The Tabernacle - The Ark And The Mercy Seat

Q: What does the Bible say about the mercy seat?

The mercy seat represents the place where God communes with His people, signifying His mercy through the sacrificial blood. In Exodus 25, the mercy seat is described as the lid for the Ark of the Covenant, where the blood of sacrifices was poured. This symbolizes God's acceptance and mercy towards sinners, wherein the high priest would sprinkle blood to atone for the people's sins. It shows that God's mercy, given through Christ's sacrifice, covers our sins and allows us to enter His presence. The mercy seat illustrates the depth of God's love and justice, as it provides a means of atonement essential for salvation.

Q: Why is the concept of atonement important for Christians?

Atonement is crucial as it addresses the need for blood to cover sins, allowing believers to be reconciled to God. Atonement indicates the covering of sins through the sacrificial blood, fulfilling God's justice and mercy. In the Old Testament, sacrifices were made to atone for sins, but those were only temporary. They pointed to Christ, the ultimate sacrifice, whose death satisfied God's justice by paying the penalty for sin. For Christians, understanding atonement reinforces the necessity of Christ's sacrifice and highlights that salvation is through faith in His blood, which covers and removes sin, enabling access to God.

Q: How do we know Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for salvation?

We know Christ's sacrifice is sufficient because it satisfies God's justice and provides full atonement for sin. Christ's sacrifice is central to the gospel, where His blood serves as the ultimate payment for sin. According to Isaiah 53:6, the iniquity of humanity was laid upon Him, demonstrating that Christ bore the full weight of sin. This establishes that no further sacrifice is necessary, as He fulfilled the law perfectly and atoned for our transgressions. The resurrection confirms the sufficiency of His sacrifice, as it signifies victory over sin and death, assuring believers of their salvation through faith in Him.

Q: What does the Ark of the Covenant symbolize in Christian faith?

The Ark of the Covenant symbolizes God's presence and promises, pointing to Christ as the fulfillment of God's law and mercy. The Ark signifies God's covenant with His people, containing the tablets of the law and representing His holy presence. In the New Testament, the Ark foreshadows Christ, who embodies both the law and God's promise of redemption. Just as the mercy seat was the place for the high priest to present blood for atonement, Christ is our mercy seat, where His perfect sacrifice covers our sins. Thus, the Ark's imagery reinforces the overarching narrative of God's redemptive plan culminating in Christ.

Exit is checker 25. We're just about to complete our studies
in Tabernacle. And as we study this last piece
of furniture, it's significant that we remember the first piece
of furniture. We're going to study the last,
You need to remember the first. You might remember what the first
one was. What? The Brazen Altar, okay? The Brazen
Altar. I know you knew that. Just pray
to speak up. It began with the Brazen Altar. It was the first
piece that you came to when you came inside the courtyard of
that tabernacle. That was the first thing you
saw. And that art, that brazen altar, what it spoke of was the
blood sacrifice. The sacrifice. The body of a
lamb or a bullock was literally slain and roasted on that altar. And the blood was collected.
Now stay with me now, this is going to be a real blessing to
you. Now stay with me. That blood was collected from
that animal that was slain on that altar. And that spoke of
Christ very clearly. Christ was the altar. Christ
was the animal. It was Christ's blood. Now the
last thing we come to, the very last piece of furniture that
we come to, is the ark. The ark with the mercy seat covering
it. I'm including the ark and the
mercy seat as one piece of furniture. There are really two. The last
thing we come to is the Ark, and it too speaks of blood, but
more in depth, in a deeper meaning. We see now the blood before the
Lord. We see now where the high priest
came with that bowl, that basin of blood that he carefully collected
from that brazen altar, and then went in, and this was the means,
this blood was the means by which God was able to commune or accept
the people, accept the people into his presence and as a covering. And the blood before the Lord,
the blood was literally poured out, this basin of blood, this
huge basin of blood was literally poured out on the mercy seat. And though the last things we
come to, listen, I chose my words carefully here. Though this is
the last thing we come to, God instituted this first, here in
Exodus 25. Now, this is significant, spiritually
significant. This was the first piece of furniture
God told him to make, not to altar, but to ark. Why is that? Because before the actual sacrifice
was made, God had already prepared the place of acceptance. and
atonement first. What does that tell you? The
fact that God already prepared the place of acceptance before
he had an instrument or a means of sacrifice. What does that
tell you? That tells me Christ is the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world, right? He was already prepared before
he was given a body or an altar to make this sacrifice with.
And this tells me, too, that Christ is the first and the last,
right? and all in between. Now, Exodus
chapter 25, beginning with verse 10. And God says, They shall
make an ark. He brought your pamphlet here
with you. Make an ark. There's a pretty
good picture in there of the ark. The ark of this Shittim
wood. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof,
and a cubit and a half the height thereof. Make an ark. What the
word art means simply is a box, a receptacle, a container. Make a box, God said, I want
you to put some valuable things in it. Make a box, a receptacle. Of wood, of this chitim wood,
of wood. This was plain and ordinary wood. It was earthen materials. It
was an earthen vessel. What this box was was a wooden
box. That's all it was. There wasn't
anything special about it. It was just a wooden box, a plain
ordinary wooden box. But, verse 11, thou shalt overlay
it, though, with pure gold, within and without. Shalt thou overlay
it with pure gold, within and without. It was an earthen vessel,
yes, a wooden box, yet there was pure gold on the inside and
on the outside. And the scripture says, when
Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering,
that is, lambs and bulls and so forth, thou wouldest not.
He didn't desire for me sacrifices and offerings and so forth, but
a body hast thou prepared me, a body, a plain, ordinary, earthen
vessel, a human body, plain and ordinary, just like the one you
see, much like this one you see before you. plain, ordinary earthen
body, but within and without pure gold. God was in Christ. God was in Christ. Within the
Spirit of Christ, perfect, spotless, and without. Although if we see
Him, there's no beauty in Him that we should desire Him, yet
if you take a closer look, His works everything he does, everything
he said, everything that came from that body, his outward show,
display, pure gold, everything about him, spotless, within and
without. A God-ordained, God-planned,
God-made receptacle to hold some valuable things. God made a box,
a receptacle, to hold some valuable things, yea, all things. Scripture
says, In him, in this tabernacle, in this one who tabernacled among
us, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a box." Just
a man. He's just a man, they say. Oh,
no. He's not just a man. Verse 11 again, "...and thou
shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about it. Jesus Christ
is King of kings and Lord of lords." Kings wear crowns, don't
they, Henry? He wore a crown, and when he
was on this earth, he wore a crown. It was a crown of thorns, yes,
but by virtue of the blood that covered it, it was a golden crown. That precious, priceless blood
that covered that stain that coated that crown of thorns made
that a golden crown, a priceless golden crown. And like the gold
in this ark here, it was beaten gold. The gold in this ark was
made from beaten gold, and the gold, that blood that came out
of his body, was beaten out of him, literally beaten out of
him. And the king, notice this too,
the king had a scepter. It doesn't say it here, but in
another place. The king had a scepter, a scepter of righteousness. They
gave him a stick and called it his scepter, but he had a scepter
all right. The scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of his kingdom. And God said, Now thou shalt
cast four rings of gold," attach and cast four rings of gold for
this ark, and put them into four corners thereof. Two rings should
be on the one side and two rings on the other side. Four rings
of gold, God told them to cast. And God had a cast of characters
throughout the Old Testament which spake of Christ, but he
had four characters that he cast. Four Gospels that were cast in
the mold, the message, the good news of Christ, perfectly displayed
and carried the story of Christ. Verse 13, "...and now shall make
staves, two sticks of this wood overlaid with gold, and now shall
put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that
the ark may be born with them." Two staves through the four rings. We've seen this before, haven't
we? Two staves, this is the person and the work of Christ, which
support the whole work of salvation. Because of who he was, because
of what he did, it supports this whole message of redemption,
of salvation. The righteousness and the shed
blood of Christ, which bear up, which supports the whole gospel
story. And these two staves were used
to carry this ark around. The person and the work of Christ,
his righteousness, his shed blood, carry our sins away, and they
carry us to God. We're also a type of this art. We're going to see this in a
minute. But what this all tells me, tells us, is that salvation
is of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the instant, this was
the means of communion, of acceptance with God, this piece of furniture. And this is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And the whole thing rests on
his shoulders, on his shoulders. He bore our sins in his own body,
on the tree, a stage. a tree, and he'll always bear
us up, bear us up, keep us poured up by that same body and blood. And verse 15, this is significant,
this is the first time we read of this, the staves, verse 15,
the sticks shall always be in the rings of the ark. The sticks
weren't always in the rings of the altar and the other tables
and so forth, but this one they're supposed to stay right there.
Those sticks are supposed to stay right there. Christ is right
now seated at the right hand of God, never to move, never
to move. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. And like Thomas, when we get
there, perhaps Christ will show us his hands and his feet. He'll
show us. And one look at those skies will
stave off all unbelief, all unbelief. Now, it's just a box. This is
just a picture, just a type, just a shadow, just a box is
all it was of the real thing, the true one who was to come,
the true tabernacle. Now, I want you to look at this
box full of valuables. Look at verse 16. And God said,
you put into the ark, put into this box the testimony. Now,
it gets real good here. Put into this ark the testimony
which I shall give thee. The testimony, the ark of the
covenant, it's called. The testimony. The testimony
was the law of God. Remember? The law, the two tables
that Moses brought down from the mountain with him? He put
those inside of the ark. On these tables contained the
very mind and the will of God Almighty. The testimony, the
word of God, the covenant. The covenant was God's will,
God's mind, God's word. It was inside the ark. It's the
law of God, inside the ark, the law of God. It was written by
God and placed within the ark for safekeeping. As long as that
ark existed, that law was to be inside of that ark for safekeeping,
never to be lost. Now, you remember a moment ago
when I quoted that verse from Hebrews where he said, in burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast no pleasure but
a body thou hast prepared for me? Remember that? Remember? Why? Why is God not pleased with
sacrifices and offerings and these things? He really never
was pleased, never really did accept these things. They were
just a picture and a title. Why? Why is God not pleased with
these things? Christ said, go and learn what
this means. He said, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. You
go and learn what that means. Why? Why won't God take our works,
take sacrifices? Why wouldn't God accept all of
this? Well, first of all, because God is spirit. God is not worshipped
with men's hands. Never has been, never will be. God couldn't be really worshipped
with men's hands and all these types and blood of bulls and
animals and goats and so forth. God's spirit. He always has been,
always will be. He always will be worshiped.
God is spirit. He seeketh such to worship him
in spirit. And men had to worship God back
then in spirit, same as they do now in spirit. And so God
wouldn't take these offerings and sacrifices for sin. But,
and, the reason God won't take these things is because God is
holy. God is just. God is perfect. And God is only pleased with
one thing. God is only pleased with one
thing, he's not pleased with things of this earth, with our
work, with our sacrifices, with our ceremonies, and even though
he's the one. You remember when Isaiah 1, he
said, I'm sick of this stuff. He was the one that instituted
it, but finally he said, I'm sick of it, it's a stench in
my nostril. Why did he say that? Because
people were bringing it out of duty and habit, because it was
supposed to be a thing to be done, and they weren't worshipping
God. Much like we sit in church all the time. You know, we're
here, we're doing our duty, and so our minds are a thousand miles
away. We're not worshipping God. God said, I'm sick of it. And that's the reason he said
it the first time. I'm sick of the stench in my nostrils. Might as well not have brought
it. In another place he said, you might as well cut a dog's
throat as a lamb, right? And we might as well be playing
golf or going fishing or something as to come in here and make a
pretense of worship and not have our hearts and our minds and
our affections set on things above us. That's how serious
this thing is. I'm talking about Christ Jesus,
our only hope, our only acceptance before holy God now. Listen up. God is holy, just, and perfect. God's only pleased with one thing.
The scripture says God is, the Lord is pleased for his righteousness
sake. It says the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. Right? He said it shall be perfect
to be accepted. Righteous, holy, just. God didn't
require sacrifice so much in the beginning as he did obedience
to bring the sacrifice. Right? Before this, Abraham was
was justified before he did a thing. Why? Because he believed God.
His obedience to the faith. That's what God requires of us.
Obedience. Obedience, that is, to the faith.
Faith. And we are flesh. Now listen,
Paul said, we are flesh, we're sold unto sin, Romans 7. No flesh,
in the flesh no man can please God. Nobody in here in the flesh
can please God. No man, nobody has ever pleased
God in the flesh, but one. But one. And that's why Christ
said, now listen to it again, I'm going to quote it again.
This is why Christ said, Lo, sacrifices and offerings thou
wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. Now, lo, I'm
a-coming. I come to offer a lamb, a bullock,
and so forth. to do thy will. Why did Christ
come? To do the will of God, to keep
God's law perfectly even within. God requires of us perfect obedience,
not just on the outside but on the inside, right? His law must
be kept perfectly, and Christ was his chosen vessel under the
Lord, a man approved of God to keep God's holy law. Yeah, the
Scripture says he even magnified it and made it honorable. You understand? That box wherein
contained the law of God, that golden box for safekeeping, the
law of Christ came out here, this golden vessel, to keep God's
holy love, to keep it perfectly. And the Scripture says he takes
away the first, it's just a box. Throw it away. If somebody were
to find that, and they hadn't found it, Indiana Jones did not
find it. If they were to find that thing, we ought to do like
Moses did with the calf, and like Hezekiah did with the serpent,
grind her up. that worthless piece of box,
a wooden box. He takes away the first box to
establish the second, that golden vessel, an everlasting ark, an everlasting
one before the Lord, ark. And he's right now speeded this
vessel This man is right now seated at the right hand of God,
the right hand of God, and we are in him inside of this vessel. And last of all, but first in
importance, last of all, but first in importance, not only
did Christ need to come down here to make us acceptable to
God, to live perfectly, but something else is needed. Something else
is needed before we can be accepted into God's presence. Look over
at Exodus chapter 34. Look at that. Something else
is needed. Christ must live for us perfectly
before God as a man to establish this righteousness, to keep God's
holy law as a man, because that's what God demands of us. And he
has to give us this righteousness. He has to give it. That's called
imputing. Anybody in here, I think, has heard that. He has to impute
or charge to our account, and how we receive this is just by
saying, Lord, I need it. I believe. And the Lord said,
here, it's yours. You don't do a thing to procure
it. You don't make yourself worthy.
You don't make yourself religious. You just say, Lord, I sure need
this righteousness. I see you're holding it, and
I want to be with you. I need this covering. I need this righteousness. I
need this perfection that you require. that you demand, and
Christ came down here and wrought it out, worked it out, like a
garment, so hand-sewn garment, and wrapped his people in it,
clothed them, and he imputed that. But, now you ought to mark
this in your Bible. If you don't have it marked,
you ought to mark it. Not very many people recognize
this verse of Scripture, maybe never even seen it. Exodus thirty-four,
verse seven. Well, verse 6, the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, proclaimed the Lord, the Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and, oh, right here it is. Now, he forgives, he has mercy,
and so forth. And he will by no means clear
the guilty. God will by no means clear the
guilty. That is, let somebody go stock
free without payment for what they've done. And all the world,
he says, he will not by any means clear the guilty. And all the
world, Romans says, is guilty before God, right? God will not just forgive him,
it must be punished. God is just. Harry, his justice
must be satisfied. We don't have justice anymore.
Our judicial system is a farce. The average murderer is off scot-free
in seven years. The average murderer is on the
street in seven years. They say, we'll give you a life,
turn. Give you death, and then pill
after pill, finally they let him off of that. God's justice
is justice. The scripture says every sin
shall receive a just recompense, right? A reward. The soul that
sinneth must surely die. God said that, and God means
it. And this is the reason, now listen, this is the reason he
said it's not possible now that the blood of bulls and goats
can take away our sin. Charlie, a lamb can't do anything
about my sin before God. A bull, a bull can't do anything
about my sin. Animals can't die for human beings.
By man came sin, so a man must die, right? Not only did Christ
have to come and live for us, to sanctify us, to make us holy,
to make us holy, to set us apart for God's holy use, he had to
come to die for us, to justify us, to pay for the crimes we
had done, to pay for the punishment that we were due. Punishment,
separation from God. When he was on that cross, John,
he said, My God, my God, he forsaken me. That's what God deserved
to do to us. Christ took it for us. In the span of a few hours,
he took an eternity of separation because of who he was. Christ said, to die the death
I deserve, the soul that sins must surely die. I sin, violent,
I got to die. Christ died for me. He went somewhere
for three days. Some people say, when in the
hell is that? I don't know. He shed his blood, Christ said,
to shed his blood for the remission of my sin. And in doing so, he
became my mercy seat. Turn back to Exodus 25, we talked
about the ark, that box where he was contained, that law of
God, that vessel. That chosen vessel of God, a
golden vessel wherein was contained the perfect mind, will of God
Almighty, that's Christ. That's the works of Christ. That's
the person of Christ. But Christ is also this mercy
saved. This is the key right here, to
the gospel. I wish I could convey this like
it ought to be. This word, mercy. What a word. Especially in an old, guilty,
vile center. You know the reason the gospel
doesn't mean so much to us most of the time? Because we don't feel too badly
about ourselves. We're either in a state of spiritual
lethargy, indifference, or else we're full of self-righteousness.
And these things don't mean that much to us. Mercy. So when we
get real down, this is why God allows us to go through some
bad times. This is why God allows Satan
to assault us and ourselves, to rear its ugly head before
us, show us just how wicked and evil we are, and make us run
back to our first love, because we forget him real so soon, don't
we? The one thing we need for, the one thing we need more than
anything, the one thing that the children of Israel need more
than anything to get into God's presence is mercy, sir. And I
tell you what we need above all. It's God having mercy on us. Like I was talking about a while
ago, not worshiping Him in spirit, God better be having mercy on
us right now. Right? That's why the Scripture
says His mercies are new every morning. They better be, John,
because I wake up in a pit of sin and vileness and wickedness
and forget God most of the day. And then when I do remember Him,
I make a pretense, a stab at Him. And thank God, his mercy
endures forever, too. How many times it says that in
the scriptures? Forever. It's got to, doesn't it? That's
the one thing you need for it. Philius, Exodus twenty-five,
verse seventeen. And thou shalt make a mercy seat. A mercy seat. It's a seat. Mercy. A seat is a place you
can recline, right, and rest, and find mercy. Mercy's feet
are pure gold. You know, believers are also
called the temple of God. Listen, here's where we are a
picture, or this ark is a type of believer. The church of God
is called the tabernacle where He dwells, where He meets. God meets with His people in
the church. And though we have a law, you remember when we read
that over in Hebrews 9 where He said, I'll write my law on
their inside? We got the law in us, right?
But what's wrong with it? Like this ark, the law is within
us. We've got the law written on
our hearts, but what's wrong with it? What's wrong with the law
in us? It's broken, right? We've broken
it on every hand, every part of it. Every part of God's holy
law, we've broken it. And our sins are ever before
us and ever before the all-seeing eye of God Almighty. OK? But God, who is rich in what? In mercy, has covered our sins. He can't see them. The all-seeing,
omnipotent, omniscient eye of God Almighty, omnipresent eye
of God Almighty can see you. If you better hope you're in
Christ right now, the eye of God doesn't see your hypocrisy.
The eye of God doesn't see your sin, my sin. A mercy seat. You know what the mercy seat
was? A mercy seat was a covering. It was a covering. It was a top
covering for that art. Look at it. You have that picture. Pretty good drawing of it. This is a lid. Kept a lid on
the thing. Keep things being opened up for
all to see. It's a lid. It's a covering.
A mercy seat. A mercy seat. And we're like
that child, now listen, we're like that child in Ezekiel sixteen,
the figure, naked. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of him with whom we have to do, must do, Christ.
All things, our thoughts, our actions, our ways, our inactions,
are open, naked before God Almighty. He sees all. God sees us. God sees that. We're naked and
we're dying, just like that infant in that field, cast out, polluted
in our own blood and our sins, naked and dying. And God must
say, He said, when I passed by, when Christ came, when Christ
passed by, when He passed this way, He looked upon us. See, when I passed by thee, I
looked upon thee, and behold, thy time, in God's good time,
that day of salvation, my time, are in his hand. Your time, gospel
time, the day of salvation. Behold, thy time was a time of
love. And what did he say? He said,
I spread my skirt over thee. that robe of his righteousness.
I spread my spirit over you and covered your nakedness, shed
my blood and covered your nakedness. And I swore, he said, I swore
unto you and I entered into a covenant, a gospel covenant, that I'll
never leave you nor forsake thee. A covenant, said the Lord, and
you became mine. You're mine, bought with a price. And this price, this covering,
this priceless covering, was his own precious blood. You see, turn back to Genesis
chapter 6 with me. We've only been here 35 minutes.
I've only been preaching 35 minutes. Genesis chapter 6, look back
here with me. You see this mercy seat, like I said, it's covered
the Ark of the Covenant, and it was never opened. He was never
to be opened after the covenant. That's a picture of us, the broken
law in between, in us. When that high priest came into
the Holy of Holies, He literally poured this blood all over that
thing, and it ran all down, all over top of that thing, all down
the sides of it, and literally, do you know how many sacrifices
they made year after year after year after year? It was caked
and covered. You ever seen blood after a period
of time, after it dries and so forth? It's like tar, right? Now, here's another ark. Here's
another ark that was covered with something. Genesis chapter
6. This mercy seat was the final destination of that sacrificial
blood. And this is where the blood was applied, okay? And
like I said, it ran over every inch of that ark, and it covered
every inch of it, and it made an atonement. The word atonement
means covering. It covered the broken law, covered
the sins of the people. And do you know what Old Testament
word means atonement? There's an Old Testament word
in here that means atonement. Look at it right here. Genesis
6, verse 14. Here's another ark. Make thee
an ark of gopher wood, another wooden ark. Room shalt thou make
in the ark, and thou shalt atone it. That's the very same word as
atonement, pitch, tar, waterproof. Atone it, within or without,
with atonement, with a covering. Noah was faithful because he
was in that ark, and he was safe because the ark was pitched.
Right? It was covered. And when the
overflowing scourge of God's wrath came through to destroy
all flesh, Noah found grace and mercy inside the ark. He was safe in the ark, which
was pitched. within and without. And God says
the same thing to us right now as he did to Noah and as he did
to Moses. You know Moses was put in an
ark as a baby? You remember that? You know how
his mother prepared the ark? She pitched it. She pitched it. Covered it. And you and I have
got to be in the ark as Christ and we've got to be sealed too.
Sealed. covered with pitch, and it's
the blood, as Scripture said, it's the blood that makes pitch
for the soul, covering and atonement. The precious blood of Christ. There's a New Testament word
for this. Anybody know what that is? It's used three times. A
New Testament word. Pro-pitch-iation. Pro-pitch-iation. whom God set
forth to be propitiation, a covering through faith in his blood,"
Paul said. And twice in 1 John, a pitch,
a covering, atonement. And you know what the publican
in the temple said? Remember when the publican in the temple
swallowed on his breast and cried out, God be merciful? Look it up in the original sometime.
He said, God, let the blood be on the mercy seat for my sins. Cover me. Lord God, I'm a wicked,
vile sinner. Cover me." A little pitch. Cover
me in the blood. God be merciful unto a naked
sinner. And one more thing. Look back
at the text, Exodus 25. One more thing. So see, we've
got to be in Christ. We've got to be in him, represented
by him. We've got to have his imputed
righteousness. We've got to have his shed blood
for justification. We've got to have this covering
for our sins. This pitch, this atonement, and
there's something else to notice about this arc. Chapter 25, verse
18, And thou shalt make two cherubins of gold, a beaten work shalt
thou make then, in the two ends of the mercy. Make one cherub
on the one end and the other cherub on the other end. Even
of the matter of the mercy seat, overtop of the mercy seat shall
you make these cherubim, the two ends thereof. And the cherubim
shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat
with their wings. And their faces shall look one
to another, and toward the mercy seat. Facing one another, but looking
down on the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be."
These two angels. two angels that hovered over
the ark and the mercy seat, one on each end, looking down on
this golden vessel. And in the beginning, God said,
Let us make man. Us. Let us make man. God looking down on us. And in the same sense, God the
Father on one side, God the Spirit hovered over. hovered over Christ
the Son, the Ark, while he was on this earth, hovered over him.
The Scripture also says this, there are three that bear record,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one,
one piece of furniture. They are one, the Ark of the
Covenant. Look at verse 21, And thou shalt
put the mercy seat above upon the Ark, and in the Ark thou
shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And that's
where I'll meet with you, and I'll commune with thee from above
the mercy seat, between the two cherubims which are upon the
ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment
unto the children of Israel." And you know where the place
of God is that he communes with us? The place God reveals himself? Christ, yes. Well, how does Christ
reveal himself? How does the Spirit reveal Christ
unto us? Right here, the gospel, the gospel
table. This is the place that God communes
with us in the gospel, concerning God's Son, our mercy stick. This
is where he communes and speaks to and reveals himself to his
people. are things that the angels desire
to look into. Now, I'm not just spiritualizing
here, I'm trying to be dramatic. When the gospel is preached,
when Christ is exalted and honored, the angels of God hover over
this place. Some, by his mercy and by his
grace, some people have this gospel anointed to their ears,
their hearts, their minds. That's the reason this thing
is so serious. This ain't just a church meeting. It ain't just
a Wednesday night so-called prayer meeting. The gospel is being
proclaimed here. The angels of God desire to look
into it. Christ is being honored. It's where God communes with
his people. It's much more serious than we take it, isn't it? Much
more serious. Which things the angel desired
to look into. God help us. Desire it more. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that we may grow thereby. Desire for the keen, fervent
interest in things of God. Set our affection on things above
where Christ sits, where the mercy seat is. God grant it. God grant it. Stand with me now,
just make it simple. Lord God, how we thank you for
this glorious, glorious message. Even if we just read it, it'd
be glorious to our eyes and our ears. What a beautiful picture
of Christ it is. God help us. God forgive us for
not seeing the beauty in it. We have no one to blame but ourselves. And we ask you that you might
apply it to someone in here You might apply it, it would be wonderful
to apply it to all that hear it, but be merciful and apply
it to one person, one needy sinner in need of mercy. Apply it, let
us seek, let the one seek Christ, the ark and the mercy seat where
God communes with his people. Lord God, how we praise your
holy name, for the Lord Jesus Christ, that unspeakable gift,
that vessel, that tabernacle among us. Amen. You're dismissed.

The Tabernacle - The Ark And The Mercy Seat

What does the Bible say about the mercy seat?

Why is the concept of atonement important for Christians?

How do we know Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for salvation?

What does the Ark of the Covenant symbolize in Christian faith?

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The Tabernacle - The Ark And The Mercy Seat

What does the Bible say about the mercy seat?

Why is the concept of atonement important for Christians?

How do we know Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for salvation?

What does the Ark of the Covenant symbolize in Christian faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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