The Connection of the Mercy Seat

I was telling a Messianic Jew that occasionally worships with us at our church how I thought the sabbath commandment - the 4th commandment, was actually a representation or type of the Mercy Seat. We are commonly taught in most Christian circles but especially Seventh-day Adventist teaching that the first 4 commandments of God's Moral law instruct us how to honor God, and the next 6 commandments instruct us how to honor our fellow man.

Now, here's the connection. The Mercy Seat covers the law inside the Ark of the Covenant which are on two tables of stone (Exodus 25:21-22, Deuteronomy 10:2). And yet, at the same time, it also bridges the gap as it also connects the law inside the Ark with the Shekinah Glory above the Mercy Seat. I have always equated the law inside the Ark of the Covenant as, prophetically or as a type, symbolic for the law being placed inside man's heart. Man's heart is to contain the Word of God represented by the manna, the Law of God as presented by the commandments and finally the Hope and Promises of God as represented by Aaron's Rod that budded.

There is only one commandment that bridges this gap and connects the responsibility of honoring God, which can be summed up with certainty in the first three commandments, and the responsibility of honoring our fellow man together and that is the 4th commandment. It is the only commandment where it can be seen that God is with us, communing amongst His people while we are also communing with Him, enjoying His time that He chooses to be with us and marveling at His creation. We are connected.

Just as the Mercy Seat connects and bridges the gap between the law and grace, so too does the 4th Commandment.