About 1,500 years before the Messiah Jesus was born, God showed Moses the Ark of the Covenant that was in heaven. Moses then showed the pattern of the Ark to the craftsman whom God filled with His Holy Spirit. The craftsman created a replica of the Ark here on earth.
We try to think of the spiritual realm in terms of the natural realm. As if the spiritual is a reflection of the natural. But the opposite is true. “They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain’” (Hebrews 8:5 NIV).
The Ark was to be kept above the dirt, never touching the dust from which man had come from. Within the Ark was to be kept the Law given by God, the ten commandments written on tablets of stone. On top of the Ark was to be placed the mercy seat, a place reserved for the Holy One of God.
The Lord said, “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you” (Exodus 25:21 NKJV).
The Ark was replicated on earth as an image from heaven. No image from God is without reason. Nothing is ever by chance with a sovereign God revealing His eternal plan. When we look at the Ark, we can see the plans of God ever revealing for His purposes on earth.
Nothing happens by chance or by accident with a sovereign Lord. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36 NKJV).
The ground represents man and his position beneath the Law. The Law can never be lowered to the level of man, and man could never fully rise up to the level of the Law. There was a chasm that existed and a chasm that remained so long as man was trying to reach the Law on his own power.
At the end of the day, it is only by the grace of God we can get to heaven. “For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation]” (Ephesians 2:8-9 AMP).
Yet, by God’s design, there was a way for man that was even higher than the Law. The mercy seat of the Christ was placed above the Law. The Law was beneath the mercy of God, and man was also beneath this mercy. The seat was placed there in advance for the mercy that would arrive much later.
His perfect mercy covers the law you could never fulfill. The Lord said, “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony [the law] that I will give you” (Exodus 25:21 NKJV).
When the Messiah Yeshua was born, His mission was predetermined that He would die for mankind. It would be His blood that would be sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven, such that the mercy of God would free mankind from the strength of the Law which prevented him from entering heaven.
You can either be under the law or under the mercy of Jesus, His own blood sprinkled onto His mercy seat. “But Christ came…with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all…” (Hebrews 9:11-12 NKJV).
The Law is perfect, but man is not. The Law is love, but man holds onto hate. The Law points to the mercy of God, and the mercy of God reaches down to mankind. God’s mercy to man is free for man but was costly for the Lord Jesus.
“The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins” (Romans 8:3 NLT).
Jesus went to heaven, and His blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat above the Ark that is found there. His blood sealed the mercy that extends through the Law and down to us here on earth. It is an eternal lifeline reaching down and waiting to see if you will take hold of it.
Salvation is a free gift, but unless you receive it, then it doesn’t yet belong to you. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 ESV).
The mercy seat of the Messiah trumps the sins of man and gives him the opportunity to be forgiven. Mercy is not a license to sin but a path to be set free from it. The Father gave His Son that He might save you. Never minimize the cost of mercy that is there for you.
Don’t measure your worth by anyone else but by Christ, who paid the price to save you. “God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver as you very well know. But he paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began…” (1 Peter 1:18-20 TLB).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius