Why is the Mercy Seat called the Mercy Seat?

For the believer in Christ:

The system of worship in the tabernacle “is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven.” God told Moses when he was getting ready to build it: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” See this in Paul’s account of His instruction to Moses regarding its construction in Hebrews 8:

“3 And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. 4 If He were here on earth, He would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. 5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” 6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for He is the One who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.”

The entire setting of the tabernacle, all of the items in it, including the Ark of the Covenant, and the system of worship is a shadow of the reality of “a far better covenant with God, based on better promises” that all who believe have in Christ today.

The plan that the Lord God gave to Moses for the construction of the Ark of the Covenant is detailed in Exodus 25-

“8 Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 And you shall make it according to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle or dwelling and the pattern of all the furniture of it. 10 They shall make an ark of acacia wood:…16 And you shall put inside the ark the Testimony [the Ten Commandments] which I will give you. 17 And you shall make a mercy seat (a covering) of pure gold, two cubits and a half long and a cubit and a half wide. 18 And you shall make two cherubim (winged angelic figures) of [solid] hammered gold on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on each end, making the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat, on the two ends of it. 20 And the cherubim shall spread out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, facing each other and looking down toward the mercy seat. 21 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.”

Hold on to “mercy seat.” He is the most important part for all who believe Him in this typology.

The Ark of the Covenant resided in the innermost chamber of the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies. Paul explains in Hebrews 9:

“3 But [inside] beyond the second curtain or veil, [there stood another] tabernacle [division] known as the Holy of Holies. 4 It had the golden altar of incense and the ark (chest) of the covenant, covered over with wrought gold. This [ark] contained a golden jar which held the manna and the rod of Aaron that sprouted and the [two stone] slabs of the covenant [bearing the Ten Commandments].” 5 Above [the ark] and overshadowing the mercy seat were the representations of the cherubim [winged creatures which were the symbols] of glory. We cannot now go into detail about these things.”

Aaron and the high priests after him could not enter the Holiest on a whim or unprepared. They would die if they did. The ceremonies for entry and sacrifices to be done so that Aaron, his family and “the people will be purified and made right with the Lord” are detailed in Leviticus 16.

Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the tablets of stone (the Ten Commandments representing man's rebellion against God's law;) Aaron's rod which sprouted (representing man's rejection of God's appointed leadership;) and the golden pot of manna (representing man's rejection of God's provision,) all representing man's rebellion against God.

All of these items were put inside the ark and covered with the mercy seat. As long as God's eyes saw the mercy seat with blood that the high priest sprinkled on it to make atonement for Israel, He did not execute well-deserved judgment on the Israelites.

As long as blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat year on year, God's eyes did not see man's rebellion because of the blood of atonement. The people were made right with God. Remove the mercy seat/stop the sprinkling with blood as at when due and God's eyes would see the items of man's rebellion against Him and remember their sins (even the tiniest one and "all have sinned.") Judgment must follow. The mercy seat, sprinkled with the sacrificial blood, was what stood between God's judgment and the people.

Remember the story of Balak and Balaam and how the former hired the latter to curse the children of Israel? God did not observe iniquity in Jacob nor did He see wickedness in Israel, even though a lot was going on in the camp as we'll see in Moses’ account in a bit. Instead, Balaam prophesied: “The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.” But wait a minute. Look what Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 9:6-7 after Balaam failed in his bid to curse them and as they were about to cross the River Jordan into the Promised Land –

“6Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.”

The children of Israel were rebellious and stiff-necked throughout their journey in the wilderness, including their time in Moab when Balaam tried to curse them, yet the Lord did not observe iniquity or see wickedness in them! The blood of bulls and goats offered continually year by year caused our Heavenly Father not to observe iniquity in Jacob, how much more us believers in Christ today that have been cleansed by Christ's “one sacrifice for sins forever,…” (Hebrews 10:12.)

But what does the mercy seat symbolize? I'm guessing you already know. But let the Word interpret the Word.

In the Greek text of the Old Testament, the word used for “mercy seat” is "hilasterion." The word “propitiation” in Romans 3:25 is translated from “hilasterion” in the original Greek text of the New Testament. In this verse, we see that God put Jesus Christ forward as a propitiation… (aka hilasterion aka mercy seat) See this in Romans 3:25-

“23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.”

The Passion Translation puts it thus:

“Jesus’ God-given destiny was to be the sacrifice to take away sins, and now He is our mercy seat because of His death on the cross. We come to Him for mercy, for God has made a provision for us to be forgiven by faith in the sacred blood of Jesus. This is the perfect demonstration of God’s justice, because until now, He had been so patient—holding back His justice out of His tolerance for us. So He covered over the sins of those who lived prior to Jesus’ sacrifice.”

I put mercy seat above in bold.

Jesus Christ is the real Mercy Seat. He is our Mercy Seat.

To get to the Ten Commandments and the other items of man's rebellion against God that are inside the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat (a picture of Jesus Christ) needs to be removed. Today, the mercy seat is removed by those who are trying to gain right-standing with God by doing what the law commands in order to be godly or right with God, instead of looking to Jesus Christ the Mercy Seat by whose obedience we are made righteous. Romans 5:19 says "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Removing the mercy seat and beholding the Ten Commandments has dire repercussions as seen in 1 Samuel 6:19 which tells us what happened when the people of Beth Shemesh looked inside the Ark of the Covenant-

"Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter."

Law and Grace don’t mix. The letter (law) kills but the Spirit gives life. In order to get to the law inside the Ark of the Lord, the mercy seat (Christ) has to be removed. Just looking in was what killed so many Beth Shemesh men in one fell swoop! They moved the mercy seat away and the law cried out against them because none can be made righteous by law-keeping! No wonder God's word says in Galatians 5:4 -

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Fallen from the higher ground of the mercy seat (Christ) and under the curse of the law; Galatians 3:10 says:

“But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”

Galatians 2:21 says: “I do not set aside the grace of God, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

Beloved of God, Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him: "God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

To get right with God by keeping the law is to set aside the saving Grace of God; to set aside the real Mercy Seat who frees us from every kind of sin... He is the Way to get right with God, and so enjoy His rewards and do His will. The Israelites of old, with all of their adherence to the law, still depended on the blood of bulls and goats to make them right with God but many today think that trying to obey the letter that kills and doing a smattering or loads of good deeds is the way. This is to remove or set aside the mercy seat that covers the Ark; the event at Beth Shemesh where the people looked inside the Ark shows us the fallout of removing the mercy seat and beholding the law: Death. Anxiety, stress, depression, sickness, lack, etc are all “death begun.”

See Leviticus 16 for what it took to go into God's presence and only the high priest was eligible:

“1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who had died when they [irreverently] approached the presence of the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil (the Holy of Holies), before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 Aaron [as high priest] shall enter the Holy Place in this way: with [the blood of] a young bull as a sin offering and [the blood of] a ram as a burnt offering.”

This is followed by instructions on dressing, bathing and the processes for offering sacrifices for atonement.

Remember the system of worship in the tabernacle “is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven.” (Hebrews 8:5.) Only the high priest of Israel could enter the Holiest (the presence of God) and his survival depended on him following God's instructions to the letter.

But for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we enter the real Holy of Holies in a new and living way - by the blood of Jesus. See Hebrews 10:

“19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

An evil conscience is one that is burdened with guilt; one that believes he has to do something by his own power in order to be godly (be like God,) escape judgment for sins and enjoy the blessing.

See the MSG of Hebrews 10-

"So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as our Priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is His body. 22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word."

The mercy seat, sprinkled with the sacrificial blood, was what stood between judgment and the Israelites. It covered the Ark of the Covenant which contained the items of man's rebellion against God, saving them from wrath.

In Christ, God neither observes iniquity nor sees wickedness in all who believe. Jesus Christ is the real Mercy Seat. His blood that was shed for us justifies us and saves us from God's wrath as it is written in Romans 5:9—

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God.”

His sacrifice for us is not like that offered again and again by priests which can never take away the guilt of sin. “But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.” See Hebrews 10:

“11 Yet every day priests still serve, ritually offering the same sacrifices again and again—sacrifices that can never take away sin’s guilt. 12 But when this Priest had offered the one supreme sacrifice for sin for all time He sat down on a throne at the right hand of God, 13 waiting until all His whispering enemies are subdued and turn into His footstool. 14 And by His one perfect sacrifice He made us perfectly holy and complete for all time!”