“God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith.” Romans 3:25 NET

To justify is to declare something to be just and righteous. The testimony of Jesus justifies both man and God.

How is Almighty God, Who is righteous, just, and holy, justified? Romans 3:25 states that God, in His forbearance, before Christ, had passed over mankind’s sin. The Feast of Passover celebrates this fact. “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”

The Apostle Paul, speaking to the Athenians, states that God has overlooked their past ignorance, but now He “commands all people everywhere to repent because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31 NET).

In the case of Job, Satan dared to challenge God’s boasting in a mere man. Satan’s opinion of mankind is expressed in Job 4:17-19. Satan is not only the accuser of sinful mankind but he also accuses God for His forbearance of human imperfection. But Satan was ignorant of God’s coming Man, the hidden mystery of Christ. 

The Cross of Christ stopped every accusation against both man and God. In the Cross, God publicly displayed His Son as the mercy seat which covered the sin of mankind. “This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness” (Romans 3:26 NET). God is justified in His Son’s justification of humanity.

The Mercy Seat is the solid gold covering of the Ark of the Covenant. The Mercy Seat covered the stone tablets of commandments which were a witness to man’s failure to keep the Law. On the Day of Atonement, once a year, the Mercy Seat was sprinkled with the sacrificial blood which spoke of the Life of God’s only begotten Son, the Son of Man!

Jesus is the Mercy Seat, the Atonement that covers the sin of the world. Jesus “who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25 NASB). The resurrection of Jesus is a witness to the justification of humanity, and in humanity’s justification God is justified.

Rosemary E Hyslop

January 1, 2023