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. 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. 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.
Exodus 25:20–22.

In the ark of the covenant is the testimony, but the mercy seat is above the testimony on the ark. God meets His people at the mercy seat.

They sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. We can come to the Mercy Seat because of 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. 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!

This has to be one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I lived so much of my life thinking that God saw me through the lens of His law. I knew I never measured up. I am sure no one meant for me to believe that or feel that way. But I sure did. I saw the law. I saw myself. I knew I didn’t measure up. I thought God was disappointed with me, but this verse teaches me another 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 that I need Him, but I have to learn that. But then, here is the lesson. Above the law, above the ark, He puts a mercy seat. The blood is sprinkled in sacrifice for my sins in this mercy seat. 

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

It is so easy to read the Old Testament without noticing or paying attention to these great verses. God is a God of mercy. He is a God of grace. God Himself bears our sin debt. He makes the way to us rather than the other way around. 

He loves you. He 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!