Tabernacle Lectures (151) The seat of mercy

Abraham walked with God, and he made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of weaknesses. But God did not rule over Abraham with the law, but with mercy. God saw his faith and said he is righteous. He did not say he is righteous because he kept the law. God did not give a law to Abraham and tell him to keep it. God just volunteered and promised to give him blessings. God wanted Abraham to believe his promise.

Abraham had a lot of flaws and made a lot of mistakes, but he was accounted as righteous because God had mercy and compassion on him. He became God’s friend and was able to walk with God in his life. God wants us to realize we cannot keep the law.

“God, my heart is so different from your heart. I cannot follow you at all, and I cannot obey you. God, please have compassion on me, give me faith, and allow me to serve you.” God wants us to come before him with this heart.

Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray…”

Our hearts are so different from God’s heart. So we have to be born again. If Jesus’ heart comes inside us and the Holy Spirit comes upon us, then we come to serve God from our heart, not the law. The reason God gave us the law is he wants us to realize we are sinners and he wants to show us compassion. God did not want us to treat us according to the law.

They put the law inside the ark and covered the law with the lid. It means God wants to cover the 10 commandments and treat us with mercy. So God calls the lid the mercy seat, which literally means the seat of mercy. They put the law inside the ark and covered it with the lid. Above that, God said to cover the mercy seat with the smoke of the incense, to sprinkle the blood of goats on the mercy seat, and to spread the angels’ wings and cover the mercy seat with the cherubims.

The reason God covered the mercy seat is because he does not want us to see the law which was inscribed on the tablets of stone. They put the law inside the ark, covered it with a lid, covered it with the smoke of the incense, sprinkled the blood of goats on it, and covered it with the cherubims because God wants to meet us with mercy and compassion, not the law.

If the woman who was caught committing adultery was judged according to the law, she would have no choice but to die. But Jesus did not want to judge her by the law, but according to grace, mercy, and compassion. The center of the tabernacle is the ark of the covenant. And the center of the ark is the mercy seat. God knows that if we try to stand before him by the law, no one would be able to stand before him. So, he wants us to stand before him by grace.

The law has no compassion. The law gives payback and judges according to “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” The law is only there to let us realize our image and to teach us that our hearts are different from God’s heart. Our hearts are different from God’s heart, so we cannot serve God. For that reason, God wants us to receive his mercy and grace.

The word “mercy seat” means to cover the law. The mercy seat is the place where our sins are forgiven. God covers the law and pours grace and mercy on us. We can discover God’s heart from the tabernacle, that he is happy to treat us with mercy and grace, regardless of the law.

The tabernacle on earth is a replica made to look like the tabernacle in heaven. So just like the tabernacle on earth has the altar of burnt offering, the water laver, and the lampstand, the tabernacle in heaven also has these things.

Hebrews 9:11-12 “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and ore perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 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.”

Jesus did not enter in the Holy Place made by the hands of humans, but he entered in the Holy Place in heaven, which is the true tabernacle. It was not the blood of goats or bulls but the blood of Jesus which fulfilled eternal redemption. The fact that Jesus did not die on earth, but hung high on the cross and died, signifies that he died in heaven. Jesus took his blood before the mercy seat of the tabernacle in heaven, sprinkled it there, and obtained eternal redemption.