Exodus 25:22

Exodus 25:22

All the time that the history of the Jews was going on, the mercy-seat and the cherubim that covered it were still witnessing to the children of Israel that God was in the midst of them. So the words, "There I will meet with thee," stood from generation to generation.

The New Testament, like the Old, is written to explain these words. The New Testament declares that He for whose appearance the Jewish worshippers longed has appeared. The New Testament tells us that in His Son God has met men and has reconciled them unto Himself. The lessons of the New Testament take up all the words and lessons of the Old Testament, all that is written about the cherubim and the mercy-seat. They say, "All this is now, not for Israelites, but for men, for men in the farthest ends of the earth." If you turn to the last book of the Bible, you will find the Book of Genesis appearing again there, a nobler tree of life than that of the garden of Eden, which is not guarded by angels, but the fruit of which all are invited to taste. You will find the Book of Exodus again there. You will hear of the tabernacle of God being with men, and of His dwelling with them and being their God. You will find some of the latest words in the book those which have gone through the whole of it, "Worship God." Worship means that God is meeting us and drawing us to Himself, that He has sent His Spirit into the world and established His Church in the world for the very purpose of bringing all to Him. This is the message that the Bible has brought to men in past ages; this is the message that it brings to them now.

F. D. Maurice, The Worship of God and Fellowship among Men,p. 127.

I. To the Jews God set apart one special place for sacrifice, one special place for closest communion, and he who wanted some direct oracle from God must go to that spot to get his answer. The oneness continues, but it is not now oneness of spot; it is oneness of path. All the oneness of the Mosaic types goes to make the oneness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. It was upon the mercy-seat that God said, "I will meet thee and commune with thee." According to our views of Christ, according to our nearness to Christ, so will be our experience of communion with God.

III. There could be no true throne of God in the world if mercy were separated from justice. But now it is just in God to be merciful because of all the deep things that that ark tells us. The sin has been punished in Christ, and therefore God can be just and the Justifier of them that believe in Jesus.

J. Vaughan, Meditations in Exodus,p. 46.