Exodus 25:10-22--The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant​
10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. 21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

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Let's talk for a moment not about the "box" itself that is the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of the Testimony as it is called in some other places, but why it is a big deal and what it represents for us.  We'll dig deeper into some of these thoughts as we learn more and more about the Tabernacle, but this is the one piece of "furniture" that was in the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies (whichever your translation says).  The Ark would serve some very special purposes:

1) It would be the focal point for the people to remember the presence of God, what He had done for them in the past, and His faithfulness to keep His covenant to them in the future.  Every time they would break came and move out and every time they would go into battle, the Ark of the Covenant was there.

2) It was the place where some important symbols were kept to testify to who the LORD is by telling what He had done.  First, there would be the stone tablets of the Law (we see that commanded here).  We will also see that an omarh of manna (their daily portion for each person) would be kept in the Ark along with Aaron's budding rod.  I'll talk more about each of these in a little bit.

3) It was the place where atonement was made for God's people once a year on Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement. The High Priest would put on special garments and make atonement first for himself and then for all of God's people, and the blood would be applied to the Mercy Seat on the covering of the ark.

4) It was the place where God chose to let His glory reside and it reminded people of God's holiness because they could not approach or touch the Ark in any way they wanted--they could only come as God instructed and only certain priests were allowed to carry the Ark.

Alright, now let's dig even a little deeper here.  Clearly everything in the Tabernacle ultimately talks about Jesus and how He was the fulfillment of the Law, and our Daily Bread and is the one who can made dead things like Aaron's rod alive and bud.  In Him is Law of the LORD, the provision of the LORD, and the power and deliverance of the Lord.  But I think there's more to this.  The Ark would symbolize the throne of God and the place where His presence would dwell.  Certainly that was in Christ while He was here on the earth, but now that He has returned to heaven we still have God's throne in heaven--that has not changed--but we know that God now lives in the hearts of each and every Christian that is born again, and we carry around the testimony of these same things--His Word, His Provision, and His Power and Deliverance, wherever we go.  These are inside our hearts and the Spirit of God dwells there and it is our hearts on which the blood is applied by both our Lamb and the Great High Priest so that our sins are not only atoned for, but taken away.

There is much more that we can and will say about the Ark of the Covenant as we go forward, but it is not an idol and it is not the gold that covers it that makes it precious--it is the items inside of it and the LORD who dwells between the cherubim that makes it valuable.  Just like it is not our bodies that serve as a temple of the Holy Spirit that are valuable but what is on the inside that counts--the very presence of God dwelling among His people and having communion with them.