Mercy for Me?
May 5th, 2010One of my favorite things in Bible study is to look at the symbolism that God uses to describe various things that he did. I have heard that some rabbis teach multi-levels to the words of God. The first level is the historic event. Embedded in the event is symbolism of things to come. The use of a lamb at the initial Passover and the annual feast, reminds us, of course of what he would do in Jesus. Jesus, as the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world to deliver us from its condemnation and power over us.
There is symbolism in the numbers used – 3, 7, 12, etc. There is symbolism in the feasts of Israel such as Passover; Shavuot (Pentecost); Trumpets; Tabernacles; Yom Kippur; etc. These feasts, in some way, point to the work of Jesus, some of which is yet to be fulfilled.
The Tabernacle (and later the Temple) also contains great symbols. I won’t describe all of them here. The Tabernacle was divided into a Holy Place (where only priests could go) and the Most Holy Place, where only the High Priest could go into the very presence of God. In the Most Holy Place there are numbers of symbols. The Ark of the Covenant contained the “Mercy Seat.” This was the “residence” of God.
What strikes me about this is that it is the MERCY seat. Pilate sat on the JUDGMENT seat (Matthew 27:19) and sentenced Jesus (and others) to death. God, in his MERCY, wants to give life.
Our picture of God, especially in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), is that he is angry and wanted to condemn the Hebrews (and us). We seem to think that he is lurking in the shadows, watching our every move so that he can pounce on us with, “Aha! Now I’ve got you!” Maybe you had a teacher like that in school, that through his insecurity he could not let you have a good grade. He had to find something wrong with your work so he would not have to give you an “A.” Not so with God.
He sat on the MERCY seat. THEIR view of God was that he was there to HELP them through his instructions/commands and his PRESENCE. While that was an awesome thing, it was a privilege for them. They did fear God in admiration and appreciation of his presence. It was not a burdensome to do his will. It was a privilege that they looked forward to because he is merciful, not vengeful (at least not until pushed to his limit – see Jeremiah).
Jesus has opened the way for us to personally go into the Most Holy Place of heaven today. We may daily come confidently into that place and make our offerings of prayer and worship to our God (see Hebrews 4.14-16). Here we remember that God wants to give us MERCY not JUDGMENT.
Keep The Light Burning!
Perry Greene
