Jeremiah 17:12, “A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.”
In the context, the glorious throne of YHWH set on high from the beginning is set over against the fitful and uncertain securities of the flesh (17:5-6, 11). The Divine King Himself, enthroned in glory from the beginning, lifted up high above all earthly tumults, He Himself is the sanctuary for all who trust in Him (17:7-8).
And yet, who can read these words through the lens of the Risen Crucified One and not recognize in this glorious throne set on high from the beginning the cross upon which Christ—the crucified and risen one who is the firstborn of all creation (Col.1:15)—is high and lifted up, exalted as the ever, always, and only exegesis of the unseen God? How can we not see in these words the altar upon which the Lamb—slain from the beginning (Rev.13:8, 1 Pt.1:19-20)—eternally stands in risen victory (Rev.5:9)? The glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the cross of Jesus Christ where God—in His incarnate Son—decisively exercises and manifests within time and space His eternal reign of sovereign love. The throne set on high from the beginning has always been the cross—or again, the cross reveals the throne set on high from the beginning.
And this throne, this altar of royal authority and sovereign love, this throne is the place of our sanctuary because on it YHWH Himself—perfectly declared in the Son crucified for us and raised up again—reigns in the unique excellence of His Name; the excellence of the Name revealed in the Son’s sin-bearing, self-substituting, death-swallowing, hell-exhausting, grave-overcoming, exile-gathering, rebel-reconciling love for His enemies. He Himself—the slain and risen Lord—He Himself is our sanctuary in whom we hide by faith.
