«　WEEK 18　DAY 5　»

　　Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

　　9:28 So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time to those who eagerly await Him, apart from sin, unto salvation.

　　Both in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 the Greek word hilasmos is used. This word denotes something which propitiates, that is, a propitiatory sacrifice. In 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 the Lord Jesus is the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1034)

　　Jesus made propitiation for our sins, thereby satisfying the demand of God's righteousness and appeasing the relationship between God and us, that God may be peacefully gracious to us. (Heb. 2:17, footnote 4)

　　We praise the Lord that Christ is not only the One who propitiates and the propitiatory sacrifice, but even the place of propitiation, the propitiatory cover. Here God is satisfied, and we are happy. Here on the propitiatory cover God can meet with us and speak with us. Therefore, with Christ as the propitiatory cover of the Ark, God and man can meet and have fellowship under a mutually satisfying situation.

　　The two cherubim of glory with their faces toward the propitiatory cover signify that God's glory has been satisfied with what Christ has done. The propitiatory blood sprinkled upon the propitiatory cover (Lev. 16:14-15) satisfies the requirements of God's law under the cover and God's glory above the cover and thus gives peace to man's conscience.

　　Inside the Ark, under the propitiatory cover, is the law with its demands, which exposed us and condemned us. Furthermore, above the propitiatory cover is God's glory watching and observing everything that takes place. But through Christ both the demands of God's law and the requirements of God's glory have been satisfied. Now we can meet with God in glory on the propitiatory cover sprinkled with the blood. By the lid of the Ark with the redeeming blood sprinkled on it the whole situation on the sinner's side is fully taken care of. Therefore, upon this lid as the propitiatory cover, God can meet with the people who broke His righteous law without any governmental contradiction of His righteousness, even under the observing of the cherubim, which bear His glory overshadowing the lid of the Ark. Because the law with its demands is covered and God's glory is satisfied, God can speak with sinners, and these sinners can be at peace with God and receive grace from Him. Therefore, this propitiatory cover equals the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

　　When we look at the redeeming blood on the propitiatory cover, our conscience is at peace. We know that Christ died for us and that the blood, the emblem of His death, has been sprinkled for us on the propitiatory cover to satisfy the requirements of God's righteousness. At such a time God may ask, "Child, are you happy?" and we may respond, "...Yes, I am very happy, Father." Then the Father may say, "I am much happier than you are. Let us embrace and enjoy intimate fellowship." This is the experience and enjoyment of Christ as the propitiatory cover on the Ark of the Testimony.

　　This vision of Christ as the Ark with the propitiatory cover is wonderful and inexhaustible. I hope that after hearing of such a Christ, the Christ who lives in you will become much more precious to you than ever before.

　　Without the propitiatory cover, there is no way for us to enjoy the Ark. The Ark can become our enjoyment only because of the lid which covers it. If the Ark did not have the propitiatory cover as a lid, we could not come to God, and God could not come to us. The Ark would still exist, but there would be no way for us to have contact with it. The propitiatory cover is needed by both God and us for the Ark to become our enjoyment. Now because of the propitiatory cover, we have a way to meet with God and speak with Him. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1035-1036, 1016-1017)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 88-89