MercySeat

We are familiar with the Mercy Seat. It was the only piece of furniture in the holiest place in the tabernacle of the congregation. It, like the rest of the tabernacle, was given to Moses after the pattern of the heavenly things. Once a year, on the Feast of Atonement, the High Priest, and only the High Priest, after careful preparation and sanctification, would enter the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice with his finger seven times (Sabbath completion of God's work/rest) upon the Mercy Seat to make atonement for the sins of Israel. The only purpose in entering the Holy of Holies was to get to the Mercy Seat.
If the High Priest was not properly sanctified, or tried to approach the Mercy Seat on any other day, he would not remain alive.
Concerning "mercy", this week the Lord had me following a trail of spiritual breadcrumbs inch by inch along a path without knowing where that trail was leading, or what I would find as I walked, except I knew it was "something".
I started in Psalm 136, where the following phrase is continually repeated:

"...for His mercy endures forever."

After recounting many of God's wonders, even the works of creation itself, this phrase above is repeated in the Psalm. This phrase appears 86 times in scripture in several books of the Old Testament. God is trying to tell us something. In Hebrew, the phrase would be expressed using chesed (mercy, kindness, goodness, favor, desire, ardency, zeal, love, grace) olam (everlasting, perpetual, from the most ancient time, continuous existence, indefinite, unending future, concealed, time out of mind beyond past or future). "Olam" extends further back than the measured past, and further beyond the imagined future. God, through the scriptures, tells us repeatedly about this quality of mercy. It is olam. Interestingly, chesed mercy also includes the idea of "reproach, wicked thing, put to shame or contempt, reproof". Undeserved pardon doesn't exist without the prerequisite of the guilt of a crime.
According to Psalm 136, all of God's wonderful works mentioned were works that were attributed to, or came out of, chesed olam, not just during measured and known time here on earth, but before and after known time. It is surely a wonderful, genius God Who chooses to create out of enduring mercy, Who enfolds His creation within chesed mercy.
Let's get back to the Mercy Seat. The Hebrew word is "kapporeth". Kapporeth is not just a physical thing, but a place. It means "place of atonement, golden plate of propitiation, the Throne of God." The Mercy Seat, or kapporeth, is the Throne of God. Paul referred to it as "the throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16). In the earthly tabernacle, the presence of God would appear over the Mercy Seat, so we must also assume according to the pattern, this is the Seat of the presence of God in heaven. It is necessary that this Seat be covered with sacrificial blood, because of the holiness of God. That holiness, by its very nature, breaks out against and destroys all that is not holy, therefore the need for the blood of sacrifice that sanctifies by covering sin. The root word used in kapporeth is "katar". It means "to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cleanse, cover with pitch" (which covered Noah's ark, and baby Moses' ark of bulrushes, both of which preserved life in the face of God's and Pharaoh's judgment). In the earthly tabernacle, the Mercy Seat covered the Word (Tablets of the Commandments), the miracle Bread of life (Manna) provided by God without any work on man's part, and the Resurrection (budded rod of Aaron).
God spoke to Moses from the kapporeth, or Mercy Seat:
"And there I will meet with you, and I will speak (commune, KJV) (Heb. "dabar") with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel."  Ex. 25:22, Ex. 30:6
And at that place, Moses in turn spoke to God:
"Now when Moses went in to the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony..."   Num. 7:89
God speaks from the Mercy Seat, and it is there that we speak to Him. The creation was spoken into being, according to Gen. 1. John 1 tells us that the creative Word was Jesus. Can we then believe that this Word was spoken from that heavenly kapporeth? The Word is the building block of creation, but it flowed from the Mercy Seat of God.
Here is what I discovered as I followed that trail of spiritual bread crumbs that I mentioned at the beginning of this piece. This kapporeth, or Throne, from which God speaks the Word (Christ), is a living throne. The kapporeth, according to its meaning, is The Propitiation. The kapporeth cannot be separated from the body containing the Word, the Bread, and the Resurrection. To me Jesus Christ IS the kapporeth, as Paul wrote that He is our propitiation:
"...Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation (mercy seat, merciful, make reconciliation) by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance (holding back) God had passed over the sins that were previously committed..."   Rom. 3:25  and
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (mercy seat) for our sins."  1 Jn. 4:10
Propitiation is about the blood of the Lamb slain for our sin, but I think it is also about the place, the kapporeth. The two cannot be separated.
The veil before the Holy of Holies, which was torn in two, was Christ's flesh (Heb. 10:20). The contents of the ark, which was the Word, the Bread, and the Resurrection, also refer us to Christ. And the covering, or katar, over that Mercy Seat for olam eternity is His own blood from even before known time. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation. He is the Alpha-Omega, the Beginning and End, which is the defining quality of chesed mercy. Because of this, we can come to the place of the Mercy Seat without fear-not because of who we are, but because of what He provided for us from His own body.
If God is enthroned above the Mercy Seat, then He must be enthroned upon Christ. You may say that God cannot be enthroned upon Christ, because Christ is seated at God's right hand (Col. 3:1). However, if we look at the root meaning in Greek of that phrase used in Colossians, we see a different thing. We see the kapporeth:
sitteth- stays, remains, exists, is, present (note: it does not specifically mean "to sit")

right hand- used as a place receiving one (Moses and High Priest received at Mercy Seat)
                - to receive or grant access to (the Mercy Seat granted access once/year,
                  and now, forever)
                - not to refuse intercourse or friendship (God spoke to Moses as a friend)
                - the thing offered in speaking, teaching, instructing (Ex. 25:22 re Mercy Seat)
                - to give ear to, to embrace, approve, not to reject, sustain, endure ("mercy
                  endures forever")

I can see more clearly why Paul would often greet the churches with the salutation, "Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord."
I hope I have been able to express to you what I discovered following the trail of spiritual bread crumbs. It led me to the Mercy Seat from which I believe God spoke into existence all creation, and completed His work. It led me to the Mercy Seat where God also speaks to me, and I may speak to Him. It led me to the Mercy Seat where I receive the friendship, instruction, approval and embrace of God, and the place where He gives ear to and answers my prayers and petitions. It led me to Christ, my Mercy Seat, the Living Word of God, in a new way, and to His blood, sacrificed to make a way for me into the Holy of Holies to this place before God. It led me to Christ Who laid Himself down, so that God may be enthroned upon Him. This is the finished work of God, by which I can enter into His rest that He provided for me.
I just followed the trail of Bread crumbs that He left for me. So can you. It will take you right there.

Our Father has provided the Mercy Seat for us from olam everlasting to olam everlasting.