I’m in Exodus in my daily Bible reading, and to be honest, it’s not the easiest passage to get through. God is giving Moses all these instructions on how to build things like the tabernacle, table, and the ark. But then I began thinking….it is very interesting when you do some comparison.
God tells Moses exactly how to build the ark. One thing He says is to make a mercy seat between the two cherubim. God says He’ll meet with the people there. We know as we read on that only the priest was allowed to approach that mercy seat and only once a year!
Is God still meeting us at the mercy seat today? I say YES! He meets us at the mercy seat of Jesus. One commentary I read compared the ark design to when Mary Magdalene comes to find the tomb empty and two angels sitting on either side telling her Jesus is risen. Two angels on either side? Sound familiar? Just like the ark!
There is a gentleman where we used to attend worship that would say “let us approach the throne of grace” to get us ready to pray. I love this! To think I can approach God’s mercy seat myself? God is still sitting in the mercy seat and the throne of grace.
Aren’t you glad we can now approach the mercy seat through Jesus ourselves? I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I don’t have to have another human know all the details of my sins. It’s bad enough that my God knows them. It’s Him with whom I need to talk. Face to face with total honesty and abandon, like a child going to a parent with full confidence in the unconditional love that will be shown in times of confession.
Be thankful today for a God of mercy and grace!
