Personally, I discovered another revelation on the Mercy Seat yesterday about how it aids the earth to receive mercy and justice from God. It was very exciting. Perhaps, we all who went through the devotional yesterday were as excited also. Today’s devotional is looking at Jesus Christ as our Mercy Seat of the present age. It was said earlier that the Mercy Seat of God is a place a sacrifice for atonement of sin is carried out. Looking at Rom. 3: 25 the Bible says: – “God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance he had left the sin committed beforehand unpunished” (NIV). The Greek word that the English word ‘atonement’ was taken from here is “hilasterion” and it means “Mercy Seat.” Jesus Christ is New Testament’s Mercy Seat because He was killed as a sacrificial Lamb for the atonement of all us sinners.
Christians are to go, stand at church altars before God and Jesus Christ for their sins to be forgiven. Yes, Christ died thousands of years ago and His death on the Cross became atonement for our sins; but we need to be going before the altars in the churches asking for mercy, justice and forgiveness. Doing this should be by humility and obedience. The Bible says that our righteousness is like a filthy rag before God (Isa. 64: 6). Therefore, it should not be wrong if we acknowledge our sins before the Trinity as often as possible. The Mercy Seat in the Old Testament was God’s dwelling place among his people, and that is really a good description of Jesus as well. He was God, wrapped in human flesh, and dwelling among us Emmanuel (Matt. 1: 23). In a very real way, Jesus was the fulfillment of what the Old Testament Mercy Seat was pointing toward.
In the Old Testament, the Mercy Seat was the physical location where the blood of the atoning sacrifice was offered. In the New Testament, it is the Cross that was the physical location 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 our Lord. *In this way, the Cross has become a useful symbol to represent Jesus as both the Mercy Seat and the atoning sacrifice that was offered there. This devotional believes that Christians of all age should be visiting Jesus Christ in their homes as well as at the altars presenting themselves and carrying out cleansing exercises through confessions of sins. The more constantly we do this, the more we will relate intimately with God and His Son, JESUS CHRIST.
PRAYER:
BLESSED HOLY SPIRIT, kindly teach me more on how Jesus Christ is my modern days’ Mercy Seat. Grant me humility and knowledge of how to see myself too holy not to admit my sinful nature in the name of Jesus Christ.
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch