One of the most beautiful pictures of the love of God and the foreshadowing of Jesus is found in the Tabernacle at the Mercy Seat. When you visit the Tabernacle in your mind’s eye, you must first enter the gate, then cross the court yard, pass the bronze altar, make your way past the laver and then enter the first partition separating the outer courts from the holy place.
Once inside the holy place, you will find only the light of the golden candlesticks. By its light, you will see the table of show bread and the altar of incense which is right outside of the Most Holy Place. As you push aside the last veil separating you from the presence of God which occupies the Most Holy Place, you will look in and see there is only one piece of furniture – the Ark.
The Ark was a box covered with gold and on top of which were two cherubim with their wings touching. Inside of the Ark was found the law (the tablets from Moses with the 10 Commandments). The top, the covering over the law was known as the mercy seat. It was here that God promised to meet with His people. It was here that the High Priest was to sprinkle blood.
The picture is one of mercy. God would bring mercy and cover the law. God made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of Christ in Him. It is the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat (covering the law), that speaks of Jesus, of Calvary where Jesus’ blood would be shed once and for all to pay for the sins of all men so that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
That is amazing love. O, what a savior!