September 10, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode of the Legacy Bible Podcast, we revisit Rev. Chuck Rains’ message from March 8, 1992, on the mercy seat — the throne of God’s grace revealed through Christ. From the tabernacle’s Holy of Holies to the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, this sermon unfolds the beauty of God’s mercy, how it flows from His love, and why it remains the anchor of hope for every believer. Discover why mercy is not only God’s nature but also our invitation to boldly approach His throne for help in every need.
📝 Shownotes
In this episode:
- The connection between God’s holiness and love.
- Why mercy is the ultimate expression of God’s love.
- The symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant, the manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tablets.
- The significance of the solid gold mercy seat as the throne of God.
- The high priest’s yearly sacrifice and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
- What it means to come boldly before God’s throne of grace.
📌 Key Scripture: Hebrews 4:14–16 – “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Thanks for listening and please subscribe. if you have any comments or questions please send them to legacybiblepodcast@gmail.com you can check out the website at www.legacybiblepodcast.com Fellowship Bible Church website is at wwwfbcjoliet.com please come back every week for another legacy lesson from the bible by the Re. Chuck Rains.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Legacy Bible Podcast. We have legacy audio from our tape archives of the
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Fellowship Bible Church in Joliet, Illinois. I Am marcus, your host. Today we're going to be
bringing you another one from our archive. I'm looking at my list here. Okay, we were on
1991, we've been playing why this one is from March 4th or March, no March 8th, 1992. So why is
(00:46):
it from 1992? I don't know. I don't know. This one just kind of snuck in there, I think. So next
it will be back to 1991, year again. But for some reason, this one's 1992. And it's titled
The Mercy Seat. God's Throne of Grace. And I think I remember on many episodes back, there was
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another one on the Mercy Seat. So this is a different year. So we're coming back to the theme or
the subject of the Mercy Seat. All right, so let's listen to this one. And I'll see you on the
other side of it. I appreciated so much being able to have that time with you this morning and the
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thoughts about last week's materials from the 50th adventure and this week's materials, last week
touching on the place of the love of God in our lives as families and as a church family. And this
week on how that love shows itself in the mercy of God, in our families, how it's to be shown, how
it's to be shown in the church. Mercy is an expression of love. There are a lot of subjects in the
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Word of God. We talk about the how the nature of God in us is to be lived out. But those subjects,
every one of them can be hung under one of these two major headings, holiness or love. The prime
moral, the prime two prime elements in the moral nature of God, holiness and love. And mercy hangs
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under that heading of love. Mercy, the kindness of God shown to those who deserve what. The kindness
of God shown to those who deserve what? Ultimately, those that deserve hell, those that deserve
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judgment, eternal judgment. And even to his own children, he's merciful. The matter of eternal
damnation, judgment, has been cared for in the blood of Christ. But he is merciful because of
that because in the blood of Christ, in the death of Christ, we have access to the mercy of God.
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There's even a name given to that place where we obtain mercy in the book of Hebrews. Would you
open to the book of Hebrews? I wrote down the reference. Nine. So Hebrews nine, I know.
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But let's find it. Yes. Okay. And Hebrews nine. There is a description of the tabernacle.
The tent tabernacle means tent, the tent of meeting where Israel came together to worship the Lord.
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Now they couldn't enter the tent as a mass. They had to stand outside and priests were assigned
service to go into that tent and to worship God. They were in that sense, they were taking the
prayers of Israel before God. And the priests became intercessors, you know,
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not that the individual person couldn't pray to God as we see in the Psalms. David opened his
heart and prayed directly to God. But you see in the tabernacle, you see a picture there, really,
of what God was going to do in giving his son to this world as Savior. What I'm saying is that in
all the details about the tent of meeting, in all the details about the offerings, in all the
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details about what the priests did and what they wore and about the lampstand, all the furniture of
the tabernacle, the table of Schubert and the altar of incense. And especially the furniture of
the little room in the back called the Holy of Holies. All of that was to focus on the atoning blood
of Christ at Calvary and the life of Christ, the sacrifice, that perfect sacrifice that was going
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to be offered there on that cross as an atonement for our sin. Everything in that ministry about
that tabernacle and all that went on there was really to be fulfilled through the person and work
of Jesus Christ. That little room, that Holy of Holies back there housed a wooden box. The scripture
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says it was made of gopher wood, gopher wood that was made of wood. Then it was overlaid with gold.
Gold covered all the wood so you could not see the wood. A lid was placed on top of it. It was a
rectangular box with a lid set on top of it. The lid was not made of wood. The lid was not just made
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of wood covered with gold. The lid was made of solid gold. And as though they had been
somehow fashioned out of the same gold and poured together or fashioned together in some way,
there were at each end of the lid two figures of angels. The order of angels
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called seraphims, cherubiums. They were continuously of the same piece of gold.
It wasn't that they were just sitting there. They were a part of that lid. As though they were
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intimately and directly associated with whatever that lid stood for. These angelic figures
faced one another, but they had wings. And with their wings, they covered their face,
covered their bodies all the way down. And bent their heads inward. It was the most holy scene.
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It was over that lid that God displayed a light. You see, there was no candle ever brought into
the holy of holies. There was no lamp stand ever brought into the holy of holies.
And it was separated from the holy place, the other larger room, by a very multi-layered,
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thick curtain. No light could penetrate. The walls with their silver-covered boards and the
ceiling that was over the cloth and the skins, the multi-layered ceiling that was over it,
blocked out all light. It was an absolutely dark place, except when the high priest went in there
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once a year, he found that it was not dark. It was probably the best lit place on this urge,
because suspended over that little lid was a light between those two angelic figures.
A light suspended there, and it was called the chakina glory of God. God, in other words,
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manifest His presence there in light.
That lid on that little box had a name. And here it is in Hebrews 9. I'm going to read from verse 1,
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then indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.
For tabernacle was prepared the first part in which was the lampstandness of the first room,
in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle also is called the holiest of all.
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And sometimes it's called holy of holies, same meaning, holiest of all, or holiest of holies,
which had the golden altar of incense. Now that, I know as you read that, you say,
I know about the holy of holies and I know the holy place, and that little altar of incense
was not inside the holy of holies. And yet Hebrew says that it was.
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Well, it's wonderful to read the word of God and just realize that there aren't contradictions.
Yes, but the Old Testament says that the altar of incense was outside in that first room.
And Hebrew says it wasn't in the first room, it was in the little room in the back, the holy of
holies. That's a contradiction. I'm sorry, it isn't a contradiction. Can't be two places at once.
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You're right. You're right. When I read the gospel of Matthew, I see an emphasis on the Lord Jesus
as the Messiah. When I read the gospel of Mark, I see an emphasis on the Lord Jesus as the suffering
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servant, the ox. As I read the gospel of Luke, I see him as the son of man. And when I read the
gospel of John, I see the emphasis on him as the son of God, the divine son of God. Is John wrong?
Is Matthew wrong? Is Luke wrong? Is Mark wrong? No. They're viewing it from different perspectives,
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and they're all telling the truth. When I read the gospels and I find that there's an inscription
over Jesus in his death, Matthew says one thing. Mark says another, Luke says another, and John
says another. None of them agree. They don't all say the same thing, what I should say.
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But they all agree. Do you know you have to put what all four evangelists say to get to put together
all that they say about that sign to know what was written on that sign?
This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. That's what you'll get if you put all four gospels
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together. And it was written in three languages. And it was written so that all those passing by
could read it. And Christ was suspended on a cross, and it was put above his head,
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which certainly messes up the Jehovah's Witnesses idea that he was on a tea like this, you know,
and somehow there was no cross really there because they don't like the idea that we
think of Christ dying on a cross and they want to get rid of the cross symbol. And so they think
he died on a tea, but it's sure hard to tack a sign on something that isn't there, isn't it?
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And it was over his head and it was written in three languages, large enough for everyone to read.
And we know it was up on an outcropping of rock that looked like a skull because they called it
Golgatha, the place of the skull. And there was a road that went by that place, which was why so
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many people could stare at him as he hung there for hours up on the cross and shake their heads
and read the sign. And I've stood there. And I tried to estimate as I stood there how far
away they must have been as they walked by the road. And I mean, the ancient road must have gone
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very close to Calvary. But if it was as close as it could go and still be able to look up onto
that hill and see a cross, three crosses there and read a sign that was on top of it,
you have to be a hundred or 150 feet away. There is no other way to get closer because you get
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closer than of course the sharpness of the cliff blocks out whatever is up on top. You've got to be
back far enough to be able to see what's up there. At least 150 feet, 100 feet to 150 feet away.
So even at 100 feet away, well, you decide how big was a sign. Was it one of these little things
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that you see on some of these pretty little crosses? But I say on a cross like this,
some people would have a little sign about like that. They don't want to make it look tacky up there.
It doesn't quite look too nice to have a great big sign nailed up there on that cross.
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But that's how it was. And you have to put all the evangelists together to see that.
And you have to put the physical facts together to see it. You have to see the perspectives that
God gives you through the different writers. But they all do agree, I tell you. And this agrees
with the Old Testament. What does it agree to say? It's saying that while in the Old Testament,
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this little altar was not in the Holy of Holies. And that was because that every day the priest had
to come in and put incense on it and coals on it to keep the fire going and keep putting incense
on it to burn the incense. They could only go into the whole or the high priest could only go
into the Holy of Holies once a year. And yet that little altar, because it symbolized prayer and
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because prayer was to be made continually, that little altar had to be tended to every day.
It had to have coals on it all the time. It had to have incense on it all the time because prayer
was supposed to be going up how often, all the time. So for practical reasons, you understand,
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that which properly belonged in the Holy of Holies
couldn't be in the Holy of Holies because it couldn't be tended every day in the Holy of Holies.
For necessary reasons, it was outside the veil. But who here knows where it was in the Holy
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place, in the large room? Where was that little altar of incense in that large room? Does anybody know?
Because this is very important to prove the harmony with this text. Where was that little altar of
incense? I'll give you an idea as to so you think it through again that as you the priest would come
into the Holy place, the Holy place would be 15 feet wide, 30 feet long, 15 feet high.
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On the right, as he would come into the curtain into the Holy place, the Holy place is the name
of the first room. On the right, there was a table and on the table would be the showbread
that was changed every day. On the left, there was a lampstand with seven lights on it.
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The lampstand, and that had to be tended every day. The oil had to be checked. The light was not to go out.
Well, if the table of showbread was here and the lampstand was there, where was the altar of incense?
Right here as you come in or kind of tucked up against the lampstand or over here or back there in
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the corner? Where was it? You think you know well? In the middle, right in the middle. Good idea.
Not right, but it's good idea. I like that idea. See, at least you're willing to make a shot at it,
right? Makes sense to you, doesn't it? It's wrong though, but makes sense. Good idea. Write a book.
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A lot of people write books about whatever, you know. Where was it? Dave's got an idea.
Right in front of something. Right in front of the veil.
You mean tucked all the way back against the veil? You mean all the way back in the room as
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close as it could get to the holy of holies? Why would you? You're right. He's right. I'm sorry,
William. Gotta take the scriptures, don't I? You've got a good idea, but the scriptures say it a different
way. Why would God have that little thing pushed up against the veil? This tells you,
you know, it's a good idea. Because where did it really belong? Behind the veil in the holy
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of holies. And that was as close as it could get there in practical terms. And so God says,
you put that thing right up against that veil and take care of it every day, but prayer. When
prayer goes up, this is a little altar of incense. It spoke of prayer. It was a symbol of prayer
going up before God. Where did prayer go up? It went up before God who was on his throne in
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heaven. And how often does God want prayer to be offered up before his throne?
Constantly, continually, daily, hourly, moment by moment, prayers to go up before the throne.
Would you understand why it was supposed to be in the holy of holies is that inside the holy of
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holies, there was something in there that was a picture of the throne of God. And since prayer is
supposed to go up before the throne, continually, and there was something there that was a picture of
the throne of God. It's the technical word is a type of the throne of God type, meaning picture.
There was something in that holy of holies that was a picture of the or something that stood for,
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symbolized the throne of God. That's why the altar of incense belonged in there so that the
prayers could go up before the throne of God. What was in there that was a picture or a
representation or a symbol of the throne of God? What was in there?
The mercy, what's we didn't mention that? What is that?
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Topper the tabernacle? No, Badger'skins was on top of the tabernacle.
Oh, the ark of the covenant. I knew he knew that, but I figured I'd push him a little bit.
The lid on the box, the lid on the box, the solid gold lid on the box.
And if you've read your Bible or seen the film, it's called the ark of the covenant.
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Some people, you know, they're sure how things happen because they've seen the film. One lady
told me that, I know, I know, I know how it was done. I saw the film.
Then I'll wait a minute. Hollywood is not true. You know, they don't always get things just right.
Go back to the Bible. Go back to the Bible and find out.
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The lid on the box was called the mercy seat here. It says,
it says, behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all,
which had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid and all sides with
gold. That's the box. That's the Gopher Wood box with gold overlaid in which were, and there are
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three things in that box, the golden pot that had the manna. You see, they had had manna for 40
years in the wilderness and God wanted him to remember that he had fed them and cared for them
every day. And so he told them to take one golden pot and put manna in it. And by the way,
every day they went off to pick up manna. It was fresh, right? Except on the day before the
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Sabbath, they were to pick up two days worth of manna. So they didn't have to go out and pick any
up on the day of worship. If they had any leftover to the next day, what happened to the manna?
It got wormy. It bred worms. It was rotten.
I mean, this stuff got so rotten that in the same day it had worms in it. I mean,
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we don't even have, I mean, dead meat doesn't even do that. You know, at least takes three or four or
five days, right? It's a really stink badly and longer than that to get worms.
Some different kinds of worms depends on where you are. I don't know what is it down in the
tropics. I guess, Dan, you get worms pretty fast, right? A couple of day. All right. I
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have a better preach according to the tropics. You get worms in a couple of days. But the manna
breadworms the next day, but not the manna that was put in that golden pot. That is the one
little pot of manna that never breadworms. It stayed there fresh. Why? As a reminder of God's
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mercy. How he had fed them inside that little box also. There was Aaron's rod that butted.
Aaron had a rod was just a wooden stick. Aaron had a wooden stick,
a staff. Okay. Now, if you think it was one of these that was more about so tall, you know,
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and how you've seen the movie, you know, that isn't it. You know how I know that it wasn't that long
and that big? Because it was in the little box. And I know how big the little box is.
So if it was six feet long, it couldn't go into the little box. You could break it, fold it. No,
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I don't think Aaron folded his rod up. No, modern day thinking. It was it was a rod. Maybe that long,
a wooden rod. Maybe that long. And he carried it around. It was a dried up piece of wood.
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But one day God caused that rod to do something. Does anybody remember? It was an almond tree rod.
It was a piece of wood from an almond tree. You remember what happened to that rod?
In one day it butted and bloomed. What did that rod symbolize?
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You know what the golden pot with manna symbolizes? Mercy of God to do what for us?
To provide, to feed, to care for us. What does Aaron's rod that butted symbolize?
Why do you say life?
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Resurrection life.
One day Jesus died and was put in a grave and he was there three days.
And on the third day what happened? He butted. He came to life, resurrection life.
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And the Jews had to be reminded that God is the God of resurrection life.
Do you know by what you have resurrection life by the mercy of God? He provides it in Jesus.
And there was another thing in there besides the golden pot with manna and the rod of Aaron that butted.
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It says, and the tablets of the covenant. Now there were plural tablets because there were two of them.
What does he mean? The tablets of the covenant. Peter? Yes, these are the two tablets on which were
written the ten commandments. This is not the good set. This is the set that Moses had the chisel.
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This didn't look as nice as the first set. The first set God wrote with his finger and Moses
messed it up. What did he do? What the first set?
He threw it down and broke it and so God said, okay, okay, you broke it. Now go back up on the
mountain. We'll get some more. He went back up 40 days later. He said, now you do it this time.
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That time Moses had to write out the ten commandments on the tablets. That'll teach him, right? Yeah.
You brought it down but those tablets went into that little box. Have you seen the film
where the guy standing there with the two tablets? Have you seen the film?
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Could they go in the little box? No, no, no. No, they weren't that big. You know, it's not so big.
Not that big. So they could go in the box.
But I would say that the first thing that I would do with that is to do with this.
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I would do it. I would do it. I would do it.
So it wasn't David, but I understand what you're saying.
What was the name of that fellow that Edward G. Robinson played?
Nathan. That was okay. You said Nathan. I thought you were saying David.
Edward G. Robinson was the bad guy there.
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So you get to see? I've got that up here too. There's Edward G. Robinson messing things up there.
And above it, here's the lid now. Verse five. And above it were the cherubim of glory,
overshattling the mercy seat. And there's the word. There it is, Dan. The mercy seat.
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There were the cherubim. There was the mercy seat. The mercy seats, the lid.
What did the mercy seat? The solid gold mercy seat. Not the wood covered up with gold.
Well, a solid gold mercy seat. What did that symbolize? Dan?
It does. It go on, carry it further. Purity with the gold, yes. But what's the most pure thing
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there is? Perfection. What is the most perfect thing there is? God himself. That gold symbolized
God's nature himself. And that was a solid gold mercy seat. It really was the place of God.
You know what we would call it? From say the book of Revelation, what kind of stuff there is in
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the book of Revelation. What would you call that? The throne of God. The seat of God. Or you think
of it this way? The place of God himself. It is where God is.
That's where prayer was supposed to be going up. And guess what the name of that place is?
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The mercy seat. The mercy seat. You think of a throne, a seat. But what emphasis does God put
on the place where He is? Mercy. Mercy. What did the High Priest do when he came in there
once a year? He did one special thing in there. He sprinkled blood on the mercy seat.
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And the blood was supposed to symbolize whose blood? Christ's blood.
So the answer for sin had to be pleasing, had to be made, and had to be pleasing to the one who was
the place of mercy. Christ's death had to please whom? God the Father.
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Why? So that God the Father could do what for us? Give us mercy. Life is an expression of that
mercy. No, no, that's not wrong. That's not the wrong answer. Middle of the holy place,
wrong answer. Life, good answer. Give us mercy. And all that mercy gives us.
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It gives us eternal life in Christ. It gives us a relationship with God. It brings us into the
closest possible relationship that we can have. We're made like Him.
He wants us to focus on this, that is we approach Him. We approach the God of mercy.
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In chapter three, now four, chapter four of Hebrews,
chapter four. I want to read the last three verses of this chapter.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
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what's His name, people? Do you see it there? Who is our high priest? Jesus, the Son of God,
no man is our high priest. No man does intercession for us. No man is the intercessor for the believer.
We have one mediator between God and man. What's His name? Jesus Christ, the Lord. Jesus, the Son
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of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. You see, He
did not sin, though He took on human form and went through all that we have to face. He met it
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righteously, perfectly. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What is the mercy seat floor?
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For us, it's a place of help in God. It's a place of meeting God and receiving God's mercy.
What do you need mercy for? For time of need. How often do you have need?
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There you are. So does it amaze you that if you always have need that He would always like you to be praying?
That He would always like to take care of you? How would you like your good shepherd to take care of you
maybe two hours a week? You know what would be the safest thing for you to do if that's all that
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care you got from your shepherd is to go home and take a brick and hit yourself on the head and
wake up about just those two hours and then go back to unconsciousness the rest of the
rest of the day. Because if your shepherd is not going to watch out for you, if you're going to
have no one that you can cry out to for care and help and mercy, you're going to be in trouble.
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You're going to be in trouble.
Isn't it wonderful to know that He's the God of mercy and He wants us to call on Him
always constantly that He might help in a time of need? How do you come to that place
for a pain in mercy? I'm supposed to come if you know Christ as your Savior boldly. It doesn't mean
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rationally. It doesn't mean impiously. It doesn't mean presumptuously. It means with confidence
that the blood of Jesus has answered for you, with confidence that as a child of God you have a
right to be there, with confidence that He loves you enough to want to hear your words, with confidence
because you know that He wants to help boldly.
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How would the High Priest walk into the Holy of Holies if maybe it wasn't the day He was supposed
to come in? It wasn't Yom Kippur. It wasn't the day of atonement. It was maybe three months later
and He thought it'd be a nice thing to go in there and talk with God a little bit. How would He come
in? Would He come in boldly? He's not going to walk out and He would be wise to wear a rope so that
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He didn't defile the place with His rotins after He's stunk and decay. Be better because
you're going to have to pull Him out. He's not going to walk in the presence of God.
And nobody's going to go after Him now. No.
But just think, you may come in every day, every hour, every minute, and obtain mercy.
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And you don't have to pray with a rope on your leg.
Right? Let's pray. Father, thank you for your mercy in Jesus.
And thank you that He has met perfectly and forever and ever all the demands
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of your righteousness and provided for us the fullness of your love.
Thank you for the mercy seat, throne of God, and thank you for Jesus.
And thank you for your mercy in His precious name.
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All right. Thank you, Pastor Rains. What an incredible message on the mercy seat.
That was just incredible. I'm going to have to go back and listen to that one over again.
So, and I've listened to it twice already. So, I'll just do it one more time once I complete the
podcast. All right. So, if you like that, please come back again next week.
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We'll have more of messages from the word of God, from our pastor, the ribbon chuck reins.
And until then, make sure you reach your Bible. In fact, don't just listen to the podcast.
Go and actually open up your Bible and look up the verses to make sure that everything said is
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correct and it's in the Bible. I'm sure that it is. So, you could do that. And also, if you think
about it, please subscribe or like or whatever you do with those different podcast things are
on the YouTube channel. And are now on the Rumble channel, we're doing pretty good on their Rumble
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channel. So, I'm glad I moved it there. All right. So, I'll see you next time. And until then,
have a great day. See you next week.
Welcome to the Legacy Bible Podcast. We have legacy audio from our tape archives of the
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Fellowship Bible Church in Joliet, Illinois. I Am marcus, your host. Today we're going to be
bringing you another one from our archive. I'm looking at my list here. Okay, we were on
1991, we've been playing why this one is from March 4th or March, no March 8th, 1992. So why is
(00:46):
it from 1992? I don't know. I don't know. This one just kind of snuck in there, I think. So next
it will be back to 1991, year again. But for some reason, this one's 1992. And it's titled
The Mercy Seat. God's Throne of Grace. And I think I remember on many episodes back, there was
(01:11):
another one on the Mercy Seat. So this is a different year. So we're coming back to the theme or
the subject of the Mercy Seat. All right, so let's listen to this one. And I'll see you on the
other side of it. I appreciated so much being able to have that time with you this morning and the
(01:37):
thoughts about last week's materials from the 50th adventure and this week's materials, last week
touching on the place of the love of God in our lives as families and as a church family. And this
week on how that love shows itself in the mercy of God, in our families, how it's to be shown, how
it's to be shown in the church. Mercy is an expression of love. There are a lot of subjects in the
(02:06):
Word of God. We talk about the how the nature of God in us is to be lived out. But those subjects,
every one of them can be hung under one of these two major headings, holiness or love. The prime
moral, the prime two prime elements in the moral nature of God, holiness and love. And mercy hangs
(02:29):
under that heading of love. Mercy, the kindness of God shown to those who deserve what. The kindness
of God shown to those who deserve what? Ultimately, those that deserve hell, those that deserve
(02:54):
judgment, eternal judgment. And even to his own children, he's merciful. The matter of eternal
damnation, judgment, has been cared for in the blood of Christ. But he is merciful because of
that because in the blood of Christ, in the death of Christ, we have access to the mercy of God.
(03:18):
There's even a name given to that place where we obtain mercy in the book of Hebrews. Would you
open to the book of Hebrews? I wrote down the reference. Nine. So Hebrews nine, I know.
(03:39):
But let's find it. Yes. Okay. And Hebrews nine. There is a description of the tabernacle.
The tent tabernacle means tent, the tent of meeting where Israel came together to worship the Lord.
(04:04):
Now they couldn't enter the tent as a mass. They had to stand outside and priests were assigned
service to go into that tent and to worship God. They were in that sense, they were taking the
prayers of Israel before God. And the priests became intercessors, you know,
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not that the individual person couldn't pray to God as we see in the Psalms. David opened his
heart and prayed directly to God. But you see in the tabernacle, you see a picture there, really,
of what God was going to do in giving his son to this world as Savior. What I'm saying is that in
all the details about the tent of meeting, in all the details about the offerings, in all the
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details about what the priests did and what they wore and about the lampstand, all the furniture of
the tabernacle, the table of Schubert and the altar of incense. And especially the furniture of
the little room in the back called the Holy of Holies. All of that was to focus on the atoning blood
of Christ at Calvary and the life of Christ, the sacrifice, that perfect sacrifice that was going
(05:19):
to be offered there on that cross as an atonement for our sin. Everything in that ministry about
that tabernacle and all that went on there was really to be fulfilled through the person and work
of Jesus Christ. That little room, that Holy of Holies back there housed a wooden box. The scripture
(05:44):
says it was made of gopher wood, gopher wood that was made of wood. Then it was overlaid with gold.
Gold covered all the wood so you could not see the wood. A lid was placed on top of it. It was a
rectangular box with a lid set on top of it. The lid was not made of wood. The lid was not just made
(06:09):
of wood covered with gold. The lid was made of solid gold. And as though they had been
somehow fashioned out of the same gold and poured together or fashioned together in some way,
there were at each end of the lid two figures of angels. The order of angels
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called seraphims, cherubiums. They were continuously of the same piece of gold.
It wasn't that they were just sitting there. They were a part of that lid. As though they were
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intimately and directly associated with whatever that lid stood for. These angelic figures
faced one another, but they had wings. And with their wings, they covered their face,
covered their bodies all the way down. And bent their heads inward. It was the most holy scene.
(07:23):
It was over that lid that God displayed a light. You see, there was no candle ever brought into
the holy of holies. There was no lamp stand ever brought into the holy of holies.
And it was separated from the holy place, the other larger room, by a very multi-layered,
(07:47):
thick curtain. No light could penetrate. The walls with their silver-covered boards and the
ceiling that was over the cloth and the skins, the multi-layered ceiling that was over it,
blocked out all light. It was an absolutely dark place, except when the high priest went in there
(08:14):
once a year, he found that it was not dark. It was probably the best lit place on this urge,
because suspended over that little lid was a light between those two angelic figures.
A light suspended there, and it was called the chakina glory of God. God, in other words,
(08:40):
manifest His presence there in light.
That lid on that little box had a name. And here it is in Hebrews 9. I'm going to read from verse 1,
(09:01):
then indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.
For tabernacle was prepared the first part in which was the lampstandness of the first room,
in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle also is called the holiest of all.
(09:25):
And sometimes it's called holy of holies, same meaning, holiest of all, or holiest of holies,
which had the golden altar of incense. Now that, I know as you read that, you say,
I know about the holy of holies and I know the holy place, and that little altar of incense
was not inside the holy of holies. And yet Hebrew says that it was.
(09:48):
Well, it's wonderful to read the word of God and just realize that there aren't contradictions.
Yes, but the Old Testament says that the altar of incense was outside in that first room.
And Hebrew says it wasn't in the first room, it was in the little room in the back, the holy of
holies. That's a contradiction. I'm sorry, it isn't a contradiction. Can't be two places at once.
(10:11):
You're right. You're right. When I read the gospel of Matthew, I see an emphasis on the Lord Jesus
as the Messiah. When I read the gospel of Mark, I see an emphasis on the Lord Jesus as the suffering
(10:34):
servant, the ox. As I read the gospel of Luke, I see him as the son of man. And when I read the
gospel of John, I see the emphasis on him as the son of God, the divine son of God. Is John wrong?
Is Matthew wrong? Is Luke wrong? Is Mark wrong? No. They're viewing it from different perspectives,
(10:57):
and they're all telling the truth. When I read the gospels and I find that there's an inscription
over Jesus in his death, Matthew says one thing. Mark says another, Luke says another, and John
says another. None of them agree. They don't all say the same thing, what I should say.
(11:24):
But they all agree. Do you know you have to put what all four evangelists say to get to put together
all that they say about that sign to know what was written on that sign?
This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. That's what you'll get if you put all four gospels
(11:50):
together. And it was written in three languages. And it was written so that all those passing by
could read it. And Christ was suspended on a cross, and it was put above his head,
(12:14):
which certainly messes up the Jehovah's Witnesses idea that he was on a tea like this, you know,
and somehow there was no cross really there because they don't like the idea that we
think of Christ dying on a cross and they want to get rid of the cross symbol. And so they think
he died on a tea, but it's sure hard to tack a sign on something that isn't there, isn't it?
(12:40):
And it was over his head and it was written in three languages, large enough for everyone to read.
And we know it was up on an outcropping of rock that looked like a skull because they called it
Golgatha, the place of the skull. And there was a road that went by that place, which was why so
(13:03):
many people could stare at him as he hung there for hours up on the cross and shake their heads
and read the sign. And I've stood there. And I tried to estimate as I stood there how far
away they must have been as they walked by the road. And I mean, the ancient road must have gone
(13:27):
very close to Calvary. But if it was as close as it could go and still be able to look up onto
that hill and see a cross, three crosses there and read a sign that was on top of it,
you have to be a hundred or 150 feet away. There is no other way to get closer because you get
(13:51):
closer than of course the sharpness of the cliff blocks out whatever is up on top. You've got to be
back far enough to be able to see what's up there. At least 150 feet, 100 feet to 150 feet away.
So even at 100 feet away, well, you decide how big was a sign. Was it one of these little things
(14:17):
that you see on some of these pretty little crosses? But I say on a cross like this,
some people would have a little sign about like that. They don't want to make it look tacky up there.
It doesn't quite look too nice to have a great big sign nailed up there on that cross.
(14:38):
But that's how it was. And you have to put all the evangelists together to see that.
And you have to put the physical facts together to see it. You have to see the perspectives that
God gives you through the different writers. But they all do agree, I tell you. And this agrees
with the Old Testament. What does it agree to say? It's saying that while in the Old Testament,
(15:01):
this little altar was not in the Holy of Holies. And that was because that every day the priest had
to come in and put incense on it and coals on it to keep the fire going and keep putting incense
on it to burn the incense. They could only go into the whole or the high priest could only go
into the Holy of Holies once a year. And yet that little altar, because it symbolized prayer and
(15:25):
because prayer was to be made continually, that little altar had to be tended to every day.
It had to have coals on it all the time. It had to have incense on it all the time because prayer
was supposed to be going up how often, all the time. So for practical reasons, you understand,
(15:48):
that which properly belonged in the Holy of Holies
couldn't be in the Holy of Holies because it couldn't be tended every day in the Holy of Holies.
For necessary reasons, it was outside the veil. But who here knows where it was in the Holy
(16:12):
place, in the large room? Where was that little altar of incense in that large room? Does anybody know?
Because this is very important to prove the harmony with this text. Where was that little altar of
incense? I'll give you an idea as to so you think it through again that as you the priest would come
into the Holy place, the Holy place would be 15 feet wide, 30 feet long, 15 feet high.
(16:40):
On the right, as he would come into the curtain into the Holy place, the Holy place is the name
of the first room. On the right, there was a table and on the table would be the showbread
that was changed every day. On the left, there was a lampstand with seven lights on it.
(17:07):
The lampstand, and that had to be tended every day. The oil had to be checked. The light was not to go out.
Well, if the table of showbread was here and the lampstand was there, where was the altar of incense?
Right here as you come in or kind of tucked up against the lampstand or over here or back there in
(17:28):
the corner? Where was it? You think you know well? In the middle, right in the middle. Good idea.
Not right, but it's good idea. I like that idea. See, at least you're willing to make a shot at it,
right? Makes sense to you, doesn't it? It's wrong though, but makes sense. Good idea. Write a book.
(17:52):
A lot of people write books about whatever, you know. Where was it? Dave's got an idea.
Right in front of something. Right in front of the veil.
You mean tucked all the way back against the veil? You mean all the way back in the room as
(18:13):
close as it could get to the holy of holies? Why would you? You're right. He's right. I'm sorry,
William. Gotta take the scriptures, don't I? You've got a good idea, but the scriptures say it a different
way. Why would God have that little thing pushed up against the veil? This tells you,
you know, it's a good idea. Because where did it really belong? Behind the veil in the holy
(18:40):
of holies. And that was as close as it could get there in practical terms. And so God says,
you put that thing right up against that veil and take care of it every day, but prayer. When
prayer goes up, this is a little altar of incense. It spoke of prayer. It was a symbol of prayer
going up before God. Where did prayer go up? It went up before God who was on his throne in
(19:05):
heaven. And how often does God want prayer to be offered up before his throne?
Constantly, continually, daily, hourly, moment by moment, prayers to go up before the throne.
Would you understand why it was supposed to be in the holy of holies is that inside the holy of
(19:30):
holies, there was something in there that was a picture of the throne of God. And since prayer is
supposed to go up before the throne, continually, and there was something there that was a picture of
the throne of God. It's the technical word is a type of the throne of God type, meaning picture.
There was something in that holy of holies that was a picture of the or something that stood for,
(19:55):
symbolized the throne of God. That's why the altar of incense belonged in there so that the
prayers could go up before the throne of God. What was in there that was a picture or a
representation or a symbol of the throne of God? What was in there?
The mercy, what's we didn't mention that? What is that?
(20:29):
Topper the tabernacle? No, Badger'skins was on top of the tabernacle.
Oh, the ark of the covenant. I knew he knew that, but I figured I'd push him a little bit.
The lid on the box, the lid on the box, the solid gold lid on the box.
And if you've read your Bible or seen the film, it's called the ark of the covenant.
(20:58):
Some people, you know, they're sure how things happen because they've seen the film. One lady
told me that, I know, I know, I know how it was done. I saw the film.
Then I'll wait a minute. Hollywood is not true. You know, they don't always get things just right.
Go back to the Bible. Go back to the Bible and find out.
(21:22):
The lid on the box was called the mercy seat here. It says,
it says, behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all,
which had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid and all sides with
gold. That's the box. That's the Gopher Wood box with gold overlaid in which were, and there are
(21:46):
three things in that box, the golden pot that had the manna. You see, they had had manna for 40
years in the wilderness and God wanted him to remember that he had fed them and cared for them
every day. And so he told them to take one golden pot and put manna in it. And by the way,
every day they went off to pick up manna. It was fresh, right? Except on the day before the
(22:10):
Sabbath, they were to pick up two days worth of manna. So they didn't have to go out and pick any
up on the day of worship. If they had any leftover to the next day, what happened to the manna?
It got wormy. It bred worms. It was rotten.
I mean, this stuff got so rotten that in the same day it had worms in it. I mean,
(22:37):
we don't even have, I mean, dead meat doesn't even do that. You know, at least takes three or four or
five days, right? It's a really stink badly and longer than that to get worms.
Some different kinds of worms depends on where you are. I don't know what is it down in the
tropics. I guess, Dan, you get worms pretty fast, right? A couple of day. All right. I
(23:01):
have a better preach according to the tropics. You get worms in a couple of days. But the manna
breadworms the next day, but not the manna that was put in that golden pot. That is the one
little pot of manna that never breadworms. It stayed there fresh. Why? As a reminder of God's
(23:25):
mercy. How he had fed them inside that little box also. There was Aaron's rod that butted.
Aaron had a rod was just a wooden stick. Aaron had a wooden stick,
a staff. Okay. Now, if you think it was one of these that was more about so tall, you know,
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and how you've seen the movie, you know, that isn't it. You know how I know that it wasn't that long
and that big? Because it was in the little box. And I know how big the little box is.
So if it was six feet long, it couldn't go into the little box. You could break it, fold it. No,
(24:22):
I don't think Aaron folded his rod up. No, modern day thinking. It was it was a rod. Maybe that long,
a wooden rod. Maybe that long. And he carried it around. It was a dried up piece of wood.
(24:44):
But one day God caused that rod to do something. Does anybody remember? It was an almond tree rod.
It was a piece of wood from an almond tree. You remember what happened to that rod?
In one day it butted and bloomed. What did that rod symbolize?
(25:12):
You know what the golden pot with manna symbolizes? Mercy of God to do what for us?
To provide, to feed, to care for us. What does Aaron's rod that butted symbolize?
Why do you say life?
(25:41):
Resurrection life.
One day Jesus died and was put in a grave and he was there three days.
And on the third day what happened? He butted. He came to life, resurrection life.
(26:02):
And the Jews had to be reminded that God is the God of resurrection life.
Do you know by what you have resurrection life by the mercy of God? He provides it in Jesus.
And there was another thing in there besides the golden pot with manna and the rod of Aaron that butted.
(26:26):
It says, and the tablets of the covenant. Now there were plural tablets because there were two of them.
What does he mean? The tablets of the covenant. Peter? Yes, these are the two tablets on which were
written the ten commandments. This is not the good set. This is the set that Moses had the chisel.
(26:53):
This didn't look as nice as the first set. The first set God wrote with his finger and Moses
messed it up. What did he do? What the first set?
He threw it down and broke it and so God said, okay, okay, you broke it. Now go back up on the
mountain. We'll get some more. He went back up 40 days later. He said, now you do it this time.
(27:16):
That time Moses had to write out the ten commandments on the tablets. That'll teach him, right? Yeah.
You brought it down but those tablets went into that little box. Have you seen the film
where the guy standing there with the two tablets? Have you seen the film?
(27:39):
Could they go in the little box? No, no, no. No, they weren't that big. You know, it's not so big.
Not that big. So they could go in the box.
But I would say that the first thing that I would do with that is to do with this.
(28:00):
I would do it. I would do it. I would do it.
So it wasn't David, but I understand what you're saying.
What was the name of that fellow that Edward G. Robinson played?
Nathan. That was okay. You said Nathan. I thought you were saying David.
Edward G. Robinson was the bad guy there.
(28:25):
So you get to see? I've got that up here too. There's Edward G. Robinson messing things up there.
And above it, here's the lid now. Verse five. And above it were the cherubim of glory,
overshattling the mercy seat. And there's the word. There it is, Dan. The mercy seat.
(28:53):
There were the cherubim. There was the mercy seat. The mercy seats, the lid.
What did the mercy seat? The solid gold mercy seat. Not the wood covered up with gold.
Well, a solid gold mercy seat. What did that symbolize? Dan?
It does. It go on, carry it further. Purity with the gold, yes. But what's the most pure thing
(29:22):
there is? Perfection. What is the most perfect thing there is? God himself. That gold symbolized
God's nature himself. And that was a solid gold mercy seat. It really was the place of God.
You know what we would call it? From say the book of Revelation, what kind of stuff there is in
(29:45):
the book of Revelation. What would you call that? The throne of God. The seat of God. Or you think
of it this way? The place of God himself. It is where God is.
That's where prayer was supposed to be going up. And guess what the name of that place is?
(30:07):
The mercy seat. The mercy seat. You think of a throne, a seat. But what emphasis does God put
on the place where He is? Mercy. Mercy. What did the High Priest do when he came in there
once a year? He did one special thing in there. He sprinkled blood on the mercy seat.
(30:38):
And the blood was supposed to symbolize whose blood? Christ's blood.
So the answer for sin had to be pleasing, had to be made, and had to be pleasing to the one who was
the place of mercy. Christ's death had to please whom? God the Father.
(31:08):
Why? So that God the Father could do what for us? Give us mercy. Life is an expression of that
mercy. No, no, that's not wrong. That's not the wrong answer. Middle of the holy place,
wrong answer. Life, good answer. Give us mercy. And all that mercy gives us.
(31:33):
It gives us eternal life in Christ. It gives us a relationship with God. It brings us into the
closest possible relationship that we can have. We're made like Him.
He wants us to focus on this, that is we approach Him. We approach the God of mercy.
(31:56):
In chapter three, now four, chapter four of Hebrews,
chapter four. I want to read the last three verses of this chapter.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
(32:19):
what's His name, people? Do you see it there? Who is our high priest? Jesus, the Son of God,
no man is our high priest. No man does intercession for us. No man is the intercessor for the believer.
We have one mediator between God and man. What's His name? Jesus Christ, the Lord. Jesus, the Son
(32:41):
of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. You see, He
did not sin, though He took on human form and went through all that we have to face. He met it
(33:02):
righteously, perfectly. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What is the mercy seat floor?
(33:24):
For us, it's a place of help in God. It's a place of meeting God and receiving God's mercy.
What do you need mercy for? For time of need. How often do you have need?
(33:48):
There you are. So does it amaze you that if you always have need that He would always like you to be praying?
That He would always like to take care of you? How would you like your good shepherd to take care of you
maybe two hours a week? You know what would be the safest thing for you to do if that's all that
(34:10):
care you got from your shepherd is to go home and take a brick and hit yourself on the head and
wake up about just those two hours and then go back to unconsciousness the rest of the
rest of the day. Because if your shepherd is not going to watch out for you, if you're going to
have no one that you can cry out to for care and help and mercy, you're going to be in trouble.
(34:36):
You're going to be in trouble.
Isn't it wonderful to know that He's the God of mercy and He wants us to call on Him
always constantly that He might help in a time of need? How do you come to that place
for a pain in mercy? I'm supposed to come if you know Christ as your Savior boldly. It doesn't mean
(35:03):
rationally. It doesn't mean impiously. It doesn't mean presumptuously. It means with confidence
that the blood of Jesus has answered for you, with confidence that as a child of God you have a
right to be there, with confidence that He loves you enough to want to hear your words, with confidence
because you know that He wants to help boldly.
(35:34):
How would the High Priest walk into the Holy of Holies if maybe it wasn't the day He was supposed
to come in? It wasn't Yom Kippur. It wasn't the day of atonement. It was maybe three months later
and He thought it'd be a nice thing to go in there and talk with God a little bit. How would He come
in? Would He come in boldly? He's not going to walk out and He would be wise to wear a rope so that
(36:03):
He didn't defile the place with His rotins after He's stunk and decay. Be better because
you're going to have to pull Him out. He's not going to walk in the presence of God.
And nobody's going to go after Him now. No.
But just think, you may come in every day, every hour, every minute, and obtain mercy.
(36:37):
And you don't have to pray with a rope on your leg.
Right? Let's pray. Father, thank you for your mercy in Jesus.
And thank you that He has met perfectly and forever and ever all the demands
(36:58):
of your righteousness and provided for us the fullness of your love.
Thank you for the mercy seat, throne of God, and thank you for Jesus.
And thank you for your mercy in His precious name.
(37:19):
All right. Thank you, Pastor Rains. What an incredible message on the mercy seat.
That was just incredible. I'm going to have to go back and listen to that one over again.
So, and I've listened to it twice already. So, I'll just do it one more time once I complete the
podcast. All right. So, if you like that, please come back again next week.
(37:44):
We'll have more of messages from the word of God, from our pastor, the ribbon chuck reins.
And until then, make sure you reach your Bible. In fact, don't just listen to the podcast.
Go and actually open up your Bible and look up the verses to make sure that everything said is
(38:05):
correct and it's in the Bible. I'm sure that it is. So, you could do that. And also, if you think
about it, please subscribe or like or whatever you do with those different podcast things are
on the YouTube channel. And are now on the Rumble channel, we're doing pretty good on their Rumble
(38:26):
channel. So, I'm glad I moved it there. All right. So, I'll see you next time. And until then,
have a great day. See you next week.
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