By Joan Masterson
In this current season of my life, the Lord has set me on a path of deep intercession. Recently, He deposited the words, “THERE I WILL MEET WITH YOU” in my spirit. My first question was, “Where is THERE?” I invite you to join me on the quest to understand the THERE.
As He is training me, He has given me many spiritual encounters providing profound revelations in the Word. My hunger for the deeper things of the Lord has intensified each time He shares His secrets with me. The Word of God has taken on new meaning according to:
Psalm 25:14- “The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant. “
I believe the key to coming into the fear of the Lord in a healthy way is to know His ways. Zec. 3:7 gives us an incredible promise of authority and heavenly encounter.
Zec. 3: 7 – “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here. ”
On the flip side, Heb. 3:10 gives a picture of the Lord’s displeasure for not knowing His ways.
Heb. 3: 10-11 “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; 11 AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’”
When I think of His ways, I feel that understanding Sabbath is the starting point. The request to participate in the Sabbath is given importance throughout God’s word. In the very beginning of Genesis, Sabbath was the first thing He called Holy. Yet Sabbath is not really a thing or a creation we can touch or see. It is a set-apart time with a beginning and an end. So, it would be wise for us to know why the Sabbath is so important to Him. What is the lesson He is teaching in Shabbat? Not the doing of it, rather the revelation through it. By the end of this series of articles, I hope to weave for you the picture of Shabbat revealed not as a day in time, but as a revelation of the finished work of the cross that offers to us what it means to enter into God’s rest.
As I pondered the words, “There I will meet you”, I thought surely where I meet God there will be rest. So, I followed Him as He took me on a journey of discovery; the reason for His prompting to meet Him “There.” I am hopeful that the words God deposited in my heart, “There I will meet with you,” are an invitation from Him to bring me not only to His rest but also to a place to receive His secrets. So, I searched to see where that phrase was in the Bible. The first place I found it was:
Exodus 25:22 – “ There I will meet with you , and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.”
Before we go further, I want to address the term” sons of Israel.” In context, He is talking with the Jewish people. However, I believe the Jewish people were a people group set apart by God to reveal His heart, His ways, and ultimately His Son. He gave His first-born Son for the salvation of all who would receive the promise. The biblical story of the Jewish people was how He would show this plan to the world. His heart has always been for sons and daughters to be grafted into Israel. Those grafted in did not lose their identity but received the fullness of adoption because of the work of the cross. Through that adoption, we have access to the Father‘s table to learn the ways of His Kingdom.
When I want to gain understanding of a scripture, I often go to the Hebrew definitions of the words in Strong’s Concordance.
“There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” EX 25:22
In Hebrew, the word “meet” can be defined as “to gather by agreement or appointment”; also, “to engage for marriage.”
In Hebrew, “speak” can be defined as “commune.” The English dictionary defines” commune” as “to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy.”
So Father is telling us to gather for a time of profound intensity or intimacy coming as the bride to the bridegroom in the context of engagement. He is choosing in this passage that our place of meeting will be at the mercy seat.
He is positioned above the mercy seat, so our gaze will be upwards. The mercy seat is positioned between the two cherubim.
The symbolic meaning of the placing of the Cherubim reveals, in part, a picture of the significance of our meeting place. Cherubim are angelic beings involved in worship and praise of God. The cherubim serve the purpose of magnifying the holiness and power of God throughout the Bible. They also serve as a visible reminder of the majesty and glory of God and His abiding presence with His people.
So as we come to meet and hear His voice, we come in an attitude of worship and praise and a keen awareness of His holiness and power.
In Genesis, we find the Cherubim guarding the way to the tree of life after the fall of man. Consider that the mercy seat is an answer to the fall as a place of redemption. We will take a deeper look at the mercy seat later in another part of the series of this article.
For now, as I close this part one, I ask you to reflect that when you meet the Lord for Shabbat that you come to His mercy seat with a keen awareness of His holiness and power.
THERE I WILL MEET YOU (PART TWO) THE MERCY SEAT
We talked about the important symbolism of the Mercy Seat in part one as is points us to the redemption through Yeshua’s blood on the cross.
Here it is well stated by John J Parsons, www.hebrewforchristians.com
“In other words, the sprinkling of Yeshua’s blood – represented by His Passion upon the cross – was “presented” upon the Heavenly Kapporet, (mercy seat) before the very Throne of God Himself. Yeshua here functions as the great High Priest after the order of Malki-Tzedek (i.e., Melchizedek) who provides everlasting forgiveness for our sins (Heb. 9:7-10:10). Because of His sacrifice, the parochet – the wall-like covering separating the Holy of Holies – was rent asunder and God’s love was let loose upon the world.”
You see the word Kapporet in the above paragraph? Kapporet is the only Hebrew word I could find when I looked for the Hebrew word for mercy in the passage found in
Exodus 25: [22] “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.
I wanted to see which Hebrew word was used for mercy since many of the Hebrew word used for mercy have different meaning.
My thoughts went to the Hebrew word Hessed which means God’s covenant of lovingkindness. However, I found out that the word mercy was not in the original writings, only the word Kapporet, which means covering or lid. The addition of the word mercy, translated with the word lid or covering, comes from Martin Luther’s translation as a location or “seat of mercy.”
However, if you look at the root word for Kapporet, which is kâphar or kaw-far’ you will find its usage in the scriptures as : atonement (71x), purge (7x), reconciliation (4x), , forgive (3x), merciful (2x),
Clearly, Martin Luther’s translation was very descriptive and accurate. By God’s design He was expressing our need for a savoir to provide that place of redemption the “mercy seat” where He would meet us.
The Kapporet, overlaid in gold which is a symbol of purity was the cover of mercy over the ark of the covenant. To keep covenant with another is to be willing to lay your life down for the one you are in covenant with. This ark contained the 10 commandments the instructions for keeping covenant, a golden jar of Manna, as reminder of the provision of God, and Aaron’s rod that blossomed as a sign of the priesthood. But also, as a promise later stated in Jeremiah 1:12, when He asked Jeremiah, “What do you see?” He replied, “The rod of an almond tree.” The Lord responded,
“You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
Mercy is a foundation of God’s covenant to us. It is a part of His nature; it is how he deals with humankind. The Sabbath is the invitation to experience that mercy in a tangible way and rest awhile. It is God’s reminder that the work is finished, His work of creation and redemption. His Mercy is extended to us because He has done it all. He has you covered. Can you lay down your life, your to-do list? Do you trust Him enough to take a 24-hour period in your life to meet Him there? He longs to speak to you from above the mercy seat. What secrets does He have for you to hear?
So, my friend what better place for God to meet with us. Here where He looks down to see us through the blood of Yeshua. Upon the place of His mercy, where He chooses to provide atonement and mercifully opens the way to our reconciliation with Him. A place of reminder of His covenant promises of protection, provision, and assurance that He will be faithful to His word.
The picture of what this looks like is Shabbat. The celebration of this finished work. Every week a time to rejoice, receive, reflect, renew our covenant, and restore our physical bodies.
Shabbat Shalom