Let us turn again to God's Word
in the portion, the chapter that we read, in Jeremiah chapter
17. And I want, with the Lord's help,
to direct you for a while this evening to the words that we
have here in the 12th verse. Jeremiah 17.12, a glorious high
throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Jeremiah 17.12, a glorious high
throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary, to
consider then something of the glorious high throne. What is this that is being spoken
of by the prophets in these words that I've just read as a text?
Well, it's interesting if we go back to the earlier chapters
in chapter 3 and verse 17, we read these words, they shall
call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. They shall call Jerusalem
the throne of the Lord. In what sense was Jerusalem the
throne of the Lord? It was of course because of the
glory of the temple that stood there upon Mount Zion. Remember what we are told in
that 122nd Psalm concerning Jerusalem. David said, I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet
shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built,
it is a city that is compact together, with that the tribes
go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel,
to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set
thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for
the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love
thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions'
sakes I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house
of the Lord, our God, I will seek thy good. We see clearly then from that
psalm what Jerusalem was and what the glory of Jerusalem was.
It was the temple and there the Oracle, the Holy of Holies, the
place where God would come and meet with his people. Again in
another Psalm, Psalm 132, for the Lord hath chosen Zion,
he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever, he
says here, will I dwell for I have desired it. There then was God's
throne and in a particular sense we know what that throne was.
It was the mercy seat. It was that that
was placed upon top of the ark of the covenant, the very place
that God spoke to Moses concerning back in Exodus. There in Exodus
25 where Moses is in the mount receiving all those instructions
and directions with regards to every part of the furnishings
of the tabernacle. He is given instruction there
in Exodus 25-21 with regards to the mercy seat and God's promise
that there he would come and meet with the children of Israel. And so we see how he comes to
pass that the prophet can utter such words as we have in the
text, the glorious high throne from the beginning is the place
of our sanctuary. Or there under the wings of the
cherubim they would meet with God, and there they would find
their place of safety. And of course, the awful thing
was, in the days of Jeremiah, that God's judgments were coming
upon the people. There would be the destruction
of Jerusalem, the temple would be razed to the ground, the people
would be taken away into exile and languished there for 70 years,
in captivity in Babylon, and all because of their sins, because
of their departures from God, because of their idolatrous ways. How these things are spoken of
in the earlier part of the 17th chapter, verse 3. God says, O
my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy
treasures to the spoil. and thy high places for sin throughout
all thy borders. And thou, even thyself, shalt
discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee, and I will
cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest
not. For ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn
for ever." Oh, they were going to be taken away then. They were
going to have all those privileges and blessings taken from the
doubt that we read of these things previously in chapter 14. And
there in verse 7 of that chapter, O
LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy
name's sake, for our backslidings are men, we have sinned against
them, O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble!
Why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land, as a wayfaring man
that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldst thou be
as a man astounded, as a mighty man that cannot say, Yet thou,
O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thine name,
leave us not? They are made to plead in some
measure with God, to cry to Him, And then again there at the end
of that chapter, verse 21, Do not abhor us for thy name's sake.
Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. Break not thy covenant
with us. And yet, it was all in vain there. Religion was but a formal religion.
Oh, they were trusting in these things. They were saying the
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord are these. There was no real spirituality in the hearts
of these people. They had forsaken the Lord God. And how solemn are the words
that we read at the beginning of the 17th chapter concerning
Judah's sin, written with a pen of iron, with the pint of a diamond,
graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns of your
altars. And God did remove himself and
removed all that glory from Jerusalem. God's judgments did ultimately
fall upon Judah just as they had fallen upon Israel in the
north. It's Ezekiel who speaks very
plainly of what the Lord God was doing. It's a remarkable
book, that of the prophet Ezekiel, not an easy book. In the opening
chapter we have that strange vision that the prophet is caused
to see, and he sees something of the throne of God. He sees
the living creatures. And there at the end of that
chapter, verse 26, it says, Above the firmament that was over their
heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire
stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness
of the appearance of a man. Above, upon it, he has a vision
of the throne of God, all that was represented by the mercy
seat. But then later we see that all this is being removed and
taken away by degrees. In chapter 10 of Ezekiel, and there at verse 18, it says,
and the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the
house, that is the temple, and stood over the cherubims. and
the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the
earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels
also were beside them, and everyone stood at the door of the east
gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel
was over them above." Here it is, and it's moving now from
the center of that temple moving now to the east gate of the Lord's
house. And then in the very next chapter,
it moves further from them. In Ezekiel 11, and there at verse 22, We're told then did the cherubims
lift up their wings and the wheels beside them and the glory of
the God of Israel was over them above and the glory of the Lord
went up from the midst of the city. Lord God now not at the
east gate of the city or the east gate of the temple but moving
out of the city and stood it says upon the mountain which
is on the east side of the city. God is moving. God's glory, the
Shekinah glory is departing and moving constantly ever more eastward. And the interesting thing is
that those who were taken into exile, of course, were taken
to the east of Jerusalem. They were going to be taken into
Babylon. And the glory of God is as it were going with that
little remnant that God is going to preserve. He will yet preserve
a testament And after the 70 years of course they will return,
there will be the rebuilding of the temple, the rebuilding
of the walls of Jerusalem, all must be preserved until the coming
of Him who is the fulfillment of all these things, who is the
fulfillment even of the temple itself. This is what they are
lamenting then here in Jeremiah, that that was before them it
seems, that God was about to depart and yet What do we read
here in the words of the text that I've announced? The glorious
high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Even when Jerusalem is gone,
the one who is being spoken of here is still a sanctuary to
his people, even when they find themselves scattered and exiled
there in the evil city of Babylon and remember Daniel will pray daily to Jerusalem when
he is here with the captives in Babylon when he comes to make
that great prayer in chapter 19 when he sees that the 70 years
have been accomplished Of course it was the temple that was built
by Solomon. And we have the prayer that Solomon
prayed at the building when that work was completed. That long prayer that's recorded
in the first book of Kings. And there in 1 Kings 8, He says at verse 29, addressing
God, that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day,
even toward the place of which thou hast said my name shall
be there, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant
shall make toward this place. We've remarked on previous occasions,
even last week, how Jonah would pray towards all that was represented
when Jonah was there, in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea,
swallowed up in the fish's bellies. What does he say in his prayer?
Jonah chapter 2 verse 4, I am cast out of thy sight yet will
I look again toward thy holy temple. He wasn't actually looking
in a physical sense to the temple, he couldn't do that, but he was
looking to all that that temple typified. And then again, it's
not only looking. He says later in his prayer,
wherever God's people are, there is this glorious high throne. Well, as we come then to consider
these words in Jeremiah 17 verse 12, First of all, to say something
with regards to the language of faith. This is very much the
language of faith, the language of the assurance of faith. The
glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our
sanctuary. Now, it contrasts with those
words that I've already referred to at the end of chapter 14.
Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory, was their prayer.
Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. Now God would not,
and God could not, ever disgrace the throne of his glory, just
as God would never, of course, break his covenant. Disgrace
not the throne of thy glory, remember, they say. Break not
thy covenant with us. None of these things could ever
occur. Even though God might deal with his people in the way
of chastenings, and that's what he was doing with them in visiting
that terrible exile upon them, but he would never break his
covenant with his people, because he is God. Or what does he say
when he enters into covenant with his friend, with Abraham?
When God made a promise to Abraham, we're told, because he could
swear by no greater, He swore by Himself. He gave His Word,
but He gave more than His Word, He gave Himself. If His Word
was to fail, He also would fail. He would no more be God. In that
sense, as the Psalmist says, Thou hast magnified Thy Word
above all Thy Name. What a blessing it is that we
have this book. The Old Testament, the Old Covenant,
and the New Testament, the New Covenant. And this is nothing
less than the Word of God. Oh yes, holy men of God speak,
but they speak as they were moved, as they were borne along, carried
along by the Spirit of God. They were caused to speak the
very words of God, and these words are recorded, all Scripture,
all that is inscripturated in this book, has been given by
inspiration of God. It is a blessed thing then when
we come together to hear the reading of God's Word and the
preaching of the Word of God. Because this is a God who cannot
lie. O God, it is not a man that he
should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. As he
said it, shall he not do it? As he spoke on it, shall he not
make it good? stating truths I suppose that
you would say are so basic and yet how we need to remind ourselves
time and time again of these great truths concerning God and
concerning the Word of God. He says, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. The glorious high throne from
the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. And yet, this
is what we have recorded here in Jeremiah's book, previously
in that 14th chapter. Do not abhor us for thy name's
sake. Do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory. Remember, break not thy covenant
with us. Now, on Thursday I thought to
speak from those words that we have at the end of verse 19 in
Isaiah chapter 30, that reference to the voice of thy cry, the
voice of thy cry. And I remarked there that sometimes
the voice of that cry is nothing more than that simple word, Abba. Well, we have that promise, remember,
in Galatians 4.6. the Spirit of God's Son in the
believer, crying, Abba, Father. That simple sound, probably the
first sound a babe ever makes to say Abba. Sometimes that's
all we can do when we come to see God and to pray to Him. Sometimes we can't even manage
maybe to utter the word Abba. And we have to then come with
those groanings. The Spirit is the one who helps
our infirmities, we're told, making intercession for us with
those groanings. Those groanings that cannot be
uttered. Well, what do we have here when
we contrast these two verses? When we contrast what is said
in our text with that that is recorded previously? It seems here to be so contradictory. In one part the Prophet is declaring
this great truth concerning God's throne, the glorious high throne,
he says, the real place of sanctuary, and yet previously we have those
words in verse 21 of chapter 14. Well, it's part of the paradox
of faith. It is such a strange grace, is
it not? Sometimes in our weakness we
won't have any faith at all. Again, on Thursday, I remarked
on even the Lord Jesus Christ, a real man. Oh, let us never
lose sight of the reality of his human nature, touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, remember. He knew our sinless
infirmities. He was without any sin, but that
prayer that he prays, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? and how there he was so afflicted
in his soul, but still, though he feels so deserted, he can
still address God with that language of appropriation. He can say,
my God, my God. But faith, I say, is such a strange
thing, and at times it's so paradoxical. We sometimes speak to God of
things that God had said he would never do. but has made it quite plain that
there are things he would never do. And we have the record in
Scripture, all these things written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, says Paul. We
have the record of those gracious men and women of faith, both
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. And think of a
man like Moses. When Moses is in the mountain,
the children of Israel are guilty of of terrible sin, transgressing
the very commandment of God within a few days of God speaking those
ten words from Mount Sinai. They were not to make raven images,
and yet they sought to worship God by means of the golden calf.
And now Moses is the one who comes and stands as he were in
the breach, and he pleads and prays to God for them. God would
disinherit them, cast them off, and make of Moses a nation to
serve him. But what does Moses do? Well,
this man cries. We have the record there at the
end of Exodus 32. What does he say in verse 31?
Moses returned unto the Lord and said, All these people have
sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet know,
if thou wilt forgive their sin, and then he seems to break off.
And he says, if not, blots me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written. Now God does not block the names
out of that book. He doesn't blot any name out.
They're written there. All we've seen, as we read at
the beginning of this 17th chapter in Jeremiah, is written with
a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond, how much more is
that grace of God towards those whom he has purposed to save?
Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. There's no
blotting out of those names, yet there we see something of
the intensity of the feelings of that man he asks for things
that are altogether impossible. God would never blot his name
out. And we see the same spirit, don't we, when he comes to the
Apostle, in the opening words of that great ninth chapter of
the Epistle to the Romans. There in Romans 9, Paul begins,
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing
me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ. for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh." What is this man saying? He could
wish himself to be accursed. Such was his love for the nation
of the Jews, for the Hebrews. It's a strange thing to state,
but this is the paradox oftentimes of the experiences and the language
and the prayers of the saints of God. We have it also in David. in his great psalm, what we call
his penitential psalm, Psalm 51, cast me not away from my
presence, he says, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Would
God really take away his Holy Spirit? Would God really cast
this man out of his presence? Had this man not experienced
the grace of God, was he not one who was a saved sinner. Do
you see how David felt his sin? He feared that God would cast
him away forever. And often God's people are in
that low place. We see the Psalmist there many,
many times. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? God's people become disquieted,
depressed, in a low place. Hoping God, hoping God I shall
get praise from Him, who is the health of my countenance, and
my God, says the psalmist. But there in those two psalms,
Psalm 42 and 43, remember, three times he addresses himself in
that fashion. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Three times. And worse than that,
what does he say in Psalm 43 verse 2? Why dost thou cast me
off? He feels cast off. He feels cast
off. But that is not the way of God. God's Word is quite different
to that. Psalm 94 and verse 14, The Lord will not cast off his
people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. Oh, there's
the assurance, you see, the Word of God. What a blessed Word it
is that God has given to us. It's here that we find such comfort. But the language, the language
of the people of God when they come to God in their prayers
is often so strange and contradictory, paradoxical, we would really
say. And that's what we see when we
read here. We see something then in this
paradox, I would say, of the reality of the faith of God's
people. It's not just a matter of the
mind and assent into certain doctrines. A notional faith. Some call it a Sandemanian faith,
after a Scottish Baptist minister, Robert Sandeman, who contended
that faith was simply mental assent. No, faith is much more
than that. through faith the life of God,
deep in the heart it lies, lives and labours under the gate. It
never dies. And I think that's what we see
here in what we have in this book of
Jeremiah. But looking at the words of the
text that I announced in chapter 17 and verse 12, what we have
here surely is the confidence of faith. Oh yes, the language
of faith might be strange at times, but what language is this? What assurance is this? A glorious
high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Now this is not the language
of presumption. We have to distinguish. We have
to distinguish faith, real faith, The assurance of faith, the full
assurance of faith, we have to distinguish that from presumption. Imagine that to have any assurance
at all is presumptuous. That's ridiculous. That's really Roman Catholicism.
Rome doesn't teach any doctrine of assurance. It wants the people
all their days to be in doubt. the Church, you see, and by the
Church that's not the laity, that's the clergy, that's the
Pope, and all the bishops, and all the paraphernalia that we
have in Roman Catholicism. They want the power. And so there's
no real doctrine of assurance. But there is a doctrine of assurance
here in the Word of God. But we have to, as I say, distinguish
that from any presumption. Look at what we have previously
in chapter 7. I've already made some reference,
I suppose, just in passing to the words that we have in chapter
7. There, in chapter 7, at verse at verse 4, it says this, Trust
ye not in lying words, saying the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. This was the word that the Prophet
was to address to those who were going into Jerusalem. There in verse 2, Stand in the
gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and
say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in
at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus hath the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, amended your ways and your doings, and I will
cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words,
saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord. What are they being rebuked for? They are being rebuked
for formalism, having a form of godliness, trusting
in the mere externals of religion, but knowing nothing of the power
of those things. We sang that hymn 884, I made
some reference to it on Thursday evening, it's a beautiful hymn
of John Berry, and he contrasts there, as I said, from the first
verse to the fourth verse. the formalists who just go through
the motions and those who have a real faith and a real desire
towards the Lord's God. Now God hates and abhors all
formalism and all presumption and this was a great sin in Israel
in the years previous to the captivity during the ministry
of Isaiah he was preaching probably a hundred years before the exile
right through to Jeremiah and Ezekiel who were ministering
at the time of the captivity. Isaiah both begins and concludes
his book by speaking against that formal religion. There in Isaiah 1 verse 10 hear
the words of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Lord
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. He's addressing Judah here. It's
said in verse 9, except the Lord of hosts hath left unto us a
very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom and we should
have been like unto Gomorrah. He uses a simile But now it's
worse. He's actually addressing them
as if they are those wicked cities of the plague. They are to hear
the word of the Lord. And this is the word. Verse 11. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt
offering of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?
Bring no more vain oblations, incenses, and abomination unto
me. The new moons and sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot agree with. It is iniquity. Even
the solemn meeting, your new moons and your appointed feasts,
my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I
am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make
many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of knife."
Awful. Frightening words really. They're
going through all the motions. Why? Who did require all these
sacrifices? It was God's commandment. That's all the Levitical laws.
but they're abusing the services of God's house. And I say, as
he begins, so the prophet also ends his book on the same theme. In chapter 66, verse 3, He that killeth an ox
is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb is
as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation
as if he offered swine's blood, either burn of incense, as if
he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighted in their abominations. I will
also choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon
them, because when I called none did answer, when I spake they
did not hear, but they did evil before my nose, and chose that
in which I delighted not. having a form of godliness and
denying the power thereof. This is how he speaks, remember
Isaiah 29, those verses where he rebukes them, they draw near
with the lip, they honour God with the mouth, but their hearts,
their hearts are far from him. What is this sort of religion?
It's simply a religion of the earth formalism, pretense, hypocrisy. It's written in the earth. Look at the verse following our
text, O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be
ashamed, and they that depart from thee shall be written in
the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain
of living waters. They are written in the earth.
And how the Prophet addresses them, the boldness of this Prophet,
there in chapter 22 and verse 29 he says, Oh earth, earth,
earth, hear the word of the Lord. Oh are we those whose thoughts
and affections are so earthed and we're so taken up with the
things of the world. What are the marks of the Godless? Through faith, isn't it something
inwards, isn't it that of the heart and the spirit is in the
kingdom of God within you according to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
affections to be set on things in heaven. If ye then be risen
with Christ, says Paul, seek those things that are above where
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead.
And your life is heads with Christ. in God, how we have to die, crucify
the things of the flesh, that we might live to God. We don't
just want a religion that's on the outsides, the externals of
religion, the form of godliness. Now, it's good to have a godly
form, things are to be done decently and in order, That's good, that's
commendable. We want more than the mere right
outside. We want something inward. As
believers are brought to see something of the glories of God,
do they not then begin to realize what they are by nature? Strange
isn't the way the Lord deals with us. We're brought to that,
we have to abhor ourselves when we see God, when we see the glories
of God. And this is the glory of this text really. It's God.
It's God that's being spoken of here. A glorious high throne
from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. It's not some
physical object, the throne. It's the one who fills the throne.
And when we come and see something of those glorious... Think of
the experience of a man like Job. And remember he was a just
man. He was stood even. I'm not saying
he was a sinless man, there were things the Lord dealt with him
for a purpose, there were things there that the Lord obviously
was dealing with in the life of Job, but he was a justified
sinner, he was a child of God. But what does he say at the end
of his book? Those great words in chapter
42, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine
eye seeth thee, therefore I abhor thyself. and repent in dust and
ashes? Or do we not have to come to
that? This is in some sense what some are coming to. In that 14th
chapter, we've heard several times the verse 21, but the previous
verse, verse 20, we acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the
iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against them.
Do not abhor us for thy name's sake. Do not disgrace the throne
of thy glory. Remember, break not thy covenant
with us." Or there was a remnant that God would preserve. And
that remnant is the remnant that feels its sin. And it's such
people who make their confession and look to God and desire that
they might know those blessed healings that God does grant
to His people. 14. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall
be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. Is that our prayer? We want to
know the Lord's healings. Or sometimes maybe we're asking
the Lord to give us a measure of physical health and strength.
With all those healings in our souls, That's salvation. And
we need the Lord to come to us and visit us time and time and
time and time and time again with that great salvation that
is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. The glorious high throne from
the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. The high throne.
What does this remind us of? Oh, it reminds us of that God
who sits on the circle of the earth and looks upon all the
inhabitants and the nations and they're like grasshoppers. Again
the psalmist says our God is in the heavens, he has done whatsoever
he pleases. He is that one who is sovereign. When we think of a high throne,
well that's the throne that rules over everything. The sovereignty
of God. What a blessed truth is that
of God's sovereignty and how we should look there, surely
in these days, for our confidence. Everything that's happening in
this world, in this nation, around us, in our own lives, everything,
every detail is in the hand of God, sovereign ruler of the skies,
ever gracious, ever wise, all my times are in thy hand, all
events at thy command. Isn't the truth of God's absolute
sovereignty the comfort to the people of God, the glorious high
throne we reach. This is where we're to look,
this is where we're to trust. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, it says in verse 7. whose hope the Lord is. And of course the contrast is
with what's been said previously at verse 5. Cursed be the man
that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart
departeth from the Lord. Our leaders trust in men, make
flesh their arm. Or are they going to find the
solution themselves to the pandemic? no recognition of the sovereignty
of God. But when that judgment begins,
remember it begins at the house of God, it begins with us, and
we're not to look to an arm of flesh, we're to look to God.
And we're to trust in God as God, and that means He's sovereign. It's as basic as that, is it
not? The sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, He just
is no longer God. But His throne is a glorious
high throne and it's from the beginning. All this is that throne
that is eternal. But to think in terms of that
are we not? He is that God who is the creator
of all things. He made all things out of nothing
in six days and created simply by the word of his mouth. He
spoke and it was done. He commanded. and he stood fast,
or the one who fills the throne, is none other than that great
God, that glorious God." But you know, more than that, we
can say that this throne really centers in the person of God's
eternal Son, it centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The throne,
I believe, is Christ. Is he not that one who is the
antitype? of the Mercy Seat. And I said
at the beginning that what's being spoken of here is that
that was the glory of Jerusalem which was the the Temple of the
Lord and the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat where God
said he would come and meet with his people. And the Mercy Seat
is a type and Christ is the the anti-type. And I think this is
made so plain to us in the New Testament. Remember Hebrews 9
where in the opening verses Paul begins to speak of the tabernacle
and all the furnishings of the tabernacle. And he says he hasn't
time to go into all the detail. He just makes a passing reference
as it were, but amongst other pieces he speaks of the mercy
seat. And he uses a word there, which
is found on just one other occasion. Variants of that word are found
in other places, but the actual word that he uses there in Hebrews
9.5 is only used on one other occasion, and we have it there
in Romans 3, in verse 25. He speaks of Christ Jesus, Romans
3, the end of 24, then he goes on, whom God has set forth to
be a propitiation through faith in his blood. And it's the same
word, propitiation, that is translated mercy seat in Hebrews 9.5. Surely then we have to recognize
we could read Romans 3.25, whom God hath set forth to be a mercy
saint, through faith in his blood. Christ is the mercy saint. Christ is the throne of grace,
or that blood-sprinkled mercy saint. That blood-sprinkled mercy
saint. Healing his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation. It's a variant of that word that
we have in Romans 3.25 there in 1 John 4.10. God has set forth
the Lord Jesus as a propitiation. In other words, God has visited
all his wrath upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. and
think of what we have back in Leviticus 16 where the high priest
goes into the holy of holies with the blood of sacrifice and
he sprinkles it all upon the mercy seat and all before the
mercy seat the blood sprinkled mercy seat that's the Lord Jesus
Christ and it's this one you see who is being spoken of here
that glorious high throne from the beginning the place of our
sanctuary is the Lord Jesus Christ. Or we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
It was tempted in all points like us, we are yet without sin.
And so Paul speaks of him there at the end of Hebrews chapter
4, but then he makes a conclusion, he makes a deduction, doesn't
he? Therefore, he says, let us come bold into the throne of
God. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. It's all on the basis of
that one who he is speaking of, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom
we can come boldly, boldly to the throne of grace. Literally,
we can come with all speech. I said sometimes we can't find
words, we can only just about utter the word Abba. Or maybe we just grow, or we
say contradictory and paradoxical things. But we can talk. We can take with us words and
turn to the Lord and say, take away all iniquity, receive us
graciously. He says again, open thy mouth
wide and I will fill it, or that the Lord would fill our mouths
with prayers and with praises to Him. We might recognize that
here is the place of our comfort. The only place of our comfort
is to be there at that blessed mercy seat, that throne of grace,
where we can pour out our hearts to Him and make all our requests
known. And as we were reminded this
morning, we can tell Him all our secrets. All those sins,
those secret sins that we're so ashamed of, everything. We
can come so freely and there we can find all that comfort,
all that salvation, all that security that we feel so very
much to be in need of. A glorious high throne from the
beginning is the place of our sanctification. May the Lord
bless His Word. Amen. We're going to sing this act,
including hymn 675, the tune 925. Come boldly to a throne of grass,
ye wretched sinners, come. And now you'll know that Jesus
feet and plead what he has done. How can I come? Some soul may
say I'm lame and cannot walk. My guilt and sin have stuck my
mouth. I sigh, but dare not talk. Come boldly to the throne of
grace. Though lost and blind and lame, Jehovah is a sinner's
friend and ever was the same. 675 to 925.