Christ, Our Mercyseat
by Ray Prinzing

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."   
                                                                                                            (Romans 3:15)

The word given as "mercyseat" is the same Greek word translated also as "propitiation" being the word "hilasterion" means: to appear, soothe, to conciliate.  We read that, "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."  (1 John 2:2).  All that the Ark of the Covenant portrayed in the Old Testament, as a part of the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, is fulfilled in Christ, for He became our Mercyseat.  He is the great Conciliator!  He is the Soother, the Healer, of every wounded, rebellious heart.  He reveals the love and mercy of God to us-ward.

Wayward mankind is the one that needs to be appeased, conciliated, and brought back to God.  Man left God, but God has never left mankind.  Indeed, "though I make my bed in hell, Thou art there." (Psalm 139:8).  Job, in the midst of his trial, having lost that consciousness of God's presence with him, for he was so conscious of his own testings, said, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him."  (Job 23:3).  But David, having come into a beautiful vision and understanding of his God, reversed the questions, to ask, "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" (Psalms 139:7), for He realized that God was everywhere about him.  "In Him we live, and move, and have our being."

Feelings come and go, but the Anointing abides, it continues, and as we progress from glory to glory, the lesser is swallowed up into the greater.  He has not left us, but is ever there to draw us father into Himself, regardless of how far our wayward steps might have wandered.  God is reconciled to us, He loves us, and we are now being reconciled to Him, coming into the knowledge of His love and grace freely given to us.  We could not go to Him, being "dead in trespasses and sins,"  so He came to us to be our mercyseat.