Atonement

This is part 7 and the last in a series of blogposts featuring parts of the Old Testament Tabernacle and how I believe we can relate those to our lives today. As we have just celebrated Easter and our Savior Jesus Christ, this post should be even more relevant. Click here for post #6.

Within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, there was an inner room called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. Judging from its name, we can see that it was a most sacred room, a place no ordinary person could enter. It was God’s special dwelling place in the midst of His people. During the Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness, God appeared as a pillar of cloud or fire in and above the Holy of Holies. 

Behind the veil, within the Holy of Holies, shielded from the eye of the common man, was one piece of furniture comprising two parts: the Ark of the Covenant and the atonement cover (or “mercy seat”) on top of it. The ark was a chest made of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold inside and out. God commanded Moses to put in the ark three items: a golden pot of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded & bloomed, and the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. 

The atonement cover was the lid for the ark. On top of it stood two cherubim (angels) at the two ends, facing each other. The cherubim, symbols of God’s divine presence and power, were facing downward toward the ark with outstretched wings that covered the atonement cover. The whole structure was beaten out of one piece of pure gold. The atonement cover was God’s dwelling place in the tabernacle. It was His throne, flanked by angels. 

Above the ark and the atonement cover, God appeared in His glory in “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16). This light is sometimes referred to as the Shekinah glory. The word Shekinah, although it does not appear in our English bibles, has the same roots as the word for tabernacle in Hebrew and refers to the presence of the Lord. 

Because the ark was God’s throne among His people, it was a symbol of His presence and power with them wherever it went. 

Inside of the ark, they placed the 10 commandments, a golden jar of manna and Aaron’s staff.  According to “The Tabernacle Place.com’, these three articles represented some of the most embarrassing and disgraceful events in the history of the Israelites.

First, the pot of manna: God had provided this bread-like food for the Israelites when they grumbled during the wanderings in the desert. It was bread from heaven! He continued to provide the food daily and faithfully, but the people were not one bit thankful. They complained and wanted something else. The pot of manna was an uncomfortable reminder that despite what God had provided for them, the Israelites had rejected God’s provision. 

How many times have we grumbled and complained about God’s provisions? 

Second, Aaron’s staff that had budded: The people, out of jealousy, rebelled against Aaron as their high priest. To resolve the dispute, God commanded the people to take 12 sticks written with the names of the leader of each tribe and place them before the ark overnight. The next day, Aaron’s rod from the house of Levi had budded with blossoms and produced almonds. God confirmed his choice of Aaron’s household as the priestly line. The staff reminded the Israelites that on more than one occasion, they had rejected God’s authority. 

How many times have we rejected God’s authority in our lives? OUCH!
How many times have we done what WE wanted to do instead of doing what we knew God would have us to do?

Third, the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments: God had chosen the Israelites as His special people. For the Israelites to qualify for that distinction, God had demanded one thing. They must obey His Law, the Ten Commandments. 

This was a conditional agreement:

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)

The Israelites had said heartily, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do,” in response to God’s covenant (Exodus 19:8). But how did they fare in fulfilling their end of the contract? Miserably. It was impossible for them to keep the Ten Commandments perfectly. Over and over again, they violated God’s holy Law, and God made it clear to them the consequences of their sin by sending plagues, natural hazards and foreign armies upon them. The stone tablets in the ark were a reminder that the Israelites had rejected God’s right standard of living. 

Dare I ask…how often do we reject God’s right standard of living? How often do we choose our own way?

These three articles were preserved in the ark throughout Israel’s history as an unpleasant symbol of man’s sins and shortcomings, a reminder of how they rejected God’s provision, authority, and right standard of living. It pointed to man as a helpless sinner.

Why in the world would God allow these three articles associated with man’s sinfulness to be placed so close to His throne? This is where God’s provision comes in. When God looked down from His presence above the ark, He did not see the reminders of sin. They were covered by a necessary object — the atonement cover. Which is the top of the Ark of the Covenant, also known as the mercy seat. 

Every year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. Bringing burning incense to shield his eyes from a direct view of God’s glory, he sprinkled blood from a bull onto the atonement cover for his and his household’s sins, then sprinkled blood from a goat for all the sins of Israel. God promised that when He saw the blood, it would cover over man’s sin. (To atone for means to cover over — hence the name atonement cover.) God did not see the sin anymore but the provision of the sprinkled blood of the sacrificial animal.

The Israelites found acceptance with God by believing His word to be true — that when their sins were covered by blood, God temporarily overlooked their sins as if they had been obliterated. But Jesus Christ has become our permanent atonement cover. Through Jesus’ blood, our sins have been covered over. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin, but the provision: His own Son. Jesus lay down His life for us as an innocent sacrifice so that God would look on us and see His perfection.

The three items in the ark that served as a sore reminder of man’s shortcomings have taken on a different meaning since Jesus Christ redeemed us from our sins. Let’s review the three articles and see how they point to Christ.

First, the pot of manna: When Jesus came and walked on earth, he didn’t reject God’s provision. Rather, He became God’s provision to us. Manna, the bread from heaven, in itself did not impart life. But Jesus told us that He is the true bread from heaven.

Second, Aaron’s budding staff: Jesus didn’t reject God’s authority. Instead, He submitted Himself to the Father’s will and died on the cross. Then, He came back to life like Aaron’s budding rod, “the firstfruits from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20). On almond trees, the blossoms appear before there are any leaves.  In ancient times, they would watch for the almond blossom to signal that Spring was coming.  The original language uses the words “hasten” and “watchful for” in talking about the almond blossoms.  It is to us a picture of pointing forward to Christ as we “watch for” His appearing.

Third, the Ten Commandments: Jesus didn’t reject God’s right standard of living. He lived a sinless life and obeyed God’s law perfectly, becoming our perfect sacrifice and intercessor. His sacrifice instituted a new covenant that was not based on the Law and continual animal sacrifices.

He (Jesus) has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, 
first for his own sins and then for those of the people,
since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
Hebrews 7:27

For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21

Ultimately, Jesus is our mercy seat…when God looks upon us, He sees Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for our sin.