Mercy

You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony [the ten commandments] that I will give you. Exodus 25:21

It strikes me that the mercy seat was placed above the 10 commandments.

The 10 commandments (found in Exodus chapter 20) are very good–given from God who loves us and wants us to live in a good way. But we continually fail to live up to even those few commandments.

So God, in his love for us, puts the mercy seat above the commandments. He goes on to say that at the mercy seat he will meet with us, and speak intimately with us.

Who wouldn’t want to sit there on that seat between two angelic golden cherubim spreading their wings of protection overhead, with God sitting next to us and speaking intimately with us.

Wow! From the beginning God showed his understanding, love and mercy for us people who he created. We are so in need of mercy all the time. Thank you so much God!