Exodus 25: 17  And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

In the ark is the testimony, but above the testimony on the ark is the mercy seat. It is at the mercy that He meets us.

God instructed the priests to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat. We can come to God because of the Mercy Seat and Jesus, His death on the cross, and His shed blood.

You have been afraid to come to the Lord. You have thought that you are not worthy of God or salvation and you are right. But He meets us at the Mercy Seat. None of us are worthy. We all come to get mercy!

Even when He gave them commandments, He spoke from the Mercy Seat. 

What a wonderful truth! What a wonderful God! He meets us and talks to us from the Mercy Seat!

The above verses have to be some of my favorite verses in the Bible. I lived much of my life thinking that God saw me through the lens of His law. I knew I never measured up. No one meant for me to believe that or feel that way. But I sure did. I saw the law, and I saw myself. I knew I didn’t measure up. Then I read this verse. Here was a new lesson. God loved me, though I was unworthy. He paid my sin debt. He Jesus made a way for me to get to God.

But then, here is the lesson. God knew and knows that I will never measure up. That is why He places the law in the ark. God wants me to see myself and know that I need Him. He knows I need Him, but I have to learn that. Above the law, above the ark, He puts a mercy seat. This mercy seat is where the priests sprinkle blood in sacrifice for my sins. 

Notice that He does so from above the mercy seat when He meets with us. That is where He communes with us. He is not coming in judgment, but in mercy. That is where He has paid the price and made everything right. 

It is easy to read the Old Testament and not notice or pay attention to these great verses. God is a God of mercy. He is a God of grace. Jesus bears our sin debt. He makes the way to us rather than the other way around. 

God loves you. Jesus paid your sin debt. He wants to have communion with you, a relationship. He makes it all right so that He can. Come and enjoy our great God!

All this is true for you if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ and His death for you on the cross of Calvary. If not, then you need to understand that you sinned against God. Your sin separated you from God, but He loves you. You didn’t even come looking for Him. He left heaven to find you, to pay your sin debt, and to offer you the gift of salvation. Will you trust Him today? If you will, He will save you, and you can be sure you are going to heaven.