1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The word propitiation represents the work that Jesus did upon the cross for you and I. Specifically it means that Jesus' sacrifice or payment upon the cross fully satisfied God as the down-payment for the sins of humanity as a whole.
But this word propitiate is also the same word as mercy seat when translated from the Old Testament into Greek. It’s saying that Jesus is our mercy seat.
What does that mean? It is a reference back to the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament (Exodus 25:10-22).
Exodus 25:17 describes the mercy seat or the Ark’s cover which is called the place of atonement. It was one slab of gold 45 inches long and 27 inches wide with two cherubim and their wings spread out facing inwards over the mercy seat, protecting it. Inside the Ark was placed the stone tablets (Ten Commandments) that God gave to Moses which represents the law of God’s justice.
Now, this picture of the mercy seat is a picture of Jesus Christ today.
The mercy seat is where the High Priest would sprinkle blood once a year on the day of atonement indicating the sins of Israel have been judged, paid for by the sacrificial animal. The blood of the animal is a picture of Jesus' blood becoming our sacrifice allowing us to pass from judgment to be righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Now look where the mercy seat is with respect to the law of judgment (Ten Commandment tablets). The mercy seat is the lid, the covering, above the ‘law’ which is in the Ark. This tells us that God’s mercy is above the law, that God’s grace is above the law.
God executes judgment because He is just and righteous, but He delights in mercy and grace.
Kingdom leaders today also need to be people who delight in mercy and only deliver correction when they have to. Never get this the other way around – never delight in correcting people and bringing justice. Always delight in and allow the overflow of your heart to be dealing in mercy. Children, employees, church members all need to be corrected from time to time, but be a person that delights in showing mercy.
The good news for you and I today is God has already executed judgment when He condemned Jesus to be judged upon the cross in our place. Jesus brought the Heavenly Father the greatest joy on this day because it meant sin had been fully judged upon His body through the blood of Jesus and God could now show only mercy and grace towards people (Hebrews 4:16).
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
God no longer judges you, He only shows you His mercy and grace in your time of need because His Son has already been judged on your behalf at the cross.