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.