Mary Magdalene and the Mercy Seat

There is an interesting parallel between the scene of the empty tomb as witnessed by Mary Magdalene and the description of the mercy seat in the Old Testament.

In John 20:11-12 we read, "But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying."

Hebrews 9:5 tells us, "And above it [the ark of the covenant] were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat…" The word translated "mercy seat" is hilastērion. This word is also found in Romans 3:25, where it is translated "propitiation."

Paul wrote, "Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation [hilastērion] in His blood through faith. … (Romans 3:24-25)."

Paul portrays Jesus Christ as the hilastērion or mercy seat. The mercy seat was a picture or type of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus was the realization of the Old Testament mercy seat. It could very well be that what Mary saw at the empty tomb that day was evidence of this Old Testament picture of propitiation. She saw the two angels, one at either end of where Jesus' body was laid. The angels in the tomb seem to correspond to the cherubim on either end of mercy seat.

Someone might object saying that when Mary saw these angels, Jesus' body was gone because He had been raised from the dead. However, Hebrews tells us: "… we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:10-14)." Since the sacrifice had been completed at the cross, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God. The earthly mercy seat in the Old Testament was needed for continual sacrifices unlike the perfect, final sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus was offered once and then He was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). When Jesus died on the cross, He said "it is finished!" The hilastērion—propitiation for sins—was complete. The objective of the mercy seat had been accomplished. Now Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father as our throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Dr. David Reagan wrote, "Jesus fulfilled every prophetic type of the Ark."

May God richly bless you as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

Because of Calvary,

Bob

* * *

From every stormy wind that blows,

From every swelling tide of woes,

There is a calm, a sure retreat:

'Tis found beneath the mercy seat.

 

Its more complicated than you think -- or is it?

Paul wrote, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3).”

Satan’s first attack upon mankind in the garden was to question the Word of God. He hissed those insidious words into the ear of Eve, “Did God really say (Gen. 3:1)?” His deceptive tactics have not changed much since that first attack in the garden. He continues to challenge the veracity of God’s written Word. He questions the simplicity of God’s good news of salvation. Unfortunately, he uses theologians to distort the gospel.

Dr. Alan Stanley wrote a book entitled Salvation Is More Complicated Than You Think. Dr. Stanley is not the only Bible teacher who thinks that salvation is complicated.

• John Piper wrote: “Saving faith is no simple thing. It has many dimensions. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus’ is a massive command. It contains a hundred other things. Unless we see this, the array of conditions for salvation in the New Testament will be utterly perplexing.”
• Michael Horton wrote: “The New Testament lays before us a vast array of conditions for final salvation. Not only initial repentance and faith, but perseverance in both…”
• R. C. Sproul wrote: “There are all sorts of conditions that must be met for someone to be saved. Chief among them is that we must have faith in Christ. The Reformed view does, in a narrow sense, see obedience as a ‘condition’ (but never the ground) of justification.”

Sadly, many theologians complicate the simplicity of the gospel by not distinguishing the difference between the requirements for salvation and the requirements for discipleship. The requirements for discipleship are not the same as the requirements for salvation. Discipleship is costly. Salvation is free. God’s Word teaches that the only condition for salvation is to believe. The single requirement for salvation is vastly different than the many conditions for discipleship. To be a disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Christ, abide in His Word, love Christ more than your family, etc. The commitments of discipleship should be the result of salvation, not requirements for salvation.

Blessings,

Bob

* * *

Imputed Righteousness
by Lance Latham

There is simply no possibility whatsoever that a person can achieve standing before God on the basis of his own defaced, despicable righteousness. A Christian, therefore, is not merely one who has been through the emotion of a moment, or who has newly purposed or has newly promised. Rather, a Christian has abandoned all hope of his own personal moral credentials and receives as his sole and complete basis for standing before God the finished and complete righteousness which Jesus Christ purchased on Calvary’s cross and imputed to him. To “impute” means to “ascribe,” to “put to one’s account.” Personal righteousness does not save us; imputed righteousness alone satisfies divine holiness and makes the sinner acceptable before God.

 

Volunteers & interns are a blessing!

What a blessing it is to live at the retirement center of Ethnos360. Most of us living here spent the majority of our adult lives serving the Lord. As a result, we were not able to save a nice nest egg for retirement. Some of us would find ourselves in very different circumstances right now if it weren’t for this place. Having an affordable place to live in retirement is certainly a huge blessing.

To keep costs at a minimum, the retirement center relies on a lot of volunteer help throughout the year. During the winter and spring months, volunteers from all over the U.S. bring their RV’s and give of their time and talents to lend us a hand. We are incredibly grateful for their support.

Our permanent staff members are short-handed. We have numerous positions that need to be filled. We need a food service director, a chaplain, general maintenance personnel, personal care staff, housekeeping staff, and kitchen staff. Please pray that the Lord would raise up those who could fill these positions.

We are currently offering an internship program for young people who would like to serve the Lord for a couple of months or longer. This internship program is an opportunity at Ethnos360 in Sanford, Florida. It is not a paid position, but the housing is free and there is a food stipend of $100 a week. The minimum age is 18 years old.

Some of the roles include Maintenance, Kitchen, Housekeeping, IT, Contingency, Graphic Design, Social Media, Administration, Communication and more. We offer 3 internship programs in the coming months.

• Summer Internship 2024: May 27 - Aug 2 (10 weeks)
• Fall Internship 2024: Aug 26 - Dec 13 (16 weeks)
• Full Year Internship 2024: Aug 26, 2024 - May 2, 2025 (33 weeks)

The chairman of our Biblical Resources Group taught at the Ethnos360 Bible College for 33 years before he retired here to Florida. He meets with the interns leading a discipleship group. The internship program not only offers an opportunity to serve, but also to learn.

If you know of any young people who might be interested in serving the Lord in this internship program, please direct them to this website:

ethnos360.org/short-term-trips/stateside-internships

Blessings,

Bob

* * *

Child-like Faith

By Randy Kilgore

Years ago, I asked fifth-grade students to prepare a list of questions to ask Jesus if He were to show up in person the following week. I also asked groups of adults to do the same thing. The results were startlingly different. The kids’ questions ranged from adorable to poignant: “Will we have to sit around in robes and sing all day in heaven? Will my puppy be in heaven? Were the whales in or out of the ark? How’s my grandpa doing up there with You?” Almost without fail, their questions were free from doubt that heaven existed or that God acts supernaturally.

Adults, on the other hand, featured a completely different line of questioning: “Why do bad things happen to good people? How do I know You’re listening to my prayers? Why is there only one way to heaven? How could a loving God let this tragedy happen to me?”

For the most part, children live life unfettered by the cares and sorrows that burden adults. Their faith lets them trust God more readily. While we adults often get lost in trials and sorrows, children retain the psalmist’s view of life—an eternal perspective that sees the greatness of God (Ps. 8:1-2).

God can be trusted, and He longs for us to trust Him the way children do (Matt. 18:3).

An intimate walk with God lifts our eyes from
today’s trials and into eternity’s triumphs.