Scripture Reading: Exo. 25:17-22; Lev. 16:14-15; Rom. 3:25a; Heb. 9:5
Ⅰ
Christ is the One who propitiates; Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice; and Christ is the propitiatory cover, the place where God and His redeemed people meet together—Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; Rom. 3:25a; Heb. 9:5:
A
Hilaskomai means to propitiate, to appease, to reconcile, two parties by satisfying the demand of one upon the other—Heb. 2:17:
１
On the cross Christ propitiated for us and brought us back to God.
２
The Lord 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.
B
Hilasmos means "that which propitiates," that is, a propitiatory sacrifice—1 John 2:2; 4:10:
１
Christ Himself is the propitiation for our sins, the sacrifice for our propitiation before God.
２
Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins, not only for our redemption but also for satisfying God's demand—Heb. 9:28.
C
Hilasterion denotes the place where propitiation is made—Rom. 3:25a; Heb. 9:5:
１
The propitiatory cover signifies Christ as the place where God speaks to His people in grace.
２
The propitiatory cover equals the throne of grace, where we may receive mercy and find grace—Heb. 4:16.
D
The propitiatory cover is needed by both God and us for the ark of the testimony to become our experience and enjoyment—Exo. 25:22.
Ⅱ
The propitiatory cover signifies that Christ is the shining of the divine glory and that God meets with us and speaks with us in this glory—Heb. 9:5; 1:3; Exo. 25:22:
A
The cherubim are related to God's glory and signify His glory—Heb. 9:5.
B
The cherubim on the propitiatory cover indicate that Christ expresses God's glory, that God's glory shines out from Him—Exo. 25:18-20; Heb. 1:3.
C
For God to speak to His people from between the cherubim means that He speaks to us in the midst of His glory—Exo. 25:22; Num. 7:89; Psa. 80:1; 99:1.
D
The glory in which God meets with us and speaks to us is the shining of Christ—2 Cor. 4:4, 6.
Ⅲ
As typified by the propitiatory cover, Christ is the shining and redeeming Christ as the place where the righteous, holy, and glorious God can meet with fallen sinners—Rom. 3:25a:
A
The cherubim on the propitiatory cover signify Christ's shining in His divinity, and the blood sprinkled on the propitiatory cover signifies His humanity for redeeming:
１
As God, Christ shines in His divinity—Heb. 1:3.
２
As man, Christ accomplished redemption in His humanity, signified by the blood—Lev. 16:14-15.
B
Because of Christ's divinity and humanity, we and God can meet together in the shining and redeeming Christ—Exo. 25:22.
Ⅳ
Because of the blood of redemption, we can now have fellowship with the righteous God in the glory of Christ—Lev. 16:14-15; Exo. 25:22; Heb. 10:19; Rev. 22:14:
A
The effectiveness of the blood of the sacrifices is not mainly at the altar in the outer court but at the ark in the Holy of Holies—Lev. 16:14-15.
B
Because the blood has been sprinkled on the propitiatory cover and because God's standing is on the blood, He can meet with us in the midst of His shining glory—Exo. 25:22.
C
When God comes to us and speaks to us in the glory of Christ, He does not see the requirements of His righteous law, and He does not see our sins; instead, He sees the redeeming blood on the propitiatory cover.
D
Whenever we meet with God in glory, we have the sense deep within that we are washed by the blood; this is the propitiatory cover in our experience—1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 7:13-14.
Ⅴ
The ark in the Holy of Holies signifies the Christ who dwells in our spirit—2 Tim. 4:22a; 1 Cor. 6:17:
A
The Christ who lives in us is the One portrayed by the ark with the propitiatory cover—Rom. 3:25a; 8:10; Col. 1:27; 2 Cor. 13:5b.
B
When Christ died on the cross, He was the Lamb for redemption, but when He comes into a believer's spirit, He comes not only as the Lamb but also as the ark—John 1:29; Heb. 9:4-5.
C
If we do not realize that we have a human spirit, there is no way to see that the ark in the Holy of Holies typifies Christ dwelling in our spirit—2 Tim. 4:22.
Ⅵ
The result of enjoying intimate fellowship with God upon Christ as the propitiatory cover of the ark in the Holy of Holies is that we are infused with God—2 Cor. 3:18:
A
When we spend time with the Lord in the Holy of Holies, we are infused by Him with all that He is—Psa. 80:1.
B
The propitiatory cover is the place where we hear God's voice, learn the desire of His heart, and receive vision, revelation, and instruction to control our daily life—Num. 7:89.
C
To be a Christian who receives God's infusion in the Holy of Holies and walks according to it is to be a Christian in the most wonderful sense of all.