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The Tabernacle Later in the same day He told the disciples to "handle" Him and see that His resurrection body was real, that 1t was of "flesh and bones"; to behold His pierced hands and feet. (See Luke 24:39, 40.) It seems that, between His appearance first to Mary and later to His disciples, He must have ascended unto His Father to present the blood before the "throne of grace." Certainly this interpretation is in accordance with the type, set forth in the great Day of Atonement in Israel. That is why God's judgment throne could become a "throne of grace." The atoning blood of Christ covers all our guilt! What a mercy seat! Little w-onder the hymn writer gave us those immortal lines: "From every storm'y wind that blows, From every swelling tide of woes, There is a calm, a sure retreat; 'Tis found beneath the mercy seat. "There is a place where Jesus sheds
252 The Tabernacle Well, indeed, it is for the world that the faces of the cherubim are turned to the place of mercy. It will not always be so. One day their faces will once more turn toward the earth. They will look upon a world where the majesty and glory and truth of God have been despised, where even His grace and mercy have been rejected, where "the God of all grace" was thrust out at the point of a spear. In that coming day the power and glory of our Lord will be manifest to all God's universe. Christ will come to "avenge His elect," to tread "the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" against Satan and sin and rebellious man. (See Rev. 19: 15.) Then the mercy seat will be taken from the ark of the covenant, as it were; and the law will demand the death of every Christ- rejecting sinner, of every soul which has spurned the love and grace of a holy, but merciful God. Then the Lord, who dwelleth "between the cherubims" will put down all unrighteousness and sin. (See Psalm 80:1; 99:1; Isa. 37:16; TI Sam. 6:2; II Kings 19:15.) 5. A Blood-Sprinkled Mercy Seat. Aaron could see the mercy seat only after he had offered the sacrifice upon the brazen altar, even as our holy God can let us approach His Presence only upon the basis of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without the shed blood of the Son of God, there could be no communion, no fellowship, between God and His sinning creatures. But Christ has "entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemp- tion for us" (Heb. 9:12). Many Bible students believe that this is what the risen Lord meant when He said to Mary Magdalene upon the morning of His resurrection, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father ..." (John 20:17).
The oil of gladness on our heads, A place than all beside more sweet; It is the blood-bo1tght mercy seat. "There is a scene where spirits blend, Where friend holds fellowship with friend; Though mndered far, by faith they meet Around one common mercy seat. "Ah! whither coitld we fiee for aid, When tem,pted, desolate, dismayed? Or how the hosts of hell defeat, Had suffering saints no mercy seat? "There, there, on eagle wings we soar; And sin and sense seem all no more; And heaven comes down, our souls to 1neet; And glory crowns the mercy seat."
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