1 John 2:2 2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only but also for the whole world..
In the movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the people who
tried to look inside the ark were struck dead. What was inside
the ark that brought judgment to those who looked into it?
The Bible tells us that the ark held the two tablets of the
Ten Commandments, the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod. (Hebrews
9:4) These items were tokens of man’s rebellion. The two
tablets of the Ten Commandments represented man’s rejection of
God’s standards. The manna represented man’s rejection of
God’s provision, and Aaron’s rod, man’s rejection of God’s
appointed priesthood.
God did not want to look at these tokens of rebellion. He
wanted to be merciful to His people, so He instructed them to
place the items in the ark and to cover the ark with its mercy
seat, which is also the place where the blood of the animal
sacrifices was sprinkled.
Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would
enter the Holy of Holies to sprinkle on the mercy seat the
blood of the animal that had been sacrificed. The two cherubim
on the mercy seat stood as guardians of God’s righteousness
and holiness.
Representing God’s eyes too, they looked at the blood on the
mercy seat. As long as the blood was there, the entire nation
of Israel was forgiven. God’s judgment passed over them and
they were blessed for another year. (Leviticus 16)
Today, the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat is not the blood
of bulls and goats, but the precious, eternal blood of the Son
of God! (Hebrews 9:12) Jesus is our “mercy seat”
for “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and
not for ours only but also for the whole world”. The word
“propitiation” in the original Greek text is the same word as
“mercy seat”. (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:5)
Beloved, God does not see your sins and count them against
you because He sees His Son’s blood. He sees His Son’s perfect
work that has more than satisfied Him. God does not want you
to see your sins either. He does not want you to look inside
the ark by focusing on your sins. He wants you to focus on
Christ and His finished work!
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