The high priest could only enter the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement.
The Most Holy Place had one piece of furniture which was the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10–22). The Ark was a chest of shittim (acacia) wood overlaid with gold. On the top of the chest was a lid of solid gold, which the Bible calls the mercy seat. There were two angel figures, each made of solid gold, that faced each other from opposite ends of the mercy seat. Between these two angels is where the presence of God dwelt. This represented God’s throne in heaven, which is also situated between two angels (Psalm 80:1).
Inside the ark rested the two tables of stone on which God Himself had written the Ten Commandment law, Aaron’s budded rod, and a pot of manna.
The Ark of the Covenant
This ark constituted the focal point of the entire sanctuary. Between the angels, whose wings arched over the mercy seat, God manifested Himself to the priest in a soft glow of light known as the Shekinah glory. This piece of furniture represented the throne of God in heaven. The psalmist said, “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth” (Psalm 80:1). The arrangement of this symbolic throne of God carried a great significance. God covered His Ten Commandment law with the mercy seat. The justice which His law demands, mercy satisfies. Mercy and justice meet here at God’s throne. Paul says that God is both “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). God symbolized here how the sinner’s hope might revive. Here he could meet the demands of the law through the mercy and grace made available in Christ.
If man choses to reject the gift that Christ offers, then he/she stands upon the Ten Commandments has guilty and must pay the penalty of the second death themselves. They rejected to righteousness of Christ that would have covered their sins in mercy; which would have made them blameless before God.
The Mercy Seat
In the Garden, Adam and Eve broke God’s law and on that very day a sacrifices was made and the gospel was proclaimed. The broken law was the only reason for all the sacrificial services, both typical and antitypical.
There is great consolation in the fact that the Lord Himself covered the broken law with a mercy seat; and then He, the merciful God, took His position upon that seat, so that every sinner who comes confessing his sins, may receive mercy and pardon.
Today the sinner comes to God, not through a human priest, but through Jesus, who paid the supreme price on Calvary. Jesus said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Hebrews 7:25 assures us of the mercy we may find in Christ: “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Items Placed in the Ark of the Covenant
Golden Pot of Manna
The manna in the wilderness was sent from heaven to feed God’s people. The manna that fell on the ground only lasted for one day, except for the preparation day (the sixth day – Friday). On the preparation day, two days worth was gathered and it did not spoil.
The manna symbolized the living, eternal Word that came down from heaven and became flesh. Christ Himself is the true Bread of heaven sent to feed the world. Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33). Jesus also said that we must eat and drink the body and the blood of Christ (symbolically speaking in the ordinance of communion). He is always available to fee humanity in a spiritual sense bringing forth the fruits of righteousness.
He not only is the Bread of Life, but He also gives bread, meaning the Word of God. We are to study His word prayerfully, and growth in our Christian walk will occur.
Aaron’s Budded Rod (Staff)
Aaron’s budded rod is a fascinating story because there were claims that others should be the priest and not just Aaron. So, the question was settled when all of them put their rods down, and it was Aaron’s rod that budded, produced flowers, and fruit. Those that questioned Aaron’s priesthood, their rods never budded.
Aarons budded rod pointed to an eternal priesthood found in Christ, our High Priest. Just as Aaron and his sons served as High Priest in the sanctuary which pointed the priesthood of Christ. Christ is the sole High Priest working as mankind’s behalf in heaven…he is our Advocate and Mediator.
The rod was placed inside the Ark of the Covenant as a reminder of an eternal priesthood pointing to Christ. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).
Just as Aaron presented the blood of the atonement before God and sprinkled it on the mercy seat in the tabernacle, so too has Christ, our Priest, presented His blood before the Father in heaven (John 20:17, Revelation 11:19).
Aaron’s rod budded and blossomed with almonds as proof that God had chosen him as High Priest in Israel. The life which sprang from this dead rod is a picture of the resurrected Christ Himself.
The Ten Commandments
These were the two unbroken tables of Law. The first two were broken by Moses when he found the people in the sin of idolatry. These are a picture of humanity’s constant breaking of God’s law.
However, the second set of tables were not broken, representing the one Man who never broke God’s law – Christ. These tables of law were constantly in the midst of Israel as the standard of God’s government. This is a picture of Christ as the holy standard. He is the law-giver and the law-keeper. He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Yet these tables of Law were under the blood. The blood-stained mercy seat was above the Law and it was through the blood that God beheld the Law. It is through Christ and His blood that were are covered from the penalty of death, specifically speaking the ‘second death’.
What Happened to the Pot of Manna and Aaron’s Budded Rod?
Hebrews 9:4, “Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;”.
Approximately 500 years later, King Solomon completed the Temple. It was then that the ark, which was previously in the Tabernacle, was brought to the Temple and only the tablets were inside. 1 Kings 8:9, “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.”
It is not known when these items were removed. The Philistines could have removed or lost them when they captured the ark. See 1 Samuel 4 and 5. What we do know is that these items were not placed in Solomon’s Temple.
The declaration that there was nothing in the ark except the tables of stone on which was inscribed the Law seems at first to be in conflict with the Paul’s statement in Hebrews 9:4; whre he mentions also the golden pot of manna and Aaron’s rod that budded. We are to remember, however, that this description is related to the Tabernacle and not the Temple.
The Day of Atonement
No one except the high priest could enter this sacred room where the ark stood, and he could do so only once each year at the special ceremony of atonement (Day of Atonement).
The yearly sacrifice occurred each year on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. This most solemn service of the entire year represented the final eradication of sin from the universe. Day after day sin had symbolically accumulated in the sanctuary, but on the Day of Atonement the sins received ceremonial atonement.
On that day the people gathered about the Tabernacle, spending the day in sober, thoughtful meditation and prayer as the high priest ministered in the sanctuary. This was a day of judgment, in which those who had not confessed their sins were cut off from the congregation. The priest first offered a bull for himself and his family before he performed any other service. After the priest had become qualified to serve, he cast lots upon two goats which stood at the door of the Tabernacle. One goat was chosen as the Lord’s goat, and the other became the scapegoat, or Azazel’s goat. (See Leviticus 16:8). Azazel represented Satan; hence one goat symbolized Satan and the other stood for Christ. God instructed that the priest “bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering” (verse 9).
The priest then took the blood (representing the blood of Christ) and went past the veil into the most holy place, where the ark and the mercy seat stood. This was the only time in the entire year that anyone came into this sacred room – the room where God’s presence dwelt. The priest sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat, before the mercy seat, and also upon the alter of incense out in the first room of the Tabernacle, and finally upon the alter of burnt offering in the court. In this way the entire sanctuary was symbolically cleansed of the accumulated sins of the year.
When the priest had cleansed the sanctuary, he brought the live goat, the scapegoat representing Satan, to the door of the Tabernacle. God instructed that the priest “lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all the guilt of their transgressions upon the head of the goat, and … send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness” (see: Leviticus 16:21, 22).
This goat died in the wilderness, symbolizing the complete eradication of sin. This ceremony did not make Satan the people’s sinbearer. Christ is the sinless, guiltless Saviour. But the service acknowledged Satan’s ultimate responsibility for sin and the guilt is placed upon him. In the reality which the sanctuary service foreshadowed, Satan will be forced to bear the final responsibility for sin, and then the great act of cleansing the entire universe of all sin will be forever complete. (See Revelation 21:4.)
The sanctuary service here on earth in the Old Testament represented what takes place in reality in heaven. Hebrews 9:23,24 notes, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens (the earthly Tabernacle) should be purified with these [animal blood]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 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.”
Today Christ is in the most holy place of the heavenly temple, performing the cleansing service symbolized by the Day of Atonement. We are living in the heart-searching, solemn day of judgment. How thankful we should be that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Not only are our sins forgiven, but they are blotted out completely.
Revelation
In Revelation 11:19 John records what he saw in the heavenly Most Holy Place. “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” This verse moves us from Holy Place imagery in Revelation to the Most Holy Place in the context of sanctuary symbolism. This indicates that everything from Revelation 12 onward deals primarily with how God is going to finally eradicate sin, as the Most Holy Place focused on the day of judgment and final eradication of sin from the camp (earth) through the final atonement.
This is covered in detail under Bible Prophecy which is located on the menu. Click on Bible Prophecy, selected Old Testament and select Daniel. Also, go to the New Testament on the drop down menu and select Daniel and Revelation, and Final Days. We encourage you to view all the material provided under the Bible Prophecy tab on the menu bar.
All of us must stand before God in judgment, and the verdict is innocent because we are covered by the Lamb, or guilty because the righteousness of Christ and his mercy has been rejected. What will you choose? (2 Cor. 5:10). Our prayer is that you choose life.