The Holy Embrace
Where is God? In the Temple? What about the Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle?
Exodus 25:17-22:
17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.
18 “You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 “Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.
20 “The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat.
21 “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you.
22 “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.
Genesis 17:23:
23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him.
In Genesis 17 God commands Abraham to circumcise himself at a very old age. This was no doubt a very painful experience at the time of the operation. What would be even worse would be a couple of days later, during the healing process.
Genesis 18:1-8:
1 Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them,he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.
4 “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;
5 and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.”
7 Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.
8 He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
While Abraham was recovering from his circumcision, three angels disguised as men appeared to Abraham. Despite his pain and current suffering he personally prepared the welcoming dinner for his guests. He prepared much of the dinner himself, fighting through his pain. He called his meal a “morsel of bread,” which was in reality a huge smorgasbord. Abraham exemplified hospitality, which with the current situation was very difficult for him. Then it was revealed to Abraham that the purpose of the angels was to destroy the cities on the plain, which Sodom and Gomorrah were listed.
Genesis 19:9:
9 But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door.
Upon the angels’ arrival, the townspeople wanted them to leave. In fact, they used rape as a tool to make them leave. Lot, who wasn’t exactly an easy person to get along with—he fought his uncle over grazing rights—showed hospitality to the strangers, given the state of the affairs of the city, wasn’t an easy or wise choice to make. The Bible shows how important it is to embrace one another. God even shows how important it is to Him with the flood story and tower of Babel.
Genesis 6:11:
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
God caused Noah’s flood so that the evil people would be blotted out. Their great sin, according to the Bible, was robbery and injustice, though sometimes inaccurately translated to unrighteousness. Injustice in Hebrew means hurting a fellow human being, like robbery, murder, and rape. To hurt another person is a disgusting act, and something that cannot be tolerated, and everyone took part except Noah and his family.
Genesis 11:1-9:
1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.
2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
However, the Tower of Babel incident was something different. These people wanted to make themselves gods, and build a tower that would amaze everyone and the generations following them. The people waged war against God Himself, yet all He did was give them a time out and put them of in separate corners of the world. Why didn’t he blot out these people? He said he would never destroy a people by water, but he never said He would NEVER destroy them. The difference between this generation and the flood generation was that they came together, and helped one another out. They showed kindness to their fellow man. They just wanted to be known as a god or prove that they didn’t need God.
A final point is what seems to be a contradiction. God commands that no image or idol should be made and put in the Temple. Yet He commands that two images be created and placed in the Temple, and not only in the Temple, but in the Holy of Holies! The Holy of Holies is where the Priest could only enter once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when all sins were erased. God commanded that two Cherubim be made on top of the Tabernacle, which would be placed in the Holy of Holies. What were the Cherubim doing?
2 Chronicles 3:10-11:
10 Then he made two sculptured cherubim in the room of the holy of holies and overlaid them with gold.
11 The wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits; the wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.
They were embracing one another. That is where the Holy of Holies is located; that is where God resides, when we learn to give one another the holy embrace, like Abraham and Lot gave their holy embrace to strangers; when it is easy, or when it is hard. So one could say God does reside with the Mercy Seat, but it is the Mercy Seat that we create, through the Holy Embrace.
A perfect example for us believers is the life of Jesus. He is held up as an example for all of us to follow. Following his death and resurrection, the angels attested to his status as the mercy seat.
John 20:11-12:
11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;
12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.
We have two angels, at the head and foot of where Jesus’ body had been. An allusion to the mercy seat of the tabernacle. What wonderful imagery to relay to us! As we approach the bread and wine, let us remember the words of Jesus, “where two or three gather in my Name, I will be in their midst.” Let us rejoice in embracing one another in the presence of our Lord and Savior. Let us enjoy the glimpse of the Kingdom of God here in the present, as we await the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in the future.