I wanted to provide some visuals from last Sunday's sermon. The bible says in John 20:11-12, that Mary Magdalene was crying outside the tomb of Jesus and when she looked into the tomb she saw "two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot".

What Mary saw was a visual of the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies!

Exodus 25: 17 - 22, "Make an atonement cover (mercy seat) of pure gold two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim (angels) out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. There above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

When Mary Magdalene went into the empty tomb these two angels were positioned just like the angels on top of the mercy seat; one at the head, one at the foot and both looking at each other. In other words, God was speaking in a picture, "I am meeting you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!" Jesus is the mercy seat! Jesus satisfies the law of God and opens the way for us to have a relationship with him. At the right, is a picture I took in the garden tomb. Just imagine two angels one at the right and one at the left. Pretty graphic.

The Greek word for mercy seat is "hilasterion". This word is usually translated propitiation or atoning sacrifice. Here are a couple of places where this word appears in the New Testament:

Romans 3:24-25 - "...and we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement (mercy seat or hilasterion), through faith in his blood.

1 John 2:1-2 - "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice (mercy seat or hilasterion) for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

The empty tomb says alot!

Pastor Tim