THE mercy seat does not represent the throne of God. It is a seat only in the sense that Washington, D.C., is the seat of government. Luther used Gnadenstuhl for the cover of the ark, regarding it as the center from which the mercy of God was dispensed in the typical system. Tyndale used the same expression in his English version.
In the Old Testame nt the cover of the ark is called the kapporeth, from kipper, to cover symbolically, usually translated "to make at-one-ment for." The Septuagint uses hilasterion in most instances where kapporeth occurs, and it seems to be almost a Bible word, rarely used in classical Greek. Dr. Julius Fuerst tells of the claim that the Septuagint at first used epithema, a cover, but that a gloss or marginal note was copied in its place. (See Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament on kapporeth.)
The Greek word hilasterion means that which propitiates, and might be taken as proof that Christ does propitiate God. But no doctrine can safely be based upon a translation unless the changed meaning can be shown to have been used by another inspired writer. Only if the New Testament clearly teaches the fact of propitiation can hilasterion be given its classical meaning.
The New Testament has two occurrences of the word, both part of the teaching of the apostle Paul. (On Paul as the source, if not the author, of Hebrews, see The Great Controversy, pages 411-415.) In Hebrews 9:5 there is no question as to the meaning. It describes the mercy seat, overshadowed by the cherubim. The differences of opinion come in reference to Romans 3:25.
There are two major positions. Many believe that the verse states that God is made propitious to man, either by a change in Him or by a change in conditions brought about by the shed blood of Christ.
One difficulty with this position is that "in his blood" cannot be held to modify "set forth." It is grammatically related to the noun hilasterion. God does not set forth the Saviour as a propitiation through His blood. All Christ is to us, or does for us, is through faith—our faith—in His blood. The righteous life that He lived and the sin-caused death that He died, typified by His blood, both become ours by faith.
The other view is that Paul is saying that the covering of the ark represented the work of Christ in protecting man from the consequences of his sinfulness, in covering the repentant sinner with His own righteousness and in justifying the mercy of God to men.
The mercy seat played no active part in the services of the sanctuary. It represents what Christ is, rather than what He does. On the Day of Atonement the high priest sprinkled the blood of the bullock upon it to "cover" himself and his family from their sins, in order that he might fitly represent the sinless Saviour in this climactic service. After this, the high priest brought in the blood of the Lord's goat and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat as he symbolically "took the sins upon himself, and leaving the sanctuary, . . . bore with him the burden of Israel's guilt."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 356. These actions dramatized the transfer of sin to the sanctuary during the year, and its removal to the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement.
This reception of the guilt of confessed sins by the mercy seat justified God in accepting as sinless those who were "covered" by the sacrifices and whose sins had been set aside (K.J.V., "passed over").
The golden kapporeth covered the law. Every sin was an offense against that holy law, and the law could only condemn the sinner. The Mediator stepped between the man and the consequences of his rebellion, interposing the grace that He would ratify by His death.
The law of God, enshrined within the ark, was the great rule of righteousness and judgment. That law pronounced death upon the transgressor; but above the law was the mercy-seat, upon which the presence of God was revealed, and from which, by virtue of the atonement, pardon was granted to the repentant sinner. Thus, in the work of Christ for our redemption, symbolized by the sanctuary service, "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 349. (Italics supplied.)
The covering of the sinner by the righteousness of Christ is the real meaning of the word translated "make an atonement" in Exodus and Leviticus. In the later books of the Old Testament the symbolic covering was referred to the sin rather than the sinner. In such passages as Psalm 78:38; Proverbs 16:6; Isaiah 22:14; and others that can be found by means of a Hebrew concordance or, less easily, with Youngs Analytical Concordance, the K.J.V. and R.S.V. translate kipper by "forgive," "purge," "put away," instead of the usual "make an atonement," or its real meaning of "cover." That Paul had this thought of the covering of sins in his mind when writing Romans is shown by his quotation in the next chapter from Psalm 32:1, where David, speaking of the blessing of sins covered, uses the common word for cover, kasah.
A translation of the Greek of Romans 3:25, 26 in the light of these points may help to show the purpose of the verses and their relation to the sanctuary service (supplied words are put in italics and explanatory notes in parentheses):
Whom God set-forth-for-Himself (the middle voice adds the "for Himself," and the placing of the verb first strongly emphasizes the setting forth) the symbolic-covering to be obtained through faith in His blood, this setting-forth serves to a pointing-out of the righteousness (dikaio-sune is here forensic, that is, it speaks not of the sinlessness of God, but of the legality of His acts) of Him, because of the temporary setting-aside (paresin is from para, "beside," and hiemi, "to send or dismiss") of the having-come-about-before missings-of-the-mark, in the forbearance of God moving-toward the pointing-out of the legal-rightness of God in the present time, to the to-be of Him legally-right, and as-declaring-to-be-righteous those who are of the faith of Jesus.
This is one of the many passages of Scripture that unite to show that God is much more interested in the sinner than in the sin. This "declaring-to-be-righteous" not only states that the individual's sins have been blotted out but that he has been transformed so completely that a thorough ex-amination leads to a declaration that he is free from that sinfulness which was the root cause of the sins.
The setting forth of Christ wins the heart and leads to the transformation; but Paul is here concerned with the legality of forgiveness, and he tells that the setting forth of Christ also serves to justify that forgiveness on the part of God.
The golden cover over the ark represented the two kinds of cover. First, the general, temporary cover which Christ has put over all men to protect them from their sinfulness until they can have time to repent and be changed (see The Great Controversy, p. 36), and second, the special, personal cover, which may become permanent, which He puts upon those who accept Him as their Saviour. (See Christ's Object Lessons, p. 311.) Since Paul says that it is obtained through faith in the blood of Christ, hilasterion here refers to Christ as the personal Saviour of the contrite sinner.
