Patrick Fairbairn on the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments

[Reformed Covenanter]

... Who could prevail to keep that summary of complete and faultless obedience? None but the Holy One of Israel; who alone could say, in the language prepared for him by the Psalmist, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” Therefore, till he came, the most holy place, where these Commandments were kept, was a barred region, excepting once a year to the high priest, who typified the person and work of Christ; and the Commandments themselves were covered out of tight beneath the lid of the ark, which was the mercy-seat, and on which the blood of atonement was sprinkled, to testify the guilt of sin committed against these Commandments could indeed be purged away, but only by the blood of Him who was himself sinless, perfect in all the righteousness of God.

Thus was the work of Christ shadowed forth by these outward symbols; the law, or book of the covenant, in the centre of the whole, declaring the perfect righteousness he had to perform, even unto death, before any sinner could enter the presence of a holy God in peace; the mercy-seat revealing the well-pleased satisfaction with which God should contemplate the work of his Son, as that through which be could dispense pardon to the guilty; and the cherubims, with intent eye, looking into the glorious mystery of this great redemption, and ready, as birds on the wing, to “minister to those who should be heirs of salvation.” ...

For more, see Patrick Fairbairn on the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments.