Today I painted the trim around the windows and door on the West side of my house.  That might not sound like such a big deal to some but for an old gray-headed fat man it is a tremendous deal.  It only took about an hour and a half but the heat index was near 100 degrees and I am pretty sure I sweat more pints than what paint I used.  It looks good too, at least good enough for me.  All that dirty old chipped paint is now gone and a fresh coat of bright white took its place.  It was nearly twenty years ago when it was last painted so I am fairly sure I won’t never have to do it again; at least on the West side of the house.  Now if I can just finish the South, East, and North sides I will have it made!

            The point of this illustration is that the blood of Jesus Christ does the same thing for us as that fresh coat of paint did for the trim on the West side of my house.  Well, not quite the same.  The paint job took what was old and near decaying and transformed it into a new bright white look.  But if time stands one day someone will have to do it again.  However the blood of Jesus covers us with a covering that will never fade.

            The Bible says in Romans 3:21 – 26, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.  For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

            The word “propitiation” means nearly the same thing as “Atonement.”  It is typed in the example of the Jewish High Priest annually sprinkling the blood of a sacrifice on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies in the Temple.  Here’s the entire picture in a nut shell:  The Ark of the Covenant was there.  In it had been placed the Table of the Ten Commandments, a pot of Manna, and the rod of Aaron which had budded when God had to prove His choice as High Priest in the line of Aaron.  I don’t have time in this article to completely explain those stories but look them up in the Bible and you will find some very interesting reading.  The table with the Ten Commandments represents God’s Law that man had broken.  Man had even disobeyed it before Moses got down from Mount Sinai with the table.  Someone might say, “Well they shouldn’t have been held accountable since they didn’t have the table yet.”  But if you read a few chapters before this incident you will discover that the first giving of the Law was spoken verbally by God Himself in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel.  They had heard the law already.  Secondly the pot of Manna represents man’s rebellion in God’s provision because they got tired of this miraculous food that fell from God and began murmuring and complaining about it.  Thirdly the rod of Aaron represents man’s rejection of God’s leadership.

            Okay I think you are getting the picture now.  Over the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat – A golden seat that sat on the Ark and above that, two angels with their wings touching each other looking down at the Mercy Seat.  Once each year the High Priest would take the blood of a sacrifice and enter the Holy of Holies sprinkling the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat.  This represented the host of Heaven (represented in the two angels) looking down on this freshly sprinkled blood.  Before this they saw the Ark containing the proof of man’s rebellion.  But when the blood was sprinkled now they saw only the blood.

            Jesus shed blood on Calvary was represented by the blood of the sacrificed animal.  His blood was sprinkled once for all of mankind to cover his disobedience to God.  Jesus covered it with His own blood.  When we accept Christ as our Savior we have applied the blood to the mercy seat above us – God’s own great mercy in that we in no way deserve it.  Instead of the host of Heaven seeing our disobedience and sin now they see the blood of Christ that has been sprinkled upon us.

            What a neat and glorious picture we have!  Jesus became our covering.  He is our propitiation.  We stand with our sin blanked out by His shed blood.  Now if that isn’t something worth giving a big shout of halleluiah I don’t know what is!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.