We notice that the ark was a chest that was built to open at the top. However, the Lord designed another critical piece of furniture that fit tightly on top of the ark. God Himself appropriately named it “the mercy seat.” The mercy seat was the most expensive piece of furniture inside the Holy of Holies, being made of solid gold. Why do you suppose God required it to be fashioned from solid gold? So that they (and we centuries later) would understand that God places the highest priority on mercy. This seat or lid was fashioned with 2 cherubim, or angels, folding their wings over the seat. On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the High Priest would spread blood on it 7 times. Why 7 times? Once would be enough for God, but He knows we are slow to realize that His atonement is about unearned, undeserved mercy.<\/p>\n
We still approach God on the basis of Jesus’ mercy and grace. We can never go to Him on the basis of our devotional life, knowledge of the word, church attendance, or financial giving. We can approach God safely on the basis of one thing and one thing only\u2014His abundant mercy.<\/p>\n
There is a tombstone in a small graveyard in Olney, England that reads:<\/p>\n
\nJohn Newton, clerk [pastor], Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
While his name may or may not be familiar, the song he wrote, “Amazing Grace” is known by all.<\/p>\n
“Thank You, LORD, for Your grace and mercy on our lives this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n
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Exodus 25<\/p>\n\n\n
1<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0spake unto Moses, saying,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And this\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,\u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats\u2019\u00a0hair\u00a0<\/em>,\u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And rams\u2019 skins dyed red, and badgers\u2019 skins, and shittim wood,\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0According to all that I shew thee,\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>. 10<\/sup>\u00a0And they shall make an ark\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>shittim wood: two cubits and a half\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.\u00a011<\/sup>And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>in the four corners thereof; and two rings\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make staves\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make a mercy seat\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>pure gold: two cubits and a half\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make two cherubims\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>gold,\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end:\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.\u00a0\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And the cherubims shall stretch forth\u00a0their\u00a0<\/em>wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces\u00a0shall look\u00a0<\/em>one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.\u00a022<\/sup>And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>upon the ark of the testimony, of all\u00a0things\u00a0<\/em>which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. 23<\/sup> Thou shalt also make a table\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>shittim wood: two cubits\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>on the four feet thereof.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make the staves\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal:\u00a0of<\/em>pure gold shalt thou make them.\u00a0\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. 31<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make a candlestick\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>pure gold:\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.\u00a032<\/sup>And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0Three bowls made like unto almonds,\u00a0with\u00a0<\/em>a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch,\u00a0with\u00a0<\/em>a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick.\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0And in the candlestick\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>four bowls made like unto almonds,\u00a0with\u00a0<\/em>their knops and their flowers.\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0there shall be\u00a0<\/em>a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.\u00a036<\/sup>\u00a0Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>one beaten work\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>pure gold.\u00a037<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.\u00a0\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof,\u00a0shall be of\u00a0<\/em>pure gold.\u00a039<\/sup>\u00a0Of\u00a0<\/em>a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.\u00a040<\/sup>\u00a0And look that thou make\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We notice that the ark was a chest that was built to open at the top. However, the Lord designed another critical piece of furniture that fit tightly on top of the ark. God Himself appropriately named it “the mercy seat.” The mercy seat was the most expensive piece of furniture inside the Holy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12560"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15876,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560\/revisions\/15876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}