Jesus Christ the Mercy Seat in the New Covenant!

Jesus Christ is the Ark of the Covenant in the New Covenant!

Jesus Christ is our Mercy Seat! The Propitiation!

The entire symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant has been fulfilled in Christ!

“Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the PROPITIATION for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.(1 John,2:2)

In the Old testament God told Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant as the first furniture in the tabernacle and was placed on the inner sanctuary of the temple. It was built by Israelites under Moses’ leadership as God revealed the plans of its construction. God was very specific in what materials were to be used and how the Ark was to be handled. That’s because the Ark was so wrapped up in symbolizing Jesus Christ as the true Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament! We have learned that in the types used in the Old testaments as furniture’s, persons and ceremonies were all the shadows pointing to Christ as the revelation – unveiled truth- in the N.C. It was all pointing to an eternal Covenant God will make with Jesus Christ for we mankind. The purpose for the Ark of the Covenant was to symbolize God’s visible presence on earth. The entire symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant has been fulfilled in Christ.

In the New Testament, the book of Hebrew, which was predominantly written to Jewish Christians as the title itself says “Hebrews”[It also meant for all the Christians for sure!] says that the sanctuary was a copy and shadow of what is in heaven, which is nothing but our Lord Jesus Christ! The book of Hebrews beautifully unveils the truth which was hidden in many of the Leviticus ceremonies. Jews were the Godly designated people to conduct all the rituals which God gave them via Moses. They practiced all the rituals until Christ shed all his blood on the cross, covering the sins of mankind! Also the book of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is the Mercy Seat in the New Covenant!

“They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle:”[Heb 8:5]

In this article let us see what is the Mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and the scriptural understanding on how was Jesus Christ become our mercy seat by atoning His blood on the cross as the substance unveiled in the New Covenant!

“And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.” [Exodus 25:10-22]”

The picture above shows 2 parts for the so called Ark of the Covenant

1. The wooden box overlaid with Gold

2. The golden cover fitted with 2 cherubim.[Mercy Seat]

“The Mercy Seat was constructed of pure gold (Ex. 25:17, 17-21). This Mercy Seat with its two cherubim at each end sat atop the Ark. The two cherubim were made of solid gold and they faced each other with their wings overshadowing the Mercy Seat (Ex. 25:18-20). The cherubim’s attention was focused on the cloud that dwelled in their midst.

Here the Mercy seat was a covering for the box or the contents in the box and the blood of the sacrificial animals were sprinkled on the midst of the cover for the cherubim to look into. As we know in the Old Testament time the blood of the bulls and the goats were used to cover the Sins and has been sprinkled over the mercy seat as a type to show the Blood’s power to cover the sins! But in the New Testament Jesus Christ came down from the heaven and become our permanent and eternal Propitiation and fulfilled all the shadows.

“Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the PROPITIATION for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.(1 John,2:1,Isaiah 2:1-2)

The word PROPITIATION which is from the Greek word hilasterion means “The Mercy Seat” . So the above scripture says that Jesus Christ is our Propitiation for our sins! Because the word propitiation came to denote not only the mercy-seat or lid of the ark, but also propitiation or reconciliation by blood. As we know on the great Day of Atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled with it the “mercy-seat,” and so made propitiation. In the New Testament John says that Jesus Christ is our Propitiation and He is our Sacrifice atonement. Christ is “the propitiation,” because by him becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured on the cross.

Also we have seen from the book of Exodus that there were two cherubim placed on both sides on the Mercy seat looking at the mercy seat. The imagery of the cherubim in fact represents the Holy and Judgmental eyes of God! But when they look unto the mercy seat what they saw was the blood! The sacrificial blood which was sprinkled by the priest, which become a covering for the nations sins against God!

“Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.[Heb 9:5]

The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.[Exodus 25:20]

The point conveyed here is that only through the offering of blood that the SINS will be atoned! These Holy eyes of the cherubim cannot penetrate over the blood; means it cannot see what’s beneath the blood or in the box. The things were in the box were the sum total of Mans rebellion in different forms and situations towards the Holy God! God wants all to put inside the box and “Cover”it with Mercy Seat and The blood will seal it as Its never goanna remember again!