Blood on the Mercy Seat

The Blood on the Mercy Seat

An article directed to our Seventh Day Adventist readers:

We have heard the claim that in 1982, Ron Wyatt found the Ark of the Covenant in a cave beneath the site of the crucifixion. An earthquake crack was found at the side of the central cross hole, through which the blood of Christ had flowed, eventually landing on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

We are told in the Spirit of Prophecy, that the tables of stone will be presented to the world during the judgment (1BC 1109).

New light is always built on, and must never contradict, old light. Throughout the ages, God's people have always struggled to understand and accept new light. The disciples, the reformers, and the 19th century Sabbath keepers all faced challenges to the accepted views of their time. "Precious truths that have long been in obscurity are to be revealed in a light that will make manifest their sacred worth; for God will glorify His word, that it may appear in a light in which we have never before beheld it." CSW 25.

Is this discovery biblical? Does it contradict old light? Does it do away with 1844, by suggesting that Christ's blood on the Mercy Seat has fulfilled the Day of Atonement, thus the atonement was completed at the cross?

The Day of Atonement could only be fulfilled in heaven, as it was carried out in the Most Holy Place. So the Day of Atonement could not be fulfilled on the earthly Mercy Seat. The only part of the sanctuary service to take place on earth was the sacrifice, as this took place in the courtyard (Heb 13:11,12). By this sacrifice man's sins were not fully atoned for, only transferred to Jesus.

So is it possible that the blood on the Mercy Seat is in fact the fulfillment of a ceremony other than the Day of Atonement?

Exodus 24:3-8. (This ceremony took place in order to confirm or ratify the Old Covenant.)

"And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the LORD had said we will do. And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words."

Hebrews 9:18-20 relays more information about the same ceremony. We know this for sure as in PP312, paragraph 1, E.G. White writes, "Then followed the ratification of the Covenant..." then in paragraph 2, she goes on to quote Hebrews 9:19, 20.

Hebrews 9:18-20:

"Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you."

Christ's Blood fell on the Mercy Seat, in order to confirm the New Covenant.

So the blood sprinkled above the law on the Day of Atonement represented the finalisation of a series of year-long daily sacrifices. But the blood sprinkled above the law when Christ died, represented the beginning, or confirmation of the New Covenant. These are two different ceremonies, and instead of seeing Christ's blood on the Mercy Seat as the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, we should understand it as the fulfillment of the confirmation of the New Covenant.

Jesus' death on the cross ended the earthly sanctuary system (Heb 10:9, Matt 27:50, 51 and Dan 9:27), and began the heavenly sanctuary system (Heb 4:14, 8:2, and 9:11).

Can we prove it from the Bible?

Exodus 24:3-8 and Hebrews 9:18-20, Moses' ratification of the Old Covenant, is a type of Jesus' ratification of the New Covenant.

Before the earthly sanctuary system began, it had to be ratified. So when the heavenly sanctuary system began at the cross, Christ had to confirm it in the same way. So there had to be the ratification of a New Covenant at the cross. In order to understand how the New Covenant was ratified, we must look at how the Old Covenant was ratified.

Firstly, Moses told the congregation everything that God had said. God began speaking in Exodus 20 when he spoke the ten commandments audibly. He did not stop speaking until Exodus 24:3. So Moses relayed the ten commandments, and all the various laws and ordinances verbally. " These laws were to be recorded by Moses, and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts which they were given to illustrate, the condition of the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel." PP 311. In the ratification of the Old Covenant, Moses was the mediator who relayed the law to the people, then wrote the law in a book (Exodus 24:3,4). In the ratification of the New Covenant, Jesus was the mediator, (Heb 8:6, 9:15, 12:24) who relayed the law to the people (John 14:15, 21 and Matt 5:17, 18 and Luke 16:17) then wrote the law in their hearts (Heb 8:10).

Then Moses built twelve pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel, or God's church (Ex. 24:4), and Jesus chose twelve disciples who were the beginnings of the New Covenant church. (Matt 28:16-20 and Rev 21:14). At the confirmation of both covenants, the twelve tribes, or twelve disciples were already established.

Sacrifices were subsequently made (Ex 24:5 and Heb 9:18, 19) which were a type of Christ sacrificing His life on the cross (Heb 9:13, 14 and John 1:29).

Moses then applied the blood to the altar (Ex 24:6). Could this represent the anointing of the Ark of the Covenant with Christ's blood? In RH.1898-02-22.012, Sister White does refer to the Ark of the Covenant as, "the altar". "Christ himself was the Lord of the temple. When he should leave it, its glory would depart,-- that glory once visible over the Mercy-Seat in the holy of holies, where the high priest entered only once a year, on the great day of atonement, with the blood of the slain victim,-- typical of the blood of the Son of God,-- and sprinkled it upon the altar." The Ark of the Covenant had a number of purposes. It housed the law, and was therefore called the Ark of the Testament. It was also designed to receive atoning blood, and so we have the Mercy Seat. So the mercy Seat is an altar, because it was designed to receive blood, and this is the purpose of an altar. It is a place for atoning, and the only atoning blood that can cleanse us from sin, is the blood of Christ. If then the Mercy Seat is a place for atoning, and Christ's blood is the only substance on earth that can atone, the Mercy Seat then is a place for Christ's blood.

Ex 24:7, The people promised to obey, and keep the covenant. Jesus promised to help the people keep the covenant (Heb 8:6 and II Pet. 1:4) There was never anything wrong with the law, so it never changed from the Old Covenant to the New covenant (Ps 89:34). There was something wrong with the promise (Heb 8:7 - 10, 13).

Moses then sprinkled the blood on the people (Ex 24:8). Jesus fulfilled this in Isaiah 52:15, "So shall he sprinkle many nations."

Also in Exodus 24:8, the mediator (Moses) verbally confirms the covenant with God's people, "Behold, the blood of the covenant." Jesus fulfilled this in Matthew 26:28, "For this is the blood of the new testament."

Heb 9:19 adds that Moses took blood and water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled them on the book of the covenant. The discovery of the Ark of the Covenant, with the blood and dried serum (water) of Christ, sprinkled above the law, is the fulfillment of this part of the confirmation. It is prophesied in Daniel 9:24, when Daniel wrote that Christ would, "anoint the Most Holy." (see Appendix 1).

In the type, Moses sprinkled animal blood above the book of the law. In the antitype, Christ sprinkled His blood above the tables of the law. Everything in the Old Covenant was symbolic, except for the law, as this is unchangeable.

Of this event Sister White writes, "So Christ, the great antitype, Himself both high priest and victim, clothed with his own spotless robes of righteousness, after giving His life for the world, CAST THE VIRTUE OF HIS OFFERING, A CRIMSON CURRENT, IN THE DIRECTION OF THE HOLY PLACE, reconciling man to God through the blood of the cross." Ms 101, 1897, pp11,12. ("The True High Priest." September, 1897.)

This is actual proof from the Spirit of Prophecy, as to the authenticity of this discovery, as Sister White actually says that Christ's blood flowed toward the Holy Place. Ellen White is here referring to literal, physical blood. As Jesus does not now literally hold a basin of His blood that was shed in AD 31, and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat in heaven, this cannot be referring to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, after 1844.

Sister White refers to the "Holy Place" and not the "Most Holy Place" here. However the Bible also refers to the "Most Holy Place" as the "Holy Place" sometimes. Lev 16:2, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat."

"The Majesty of heaven is standing before the Father, pleading, My blood, My blood; spare the sinner a little longer for My sake." RH.1870-04-19. 014

"Our crucified Lord is pleading for us in the presence of the Father at the throne of grace." Our Father Cares 203

"The priests entered into the earthly with the blood of an animal as an offering for sin. Christ entered into the heavenly sanctuary by the offering of His own blood." EW 252.002

She must therefore be referring to the only time Jesus literally spilled His blood, saying it flowed toward the Holy Place.

The only other time Ellen White uses the words, "crimson current" is when referring to literal, physical blood. In the following quote, she is referring to the blood of Christ being 'brought into use' in the heavenly sanctuary.

"Thus Christ, in His own spotless righteousness, after shedding His precious blood, enters into the holy place to cleanse the sanctuary. And there the crimson current is brought into the service of reconciling God to man." 4T.122.001

We know that this is not His physical, literal blood that is brought into the heavenly sanctuary, yet she uses the term, "crimson current". All that Ellen White is saying here, is that Christ's blood is brought into the service of reconciling God to man. In other words, the literal, physical blood that He spilled on Calvary, is now being "put into use", or is now "being applied".

In the light of Daniel 9:24 and Ms 101, 1897, it is a biblical fact that Christ anointed the Ark of the Covenant with His blood at the cross. If this is a fact, and it does not fit with our understanding of type and antitype, then our understanding must be wrong.

The fact is that Jesus did fulfill this ceremony at the cross. If we do not believe that this discovery is biblical, then how was the sprinkling of the altar, and the sprinkling of the law, by Moses fulfilled? Can it be biblical that Jesus did all the other things that Moses did, but not these two? When the nature of Jesus' first coming did not fit with the understanding of the religious leaders of His day, it was their understanding that was wrong.

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