October 14, 1964
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
Exodus 25: 8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Exodus 25: 21 - 22 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
Exodus 25: 17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
Now we have been studying the Ark which we said is a picture or a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Ark is a coffin and in it God put three things— the rod of Aaron that budded, a pot of manna, and the two tables of stone—The Ten Commandments. Now here he says in Exodus 25: 17 Thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold, in other words on this Ark is a lid and it’s made of gold.
Exodus 25: 21- 22 Tells us, Thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the Ark; and I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee above the mercy seat.
Now the mercy seat is the meeting place of God and man.
1/ Now if there had been no cover upon that box, upon the Ark, the coffin it would have been the testimony of death against the people No man could have approached it, even for an instant—for above it rising into
the sky stood a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. The holiness of God and the righteousness of God and the wrath of God were all centered in the fire in the Glory.
2/ How terrible is the Ark of the Covenant when it is thought of without a cover. The box is open and the uncovered law builds its solid witness against each one of us. The open Ark would have been a seat of justice that would have done nothing but condemn. Only because God put a cover on that box could there be a seat of mercy instead of a seat of wrath and justice.
3/ Let’s get proof of what we just said.
Romans 3: 24 - 25 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Now notice in the 25th verse Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That word propitiation is a word that we would not understand. If I were to ask the average person, who would scratch his head and say I don’t know. But if you’ll look in the margin of your Bible, you’ll find that it means mercy seat.
Now let’s just notice this same Greek word and there we read in Hebrews 9: 5 Over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat; Now that’s exactly the same word—you can check it in your concordance—it’s exactly the same word and so it should read Here; Who God hath sent forth to be a mercy seat through faith in His blood. Jesus Christ is the mercy seat, He is the One that is the meeting place between God and man.
4/ Now notice the rest of Romans 3: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Through faith in His blood. Now the mercy seat and blood go hand in hand.
Now before we can study the cherubim I want you to see something that is very important.
Galatians 3: 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Job 9: 32 - 33 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
Exodus 25: 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
Now notice this; the cherubim were facing each other but their faces were looking down on the mercy seat. And what did they see on the mercy seat? Why blood. Now before we study the cherubim’s, let’s just notice this part of our study—it’s important. Blood through faith in His blood and the cherubim were looking for blood—the high priest was to bring blood into the holiest of all and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. And since the mercy seat is Jesus Christ and blood is upon it—-it speaks of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, his blood for our sins.
5/ We cannot meet with God except we have Jesus Christ and His death. You know people ask me what do you have to believe to be saved? Well, believe—well believe what? You must believe in Jesus Christ and His blood. That’s why Christian Scientists won’t be saved. They deny the blood. When you went into the Tabernacle by the first door of the outer court—you came to the brazen altar with it’s dripping blood. God said
take the b blood of every offering and sparkle over the altar and what is left pour out at the foot of the altar. That must have been a terrible place. And then once a year blood was taken in and sprinkled on the mercy seat and the cherubim were looking for that blood.
6/ Moses went to heaven but he did not go to heaven because he kept the law. Now he was the lawgiver but he wasn’t saved by the law. His brother Aaron shed the blood of the lamb, which God had provided as the substitute for sinners and then once a year entered into the holiest of all and placed the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat between the outstretched wings of the cherubim. The mercy seat was the place of blood.
7/ Mercy is a wonderful word. It means God not giving us what we deserve. And it’s through Jesus Christ that we have the mercy of God.
8/ Now let us look at the cherubim. God said make two cherubim’s of gold and let them overshadow the Ark. You know I think Moses had to see those cherubim’s. For I don’t know how he could have made them unless he had seen them. The Lord said unto Moses—make everything just as you see it. Moses saw things up on the mount and God said you make everything the way you see it on the mount. And he came down from the mount and made everything that he saw.
Now the two statues were of the highest order of angelic beings, the cherubs. They were made of gold and the wings of the cherubs stretched out for a distance of fifteen feet. The statues were on either end of the cover facing inward toward each other, and overshadowing the central portion of the mercy seat. But then as I studied this I had a difficulty come into my mind.
The second of the Ten Commandments states in Exodus 20: 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Here was one of the most sovereign words of God spoken unto Moses on Mount Sinai, written into the table of law by the finger of God. Just before the giving of the law was complete God Himself gave a command to make a statue of two cherubs to put on either end of the mercy seat. When I first thought of this I couldn’t understand the contradiction, so I began to search for an explanation. Now it was not enough that I knew that God was greater than His commandments and that He had a right to make an exception. That didn’t please me.
9/ I’ve read all the passages in the Bible that had anything to do with cherubs and I’ve found what I believe is the answer to the riddle, In the very first usage of the word cherubs or cherubim.
10/ I soon came to the conclusion that the images on top of the Ark were an artistic reproduction of the scene that God had caused to be enacted at the door of the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve had sinned they were driven out of the garden. And we read Genesis 3: 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life.
Now as a boy I had gathered the impression from Sunday School teachers and from listening to preachers that the Cherubs were placed a the gate of the garden as defenders of the way of the Tree of Life against Adam and Eve. They were out of the garden and certainly God meant for them to stay out and I thought these cherubs were to act as policemen. If they—Adam and Eve had attempted to crawl back in he would just take his sword and prick them into obedience. But I do not think this is the case today.
11/ I soon discovered that the Cherubs were not there as enemies of man but as his protectors. They were a gift of the grace of God. An altar had been set up at the gate of the garden. Probably the altar of which the Lord himself slain the animals which furnished the coasts of skins with which he clothed Adam and Eve after He removed their fig lief garments from them and gave them garments of skin. Now remember Satan was an enemy of man and God had placed enmity between the devil and mankind.
Genesis 3: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The hatred of Satan I’m sure would have manifested itself in an effort to destroy the way by which men might have communion with a Holy God and have access into His presence for forgiveness and justification. We will understand the passage better if we read that the Cherubs were placed by the gates to protect the way or to keep it open and available.
12/ When the Lord exiled the man and the woman from the garden of Eden they were not deprived of His grace. He was ready to bless them and to save them.
AMEN
10/14/21964 / 5 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE / 9/26/2024
