Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage: God's Kindness and Holiness

“Jesus, where'er thy people meet, There they behold thy mercy-seat; Where'er they seek thee thou art found, And every place is hallowed ground” (verse 1, William Cowper, #26, The Baptist Hymnal, William Howard Doane).

Things happen when God’s people gather for worship. According to Cowper, these include God’s kindness made obvious and his holiness experienced. Not sure how these fit together yet, so here’s a dip into some related biblical passages.

Mercy Seat

"Now the first covenant, in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the outer one, which contained the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this is called the holy place. And after the second curtain there was a tent called the holy of holies. It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. And above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat...But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:1–5, 11-12 NET).

The mercy seat is a reminder of God's kindness toward us, and event in that he himself, in his kindness, places himself between his righteous judgment and our sin. In the Tabernacle, the mercy seat covered the contents of the ark of the covenant, namely, the reminders of Israel's sin (the tablets of the law and Aaron's rod that budded). Every year, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the seat.

The blood of Jesus, carried by him into the eternal tabernacle in heaven, now covers the eternal mercy seat and guarantees God's kindness toward us forever.

Hallowed Ground

“Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked—and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! So Moses thought, ‘I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?’ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’” And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ God said, ‘Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ He added, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:1–6 NET).

God required that Moses took steps to communicate his recognition of this holy ground. At this place got clarified his own identity as well as that of Moses.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water” (Hebrews 10:19–22 NET).

While Moses responded with terror, those who trust Christ are commanded to enter this hallowed ground with confidence in Christ, who has made and is making us holy.

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(C) Laura Springer