God Needs Roofers

GOD NEEDS ROOFERS  --the Merciful ones.

"Whom God put forward before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment."

(Romans 3:25, AMPC)

God is the master builder.  I was studying how Jesus is the 'Mercy seat' and how propitiation by His blood was made for us to atone for our sin.  God in his mercy sacrificed his own son Jesus Christ on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. He is our throne of grace.  He is our high priest, our altar, our sacrifice, our all in all.  Jesus was our substitute, the scapegoat; he took our sin upon himself so that we can be cleansed from sin and be made holy and acceptable to God in his sight. He has given us this new life through his sacrifice if we receive it by faith. Jesus' sacrifice is life-giving not life-taking away. Mercy relates to forgiveness and withholding punishment.  God not giving us what we deserve. 

One day this week I saw a builder's van with the word ''roofing' in the company name.  I suddenly thought of the Mercy Seat. It is like having the roof on a house  or the lid of mercy on.  God is merciful. God covers us. He is my covering.  The blood of Jesus covers my life.  Jesus did not just die for me and you he died as me and you.  He satisfied God's wrath against sin. God hates sin. As the high priest sprinkled the Mercy Seat with blood sacrifices of bulls and goats to atone for people's sin in the Old Testament, so Jesus' blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in heaven to atone for our sin in the New Testament. This was the New Covenant of God and Jesus himself is the Mercy Seat. He fulfilled the demands of God's righteousness.  The word 'propitiation' comes from the Latin word 'propitiate' which means to appease.  The goal of propitiation is to regain favour and involved god or gods. The Mercy Seat is literally his lid or roof upon our life and soul, in his spiritual house. Just like a house needs a roof, so we need the Mercy Seat of God and his provision of sacrifice for our sin, the blood of Jesus covering us. Thus, through his sacrifice and propitiation by his blood we are reconciled to God by faith. We become the objects of his mercy. It is a Covenant of love.

In the Old Testament the ark of the covenant had a mercy seat.  It was the gold lid placed on the Ark of the Covenant with two Cherubim beaten out at the ends.  The Greek word for  'propitiation'  is 'hilasterion.' "Concretely it specifically means the lid of The Ark of The Covenant." (Wikipedia). 

God is looking for roofers, in that they  have received God's pardon for their sins  by receiving  his mercy by faith in Jesus and his sacrifice for their sin. God's roofers are merciful to the wilful and the sinful. They reach out to the lost, the down and out, the lost sheep who need his mercy and grace. A mission of mercy to rebellious sinners to grab their hand and save them from destruction.  They need Jesus. Jesus loves them but how will they know if we dont tell them?   If we don't preach the gospel? If we don't  demonstrate with signs and wonders following those who believe as it states in Marks gospel:

"And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 

(Mark 16:17-18, NIV)

In his love and mercy God heals the sick.  God himself provided the sacrifice, the propitiation for sin through Jesus Christ  because he is such a merciful, loving, caring. wonderful, gracious, healing God. Jesus paid the price in full for our healing and salvation and deliverance.  The wonders of knowing Him intimately. Therefore, the  roofers are those builders (the Apostles) in God's kingdom who are intimate with God and his mercy and they help people put the lid on it. They show forth God's mercy.  They are mature. They are messengers of God's mercy. They help  put the spiritual roof of God on people's lives. They do the work of an evangelist. They demonstrate his love and power, they heal the sick and cast out demons.  God's mercy seat (Jesus)  covers and saves us from God's wrath to his favour.  Point to remember:

 

"With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful …” (2 Samuel 22:26, NKJV).

Get ready to encounter a merciful God. 

Moreover,  a miracle is coming to your house.  Just as God said to Abraham when he was 99 years old that his wife Sarah (now old and passed the age of child-bearing) would now bear a son, who would be named Isaac (means laughter).  God is saying to you today,

"Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord?" (See Genesis 18:14,  AMPC).  Faith laughs at the impossible. His Mercy makes it possible. Then you will say God has wrought a miracle out of the mess.  People will look in wonder at 'what God hath wrought.' (see Numbers 23:23, KJV) His wonder working power in you will cause you to rise up in strength like a lion. No witch, no devil can curse what God has blessed. 

In conclusion, we see from the scripture in Romans 3:25,  that God is faithful, merciful and patient with us.  He ignores past sins, passes over them when we have the roof of his mercy on our lives.  His wrath is averted and his favour, his unmerited grace is bestowed upon us because of Jesus who made propitiation with his own pure, sinless blood. Jehovah Jireh, God our provider is a covenant keeping God, which means he keeps his promises to you and to future generations.  He wants to give you a posterity.  His restoration work in you is healing and transformative. We go from glory to glory becoming more like Christ. He who began the good construction work in you will complete it. Salvation is coming to your household in his mercy.  

Sharon