The Journey’s Destination
With the dust of life cleaving on you, heavy from the long journey. You enter through the gate and approach the altar. You look up and see Christ Jesus on the cross, the heaviness lifted and dealt with. You are justified in your approach. Where the old priests alone could be, you may enter now. You stare in awe at the altar of sacrifice and peer deeply into His eyes and realise this: “You are declared righteous and without sin”. You look away and a thought enters your mind as you glance up once again. The very weapon that the enemy wanted to use against Christ has been turned as the very tool used to save you. You crack a joyful smile mixed with emotions of pain at the sight of your King.
You gaze in the direction of the water basin, with an almost uncertain start you walk over there. You peek into the water and start to splash and wash the dust off. You notice the clean robes and realise that your righteousness comes from Him. You expectantly walk over to the main structure, and you enter into the holy place. Images of Him as the words ring in your ears, “I am the door”.
Inside you are so overtaken by the contrast that it almost seems like a dream that you were once outside. Yellowish light as it reflects from the articles of gold, air filled with the smell of a unique incense and a smell of bread. The light reminds you of the Holy Spirit illuminating and bearing fruit in your life. The bread strengthening you for your calling that you work at in honour of Christ. Like a whirlwind of attention around you, you burst out in prayer to your God, praising Him for who He is. In the same way as the incense fills the room, your voice rises to your God. You entrust Him with requests and loving faith in Who He Is.
Then, you realise that by the blood of Christ you may go even deeper. Where the high priest alone could go and only once per year… You feel joy, peace, reverence and longing. You rush into the Holy of Holies… with your hand still holding the curtain, your eyes widen as the image of the throne is reflected in your eyes.
The Mercy Seat: Where God Appears
Before you stands a golden throne unlike anything you have ever seen. Two angels—cherubim with wings outstretched—cover it, their faces turned toward the seat itself, gazing upon it with eternal reverence. This is the mercy seat. This is where God Himself appears.
In the days of old, this was a place of terror and mystery. Once each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest alone would enter this chamber. He carried coals from the altar outside, fine incense rising in a cloud before the throne. Then he sprinkled blood upon the mercy seat—the blood of atonement, the price paid for the sins of all Israel. And there, in that moment, God appeared. His presence filled the Holy of Holies. The covenant was renewed. Sin was covered for another year.
But you stand here now, and things are different.
You understand what the old priests could not fully see: that every sacrifice, every drop of blood sprinkled upon that seat, pointed forward. Christ Jesus is the sacrifice. He is the blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat of Heaven itself. He sits upon this throne in overwhelming glory. The work is finished. The debt is paid. No yearly repetition is needed. No high priest must enter alone once per year.
By His blood, you may approach. By His righteousness, you stand without fear before this throne.
And yet—you stand in awe. This is the very place where God manifests His presence to humanity. This is where Heaven and earth meet. This is holiness beyond comprehension.
What Awaits at the Throne: Glory Without End
In the Book of Revelation, John is given a glimpse of this throne in its fullness. Around it stand four living creatures, powerful and strange, and twenty-four elders clothed in white. And what do they do? They never cease declaring:
“Holy, Holy, Holy.”
They cast their crowns before the throne and cry out:
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.”
A joyful giving of glory to the One who sits upon the throne.
And here is a profound question: If you could appear before God’s throne, what would you do there?
The only response that makes sense is this: you would give Him glory. Because that is what the throne demands. That is what creation itself does, what the heavens declare, what every redeemed soul will do for eternity.
You would not ask for more, for nothing exists that is beyond Him—the eternal and infinite God Himself.
This is the destination of the long journey through the tabernacle. Not transaction, but relationship. Not merely forgiveness obtained, but communion with the living God.
The Ark’s Contents: What the Throne Represents
As you stand before the mercy seat, your eyes are drawn downward to what lies beneath it—the Ark of the Covenant itself. Within it rest three sacred objects, each one speaking to the nature of God and the nature of those who approach Him.
A. The Ten Commandments: Righteousness
Inside the Ark are stone tablets, inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Moses received them on Mount Sinai after spending forty days in the presence of God. These commandments are not arbitrary rules. They are the revelation of righteousness itself—the external expression of how one lives before a holy God.
Christ Himself summarized them perfectly: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.”
This is righteousness. Not mere morality, not outward performance, but the ordering of your entire being around love for God and love for others.
You have been justified by Christ’s sacrifice. But now, as you stand before the throne, you are called to live in righteousness—not to earn salvation, but because you belong to the One who sits upon it. This is sanctification. This is the fruit that should grow from a life that has encountered the living God.
B. The Manna: Love and Provision
Next to the commandments lies a jar of manna. This is the bread that fell from Heaven in the wilderness. For forty years, God sustained Israel in the desert with this miraculous food. Six days a week they gathered it, resting on the seventh. On the sixth day, a double portion fell, so they could rest completely on the Sabbath.
This manna speaks of God’s covenant love and provision. It reminds Israel—and reminds us—that we do not sustain ourselves. We depend entirely upon God. We asked Him in prayer for our “daily bread,” and this manna is the answer: He provides.
The manna was not given because Israel earned it. It was pure grace. And it teaches us something essential: God’s love is not based on our performance. He loves us, and He sustains us, because that is His nature.
When you stand before the throne, you realize this: everything you have is from Him. Your life, your breath, your next meal, your next day—all of it is His gift. This knowledge should humble you and draw you closer to Him in trust.
C. The Staff: Humility
The third object in the Ark is Aaron’s staff—the rod that budded to prove that God had chosen the Levites as His priests. This staff speaks of humility: a right understanding of yourself before God.
You did not choose yourself. God chose you. You did not earn your place. He called you. The staff reminds us that what we have, what we are, comes from God—not from our merit, our effort, or our achievement.
This is humility. Not self-hatred, but a correct regard for oneself. What we possess is from God. We bring nothing. We receive everything.
Together: Righteousness, Love, Humility
Together, these three items reveal how we are to walk before our God. The prophet Micah summarized it beautifully:
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
Righteousness. Love. Humility.
This is not a formula for earning justification—that work has already been accomplished through Christ. Rather, This is sanctification—being formed into His image. This is how we live as those who have been justified, cleansed, and brought near to the throne.
Do we trust Him? Do we place our faith in Who He Is? These are not merely academic questions. They call for action, for lived faith, for a life shaped by the reality of the God we serve.
Seeking the Throne: The Call to Communion
Jesus Christ withdrew repeatedly to be alone with the Father. We see it throughout the Gospels—early in the morning, late at night, slipping away from crowds to seek solitude and communion with God.
If Christ Himself, the sinless Son of God, felt the need to withdraw and be with the Father, how much more do we?
We are invited to do the same. Not as a duty, not as a religious obligation, but as those who have been welcomed into relationship with the living God.
Seek Him. Behold Him. Glorify Him.
This is not academic faith. This is lived faith—acting on His promises, trusting His character, resting in His provision.
The longing for communion with God is the deepest human need. We were made for this. We were created to know Him, to walk with Him, to dwell in His presence. And yet so often we fill our lives with lesser things—pursuits that can never truly satisfy.
Only God can answer the longing He placed within us. Only He can fulfill what we were made for.
This world is not enough. It was never meant to be. We belong to Him.
The Covenant Reality
Obey and be blessed. Rebel and be cursed. The history of Israel demonstrates the tragic pattern of disobedience, judgment, and restoration. Yet, God always stayed faithful to His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He kept Israel.
But our covenant is different.
Through Jesus Christ, we have been given a new covenant—one based not on our obedience, but on His faithfulness. We place our faith in Him for justification, sanctification, and future glorification.
God has already fulfilled one part of this covenant: the cross. Christ died for our sins. He rose from the dead. He paid the debt in full.
Other parts of the covenant still await: our resurrection, our glorification, the fullness of eternal life with Him.
The question is this: Do we trust Him with what remains unfulfilled?
Do we believe that He who began a good work in us will complete it? Do we have faith in His promises, even when we cannot yet see their fulfillment?
Paul warned the Gentile believers in Romans that if God did not spare His own people Israel when they rebelled, how much more should we take care not to fall into unbelief. Yet he also reminds us that God is faithful. He keeps His covenant.
We can trust Him.
We cannot rough-ride over what is holy. We cannot treat lightly what cost Christ everything. Yet we also do not approach Him in fear of rejection, but in confidence because of His finished work.
This is the balance: reverence and boldness. Humility and assurance. We come before Him knowing we are unworthy, yet welcomed. Knowing we were sinners, yet are now declared righteous in Christ.
Glimpsing His Glory: What Awaits
If we were to appear today in person before God’s unfiltered presence, we would be overwhelmed. The glory of God would consume us. No human being can see His face and live.
For the unbeliever, that encounter would mean judgment—standing as a rebel before the King.
For the believer, it would mean judgment as well—but judgment in Christ, as one justified, cleansed, and covered by His righteousness.
Yet even this is not the end of the story.
Scripture promises us something almost unthinkable: “We will be as He is, because we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
One day, we will stand before Him not merely as forgiven sinners, but as glorified sons and daughters. We will receive new bodies, free from sin, corruption, and death. We will dwell in His presence forever.
This is our inheritance. This is what awaits those who belong to Christ.
And this is eternal life: to know God (John 17:3). Not merely to know about Him, but to know Him—to behold Him, to commune with Him, to dwell with Him forever.
The Longing and the Promise
This world is not enough. It was never meant to be. We were made for relationship with God.
The journey through the tabernacle has taught us this: God has made a way. He has opened the path from the altar of sacrifice to the mercy seat itself. He has invited us to draw near.
Through Christ, we are justified. Through Christ, we are cleansed. Through Christ, we shine with His light, are nourished by His Word, and come before Him in prayer.
And now, through Christ, we stand before the throne.
This is not the end, but the beginning. This is where we were always meant to be—in communion with the living God.
So the question remains:
Do you trust Him?
Do you have faith in Him?
Will you seek Him?
He has welcomed you. He has made the way. The curtain has been torn. The Holy of Holies is open.
Come before the throne.
Behold your God.
And rest in the reality that your King Jesus Christ, the one who sacrificed Himself and gave a way to an everlasting, loving relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
All the honour and praise and glory to Him. Amen