THE MERCY SEAT

HEBREWS 10:11–18

This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds

(Hebrews 10:16, quoting Jeremiah 31:33).

In 1 Chronicles 28:2, David says concerning the temple: “I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.” The ark is the footstool, and we need to bear that in mind as we consider Hebrews 10:15–17 today.

Inside the ark was one thing: the tablets of the Law. Above the ark was the mercy seat, on which the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the day of atonement. We who were Christ’s enemies, have now been made His footstool. That means we have become the human form of the ark of the covenant.

The author of Hebrews combines this symbolism with a statement from Jeremiah 31:33–34. These verses say that God will write His Laws on our hearts. This fulfills the symbolism of the ark. Just as the law was inside the ark, so it is now inside of us. Just as the ark journeyed through the wilderness, with God enthroned above it, so now we journey toward our sabbath, with Christ enthroned above us.

But between the ark and God’s enthroned presence in the pillar of cloud, there was a slab of gold called the mercy seat. What did this mean? Remember that blood was put on the mercy seat. This meant that when God looked down at the ark, His people, He looked through the blood on the mercy seat. That blood represented Christ.

So now, fulfilling the symbolism, Christ is seated on the mercy seat. When God the Father looks down at us, the new ark, He sees us through Jesus. Jesus is above us. God sees Him and remembers His blood. And so the author of Hebrews continues his quotation from Jeremiah, “The sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).

The animal sacrifices reminded God of sins year by year, because that blood could never remove sin (Hebrews 10:3–4). But the blood of Jesus, which we plead, reminds God of Christ’s atoning death, and for this reason God does not remember our sins any longer. Instead He remembers Jesus, and we who have fled for refuge under His feet.

CORAM DEO

Ezekiel 21–24

WEEKEND

Ezekiel 25–32

Use your imagination to picture this scenario. Above is God, angry at sin. Below is the ark, which is us. Between God and us is the mercy seat, which is Jesus. Jesus mediates between God and us, and God is now satisfied and happy with us. Can you see more fully why we must always pray “in Jesus’ name”?

For further study: Jeremiah 31:31–34 • Hebrews 8:10 • Revelation 21:1–4

WEEKEND