Believe it or not, there was a time in our country and continent that there was no satellite television. No online TV streaming services no internet-connected devices such as tablets, laptops, smartphones, smart Televisions, and much more that are accessible to everyone today.
During those years a Christian television service was established in South Africa. At that time, I was the missions director for our church. We were privileged to help plant Christian television in Africa.
We established a television station in one of the countries and then were invited to the official launch of the television station in that country. As a group, we were the president of the nation’s official guests and stayed in his guest house. As a young man, it was an honour to meet with the president and speak to him personally.
Now God is the creator of the universe, He is the King of Kings. He rules forever and is the supreme being. How much more of an honour is it to be able to speak to God personally? To enter His presence without fear. To be welcomed by God as His very own children.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Mercy is God’s total forgiveness and love toward us. Cleansing us by the blood of Jesus so that we can dwell in His presence justified, (just as if we have never sinned). At the same time, He takes away from us all sin. All of this God did because of His mercy not because we deserve it.
God does not overlook sin. In his justice, God judged us because we are guilty. Then in His mercy and love, he came in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and paid the penalty for us. Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God is both just and merciful.
We sometimes think of justice in a negative way, primarily about punishment. But justice is also positive. In Hebrew, the word for justice (mishpat) carries the sense of putting things right.
God named the lid of the Ark of the Covenant the "mercy seat.
Exodus 25:17-22 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 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. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
This mercy seat is also called the throne of the Lord. Between the two cherubim on the mercy seat, is where God met and spoke with the children of Israel. The mercy seat was the place where MERCY ORIGINATED! It was the CENTER OF MERCY!
From the Greek word for mercy seat, we get the word propitiation in the New Testament.
Romans 3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, not only for ours but also for the whole world.
The only judgment in propitiation is favour toward us! It is a MERCY-THRONE! The only reason to approach a mercy throne is to obtain mercy! And Jesus is the mercy throne for the sins of the whole world! What an incredibly loving God.
As we today have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter the holiest place the realm of God’s fullness we realize it is a place made purely for MERCY! We do not enter to be judged and condemned for our sins. We approach without guilt and condemnation.
Hebrews 10:19-23 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Jesus is the “mercy seat” The MERCY-THRONE!
In the Old Testament, the mercy seat was the physical place where the blood of the atoning sacrifice was offered. In the New Testament, the cross is the physical place where Jesus, our atoning sacrifice, was offered up and his blood poured out on our behalf.
The Old Testament mercy seat looked ahead to the atoning work of Jesus, while the cross looks back at the atoning work of Jesus. In this way, the cross demonstrates Jesus as both the mercy seat and the atoning sacrifice that was offered there.
Psalm 8:3-5 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honour.
Psalm 103:1-4 Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
As sons of God, we have been crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;
“He crowns us!” The crown is the kingly, priestly anointing, the power, and authority to rule and reign with Him. However, we rule and reign with LOVINGKINDNESS and TENDER MERCIES! What a crown to be crowned with; what a throne to reign from!
Isaiah 16:5 In mercy, the throne will be established;
The high calling of His priesthood, kings, and priests reigning with Him upon His mercy throne, we are now His mercy seat!
Ephesians 2:6-7 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For us to understand the throne of God, we need a revelation of His love and mercy.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
When we dwell in the secret place in Christ Jesus we dwell in the holiest place seated on the throne in Him. We cannot preach bad news, judgment, and condemnation. We cannot have a longing to see the world destroyed. We have to have a longing to see every person saved.
Isaiah 50:9 Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
The moth will eat them up.
The unmerciful live and judge in the flesh.
John 8:15-16 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.
Mercy is not about what people deserve! We have not deserved any of God’s grace but it is freely given to us. So we learn to freely give in the same way revealing HIS loving MERCY.
“Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
This is a reference to nothing else but the mercy seat! “coming boldly to the throne of grace…to obtain mercy,”
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus Boldness to enter the Holiest and approach the mercy seat to obtain mercy!
The fact remains that it is through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus that we all now have access to the Holiest place, to God’s Mercy Seat, and to boldly enter His Presence and not die.
Christ is our mercy seat. In a place called “There” Christ, God meets us.
The creator of the universe, The King of Kings. The one who rules, the supreme being. Allows us into His presence. No condemnation, no fear we are welcomed by God as His very own children. Our Father.
John 3:16-17 Amplified Bible
16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.
God the God of love and mercy.
Amen
