Miles McKee Ministries
PO Box 541, Kingston Springs, TN 37082
Propitiation Part 2 ( by Miles McKee)
NOT JUST ANY OLD WAY
NOT JUST ANY OLD WAY
How vital it is that we grasp that the only way to approach God is by the way He has ordained. Some say, “But surely God has a great heart of love so any way will do to approach Him.” Yes, it is true He has a great heart of love, but His love will never work against or contradict His essential Holiness. Our God is The Holy God and must be approached in the way He has designed and designated.
But back to how He did things in the Old Testament. As we said, a substitutionary animal was sacrificed and its blood taken to the Holy of Holies. There the blood was sprinkled, by the High Priest, on the Mercy Seat, the propitiatory cover of the Ark of the Covenant. Inside this ark, under the Mercy Seat was, as already mentioned, the table of the law (Ex 30:6). It is very important, at this point, that we see the position of the law. It was inside the ark and under the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat covered and hid this covenant of works and it is a good thing too for, like us, no Israelite could stand before a Holy God if it was on the basis of their response to the law.
But back to how He did things in the Old Testament. As we said, a substitutionary animal was sacrificed and its blood taken to the Holy of Holies. There the blood was sprinkled, by the High Priest, on the Mercy Seat, the propitiatory cover of the Ark of the Covenant. Inside this ark, under the Mercy Seat was, as already mentioned, the table of the law (Ex 30:6). It is very important, at this point, that we see the position of the law. It was inside the ark and under the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat covered and hid this covenant of works and it is a good thing too for, like us, no Israelite could stand before a Holy God if it was on the basis of their response to the law.
GOD’S MEETING PLACE
The mercy seat was also God’s designated meeting place with His people. In Exodus 25:22 God says, “there I will meet with thee”. There was no use in some Israelite saying, “Would you mind meeting our High Priest at the brazen altar I’m a little bit short of time right now”. The Israelites of old, however, knew enough about God to know that He wasn’t going to adapt to their situation. If they wanted to meet with God they would have to do so at His appointed place and in His way.
Incidentally, God hasn’t changed in this day and age, He still doesn’t adapt to our situation. I don’t mean, of course, that He won’t meet us at our point of need. Of course He will, but He won’t compromise His Holiness to do so. What God is saying is this, “If you want to meet Me, come and meet Me where the blood covers the law”. But, more on that in a moment.
Incidentally, God hasn’t changed in this day and age, He still doesn’t adapt to our situation. I don’t mean, of course, that He won’t meet us at our point of need. Of course He will, but He won’t compromise His Holiness to do so. What God is saying is this, “If you want to meet Me, come and meet Me where the blood covers the law”. But, more on that in a moment.
NAKED AND EXPOSED
The law of God witnessed against every Israelite. Just like us, in each of their hearts they had an endless reservoir of pollution which rendered them incapable of keeping God’s Holy Law. So, without a Mercy Seat, a propitiatory covering, the ark would have been a place of justice and condemnation. They would have stood naked and exposed to the unbending requirements of the Law which they all had all broken.
Today, we still need a Mercy Seat if ever we are to meet with God! Does that mean then, if ever we are to meet with God that we have to join Indiana Jones in his search for the lost ark? I mean, where in the world do we find the Mercy Seat today?
Today, we still need a Mercy Seat if ever we are to meet with God! Does that mean then, if ever we are to meet with God that we have to join Indiana Jones in his search for the lost ark? I mean, where in the world do we find the Mercy Seat today?
THE LAW - A REVELATION OF GOD’S CHARACTER
As we attempt to answer that question we must first consider this, the law is more than God’s standard, it is a revelation and declaration of God’s character and nature. It is more than a collection of rules and regulations imposed upon a nation to set them apart from their neighbors. It is a statement about what God is like.
The law declares that God is a God who hates adultery. He is a God who will not bear false witness, He is a God who endures no rivals and who does not tolerate personal insults. He is a God of Holiness.
Aaron, the High Priest, was told that he could only come into the Holy of Holies and meet with this Holy God once a year and even then must come with a blood sacrifice lest he die (Lev 16:2). The law, with all its holiness stood out against any sinner who would dare to approach God. If Aaron dared to enter this holy place without the blood of an innocent substitutionary sacrifice, God would have had no alternative but to have flared out from between the cherubim and burn him to ashes.
The law declares that God is a God who hates adultery. He is a God who will not bear false witness, He is a God who endures no rivals and who does not tolerate personal insults. He is a God of Holiness.
Aaron, the High Priest, was told that he could only come into the Holy of Holies and meet with this Holy God once a year and even then must come with a blood sacrifice lest he die (Lev 16:2). The law, with all its holiness stood out against any sinner who would dare to approach God. If Aaron dared to enter this holy place without the blood of an innocent substitutionary sacrifice, God would have had no alternative but to have flared out from between the cherubim and burn him to ashes.
ZAPPED AND INCINERATED
Can you see Moses saying to Aaron “Aaron my boy the Lord wants you to go in to see Him but you can’t go in until He tells you to and, by the by, if you approach Him the wrong way He will kill you.” Do you think Aaron would listen and be eager to find out the right way to approach? I think so! And if God says to you and me, “ there is a way by which you can approach me and one way only” don’t you think we would also be wise to listen?
Remember this, in Leviticus 16:13-15, Aaron was told to go into the presence of God and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. If Aaron had gone in without blood and said “I am the High Priest around here and I have served you for years,” he would have been zapped. God would have incinerated him. Likewise we can never approach God on our record of service. The only approach we have is on Jesus’ record of service. Our record of service will do nothing to change God’s mind about our sins.
Remember this, in Leviticus 16:13-
THE BLOOD
The only thing that can change God’s mind about our sins is blood....... and our blood doesn’t count.
What stopped Aaron from being consumed? The blood!! What stopped the flames from devouring him? The blood!! What prevented his destruction? The blood! God accepted the blood for it spoke of, pointed to and represented the blood which would be shed by the Lamb of God, the Lord Christ, at Calvary. There on the cross, He poured out His blood as He was “wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities" see Isa. 53). Again to quote Spurgeon,
“He took the payment and bore it to God, —took his wounds, his rent body, his flowing blood, up to his Father’s very eyes, and there he spread his wounded hands and pleaded for his people. Now here is a proof that the Christian cannot be condemned, because the blood is on the mercy-seat. It is not poured out on the ground; it is on the mercy-seat, it is on the throne; it speaks in the very ears of God, and it must of a surety prevail.”
His blood is satisfactory to God and should also be to us. God has today set forth Christ to be a propitiation - a sacrifice which appeases His wrath. The old mercy seat is gone and has not been seen since the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Its whereabouts have not been discovered to this day. But that doesn’t matter for Christ Jesus, our mercy seat, is here forever. Just as the Old Testament dealt with sin at the Mercy Seat, God will today only deal with our sins in Christ.
What stopped Aaron from being consumed? The blood!! What stopped the flames from devouring him? The blood!! What prevented his destruction? The blood! God accepted the blood for it spoke of, pointed to and represented the blood which would be shed by the Lamb of God, the Lord Christ, at Calvary. There on the cross, He poured out His blood as He was “wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities" see Isa. 53). Again to quote Spurgeon,
“He took the payment and bore it to God, —took his wounds, his rent body, his flowing blood, up to his Father’s very eyes, and there he spread his wounded hands and pleaded for his people. Now here is a proof that the Christian cannot be condemned, because the blood is on the mercy-
His blood is satisfactory to God and should also be to us. God has today set forth Christ to be a propitiation -
If the blood had not been sprinkled on the old Mercy Seat, Aaron would have died. But since the blood was sprinkled Aaron could live. The blood meant death for the victim but life for the people of God. Today, Christ is our Mercy Seat. It is He who shed His own blood and it is He who saves. It is not Christ the teacher or Christ the good example who saves but Christ our propitiation, our Mercy Seat.
Christ shed His own blood for us. But more than that, the pouring out of His blood was the pouring out of His life since, “the life is in the blood” (Lev. 17:10). His sacrifice as an innocent substitute meant death for Him but life for His people. Jesus had life in Himself but chose willingly to pour it out in death so that we, who have death in our veins, might live. This is why we now read in the Scriptures, “He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12). In Christ, man possessed by death, meets the one who is the source of all life.
NO INNOCENT BY-STANDERS
Man had broken Gods law and God’s law called out for satisfaction. The holy character of God demands a swift and definite action against sin. And since His law is revelation of His character, lawbreaking is a sin against God Himself. A substitutionary victim had to be found amongst man but there were no innocent by-standers - for all had sinned. The poison of sin was already in the race. Death and destruction were man’s portion. Man was working hard at sin and earning his well-deserved wages (ROM 3:23). So God, in grace, came Himself in the person of His Son and became a member of the human race. He the mighty Lawgiver came and bore the penalty of our sin becoming a substitute for His people.
Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, came to earth and, as the great High Priest over the House of God, offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father. Since His life had been a manifestation of law keeping and total obedience to the Father He was a perfect man and thus the perfect sacrifice. The blood of that perfect sacrifice is now on the Mercy Seat. The Law which we had shattered no longer witnesses against us because it is in the Ark (Christ) and hidden from view by the blood. And the good news is that now that Law shall never, at any stage, be produced or brought out to condemn us.
We need to be like the old publican of Luke 18: 10-14. Remember him? He could not so much as lift his head up to heaven but prayed, “God be merciful (lit. a mercy seat) to me a sinner. That man had remarkable spiritual insight and went down to his house justified.
Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, came to earth and, as the great High Priest over the House of God, offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father. Since His life had been a manifestation of law keeping and total obedience to the Father He was a perfect man and thus the perfect sacrifice. The blood of that perfect sacrifice is now on the Mercy Seat. The Law which we had shattered no longer witnesses against us because it is in the Ark (Christ) and hidden from view by the blood. And the good news is that now that Law shall never, at any stage, be produced or brought out to condemn us.
We need to be like the old publican of Luke 18: 10-
The Jewish High Priest—-a forerunner of Jesus
The Tabernacle
in the Wilderness
in the Wilderness
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth
Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, came to earth and, as the great High Priest over the House of God, offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father. Since His life had been a manifestation of law keeping and total obedience to the Father He was a perfect man and thus the perfect sacrifice. The blood of that perfect sacrifice is now on the Mercy Seat.