Exit is checker 25. We're just about to complete our studies in Tabernacle. And as we study this last piece of furniture, it's significant that we remember the first piece of furniture. We're going to study the last, You need to remember the first. You might remember what the first one was. What? The Brazen Altar, okay? The Brazen Altar. I know you knew that. Just pray to speak up. It began with the Brazen Altar. It was the first piece that you came to when you came inside the courtyard of that tabernacle. That was the first thing you saw. And that art, that brazen altar, what it spoke of was the blood sacrifice. The sacrifice. The body of a lamb or a bullock was literally slain and roasted on that altar. And the blood was collected. Now stay with me now, this is going to be a real blessing to you. Now stay with me. That blood was collected from that animal that was slain on that altar. And that spoke of Christ very clearly. Christ was the altar. Christ was the animal. It was Christ's blood. Now the last thing we come to, the very last piece of furniture that we come to, is the ark. The ark with the mercy seat covering it. I'm including the ark and the mercy seat as one piece of furniture. There are really two. The last thing we come to is the Ark, and it too speaks of blood, but more in depth, in a deeper meaning. We see now the blood before the Lord. We see now where the high priest came with that bowl, that basin of blood that he carefully collected from that brazen altar, and then went in, and this was the means, this blood was the means by which God was able to commune or accept the people, accept the people into his presence and as a covering. And the blood before the Lord, the blood was literally poured out, this basin of blood, this huge basin of blood was literally poured out on the mercy seat. And though the last things we come to, listen, I chose my words carefully here. Though this is the last thing we come to, God instituted this first, here in Exodus 25. Now, this is significant, spiritually significant. This was the first piece of furniture God told him to make, not to altar, but to ark. Why is that? Because before the actual sacrifice was made, God had already prepared the place of acceptance. and atonement first. What does that tell you? The fact that God already prepared the place of acceptance before he had an instrument or a means of sacrifice. What does that tell you? That tells me Christ is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, right? He was already prepared before he was given a body or an altar to make this sacrifice with. And this tells me, too, that Christ is the first and the last, right? and all in between. Now, Exodus chapter 25, beginning with verse 10. And God says, They shall make an ark. He brought your pamphlet here with you. Make an ark. There's a pretty good picture in there of the ark. The ark of this Shittim wood. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. Make an ark. What the word art means simply is a box, a receptacle, a container. Make a box, God said, I want you to put some valuable things in it. Make a box, a receptacle. Of wood, of this chitim wood, of wood. This was plain and ordinary wood. It was earthen materials. It was an earthen vessel. What this box was was a wooden box. That's all it was. There wasn't anything special about it. It was just a wooden box, a plain ordinary wooden box. But, verse 11, thou shalt overlay it, though, with pure gold, within and without. Shalt thou overlay it with pure gold, within and without. It was an earthen vessel, yes, a wooden box, yet there was pure gold on the inside and on the outside. And the scripture says, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering, that is, lambs and bulls and so forth, thou wouldest not. He didn't desire for me sacrifices and offerings and so forth, but a body hast thou prepared me, a body, a plain, ordinary, earthen vessel, a human body, plain and ordinary, just like the one you see, much like this one you see before you. plain, ordinary earthen body, but within and without pure gold. God was in Christ. God was in Christ. Within the Spirit of Christ, perfect, spotless, and without. Although if we see Him, there's no beauty in Him that we should desire Him, yet if you take a closer look, His works everything he does, everything he said, everything that came from that body, his outward show, display, pure gold, everything about him, spotless, within and without. A God-ordained, God-planned, God-made receptacle to hold some valuable things. God made a box, a receptacle, to hold some valuable things, yea, all things. Scripture says, In him, in this tabernacle, in this one who tabernacled among us, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a box." Just a man. He's just a man, they say. Oh, no. He's not just a man. Verse 11 again, "...and thou shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about it. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords." Kings wear crowns, don't they, Henry? He wore a crown, and when he was on this earth, he wore a crown. It was a crown of thorns, yes, but by virtue of the blood that covered it, it was a golden crown. That precious, priceless blood that covered that stain that coated that crown of thorns made that a golden crown, a priceless golden crown. And like the gold in this ark here, it was beaten gold. The gold in this ark was made from beaten gold, and the gold, that blood that came out of his body, was beaten out of him, literally beaten out of him. And the king, notice this too, the king had a scepter. It doesn't say it here, but in another place. The king had a scepter, a scepter of righteousness. They gave him a stick and called it his scepter, but he had a scepter all right. The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom. And God said, Now thou shalt cast four rings of gold," attach and cast four rings of gold for this ark, and put them into four corners thereof. Two rings should be on the one side and two rings on the other side. Four rings of gold, God told them to cast. And God had a cast of characters throughout the Old Testament which spake of Christ, but he had four characters that he cast. Four Gospels that were cast in the mold, the message, the good news of Christ, perfectly displayed and carried the story of Christ. Verse 13, "...and now shall make staves, two sticks of this wood overlaid with gold, and now shall put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be born with them." Two staves through the four rings. We've seen this before, haven't we? Two staves, this is the person and the work of Christ, which support the whole work of salvation. Because of who he was, because of what he did, it supports this whole message of redemption, of salvation. The righteousness and the shed blood of Christ, which bear up, which supports the whole gospel story. And these two staves were used to carry this ark around. The person and the work of Christ, his righteousness, his shed blood, carry our sins away, and they carry us to God. We're also a type of this art. We're going to see this in a minute. But what this all tells me, tells us, is that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the instant, this was the means of communion, of acceptance with God, this piece of furniture. And this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And the whole thing rests on his shoulders, on his shoulders. He bore our sins in his own body, on the tree, a stage. a tree, and he'll always bear us up, bear us up, keep us poured up by that same body and blood. And verse 15, this is significant, this is the first time we read of this, the staves, verse 15, the sticks shall always be in the rings of the ark. The sticks weren't always in the rings of the altar and the other tables and so forth, but this one they're supposed to stay right there. Those sticks are supposed to stay right there. Christ is right now seated at the right hand of God, never to move, never to move. He ever lives to make intercession for us. And like Thomas, when we get there, perhaps Christ will show us his hands and his feet. He'll show us. And one look at those skies will stave off all unbelief, all unbelief. Now, it's just a box. This is just a picture, just a type, just a shadow, just a box is all it was of the real thing, the true one who was to come, the true tabernacle. Now, I want you to look at this box full of valuables. Look at verse 16. And God said, you put into the ark, put into this box the testimony. Now, it gets real good here. Put into this ark the testimony which I shall give thee. The testimony, the ark of the covenant, it's called. The testimony. The testimony was the law of God. Remember? The law, the two tables that Moses brought down from the mountain with him? He put those inside of the ark. On these tables contained the very mind and the will of God Almighty. The testimony, the word of God, the covenant. The covenant was God's will, God's mind, God's word. It was inside the ark. It's the law of God, inside the ark, the law of God. It was written by God and placed within the ark for safekeeping. As long as that ark existed, that law was to be inside of that ark for safekeeping, never to be lost. Now, you remember a moment ago when I quoted that verse from Hebrews where he said, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast no pleasure but a body thou hast prepared for me? Remember that? Remember? Why? Why is God not pleased with sacrifices and offerings and these things? He really never was pleased, never really did accept these things. They were just a picture and a title. Why? Why is God not pleased with these things? Christ said, go and learn what this means. He said, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. You go and learn what that means. Why? Why won't God take our works, take sacrifices? Why wouldn't God accept all of this? Well, first of all, because God is spirit. God is not worshipped with men's hands. Never has been, never will be. God couldn't be really worshipped with men's hands and all these types and blood of bulls and animals and goats and so forth. God's spirit. He always has been, always will be. He always will be worshiped. God is spirit. He seeketh such to worship him in spirit. And men had to worship God back then in spirit, same as they do now in spirit. And so God wouldn't take these offerings and sacrifices for sin. But, and, the reason God won't take these things is because God is holy. God is just. God is perfect. And God is only pleased with one thing. God is only pleased with one thing, he's not pleased with things of this earth, with our work, with our sacrifices, with our ceremonies, and even though he's the one. You remember when Isaiah 1, he said, I'm sick of this stuff. He was the one that instituted it, but finally he said, I'm sick of it, it's a stench in my nostril. Why did he say that? Because people were bringing it out of duty and habit, because it was supposed to be a thing to be done, and they weren't worshipping God. Much like we sit in church all the time. You know, we're here, we're doing our duty, and so our minds are a thousand miles away. We're not worshipping God. God said, I'm sick of it. And that's the reason he said it the first time. I'm sick of the stench in my nostrils. Might as well not have brought it. In another place he said, you might as well cut a dog's throat as a lamb, right? And we might as well be playing golf or going fishing or something as to come in here and make a pretense of worship and not have our hearts and our minds and our affections set on things above us. That's how serious this thing is. I'm talking about Christ Jesus, our only hope, our only acceptance before holy God now. Listen up. God is holy, just, and perfect. God's only pleased with one thing. The scripture says God is, the Lord is pleased for his righteousness sake. It says the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. Right? He said it shall be perfect to be accepted. Righteous, holy, just. God didn't require sacrifice so much in the beginning as he did obedience to bring the sacrifice. Right? Before this, Abraham was was justified before he did a thing. Why? Because he believed God. His obedience to the faith. That's what God requires of us. Obedience. Obedience, that is, to the faith. Faith. And we are flesh. Now listen, Paul said, we are flesh, we're sold unto sin, Romans 7. No flesh, in the flesh no man can please God. Nobody in here in the flesh can please God. No man, nobody has ever pleased God in the flesh, but one. But one. And that's why Christ said, now listen to it again, I'm going to quote it again. This is why Christ said, Lo, sacrifices and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. Now, lo, I'm a-coming. I come to offer a lamb, a bullock, and so forth. to do thy will. Why did Christ come? To do the will of God, to keep God's law perfectly even within. God requires of us perfect obedience, not just on the outside but on the inside, right? His law must be kept perfectly, and Christ was his chosen vessel under the Lord, a man approved of God to keep God's holy law. Yeah, the Scripture says he even magnified it and made it honorable. You understand? That box wherein contained the law of God, that golden box for safekeeping, the law of Christ came out here, this golden vessel, to keep God's holy love, to keep it perfectly. And the Scripture says he takes away the first, it's just a box. Throw it away. If somebody were to find that, and they hadn't found it, Indiana Jones did not find it. If they were to find that thing, we ought to do like Moses did with the calf, and like Hezekiah did with the serpent, grind her up. that worthless piece of box, a wooden box. He takes away the first box to establish the second, that golden vessel, an everlasting ark, an everlasting one before the Lord, ark. And he's right now speeded this vessel This man is right now seated at the right hand of God, the right hand of God, and we are in him inside of this vessel. And last of all, but first in importance, last of all, but first in importance, not only did Christ need to come down here to make us acceptable to God, to live perfectly, but something else is needed. Something else is needed before we can be accepted into God's presence. Look over at Exodus chapter 34. Look at that. Something else is needed. Christ must live for us perfectly before God as a man to establish this righteousness, to keep God's holy law as a man, because that's what God demands of us. And he has to give us this righteousness. He has to give it. That's called imputing. Anybody in here, I think, has heard that. He has to impute or charge to our account, and how we receive this is just by saying, Lord, I need it. I believe. And the Lord said, here, it's yours. You don't do a thing to procure it. You don't make yourself worthy. You don't make yourself religious. You just say, Lord, I sure need this righteousness. I see you're holding it, and I want to be with you. I need this covering. I need this righteousness. I need this perfection that you require. that you demand, and Christ came down here and wrought it out, worked it out, like a garment, so hand-sewn garment, and wrapped his people in it, clothed them, and he imputed that. But, now you ought to mark this in your Bible. If you don't have it marked, you ought to mark it. Not very many people recognize this verse of Scripture, maybe never even seen it. Exodus thirty-four, verse seven. Well, verse 6, the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and, oh, right here it is. Now, he forgives, he has mercy, and so forth. And he will by no means clear the guilty. God will by no means clear the guilty. That is, let somebody go stock free without payment for what they've done. And all the world, he says, he will not by any means clear the guilty. And all the world, Romans says, is guilty before God, right? God will not just forgive him, it must be punished. God is just. Harry, his justice must be satisfied. We don't have justice anymore. Our judicial system is a farce. The average murderer is off scot-free in seven years. The average murderer is on the street in seven years. They say, we'll give you a life, turn. Give you death, and then pill after pill, finally they let him off of that. God's justice is justice. The scripture says every sin shall receive a just recompense, right? A reward. The soul that sinneth must surely die. God said that, and God means it. And this is the reason, now listen, this is the reason he said it's not possible now that the blood of bulls and goats can take away our sin. Charlie, a lamb can't do anything about my sin before God. A bull, a bull can't do anything about my sin. Animals can't die for human beings. By man came sin, so a man must die, right? Not only did Christ have to come and live for us, to sanctify us, to make us holy, to make us holy, to set us apart for God's holy use, he had to come to die for us, to justify us, to pay for the crimes we had done, to pay for the punishment that we were due. Punishment, separation from God. When he was on that cross, John, he said, My God, my God, he forsaken me. That's what God deserved to do to us. Christ took it for us. In the span of a few hours, he took an eternity of separation because of who he was. Christ said, to die the death I deserve, the soul that sins must surely die. I sin, violent, I got to die. Christ died for me. He went somewhere for three days. Some people say, when in the hell is that? I don't know. He shed his blood, Christ said, to shed his blood for the remission of my sin. And in doing so, he became my mercy seat. Turn back to Exodus 25, we talked about the ark, that box where he was contained, that law of God, that vessel. That chosen vessel of God, a golden vessel wherein was contained the perfect mind, will of God Almighty, that's Christ. That's the works of Christ. That's the person of Christ. But Christ is also this mercy saved. This is the key right here, to the gospel. I wish I could convey this like it ought to be. This word, mercy. What a word. Especially in an old, guilty, vile center. You know the reason the gospel doesn't mean so much to us most of the time? Because we don't feel too badly about ourselves. We're either in a state of spiritual lethargy, indifference, or else we're full of self-righteousness. And these things don't mean that much to us. Mercy. So when we get real down, this is why God allows us to go through some bad times. This is why God allows Satan to assault us and ourselves, to rear its ugly head before us, show us just how wicked and evil we are, and make us run back to our first love, because we forget him real so soon, don't we? The one thing we need for, the one thing we need more than anything, the one thing that the children of Israel need more than anything to get into God's presence is mercy, sir. And I tell you what we need above all. It's God having mercy on us. Like I was talking about a while ago, not worshiping Him in spirit, God better be having mercy on us right now. Right? That's why the Scripture says His mercies are new every morning. They better be, John, because I wake up in a pit of sin and vileness and wickedness and forget God most of the day. And then when I do remember Him, I make a pretense, a stab at Him. And thank God, his mercy endures forever, too. How many times it says that in the scriptures? Forever. It's got to, doesn't it? That's the one thing you need for it. Philius, Exodus twenty-five, verse seventeen. And thou shalt make a mercy seat. A mercy seat. It's a seat. Mercy. A seat is a place you can recline, right, and rest, and find mercy. Mercy's feet are pure gold. You know, believers are also called the temple of God. Listen, here's where we are a picture, or this ark is a type of believer. The church of God is called the tabernacle where He dwells, where He meets. God meets with His people in the church. And though we have a law, you remember when we read that over in Hebrews 9 where He said, I'll write my law on their inside? We got the law in us, right? But what's wrong with it? Like this ark, the law is within us. We've got the law written on our hearts, but what's wrong with it? What's wrong with the law in us? It's broken, right? We've broken it on every hand, every part of it. Every part of God's holy law, we've broken it. And our sins are ever before us and ever before the all-seeing eye of God Almighty. OK? But God, who is rich in what? In mercy, has covered our sins. He can't see them. The all-seeing, omnipotent, omniscient eye of God Almighty, omnipresent eye of God Almighty can see you. If you better hope you're in Christ right now, the eye of God doesn't see your hypocrisy. The eye of God doesn't see your sin, my sin. A mercy seat. You know what the mercy seat was? A mercy seat was a covering. It was a covering. It was a top covering for that art. Look at it. You have that picture. Pretty good drawing of it. This is a lid. Kept a lid on the thing. Keep things being opened up for all to see. It's a lid. It's a covering. A mercy seat. A mercy seat. And we're like that child, now listen, we're like that child in Ezekiel sixteen, the figure, naked. All things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do, must do, Christ. All things, our thoughts, our actions, our ways, our inactions, are open, naked before God Almighty. He sees all. God sees us. God sees that. We're naked and we're dying, just like that infant in that field, cast out, polluted in our own blood and our sins, naked and dying. And God must say, He said, when I passed by, when Christ came, when Christ passed by, when He passed this way, He looked upon us. See, when I passed by thee, I looked upon thee, and behold, thy time, in God's good time, that day of salvation, my time, are in his hand. Your time, gospel time, the day of salvation. Behold, thy time was a time of love. And what did he say? He said, I spread my skirt over thee. that robe of his righteousness. I spread my spirit over you and covered your nakedness, shed my blood and covered your nakedness. And I swore, he said, I swore unto you and I entered into a covenant, a gospel covenant, that I'll never leave you nor forsake thee. A covenant, said the Lord, and you became mine. You're mine, bought with a price. And this price, this covering, this priceless covering, was his own precious blood. You see, turn back to Genesis chapter 6 with me. We've only been here 35 minutes. I've only been preaching 35 minutes. Genesis chapter 6, look back here with me. You see this mercy seat, like I said, it's covered the Ark of the Covenant, and it was never opened. He was never to be opened after the covenant. That's a picture of us, the broken law in between, in us. When that high priest came into the Holy of Holies, He literally poured this blood all over that thing, and it ran all down, all over top of that thing, all down the sides of it, and literally, do you know how many sacrifices they made year after year after year after year? It was caked and covered. You ever seen blood after a period of time, after it dries and so forth? It's like tar, right? Now, here's another ark. Here's another ark that was covered with something. Genesis chapter 6. This mercy seat was the final destination of that sacrificial blood. And this is where the blood was applied, okay? And like I said, it ran over every inch of that ark, and it covered every inch of it, and it made an atonement. The word atonement means covering. It covered the broken law, covered the sins of the people. And do you know what Old Testament word means atonement? There's an Old Testament word in here that means atonement. Look at it right here. Genesis 6, verse 14. Here's another ark. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, another wooden ark. Room shalt thou make in the ark, and thou shalt atone it. That's the very same word as atonement, pitch, tar, waterproof. Atone it, within or without, with atonement, with a covering. Noah was faithful because he was in that ark, and he was safe because the ark was pitched. Right? It was covered. And when the overflowing scourge of God's wrath came through to destroy all flesh, Noah found grace and mercy inside the ark. He was safe in the ark, which was pitched. within and without. And God says the same thing to us right now as he did to Noah and as he did to Moses. You know Moses was put in an ark as a baby? You remember that? You know how his mother prepared the ark? She pitched it. She pitched it. Covered it. And you and I have got to be in the ark as Christ and we've got to be sealed too. Sealed. covered with pitch, and it's the blood, as Scripture said, it's the blood that makes pitch for the soul, covering and atonement. The precious blood of Christ. There's a New Testament word for this. Anybody know what that is? It's used three times. A New Testament word. Pro-pitch-iation. Pro-pitch-iation. whom God set forth to be propitiation, a covering through faith in his blood," Paul said. And twice in 1 John, a pitch, a covering, atonement. And you know what the publican in the temple said? Remember when the publican in the temple swallowed on his breast and cried out, God be merciful? Look it up in the original sometime. He said, God, let the blood be on the mercy seat for my sins. Cover me. Lord God, I'm a wicked, vile sinner. Cover me." A little pitch. Cover me in the blood. God be merciful unto a naked sinner. And one more thing. Look back at the text, Exodus 25. One more thing. So see, we've got to be in Christ. We've got to be in him, represented by him. We've got to have his imputed righteousness. We've got to have his shed blood for justification. We've got to have this covering for our sins. This pitch, this atonement, and there's something else to notice about this arc. Chapter 25, verse 18, And thou shalt make two cherubins of gold, a beaten work shalt thou make then, in the two ends of the mercy. Make one cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the matter of the mercy seat, overtop of the mercy seat shall you make these cherubim, the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings. And their faces shall look one to another, and toward the mercy seat. Facing one another, but looking down on the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be." These two angels. two angels that hovered over the ark and the mercy seat, one on each end, looking down on this golden vessel. And in the beginning, God said, Let us make man. Us. Let us make man. God looking down on us. And in the same sense, God the Father on one side, God the Spirit hovered over. hovered over Christ the Son, the Ark, while he was on this earth, hovered over him. The Scripture also says this, there are three that bear record, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one, one piece of furniture. They are one, the Ark of the Covenant. Look at verse 21, And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the Ark, and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And that's where I'll meet with you, and I'll commune with thee from above the mercy seat, between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." And you know where the place of God is that he communes with us? The place God reveals himself? Christ, yes. Well, how does Christ reveal himself? How does the Spirit reveal Christ unto us? Right here, the gospel, the gospel table. This is the place that God communes with us in the gospel, concerning God's Son, our mercy stick. This is where he communes and speaks to and reveals himself to his people. are things that the angels desire to look into. Now, I'm not just spiritualizing here, I'm trying to be dramatic. When the gospel is preached, when Christ is exalted and honored, the angels of God hover over this place. Some, by his mercy and by his grace, some people have this gospel anointed to their ears, their hearts, their minds. That's the reason this thing is so serious. This ain't just a church meeting. It ain't just a Wednesday night so-called prayer meeting. The gospel is being proclaimed here. The angels of God desire to look into it. Christ is being honored. It's where God communes with his people. It's much more serious than we take it, isn't it? Much more serious. Which things the angel desired to look into. God help us. Desire it more. Desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby. Desire for the keen, fervent interest in things of God. Set our affection on things above where Christ sits, where the mercy seat is. God grant it. God grant it. Stand with me now, just make it simple. Lord God, how we thank you for this glorious, glorious message. Even if we just read it, it'd be glorious to our eyes and our ears. What a beautiful picture of Christ it is. God help us. God forgive us for not seeing the beauty in it. We have no one to blame but ourselves. And we ask you that you might apply it to someone in here You might apply it, it would be wonderful to apply it to all that hear it, but be merciful and apply it to one person, one needy sinner in need of mercy. Apply it, let us seek, let the one seek Christ, the ark and the mercy seat where God communes with his people. Lord God, how we praise your holy name, for the Lord Jesus Christ, that unspeakable gift, that vessel, that tabernacle among us. Amen. You're dismissed.