The Meeting Place

God brought Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt and established a Meeting Place, also referred to as the Tabernacle. Inside the Tent of Meeting, there was a specific place where God would come and speak to Moses, a Meeting Place. I want you to notice how detailed God’s plans were for this Meeting Place.

Exodus 25:17-22 (NLT)

“Then make the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.18  Then make two cherubim from hammered gold, and place them on the two ends of the atonement cover.19  Mold the cherubim on each end of the atonement cover, making it all of one piece of gold.20  The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it.21  Place inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the Ark.22  I will meet with you there and talk to you from above the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover over the Ark of the Covenant. From there I will give you my commands for the people of Israel.

Moses carefully obeyed God’s instructions, and Numbers chapter 7 reveals the result.

Numbers 7:89 (NLT)

Whenever Moses went into the Tabernacle to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. The LORD spoke to him from there.

The Meeting Place was between the two cherubim, above the Mercy Seat. Psalm 99 reveals the Meeting Place as the throne of God on the earth.

Psalm 99:1-2 (NLT)

The LORD is king! Let the nations tremble! He sits on his throne between the cherubim. Let the whole earth quake! 2  The LORD sits in majesty in Jerusalem, exalted above all the nations.

In the time of Moses, the Meeting Place was in the Tabernacle, behind the veil/curtain. And only the High Priest could enter the throne room of God. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the Temple was torn in two, and the throne room of God, the meeting place, would no longer be in Jerusalem’s Temple.

This mystery is revealed when Mary came to the empty tomb and found two angels over the mercy seat, the empty tomb of our resurrected Lord.

John 20:11-12 (NLT)

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.12  She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying.

Can you see the Mercy Seat, the empty tomb? Can you see the Throne of God, the resurrected King? He is the meeting place, the place where man can meet the mercy of God.

Jesus’ death on the cross opened a new and better Meeting Place with man (Hebrews 8:6). The Meeting Place has become the cross of Christ. We meet King Jesus there when we put our faith in His death, burial, and resurrection. By faith, we take up our cross to follow King Jesus into a resurrected life.

Luke 9:23-24 (NLT)

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

24  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

And by the way, Psalm 99 will find its literal fulfillment one day, when Jesus comes to reign.

Psalm 99:1-2 (NLT)

The LORD is king! Let the nations tremble! He sits on his throne between the cherubim. Let the whole earth quake! 2  The LORD sits in majesty in Jerusalem, exalted above all the nations.

Terry Cooper

Lead Pastor