“And you shall hang the veil from the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place, from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place.”
– Exodus 26:33–34
Very similar to what we saw in Exodus chapter 25. Get a picture here of the holiness of God. The Most Holy God is called. God is unlike anyone or anything else. For Him to be holy, think about it in two ways. It means He is without error. So there’s no sin in God; there’s nothing wrong or bad, evil or wicked in God. He has never had a wrong thought, never done a wrong deed. God is perfect. Period. But not just is He without error, I mean, there’s a sense in which angels in heaven, I mean it could be said that they are without error. They’ve not sinned. What else is involved in God’s holiness, is that He is without equal.
Exodus 26:33–34 Separates God from All Else
There is no one like Him. He is totally other, different from us. Which leads to this picture of separation from us. Because we are with error. And we are not like God. So, the whole picture we’re reading about in Exodus 25 and 26 is how can sinful man commune with this holy God? And again we here in verse 34 this mercy seat that makes that possible.
So here’s what I want to do. I want to encourage us to pray right now. Not just in praising God for the way He has made for us to be with Him, but I want us to pray, lead us to pray, for His mercy to be made known in others’ lives. Specifically those who are separated from Him right now. Those who do not have communion with Him because they have not trusted in Jesus.
Christ Influencing Your Sphere of Influence
So think about people who have not put their faith in Christ in your sphere of influence right now. Maybe in your family, maybe friends of yours, or maybe coworkers. Maybe it’s somebody you interact with regularly in the community, whether it’s at a restaurant or the supermarket you go to. Or whatever it might be. Just people around you in your sphere of influence. Maybe you do recreation with them, you work out with them. Your kids play ball with them, whatever it might be. I just want us to picture those names, those faces in our mind, in our hearts right now, and to pray for them.
God, we know that you are holy. You are without error and without equal. There is no one, nothing, like you. We are separated from you by our sin and we praise you as those who know Jesus for the communion you have made possible with you. And so we pray right now, that more and more people around us would know this kind of communion with you. That they would know you. God, we pray that you would show your mercy and bring your salvation to specific people we’re thinking of right now. Just thinking of different people, God, that you would draw them to yourself. God, please. Please open their eyes to see your mercy in Christ. And open our mouths to share your mercy in Christ.
Exodus 26:33–34 Pleads God to Save
God, we pray for boldness. This is the greatest news in the world that we have today to share with people. God, that they can meet with you. They can know you. They can enjoy you. God, they can be brought into communion with you. Not just now, but for all of eternity. Instead of experiencing eternity separated from you. God, we pray for those who are separated from you right now. We don’t want them to die separated from you. These friends and family members and coworkers and people around us. God, we want your grace and mercy to be made known.
So we pray, we plead right now, God, please save. Please save. And please use us as instruments in your hand to make your mercy known in their lives. We pray for that today, tomorrow, this week, God, please, please, please help us to speak the Good News, to share the Gospel of your grace and your mercy in Christ with these people in our sphere of influence. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
