In the Old Testament, I think
there could not have been a greater day of consolation, a greater
day of instruction, a greater day of joy mingled with sorrow
for those who truly believed God than the day of atonement
when Aaron the high priest would take the blood of the Paschal
Lamb and go in where no man could see him, where no man dare go
except the priest, and he only once a year, and then only with
the blood of the sacrifice God had appointed. And there he would
make atonement for the sins of the people. When the blood was
sprinkled upon the mercy seat, Abram would take off his linen
garments and come back out and put on his holy priestly garments
and his breastplate and the effort and the mantle and come out and
lift his hands and bless the people. So that in the midst
of their trials, in the midst of their heartaches, in the midst
of their adversities, in the midst of their difficulties,
the people of God were once more given assurance God has met them
on the mercy seat. And God's blessings flow to them
through him who's represented in that mercy seat. Tonight I
want you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9. I'm going to be preaching
to you about the Ark of the Covenant. Not that physical ark, but what
was represented in that ark. Now, the purpose of the Holy
Spirit in this chapter is threefold. It is basically the same in every
chapter in the book of Hebrews. First, it is to show us the preeminence
and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ over the tabernacle, the
priesthood of the Old Testament, all the sacrifices and ceremonies
and services of that carnal day and those carnal institutions.
Secondly, it is to show us how that all which had gone before
in the Levitical covenant were only types and pictures of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that the sacrifices and the services performed
in the Old Testament could not by any means take away sin. They only portrayed the taking
away of sin. Turn to Hebrews 10. Just flip
over a page and look at Hebrews 10 for just a moment. For the
law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of those things, can never, with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Of course they would, because
that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices there's not a purging of sin,
but there's only a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world to fulfill the types. And that's the third
reason that the Holy Spirit has given us this ninth chapter of
Hebrews. to show us that all the Levitical ceremonies, all
the sacrifices, all the services of the first covenant have come
to their divinely appointed end being completely, absolutely,
forever fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He has taken away the first that
he may establish the second. The Ark of the Covenant is our
subject tonight. That Ark of the Covenant was
the most sacred of all things in Jewish worship in the Old
Testament. If you could find that Ark, what was it in that
Ark that made it so special? What would you find in the Ark?
Now thank God nobody's ever found it, and no one ever will. If
folks found the Ark, they'd make pilgrimages to it, and they'd
fall down and worship it like men do with other religious relics,
which are nothing but idolatry. If you could find it, if you
did find it, please burn it. Don't tell anybody where it is
because we'd make an idol out of it. But God has destroyed
the ark so that we might see Him who truly is the ark of the
covenant. Alright, read with me in Hebrews
9 beginning at verse 1. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first, that's the outer court you have in that drawing, the
first wearing was the candlestick and the table and the showbread
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, that's the holy
of holies, that 45 by 15 foot little place inside the tabernacle,
which had the golden censer. and the ark of the covenant,
overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that
had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy
seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now here
the apostle describes the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, and
those things that were in the ark. He tells us that inside
that ark, underneath the mercy seat, there was the golden pot
that had manna, Aaron's rod that budded, the tables of the law,
the tables of the covenant, and above the mercy seat, the cherubims
of glory. Now, tonight I want us simply
to look at this ark and the things represented in it, and I pray
that God will stir our hearts up to see, to seek, and to worship
him who's represented in this ark. All the ordinances of the
divine service, all the rites and ceremonies of the worldless
sanctuary, the tabernacle and all things pertaining to the
tabernacle were types of Christ. We cannot understand anything
in the Old Testament until we understand that the whole of
the Old Testament All the ordinances of the Old Testament were given
by God to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be pictures
of redemption and grace through the sacrifice of Christ our substitute. In our text this evening, the
Holy Spirit uses the tabernacle and the furniture in the tabernacle
to show us the excellence, preeminence, and glory of Christ. The tabernacle
itself is a picture of Christ. It was glorious within, but humble
without. Everything on the inside of that
tabernacle was gold, overlaid with pure gold. Inside and out,
gold. Beauty. Glorious within. Outside,
it was an ugly tent. Badger skins. Nothing appealing
to it at all. And so it is with our Lord Jesus
Christ. He who is himself God Almighty. Took on himself our nature. He humbled himself and became
one of us. And he became obedient unto God
as a servant of God in utter humiliation so that outwardly
There's no form, no beauty, no comeliness about him, nothing
about him physically, nothing about his physical trait, his
physical family, his physical characteristics that would attract
us to him. But he is God Almighty in human
flesh. The brazen altar represents Christ's
sufferings. Where the wrath of God consumed
the sacrifice, we have a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
God and Savior, consumed by the wrath of God for us, and yet
he consumes the wrath of God. The laver is a picture of Christ,
our fountain, that fountain open for sin, for cleansing and for
uncleanness. The candlestick is a picture
of Christ, who is the light of the world. The table of shewbread
is Christ the bread of life. The altar of incense, that's
Christ our intercessor, by whose merit our prayers are accepted,
our services are accepted unto God. The veil, that veil which
at last on the day when Christ died was written to from the
top to the bottom, is Christ the door. He's the way of access
unto God our Father. The Ark of the Covenant is Christ,
our reconciliation. There God meets with sinners. God said, I will meet you on
the mercy seat between the cherubim. And there it is that God meets
me. And only in Jesus Christ who is our mercy seat, our propitiation. Tonight, let's go into the holiest
of all, by the golden censer of our Savior's merits, and ask
God to show us Christ as our Ark. Let us then be found in
him, worshiping him. This Ark of the Covenant is a
beautiful picture of our Redeemer. It was made of Shittim wood,
just ordinary wood, plain, nothing attractive, but overlaid on the
inside and on the outside with pure gold, representing both
the incorruptible humanity and the glorious deity of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The Ark was a symbol of God's
holiness, power, and glory. It was carried about only by
God's appointed priest, only upon staves as God had described
and God required, which fit in certain sockets in the side of
the Ark, and carried from one place to the other by those priests.
You remember the mistake that David made when he made a cart
for the ark and brought it up on a brand new cart pulled by
oxen. He was breaking God's law. When
Uzzah steadied the ark with his hand, he broke God's law and
God killed him. David said, the Lord brought
a breach on us because we sought him not after the due order.
This ark was carried only by God's priest from place to place
as they led the camp of Israel. all through the wilderness for
40 years. From place to place they carried the ark, carried
by those days as God ordained, fitting in those ringlets, those
sockets in the side of the ark. And so it is that the gospel
of Christ, the glory of God, is carried in this world and
through this world upon the shoulders of God's servants and God's church
as we preach the gospel of his grace to all men. Now I want
to show you several things in this passage tonight that are
represented in the Ark of the Covenant. You'll be able to follow
me very easily. I want to show you five or six
things. First, if we could go behind the veil with the high
priest on the Day of Atonement into the Holy of Holies, the
very first thing that would strike your eye would be the cherubims
of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. That mercy seat, just about
the size of a good-sized coffee table. And on either end of it
were cherubims of glory, molded as one with the mercy seat, facing
one another, and yet facing down upon the mercy seat. Those cherubim
represent God's preachers. That's the first thing we'd see.
Turn to Exodus 25 for a moment. Exodus 25. This is the same thing that John
describes in Revelation 4 when he was called up in the spirit
into heaven to behold the throne of God and the works of God.
He calls these cherubim living creatures and describes them
with their faces, each one facing a different part of the earth
so that God's creatures are facing and sent into all the four corners
of the earth proclaiming the gospel of his grace. Here in
Exodus 25 verse 18. Thou shalt make two cherubims
of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends
of the mercy seat, and make one cherub on the one end and the
other cherub on the other end. Even of the mercy seat shalt
thou make the cherubims on 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. Toward
the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. You remember
when Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. He said,
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. That's the mercy seat.
That's the mercy seat. It's that throne of grace described
in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16, where the Son of God sits today.
And our Lord Jesus in John 12 said, when Isaiah saw this, he
saw me. What he saw was Christ sitting
on the throne, our great high priest, our mercy seat, our propitiation. And he saw the seraphim. And
they cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And Isaiah
was describing exactly what's described here in Exodus chapter
25. These cherubim represent symbolically God's servants,
gospel preachers. Now hear what I'm saying. It
is not possible for a sinner to find, to know, or come to
God apart from the instrumentality of gospel preaching. It's just
not. God's preachers are not priests.
But God's preachers weren't given for no reason. We detest the
idolatrous notion of priestcraft or using preachers or preachers
trying to function in any way as priests standing between men
and God. That simply is not the teaching
of scripture. But God's preachers are his angels. Read Revelation. Chapter 2, chapter
3, chapter 4, the angels of the churches. They are God's messengers. They are those men ordained and
appointed and gifted of God by whom God carries His message
to His people in this world. And they ought to be treated
as such. Turn to two passages. Romans chapter 10. Romans 10. Verse 14. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Doesn't matter whether he's Jew
or Gentile, old or young, rich or poor, learned or unlearned.
It doesn't matter. Anybody who worships Christ is saved. Now
then, having made that statement, the Apostle Paul raises a question. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? You can't worship him if you
don't trust him. It's not possible. You can't call on Him if you
don't believe Him. Calling on Him is not just saying
Jesus or saying Oh Jesus or saying Oh God in desperation. But to
call on Him is to worship Him. To fall before Him because you
believe Him. How shall they call on Him whom
they've not believed? Here's another question. How
shall they believe in Him of whom they've not heard? You can't
trust Him if you haven't heard of Him. You can't believe on
him if he hasn't been preached to you. That's what he says in
the next line. How shall they hear without a preacher? And
how shall they preach? How on this earth can I preach
to you? I mean preach to you. And I'll stand up here and talk
to you. How on this earth can I speak
to your heart? I can't. Except they be sent. Ah, but if God's given me a message.
And God gives me the power to preach it. If God has sent me
here tonight to you, you're going to hear from God. Listen now.
How shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. For they have
not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Now turn back to that passage
that Paul quoted, Isaiah 52 verse 7. Isaiah 52 verse 7. How do you deal, how do you look
upon those men who preach the gospel to you? Doesn't matter
whether you're talking about our friend, Brother Walter Groover,
his son Cody down in Mexico. We're talking about Maurice down
in Madisonville. We're talking about Mayor, talking about Larry.
How do you deal with those men who preach the gospel to you?
How do you deal with them? How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. Try to get a picture. You're in a dungeon, you're condemned,
you're bound, you're starving, you're perishing for thirst,
you're naked, you're cold, and suddenly you hear the sound of
a coming deliverer. Oh, how sweet the sound. How
beautiful is the sound of the feet of him who comes, doing
what? Bringing good tidings, that publishes
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publishes salvation,
that saith and desireth, thy God reigneth. That's God's messenger. The eyes of God's servants, like
the cherubims, are always toward the mercy seat, ever looking
upon Christ the Savior. Their message is a message of
sins forgiven by blood atonement, looking on the mercy seat, where
the blood is sprinkled, where God says, I'll meet my people,
where God declares forgiveness. Their message is constantly forgiveness
by the Son of God. And the glory of God is revealed
in the message they preach. They cry continually, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. Our message is the declaration
of God's absolute holiness revealed in the sacrifice of his son in
the saving of his people. All right, secondly, You wouldn't
look long at the cherubim. Their eyes and their faces, their
wings direct your attention away from themselves to the mercy
seat. God's servants always do. That
mercy seat represents the Lord Jesus Christ, God's propitiation. First thing you see is God's
preachers, but next thing you see real quick is God's propitiation.
Turn to Exodus 25 again, look at verse 17. You might want to
just put your Bible marker next to this 25. We'll be looking
at it a lot. Thou shalt make the mercy seat
of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof. A cubit is about 18 inches. And
a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. Verse 21. And thou shalt
put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou
shalt put the testimony that I will give thee. And there will
I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, which are upon
the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee
in commandment unto the children of Israel. Now this mercy seat
is a picture of the Lord Jesus who is our propitiation. In fact,
the very word translated mercy seat in Hebrews 9 is the word
propitiation. It means propitiation. Turn to
1 John 4. We'll see it again. 1 John 4. Verse 9. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. Here's where you see it. Because
that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the mercy
seat. That's the word. To be the propitiation
for our sins. On the day of atonement, Aaron
would take the blood and go in behind the veil into the Holy
of Holies and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat. And there,
symbolically, sin was put away. Symbolically, the law was covered. Symbolically, the commandment
we had broken was covered. Atonement was made. So that there,
symbolically, we are at one with God. That's what atonement means. Reconciliation. At one with. At one with God. Through the
blood of Christ. You remember the publican? In
Luke 18, was it, he lifted up his eyes, or would not so much
as lift up his eyes in the temple, but rather he smote on his breast
and he said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The word merciful,
it means God, be propitious to me, the sinner. So that that
publican, while he is in the temple, recognizing his sins,
seeking God's mercy, cries to God to look on him who's represented
in the mercy seat, Christ the Lord, and be propitious to me.
Receive me for Christ's sake. That's how we approach God. Always,
Lord God, be merciful to me through your Son, me, the sinner, in
the mercy seat. is that place described in Hebrews
9.12. when we read, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. The Lord Jesus, by the virtue
of his blood, by the merit of his blood, by the power and efficacy
of his blood, has now entered into heaven as the God-man mediator,
our substitute, and by his blood has obtained eternal redemption
for us. So the mercy seat is a place
of substitution. The mercy seat was the place
of sacrifice. The mercy seat was the place
of satisfaction. There, God is satisfied. Looking on the blood of Christ,
God looks on his people and is well pleased. Thirdly, standing
in the holiest of all with Christ, our Aaron, our great high priest,
suddenly We realize that we're standing before the mercy seat,
the symbol of God's presence. You who are yet without Christ,
if ever God is pleased to speak to you by the word of his servant,
the word of his spirit, and calls you to see Christ crucified as
your substitute, You'll be overwhelmed standing in God's presence. In
God's presence. Turn to Leviticus 9. With blood upon the mercy seat,
covering the broken tables of the law, we see the glory of
God in the pardon of sin by the sacrifice of Christ. Now this
is what's spoken of here in Hebrews 9. I'm sorry, Leviticus 9. And
Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation
and came out and blessed the people. Look at it now. And the
glory of God appeared to the people. How's that? Through blood atonement, through
justice satisfied. And there came a fire from before
the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering, and
the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on
their faces. Oh, glory! God does forgive sin. Oh, glory! God Almighty has found
a way to put away sin. Look in Psalm 85. Psalm 85. The psalmist here sings of this
very thing. Verse 9. Surely His salvation is near
them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. That glory,
the very glory of God may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth
have met together. You remember what the wise men
said? By mercy and by truth, iniquity is purged. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. How? Through the sacrifice of
God's Son. Now truth shall spring out of
the earth. Christ has put away sin. He has
sprung out of the earth. And righteousness looks down
from heaven. Now then, turn to that passage
we referred to earlier in Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6. Here's a man who finds himself
standing before God's propitiation in God's presence. In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up in His train filled the temple.
And above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. And with
two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet,
and with two he flew. Covered his face in humiliation,
covered his feet in shame, and quickly flew to do the will of
his God. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of Sabbath.
The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door
moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled
with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then, quickly as he
makes the confession, then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the
altar. laid it on my lips and said,
Lo, your iniquity is taken away. The Holy Spirit comes with the
word of grace and speaks peace to the heart of the sinner to
whom He reveals redemption accomplished. God not only meets us upon the
mercy seat, in Christ He abides with us. Now this is what that
means. Rex read Isaiah 49 to us in the office tonight. describing
the great glory and goodness of God our Savior. But this is
what the text means. What he read there, and what
I'll read to you in a moment in Isaiah 43. I think Rex read
this to us last Sunday evening. No matter where you are, if you're
in Christ, no matter what I experience if I'm in Christ, No matter what
my circumstances, if I'm in Christ, the name of the place where we
are is Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. He has met
us in Christ and Sam, he's with us. He said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Three
times over he makes what seems to be a redundant declaration
saying I will never, no never, no never leave thee and never
forsake thee. Here in Isaiah 43, we see how
that we are hid with Christ our Savior, our mercy seat. Now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. He that formed thee,
O Israel. Isn't it amazing? He created
you, you scoundrel, and He formed you, you prince with God. Fear
not. Oh, I can't tell you what those
two words do for me as I read them falling from the lips of
our Savior. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. How come? For I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Why should I be afraid? When
you pass through the waters, and you will, I will be with
you. Oh God, bring on the waters as
long as you're with me. But don't give me peace and forsakeness.
And through the rivers, yes, through the rivers of woe and
trouble, they shall not overflow thee. You're not going to just
stand in them, you're going to pass through them. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. And you
won't even smell like you've got any smoke on you. Neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Now, here's his proof. I gave
Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. That passage
Rex read earlier tonight in the office, he said kings will be
your nursing fathers. And their queens your nursing
mothers. What? Yeah, I gave Ethiopia for you.
I gave Saba for you. I sacrificed Egypt for you. And
that's just half the story. Thou hast been honorable, and
I have loved thee. Therefore, since I love you,
I'll give men for you and people for your life. Fear not, I am
with thee. All right, here's the fourth
thing, back in our text, Hebrews 9. I want us to do by faith what
no mortal man could ever do in the Old Testament, except Abraham the high priest.
But remember now, we're priests unto God. I want us to lift up
the veil. And I want us to look inside,
and not only look inside the holy of holies, but I want us
to lift up the mercy seat and look inside the ark. Remember
now, I'm talking to you about the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
that silly movie back, oh it was a good movie, I watched it,
real exciting, but superstitious as it could be. Raiders of the
Lost Ark, finally found that thing. Man, snakes came out and
ate them up. Fiery serpents came out and ate
them up. No, no, no. Look inside the ark now. Look
inside Christ Jesus. And this is what you'll see.
God's purpose. God's purpose. There are the
two tables of the law which we have broken. The broken law and
our sins. But blessed be God, they're under
the mercy seat. They're under the blood. And they'll never be found anywhere
else. They're under the blood. Hidden, as it were, from the
eyes of God, symbolically. Listen, buddy-duddy. Hidden,
really, in Christ our Mercy Seat, from the eyes of God Almighty.
Under the blood. Under the blood. The law of God
was written upon tables of stone, representing both the hardness
of our hearts and the inflexibility of His law. The law represents
our curse and condemnation because of our sin. But this law was
always kept in the ark, under the mercy seat. Turn back to
Exodus 25 one more time. Look at verse 16. Oh, I thank God he commanded
Moses to put it in the ark and leave it there. Put it in the
ark. Verse 16. Thou shalt put it into
the ark of the testimony which I shall give thee. Verse 21.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and
in the ark thou shalt put the testimony, the law, which I shall
give thee. Now that perfect redemption portrayed
here is a picture of redemption by Jesus Christ for God's elect. And that's God's purpose. The
reason why God does everything, the focus of everything is redemption. The focus of everything. In Israel,
The constant, unwavering focus of attention, that to which God
constantly drew the minds of His people by everything He did,
by every commandment He gave, was beyond the mercy seat. And I'm telling you that God's
purpose of grace in Christ, our redemption, is that to which
God Almighty has focused His heart and that to which He focuses
everything. Everything comes to pass according
to this purpose of God. Now, the law of God being perfectly
satisfied by Christ, cries out for the salvation of God's elect. Just dissatisfied. pleads effectually
for sin's forgiveness. God's justice, will you hear
me? God's justice demands the salvation of his people. God's
justice demands the salvation of every soul for whom Christ
died. God's justice demands that those for whom atonement has
been made at the mercy seat must go free. Justice will not allow
that we be punished twice for the same offense. All right,
fifthly, look again. There's something else inside
this ark. There's Aaron's rod that budded.
Oh, what does that speak of? Remember, back in Numbers, there was a contention made.
Who's God's prophet? Who's God's priest? Moses said,
lay your rods down there. And one of them blossomed. A
stick. Blossomed flowers grew out of
it. That rod represents God's power in life. Christ was smitten
by Moses' rod, the law. And so he was smitten indeed,
like the rock was smitten by Moses' rod. But life flows to
sinners by Aaron's rod. Turn to Romans 1. You see, the gospel of Christ
is the power of God. The power of God unto salvation,
unto life everlasting. And before it, Dagon must fall.
He always does. Paul's been describing the gospel
here in Romans 1 in verse 16. He says, I'm not ashamed. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. How come? For it is the power of God. That's an accurate translation,
but if we were to transliterate that word like the translators
did the word baptize, The word would be written like this, it
is the dynamite of God. It's the dynamite, the explosive
power of God. What do you do with dynamite?
You just throw it, step out of the way. That's all. What's the gospel? It's the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. For as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. Now there's one more thing in
the ark under the mercy seat. Turn to Exodus 16. Inside the ark under the mercy
seat is the golden pot that had manna. That too is a picture of Christ,
God's provision. Exodus 16 verse 33. Moses said
to Aaron, take a pot. and put an omer full of manna
therein, and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your
generations. As the Lord commanded Moses,
so Raven laid it up before the testimony to be kept. It was
a golden pot. Rich, bountiful provision. Provision from God himself. And it was a big pot. It held
a full omer of manna. It had manna, the bread from
heaven. Now God's provision for sinners
such as we are is laid up in Christ. Abraham gave him this
name, Jehovah Chira. The Lord will provide. In him
are all provisions of grace for our souls. All provisions of
providence for time. All provisions of blessedness
for eternity. Well, what do we do with all
this? Well, come to the ark. Come on to the ark. Come and
find life. Come and find mercy. Come and
find bread for your soul. The way is open. All who come
to God by Christ find that God says, I'll meet you right here
and I'll dwell with you forever. And everything we need. Oh, God, convince me every moment
that everything I need is in Christ. Everything God has is in Christ. Everything God gives is in Christ. And everybody who's got Christ
has got it all. Indeed, Christ is all. Amen. Let's turn to number 222. In
222, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's
veins.