Exodus 25:17-22 And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof… I. To the Jews, GOD SET APART ONE SPECIAL PLACE FOR SACRIFICE, ONE SPECIAL PLACE FOR CLOSEST COMMUNION, AND HE WHO WANTED SOME DIRECT ORACLE FROM GOD MUST GO TO THAT SPOT TO GET HIS ANSWER. The oneness continues, but now it is not oneness of spot, but it is oneness of path. And there the spot lies, at the end of the path — it is one path. All the oneness of the types of the Mosaic law go to make the oneness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as on that one grand spot, "between those cherubims," God declared He would meet and commune with Israel, so now, at that one spot, Christ, God covenants that He will meet with you, and commune with you. Christ is God's mercy-seat. Christ is the gold of His Deity, and the wood of His humanity, and all to enshrine, to keep the law, the law for man. In after times, two other things were placed in the ark, of which we will not speak now — the rod of Aaron, emblem of the eternal priesthood of Christ, and the pot of manna, showing that Christ is the bread and the nourishment, the sustenance of His people in the journey of life. II. IT WAS UPON SUCH A MERCY-SEAT, GOD SAID, "I WILL MEET WITH THEE, AND COMMUNE WITH THEE." You see, then, that your interviews with God, your holy communings, depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ. According to your views of Christ, according to your nearness to Christ, so will be your experience here in private of communion with God. Accustom yourself to lay out in order the ark, and all that went to make that mercy-seat, and that glory, and those communings. And the more you lay out in order before your mind the attributes, and the glory, and the work of Jesus, the more you will hear still small voices, the more you will enjoy those "times of refreshing," the more God will reveal Himself to you as He does not to the world, the more you will "acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace." If you have not real communion with God, the reason lies simply there — Christ is not in His place — the ark is not set up — you are not honouring Christ — you have low views of Christ — you have been looking at wrong things — you are expecting communion apart from your Saviour. III. THERE COULD BE NO TRUE THRONE OF GOD IN THE WORLD, IF MERCY WERE SEPARATED FROM JUSTICE. But now it is just in God to be merciful, because of the deep things that that ark tells us. Therefore if any of you are worshipping God in fear, if there are any downcast and depressed, any who think they hear condemning sounds, any to whom God presents Himself in the light of a Master, One whom they fear, remember, God sits upon a mercy-seat. It is in mercy He communes with you. He has no word but mercy. Judgment is a strange word. He loveth mercy — mercy dwells with God — it is all mercy. Go to Him for mercy, let it be a poor sinner communing with his God upon a mercy-seat. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. |
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