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3/14 Reading Portions: Exodus 25; John 4; Proverbs 1; 2 Corinthians 13
Exodus 25:17
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold.”
SEAT
Every detail given for the construction of the tabernacle was given as an illustration and instruction of the grace of God through Christ alone. The ark of the covenant was made of acacia wood and overlaid in pure gold, as the tenth and eleventh verses reveal. The wood symbolizes the cross of wood upon which Christ would die. Gold is symbolic of deity or God’s heavenly sovereignty, therefore it prophetically symbolizes the origin of the cross’s divine plan. The ark would contain the two tablets of the law, as Deuteronomy’s tenth chapter states. This was also explained in Hebrews’ ninth chapter because the Son of God alone, as God’s true Prophet, can fulfill God’s Law. The ark would also contain the rod of Aaron which budded, according to the seventeenth chapter of Numbers, because Christ alone, as God’s great High Priest, is the only Mediator between God and men (1 Tim 2:5). The ark would also contain the jar of manna because the Lord Jesus alone is God’s eternal King and the Bread of Life, upon whom God’s people must feed, as the Lord Jesus Himself explains in John’s sixth chapter. Sitting atop the ark of testimony is the mercy seat made of pure gold. It is pure gold because mercy is from heaven above and comes by the sovereign grace and goodness of God alone. It sits upon the ark of testimony for it cannot rest upon earth unless it comes via the covenant of the person and work of Jesus Christ, symbolized by the ark, its construction, and its contents. Moreover, there were two poles made for the ark which were never to be removed, according to the fifteenth verse of this chapter. They were crafted of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and were carried by the priests. Though mercy is all of grace and comes from God alone, we are called a royal priesthood in Christ; and thus, we carry mercy to others by Christ’s gospel. As we have received mercy through Christ unto salvation, being full of mercy, we possess mercy to extend mercy to others. Indeed, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” with which to bless others. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
