Exodus 25:22, There I will meet with you. Between the two cherubim was the glowing, anointed, manifest Presence of YHVH called the Shekinah. This pictures the glories of the New Jerusalem and life happily ever after for Yeshua and his spiritual bride.
The manifest Presence of Elohim is the last of seven “items” in the tabernacle and it is also the one ingredient that is missing in all the other religions of the world. Yes, many of the world’s false religions have their signs, wonders and supernatural experiences, but these are cheap demonic counterfeits that only imitate the real thing. In the end, despite all that they promise, they bring shame, confusion, guilt and eventual death and eternal separation from Elohim.
In the Tabernacle of Moses, the first six items were made with human hands. Six is the number of man. YHVH’s Presence cannot be constructed by the hand or mind of man. It just is, and it doesn’t come as a result of anyone conjuring it up. It comes as a result of repentance, holiness, obedience and humans seeking Elohim with all their hearts, while following the protocols he has laid out, which, when followed, lead to him. There is no other way.
The Presence of Elohim is what is missing in every other of the world’s religious systems. It was even missing in the Second Temple!
In YHVH Elohim’s Presence, a human is miraculously changed and transformed spiritually from the inside out.
There I will [Heb. ya’ad] meet with you…I will commune [Heb. d’bar]…I will give you. This entire verse is pregnant with spiritual meaning relating to the holy of holies, which was YHVH’s point of contact between heaven and earth. From this place he desired to meet with Israel, to speak with them, and to give them all of his written instructions or commandments—the Torah. Of what is the holy of holies an earthly shadow picture? (See Heb 8:2, 5; 9:11, 23–24.) Beyond this, to what did the Tabernacle of Moses point? (See Rev 8:1–5; 9:13; 11:19.) Elohim promised to commune with or speak to the Israelites from above the cherubim, whose golden wings arched over the mercy seat. What does this point to at the spiritual reality level? (See Rev 4:1–11.)
The word mercy seat is better translated as “place of atonements,” for it was here, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), that the high priest sprinkled blood from the altar of sacrifice to make atonements (plural) for his sins as well as for those of his family and the entire nation of Israel. The ark of the covenant and its mercy seat lid represented the throne of Elohim in heaven. Only the high priest was allowed into the holy of holies. Are the saints of Yeshua now his new, non-Levitical priesthood? (See 1 Pet 2:9; Rev 1:6; 5:10.) How do we as believers in Yeshua the Messiah gain access into heaven’s holy of holies where our Father has his throne, so that we might commune or speak with him? (Read John 14:6; Heb 10:19–22; also 4:14–16; 9:11–28.)
In the Tabernacle of Moses, there was a veil or curtain separating the holy place from the holy of holies that prevented the regular priests from entering the latter. In a spiritual sense, what has now happened to that veil so that the redeemed of Yeshua can go directly into the presence of YHVH Elohim, their heavenly Father, and speak to him, commune or meet with him and hear him speak? (Read Heb 10:19–22.)
Prayer is one of the ways by which we can come into the Presence of Elohim. When we pray, to whom are we to address our prayers? (See Matt 6:9.) When we come into the presence of our Father in heaven by prayer, how does he view our prayers? (Look at Rev 8:3–4.) What is another way by which we can enter into the presence of Elohim? (See Pss 100:4; 116:17.) What is YHVH’s response when his people praise him? (Ps 22:3.)
The holy of holies was the place where YHVH met with his people through Moses and Aaron, the high priest. Now, by the blood of Yeshua because of the spiritual relationship we have with him, we are able to come boldly, as YHVH’s children, before the mercy seat of his throne. This we do through prayer, praise and worship. This is how we commune and meet with Elohim, and how he does the same with us.
This is what YHVH meant by the first clause in this verse: “There I will meet [Heb. ya’ad] with you.” The Hebrew word for meet is ya’ad meaning “appoint; fix, assemble, betroth, or gather.” It is Elohim’s fixed design to meet his people at the mercy seat, or place of atonements, which is where the blood of the sacrificed animal was sprinkled, and the incense from the golden censor was released by the high priest. This was a place of divine appointment where man and his Creator met. Man was expected to come here for an appointed meeting, and Elohim promised to meet man there. As noted above, Yeshua is our Great High Priest who, through his shed blood atonement for our sins, opened the way for us to enter into the very throne room of the Father—something the ceremonies of the Tabernacle of Moses prophetically portended.
The holy of holies was an earthly picture of Elohim’s throne in heaven. It is through the blood of Yeshua and the grace of Elohim that the redeemed saint can now come before Elohim’s heavenly throne (Heb 4:16) and leave there the sweet smelling incense of our prayers, praise and worship (Rev 5:8–10; 8:1–4).
The Hebrew word ya’ad is the root and verb form of this Hebrew word, while mo’ed is noun form of the same word. Mo’ed means “divine appointment.” The word feasts in Leviticus 23:1–2 is the word mo’edim, which is the plural form of mo’ed. What are the seven feasts of YHVH, which he calls divine appointments, and when he promises to meet with his people? (See Lev 23:1–44.) Observing these feasts, like coming into the holy of holies, is yet another way to commune or meet with our Father in heaven, to hear the voice and to receive the instructions in righteousness of the One in heaven who sits on the throne of mercy surrounded by the cherubim.
Wow! “In the volume of the book it is written of Me” Ps 40:7 and Heb 10:7…from the Aleph and Tov after the word “God” in Genesis 1:1 (the begiinning and the end, the first and the last, to the Rev 22:13 verse I Am the Alpha and Omega, He is and He teaches us everything in between, from the first book to the last and from between the cherubim! Hallelu-YAH!