The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Seven Furnishings of the Tabernacle, #43

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)

The true goal is found in the pattern of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The seventh article of furniture is the pure gold Mercy Seat. There was no wood (humanity) in the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was beaten from refined gold, indicating that the climax of the Christian salvation has to do with the unalloyed Godhead.

Pure Divinity. "That I may know Him!" Paul cried. It is time now for the Christian believers to exclaim from the heart: That I may know Him! How quickly everything else will be placed in perspective.

And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. (Exodus 25:17,18)

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above on the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are on the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 25:21,22)

Some of the verses in the New Testament writings teach us how the fulfillment of the Mercy Seat is formed in the life of an individual.

Jesus answered and said to him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)

We are ready for the fulfillment of the Mercy Seat, God Himself, to crown our being, when we become the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant by:

Sharing consistently in Christ's death and the power of His resurrection life.

Receiving the continual impartation of the body and blood of the living Lord Jesus Christ.

Being transformed in character into the moral image of Christ.

Carefully notice the following expressions of Christ: "He [the Christian] will keep my words." "My Father will love him." "We will come unto him and make our abode with him."

This is the coming of the Mercy Seat, the Godhead, into the life of the victorious Christian in the same manner in which God dwells in Christ. Such is the meaning of several passages of the new-covenant writings, both in the Gospels and the Epistles. The seventeenth chapter of John probably is the best example of such passages.

The coming of God and Christ to abide eternally with the completely reconciled saint is the fullness of redemption, the rest of God, perfection, full sonship—call it what you wish. It is the completion of salvation, the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, the omega of the pursuit of God, the "all things" of Revelation 21:7.

To be continued.