the ends of the mercy seat were cherubim; one cherub on each end. They were to represent the characters of God as judge, and while the description of how they were made is not given, yet from imitations that have been made of them, we might judge that they were made to look like the four heads of creation; that is, they very likely were composed of one part like a lion, another part like an ox, another part of wings like, a flying eagle, and another like the face of a man. The lion would he the symbol of power; the ox of stability; the wings, rapidity; and the face of a man, intelligence. As they were representing God’s character as judge on His throne, these different parts would show power, stability, rapidity and intelligence in judgment; but there is an important thing; the cherubim had their faces towards each other, and looking down on the mercy seat, and covered the mercy seat with their wings.
God had the priest to sprinkle the blood of the sin offering once on the mercy seat, and seven times on the ground in front of the mercy seat, (Lev. 16:1414And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. (Leviticus 16:14)), so these cherubim, while representing God as a judge, were thus showing that the judgment was held back from God’s people. because the blood spoke of death, which was the wages of sin. The penalty of sin had already been met.
It is the blood of Christ now that speaks before God, and that withholds God’s righteous judgment from falling on all those who put their trust in that blessed Saviour. The result of this is that we can come right into God’s presence, and can talk with Him.
ML 04/30/1922