Then he made the Ark's cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It was 45 inches long and 27 inches wide. (Exodus 37:6 NLT)
The ark of the covenant would be placed in the most holy place where the high priest would enter one day a year to make atonement for the people's. This small box was a symbol for the manifest presence of God. God's presence hovered over the most holy place & looked down on the ark.
God had Moses place a few things in the ark. One article was a jar of manna to remind the people of God's provision. Another was Aaron's rod that budded & still another was the tablets with God's law written on them. When the high priest would come into the most holy place every year he would sprinkle the blood on the top of the ark. It was called the mercy seat. That way, when God looked down he saw the blood & forgave his people. The blood covered the top of the ark so that God didn't see the law in the ark that his people had broken but rather he sees the blood of the lamb, forgiving their sin.
Romans 3:25 says of Jesus, "Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins (Romans 3:25 ESV). The word propitiation literally means "mercy seat". Jesus is the mercy seat that God has put forward to show his righteousness & to forgive sins once & for all. Now, everyone who trusts in Christ & his death on the cross will have the blood applied to their hearts so that when God looks at them he doesn't see the brown law in their lives, but he sees the righteousness of his Son.
No comments:
Post a Comment