Exodus 37:1-9: a reflection

1Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height. 2He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold for it around it. 3He cast four rings of gold for it in its four feet—two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side. 4He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 5He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 6He made a mercy seat of pure gold. Its length was two and a half cubits, and a cubit and a half its width. 7He made two cherubim of gold. He made them of beaten work, at the two ends of the mercy seat: 8one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. He made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends. 9The cherubim spread out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.

Bezalel crafts the ark of the covenant, and on top of it the mercy seat, a lid of pure gold with two cherubim facing each other, their wings spread over it. It is a small detail with enormous meaning, because this mercy seat was the place where God said he would meet his people. Not just anywhere, but there, over the ark.

Notice what lay inside the ark, beneath that mercy seat: the tablets of the law, the commandments Israel had broken. And notice what God placed on top, as the meeting place: mercy. God chose to meet his people not at the bare law that accused them, but at the seat of mercy positioned above it, where atoning blood would be sprinkled. Grace, quite literally, was set over the law as the place of encounter with God.

That arrangement is the gospel in gold and wood. God does not meet you at the level of the law you have broken, ready to condemn; he meets you at the place of mercy, where atonement is made. The law is real, and it is inside the ark, but the meeting place is the mercy seat above it. If you fear coming to God because of the law you have failed, remember where he waits to meet you. Not at the accusing tablets, but at the seat of mercy, over them. Come to him there.

Lord, you chose to meet your people not at the law they had broken but at the seat of mercy above it. Thank you that you meet me the same way, in grace and atonement, not condemnation. When I fear coming to you, draw me to the mercy seat, where you wait.