# Did Jesus go into heaven and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat?



## Tirian

I heard someone recently say (a few times) that it was necessary for Christ to apply His own blood to the mercy seat in heaven.

I must live a sheltered life - I've never heard this before. What am I to make of it? 

My gut feeling tells me this is just wrong. It seems like such a distortion - elevating the things that pointed to Christ to be above Christ. 

Being the bearer of a small brain, I'd appreciate a few bullet points to help me get my head around this as to whether it has merit, or is not biblical.

Thanks for your wisdom folks,
Matt


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## Jack K

I've never heard it, though I suspect that teaching stems from an overly "literal" approach to Hebrews 9, which speaks of Christ entering the holy place by his own blood and of the Tabernacle being a shadow of heavenly things.

But let me extend the question a bit, hoping you don't mind, in line with your "gut feeling" (which I share)...

Can we even know whether or not there _is_ a mercy seat in heaven? Sure, the Tabernacle below represented, in some way, a heavenly reality. But is it a mirror image? Can we can expect to find in heaven an actual ark or some other actual mercy seat?

It seems to me that the furnishings of the earthly Tabernacle not only reflect a heavenly reality but also fit the earthly context of the need for God to stay separated from sinful men even while living among them, and the need for atonement. Whatever sort of furnishings there might be in heaven, if heaven has such things, shouldn't we expect _some_ differences? What do folks think?


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## Peairtach

Christ is the Ark of God in Heaven - Revelation 11:19. But don't take that literally either. Nothing would be more ridiculous or biblically unsound. This is what your interpreter seems to be doing, Matt.

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## Cymro

I think that Hebrews9 :24 is your solution, "For Christ is not entered into 
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us".(and previous verse). Christ's sacrifice is a 
fact of history, His atoning work stands in perpetuity before the Father. That is His intercession,
for His blood (His atonement) speaks better things than the blood of Abel. His atonement speaks.
No need for any carnal furniture or any sprinkling.
John Owen explains the above verses in his commentary on Hebrews.
,


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## GloriousBoaz

Yeah I was just going to ask isn't Christ the mercy seat? Does anyone think that The king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 was a type of the antitype Satan and therefore according to Ezekiel 28:14 in heaven satan covered the mercy seat? I've heard someone once make that connection and I read up on it alittle and some camps thought it was overly allogorizing some didn't. What the implications are as the person who first told me this is that Christ is the mercy seat and in heaven satan covered Him, as such satan began to reflect Christ's glory like Moses did with his glowing face, and satan began to think very highly of himself thinking that Christ's glory was his own and that he was just as good if not better than the Son of God, and was cast out. So what's the opinions? Too Contrived and allogoricalized? Even if all of that is invalid what about the basic thought that Jesus Christ is the mercy seat (as he is typified in the manna in the jar, because he is the bread of life; the staff of Aaron i.e. the Good Shepherd, and the tablets of Law i.e. the Logos; so Christ is typified in everything within the ark of the covenant) typified and therefore when He was crucified His blood was poured out upon Himself and was therefore effectively sprinkling the mercy seat? But is there any scripture that states that He is the mercy seat?


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## Peairtach

Well the above text in Revelation shows that Jesus is in Heaven as our Ark of the Testimony, and that as the Temple on earth is now closed for business, the Temple in Heaven is now open for business.

Romans 3:25 shows that He is our Propitiatory or Mercy Seat, as I John 2:2 and 4:10 show that He is the means of our propitiation by the sacrifice of Himself.

Re Ezekiel, you'd be better getting a sober commentary on that book like Patrick Fairbairn's, rather than listening to contrived and theologically unhealthy speculation.

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## sevenzedek

I would agree that Christ is the mercy seat because of the biblical references of the previous posts, but I would not jump from "covers" in Ezekiel 28:14 to the idea that Satan covered Christ in heaven without a biblical reference that told me to do so. For me, all is speculation until I see a chapter and verse.


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## GloriousBoaz

Yeah we can do more digging on "covers" but do most people on PB say that satan is not typified in the king of Tyre?


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## Peairtach

There'll be different ideas on this in Reformed commentaries, but I think that traditionally the King of Tyre was seen here presented as pointing beyond himself to the more powerful and sinister figure of Satan, the archetypal Proud One, in a rather enigmatic and veiled way, without telling us too much about him and his fall.

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## sevenzedek

Perhaps the language concerning Satan in Ezekiel is federal. If I understand the text correctly, Ezekiel gave a warning to the king of Tyre, and the warning was that he would fall just as Satan fell if he did not repent; and all of Tyre with him. I am also thinking of the reference in the gospels where Jesus turns to Peter and calls him Satan. In both instances, they were both doing the will of Satan. Addressing their works more directly meant exposing Satan as the federal head behind those evil actions. Prophetically speaking, playing the enemy's hand makes one the enemy himself. These are all the tentative results of a cursory meditation and I have never read a commentary on these passages.


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## GloriousBoaz

> Jesus turns to Peter and calls him Satan. In both instances, they were both doing the will of Satan.


That is definitally worth considering.

I haven't gotten a chance to plung into the commentaries, maybe tonight we'll see.


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## Tirian

Guys - thanks for the input. Really helpful.


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