The mercy seat was
the solid gold lid of the Ark of the Covenant.
It was the place where God met with His people
and where the high priest sprinkled
the blood of the sin offering
on the Day of Atonement.
The mercy seat represents
the place of propitiation
—
where God’s justice and mercy
meet through the shedding of blood.
God commanded Moses to make the mercy seat of pure gold, matching the dimensions of the ark (Exodus 25:17-21). Two cherubim of gold were to be made of one piece with the mercy seat, one at each end, facing each other with their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover. God said:
“There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you…” (Exodus 25:22)
The Hebrew word for mercy seat is kapporet, which is related to the word for atonement (kippur). The Greek translation (and the New Testament) uses hilastērion, the same word used for “propitiation” in Romans 3:25.
The most important function of the mercy seat occurred once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). The high priest would enter the Most Holy Place with the blood of a bull and a goat and sprinkle it on and before the mercy seat. This blood covered the sins of the people so that a holy God could continue to dwell among them without destroying them.
The mercy seat was thus the place where atonement was made and where God’s wrath against sin was turned away through the appointed sacrifice.
The New Testament presents Jesus Christ as the true and final mercy seat (propitiation):
“God put forward [Christ] as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:25)
The word translated “propitiation” here is hilastērion — the same word used for the mercy seat in the Greek Old Testament. This means that Christ Himself is the place where God’s justice and mercy meet. His blood, not the blood of animals, provides the true and final atonement.
Through Christ, believers now have access to God’s presence, and the barrier of the veil has been removed (Hebrews 10:19-22).
The mercy seat is one of the richest pictures of the gospel in the Old Testament. It was a throne of grace set above the Law (the tablets inside the ark), and it was covered with blood. In Christ, the reality to which the mercy seat pointed has been fulfilled. He is both the place of meeting and the sacrifice that makes the meeting possible. Because of Him, the throne of a holy God has become a throne of grace for all who approach by faith.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.