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Exodus 26:34 "You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place."

 

The mercy seat is the top, the lid, of the Ark of the Covenant. (Exodus 25:17-21). God told Moses that it was there He would meet and speak with him, giving Moses all the instructions and commandments for the people of Israel (Exodus 25:22). The mercy seat remained important after Moses' death, it was where God "sat" and where the priests were to sprinkle the blood of the sin offerings, gaining atonement for themselves and their people (Leviticus 16:14-16). Before the priests could do this, however, they had to create a cloud of incense in the tent, obscuring their view of the mercy seat, lest they look upon God and die (Leviticus 16:12-13). This was true even for Aaron, only Moses had the special relationship with God that allowed him to be in God's presence, conversing with Him. 

 

The place where God will sit with his people and accept their atonement sacrifices is called the mercy seat, how beautiful is that? It could have been (and if it were up to us probably would have been) called the "seat of power" or "of glory" or something along those lines. It is where the God who created the universe comes to be with His people, there isn't a sufficient adjective to describe how special it is! But God named it Himself, and called it the mercy seat. Mercy is the attribute He wants His people to keep in mind when they come to Him. He knows they, and we, are sinners. He knows we can't help ourselves, and He wants us to be with Him at any cost.

 

We can't be with God in our sinfulness, lest we die, but He gives us the means of atonement, through Him, the God of mercy. Eventually God would perfect the sin offering by making an offering of His only begotten Son, the only person who could be perfectly in His presence without any obfuscation. Jesus also did not come in power and glory, but in love, to make the perfect offering to our God of mercy for all of our sins. Jesus is eternally, and perfectly, in God's presence, making atonement for us, so that we may receive God's perfect mercy.