(57) The Mercy Seat

God instructed Moses to construct a cover for the Ark of the Covenant. It is called the mercy seat or the atonement cover. It was made of solid gold and had two solid gold cheribim who stood over it, looking down on the cover, with their wings stretching across and touching each other.

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary explains that “The Hebrew word (kapporeth) is a term referring to the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.” So, while the contents of the chest were a reminder of man’s sin and failure, the covering is a place of mercy, forgiveness, redemption.

The significance of the atonement cover is seen in glorious beauty on the annual Day of Atonement. John J. Parsons (www.hebrew4christians.com) writes:

The biblical name for the day of Atonement is Yorn Kippurim, meaning "the day of covering, canceling, pardon, reconciling” Yom Kippur was the only time when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and call upon the Name of YHVH [Yahweh] to offer blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. This "life for a life" principle is the foundation of the sacrificial system and marked the great day of intercession made by the High Priest on behalf of Israel.

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest began by bathing and dressing in very basic linen garments. He would begin by offering a bull for himself and his family and would then sprinkle its blood on the Mercy Seat. He would then take two goats and cast lots to determine the role of each one in the next rituals. One goat would be chosen to be sacrificed for the atonement of the nation. The blood of this goat would then be taken into the Holy of Hollies and its blood was also sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, the atonement cover. Next, the High Priest would turn his attention to the second goat.

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:21-22)

Do you see it? The high priest would place two hands on the head of the goat and confess the sins of the people. Then, the goat would be led outside the camp to a remote place, carrying the sins of the people outside the camp where the goat was released. The sins were now atoned for by the blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and also removed through by means of the scapegoat.

The Day of Atonement was a yearly reminder that sin must be atoned for. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:22). The annual repetition of this sacrifice was a reminder that it was incomplete, only a shadow, pointing forward to the perfect and permanent sacrifice for sin. The scapegoat was a shadow looking forward with hope to the complete removal of sin. And Jesus is the real thing. Jesus is the fulfillment of hope.

For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. 2For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin? 3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.

10By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest stands day after day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again– sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. 14For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. 15And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying, 16"This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds," 17then he says, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer." 18Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. (Heb. 10:1-4, 10-18 NLT)

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, the atoning sacrifice providing a complete and permanent covering for sin and the removal of sin. The Ark of the Covenant is a sobering reminder of sin a reminder of utter hopelessness. It is a reminder of man's continual failure. The Mercy Seat is a place of confident hope, a place of complete forgiveness. Jesus is the reality. Jesus is the fulfillment of hope.

To know Jesus up close and personal is to know complete and permanent forgiveness for all sins, no matter how great or how often repeated. That’s grace! That’s mercy! That’s Jesus, up close and personal. Far greater than all the models, all the portraits. More than wishful hoping. Reality!
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Next: (58) Jesus: The Passover Lamb - Introduction