“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”  Romans 3:23-26

The Cherubim and the Mercy Seat are made from one piece of gold. This not only indicates the “oneness” of Heaven, it indicates the intricate relationship of God and all who are in the Throne Room of Heaven, including His angelic messengers. Here in this close union, God thinks what He wants to accomplish and the angels carry it out., few if any words need be used. The speed of thought prevails due to the fact that far too often you need answers to you prayers just that fast.

THE SPACE

As your eyes become more in-tune with the Spiritual realm, your gaze begins to turn from the Cherubim to the space between the two guardians whose wings arch over a seeming empty void. This is the GOD space and is so powerful, that if the Living Light were not there, it might actually become a black hole sucking in any energy that comes near it, but the Eternal Light of Life is there and His radiant splendor is penetrating you more than you could have imagined before this experience. This space is far from absorbing all life - it is giving all life. In fact, it enters your mind that if it were not for this Living Light, there would be no life on Planet Earth.

DIVINE METAPHOR

In the New Testament (Romans 3:25), the Greek word for Propitiation is ‘hilasterion’ and is literally translated “Mercy Seat”. It is used here where the author of Hebrews writes that God presented Christ as a propitiation or ‘mercy seat’ to demonstrate the righteousness of God. So when you are looking upon this Empty Space called the Mercy Seat, you are looking upon a Divine prophetic metaphor of Jesus, the coming Messiah, the Mercy Seat - who now has come. Is it any wonder Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” John 5:39. All things in Scripture speak of Him.

ABSORBING KNOWLEDGE

Still, knowledge is being pummeled through you, here you are becoming living knowledge and you grasp  that the root word for “Mercy Seat” is the same root word used for “atonement”. It means to cover, cancel, appease, or cleanse. The Mercy Seat is not just a seat it is a covering. Thus the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled over the Mercy Seat giving full and pure justification for God not giving you what you deserve - instead God extended Mercy to you. It is increasingly clear that the Mercy Seat did not derive its worth from the purity of its gold covering, but from the fact that this is the place where the blood of sacrifice was sprinkled in the presence of God. Here, in the mystery of this room is another mystery, the shedding of blood covers sin and it has been that way from the beginning. God shed the blood of an animal to cover the sin of Adam and Eve and He has shed the blood of His Son to cover you. You marvel at how tightly God weaves all things together.

THE DOOR TO THE ARK

It is not long before Divine curiosity begins to overwhelm your mind and you begin to search for the door into the Ark so you can see what is inside. Where is the door through which they put the Stone Tablets, The bowl of Manna, and the Rod that Budded? It does not take you long to find there is no door, no trick latch, no way into the Ark, except by lifting the Mercy Seat that covers the Ark. You are startled at this flood of understanding. You realize why you are to never circumvent God’s Mercy to get to the Gifts  that He wants to freely give you. They are God’s gift to you, not yours to get for yourself. All things pertinent to life and existence are provided through the great Mercy of God. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

THE APPROACH OF GOD

The more time you spend in this room the more you feel Divine Revelation entering you, … God begins the revelation of Himself with the Sanctuary. “In the beginning, God …” begins right here where you stand and only because of the blood shed by Jesus, are you here. It is from this place that Moses heard the audible voice of God speaking to him and to all the Hebrew children. God begins to touch you from within Himself, where He must begin, for He alone is God - Spirit breathed, living Spirit touching human spirit. So it starts from within this Ark, this Seat of Mercy, His Throne, and spreads outward throughout all the Tabernacle, all the way to the Brazen Alter where He first drew you to Him - even though most of the time you had no idea He was there or doing such. In fact it began far outside of and beyond the Tabernacle, for there is no place you can go from Him. He drew you to the entrance of Life in Him even when you did not know there was an entrance.

The door which you cannot find?… If God does not reach out to man, man has no access to Him. This is quite the opposite of how man thinks it works. We think of all the things we have given up at the Brazen Alter and at each stop at each piece of Tabernacle Furniture, but He gave up far more, far before we did. He gave up His Son, before the foundations of the world and by that pre-time decision God made a way for you to become one with Him - You might say, “He loves you in spite of you.” You wouldn’t do that, but then again, you’re not God.

THE CHANGE

Unexpectedly, the majesty of all you are beholding and have beheld hits you in the heart and you are overcome with God’s great love for you. Tidal waves of tears roll down your face, so much so, it is hard to catch your breath - you get it, you actually get it - from the beginning God has been going after you. You thought you had made the effort to come to Him. He knew you were frail, but dust, and like grass you wither away so easily. So God made away for all this to change … you will no longer wither, nor fade, nor break … you have been given everlasting life, by He who, in His Eternality, has the right and the power and the authority to give such.

This last Room of Mystery is small, but it is densely packed with all that pertains to life, and you are becoming a living witness to that reality.

Blessings,

John Paul

“And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, …” Exodus 25:18-21

Slowly you are learning how to move in this new environment. Your eyes are much more active and your feet a little more sure of each step you take toward the Mercy Seat. You notice your mind is much more active than it has ever been. Knowledge seems to abound as you stand here in the Holiest of all the Rooms of the Tabernacle. It seem like you are absorbing knowledge rather than just learning it.  The eternal presence of He who has all knowledge, wisdom, power, and understanding, surrounds you and you begin to feel these attributes exploding into your consciousness. As a result your thought processes are noticeably altered. Just as you absorb His light, you absorb these attributes. It is Spirit to spirit that this happens. None of this is occurring by your might, nor by your abilities. Without the entrance of His Holy Spirit into you, none of this could take place.

THE CHERUBIM

As your eyes adjust even more to the glorious light you are standing in, you begin to locate the source of the light coming from the top of the Ark of the Covenant which is also known as the Ark of the Testimony. Barely visible on either side of the light, there are two Cherub’s. They are solid gold, as is the Mercy Seat, and all three are hammered out of one piece of unbroken gold. There is no seam, not joint, no break between the three. Thus is the unity of Heaven in all matters - seamless, unbroken, perfect unity on all sides. The Room is over flowing with AWE.

COVERING ANGELS

You begin to try to focus on the Cherub’s which is far easier than focusing on the Living Light they cover. Cherub’s are strange heavenly beings and there are two of them on the Ark of the Covenant. When there are two or more Cherub’s, they are called Cherubim, so there were at lest two Cherub’s that God assigned to guard the gate to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24) and two that cover or guard the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant. These two Cherub’s probably represent the angels Michael and Gabriel.  Michael is identified as a “covering” angel or archangel and Gabriel identifies himself as one who, “stands in the presence of God.”

STRANGE MATTERS

However, this is not the last of the strange or unique characteristics of Cherubim. Some Cherub’s have two faces (Ezekiel 41:18), some have four (Ezekiel 10:14), and some have only one face (Exodus 25:20).

Further, some Cherub’s have two wings (Ezekiel 1:1) and some Cherub’s have four wings (Ezekiel 10:21).

THE NAME OF GOD

In this Room, you learn that all high-ranking angels were identified with the name of God or ‘EL’ written in their name. Thus when God described the angel He was sending to the children of Israel He said, “Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.” (Exodus 23:21), i.e. Michael and Gabriel.

LUCIFER?

There is one other created heavenly being that is identified as a covering angel and who was so close to God that he walked in the midst of the stones of fire (Ezekiel 28:13-18). That created being would more than likely be Lucifer. Though he is not identified by name, the description written is prophetically clear. If the heavenly being written of in this passage is indeed Lucifer, then his name was more than likely changed after the fall, from a name that included the name of God ‘EL’, to Lucifer.

The longer you stay in the presence of God the more you are filled with Scriptural understanding. You have learned that the term ‘Archangel’ is synonymous with ‘Covering Angel’ called such because the Cherubim that were on either side of the Mercy Seat formed an “arch” over the Mercy seat (Exodus 25:20).

OTHER CHERUBIM

In addition to those two Archangels/Cherubim there are ten other Cherubim woven into the inner tapestry covering the Two Rooms of Mystery you have transitioned through. These ten Cherubim have their wings outstretched as well, as if to cover and protect the very atmosphere of, as well as all that transpires in these two rooms. These figures represent the ten Cherubim orbiting around the Throne of God. They are not moving in this tapestry, but in Heaven they are continually orbiting the Throne crying out Holy, Holy, Holy.

It is fitting that Holy Cherubim would cover these two rooms, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. At the same time you wonder why ten Cherubim and not another number? That means that there are twelve Cherubim total in these two rooms.

THINGS ONE CANNOT SPEAK

Perhaps we are learning a little more why the writer of the book of Hebrew wrote, “And above it were the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” (Hebrews 9:5). There are some matters that only Heaven is allowed to reveal. But, for now you have received some amazing insights to a very special place.

Perhaps you understand more of what I wrote in the beginning of this Tabernacle Journey, that in the Tabernacle, you are beholding a model of Heaven, the make-up of God and the structure of the garden of Eden all at the same time. Each is unique, yet they are one.

There are many mysteries to the Kingdom and you are just scratching the surface in your journey to find them.

Blessings,

John Paul