Page 29 - Overcoming Addiction

covering, it is to be understood that all man’s attempts to resolve the problem of
sin fall short of God’s approval. As the Scriptures testify:

Isaiah 64:6
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous
deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our
iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Even the wind could have blown apart the covering Adam and Eve made for
themselves. Their covering was as a filthy garment, for it was made by the efforts
of sinful man. Sinful man cannot cover themselves with righteousness. Their best
attempts, their most righteous deeds, appear spotted and stained in the eyes of a
Holy God. Only God could provide an acceptable covering.
Adam and Eve were the forebears of the entire human race. They had not
had any children yet when they sinned. The Scriptures declare that we were all
present in Adam at that moment, for we existed in the form of his seed from which
all of mankind would arise. When God made a covering for Adam He symbolically
covered all of mankind, for we were yet in Adam. By doing so Yahweh was
showing that a covering would one day be provided for the sin of the entire human
race.

I John 2:1-2
If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Yahshua Christ the
righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours
only, but also for those of the whole world.

The word propitiation is found four times in the New Testament. There are
two different Greek words that are translated into the English word propitiation,
but both Greek words come from the same root. These are the Greek words
hilasterion, and hilasmos. I have often looked up the meaning of Greek and
Hebrew words in the reference work Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the
Bible. In this book we find the following definition for the Greek word hilasterion.

an atoning victim, or (specially) the lid of the Ark (in the Temple)

This same reference work reveals that this Greek word is translated in two
different ways. It is translated as propitiation, as well as mercy seat. When
Yahweh gave Moses instructions for constructing the Tabernacle in the
wilderness, He also gave him directions for building the Ark of the Covenant. The
Ark was a wooden box overlaid with gold, and it had a lid of similar construction
that rested upon the top as a covering. This lid is often called The Mercy Seat.
I believe the words Mercy Seat are a poor translation, being misleading to
most English speaking people. There is no seat upon the top of the ark, there is
only a covering, or a lid. The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament which has
been translated mercy seat, actually indicates a cover. All things in the
Tabernacle’s construction are symbolic, and serve as parables for spiritual truth.