«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　2 Cor. 4:6 Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

　　Heb. 1:3 Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance and upholding and bearing all things by the word of His power...

　　We are not told anything in Exodus 25 about the form, size, or weight of the cherubim. This indicates that the glory of Christ's shining is immeasurable. It also indicates that Christ's glory is unexplainable. Just as we cannot describe the cherubim, so we cannot explain the glory of Christ's shining. However, we know from the fact that the cherubim had faces and wings that this glory is not lifeless, but is something living. Christ's glory is living. We may even say that this glory has a face, eyes, and wings. From our experience we know that when God meets with us and speaks with us, we have the sense that glory is watching over us and that this glory is living. Actually, this glory is the very Christ Himself. Thus, the general concept of the expiation cover in Exodus 25 is that it signifies that Christ is the shining of the divine glory and that God meets with us and speaks with us in this glory. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1013)

　　We need to be impressed with the fact that the expiation cover with the cherubim signifies Christ shining. It also signifies that the glory of God as the shining of Christ is living. It is something with a face, eyes, and wings. To have a proper understanding of this, we need light from God and also a certain amount of spiritual experience. Apart from being enlightened by the Lord, we may read these verses again and again without seeing anything of their significance. But when the light shines upon us, we realize that the propitiatory cover with the cherubim is nothing less than our dear Lord Jesus Himself. Whenever God meets with us and speaks with us, this precious Christ is present. Actually, it is in this shining Christ that God meets with us and speaks with us. When we realize this, we may say, "Lord, You Yourself are this very propitiatory cover. Without You, Lord, there is no place where God can meet with me or I can meet with Him. Lord, without You as the propitiatory cover God cannot meet with me or speak with me in glory."

　　We have pointed out that the expiation cover was made of pure gold. It did not contain acacia wood, which typifies the humanity of the Lord Jesus. However, the blood of Jesus certainly was derived from His human nature. Christ's humanity is for redeeming and His divinity is for shining. The cherubim on the expiation cover signify Christ's shining with His divinity, and the blood sprinkled on the cover signifies His humanity for redeeming. Therefore, we have here a picture of Christ not only as God, but also as man, even the God-man. As God, Christ shines in His divinity, but as man, He accomplished redemption in His humanity, signified by the blood. Now, because of Christ's divinity and humanity, we and God can meet together and talk together in the redeeming and shining Christ. This is Christ as the propitiatory cover, as the place where God and we meet together.

　　[In the Old Testament] the King James Version speaks of the "mercy seat" instead of the expiation cover. The word seat implies that the lid of the Ark was the place for God to sit when He talks with us. The word mercy indicates that God showed mercy to people. Actually, the lid of the Ark is not a mercy seat; it is a propitiatory cover with the shining of Christ's divinity and the redeeming of Christ's humanity as the place where we can meet and speak with our righteous, holy, and glorious God. This place is Jesus Christ Himself, the One who is both God and man. In His humanity Christ shed His blood to redeem us, and in His divinity He shines with God's glory. Today He is for us the redeeming and shining Christ as the place where the righteous, holy, and glorious God can meet with fallen sinners. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1013-1016)

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