PROMISE IN A BOX
Understanding the incredible promises contained in
The Ark of the Covenant

I. Introduction:

Ex 25:8 "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 "According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. 10 ¶ "And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.  11 "And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. 12 "You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 "And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 "You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. 15 "The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 "And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.  17 "You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width.  18 "And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 "Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat.  20 "And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.  21 "You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.

A. Through Moses God led millions of Jews out of Egypt
B. In the wilderness God ordered the building the tabernacle.
C. He also commanded the fashioning of utensils and stations of worship
D. Outside the tent
   1. Altar of sacrifice
   2. Laver to wash before entering holy place

 E. Holy place & Holy of Holies
F. Within the Holy Place was:
      1. Lamp stand or Menorah – Jesus light of the world
      2. Table of Shewbread - fellowship
      3. Golden altar of incense – Prayers wafting under the veil into God’s presence

II. Within the Holy of Holies ONLY THE ARK OF THE COVENANT (Israel’s most precious object)
 A. Box made of wood & overlaid with gold
      1. 44 in long, 26 in  wide & high
B. Within the box/ark was
     1. Two tablets of the 10 commandments
     2. Jar of Manna
     3. Aaron’s rod that budded

 C. On top of the box/ark was lid called the Mercy Seat
     1. On each side of the lid/seat was an angel.
     2. Once a year the high priest would take blood and go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle
         blood on The Mercy Seat and obtain mercy for the sins of the people for another year.

D. No light but the glory of God

III. The Ark Represented the Presence of God

A. When they moved camp the Ark went before them.
     1. When they would pack up the sanctuary – and  take down the veil they would lay it back over the Ark, so that it was covered.

Nu 4:5 "When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Testimony with it. 6 "Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall insert its poles.

The Ark would go before them
Nu 10:33 So they departed from the mountain of the LORD on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them for the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the LORD was above them by day when they went out from the camp.  35 So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said: "Rise up, O LORD! Let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You." 36 And when it rested, he said: "Return, O LORD, To the many thousands of Israel." (NKJV)

* The Mercy Seat was God’s throne among the Israelites:

Isa 37:16 "O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

B. It was God’s symbol of His dwelling with the Israelites.

     1. Priest carried it around the walls of Jericho   Joshua 6:4 (followed the people)
    
C. It parted the waters of the Jordan
D. Placed in a tent at Shiloh Until Eli the priest
E. David moved it to Jerusalem
F. Finally moved to the temple Solomon built

1Ki 8:5 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
 6 Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.  7 For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.  8 The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.

1Ki 8:10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,  11 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.  12 ¶ Then Solomon spoke: "The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud.  13 I have surely built You an exalted house, And a place for You to dwell in forever."  14 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

IV. Last mention of the ark

A. Was when king Josiah led the nation to national revival.  (2 Kings 23)
     1. The Ark was placed back in the Temple
     2. Yet no glory filled the place

B. Some Bible scholars believe that this ark was a  replica.  Therefore God’s presence didn't’t result.

C. Today there is no temple, and no Ark.

E. But what about the ARK?

F. When Israel came back from Babylonian captivity there is no mention of the ark at the dedication
     of the rebuilt temple.  (It’s not mentioned again)

V. Possible Theories

#1. Babylonians destroyed it when they destroyed the temple.
        a.) Soldiers may have melted  the gold down and destroyed the box.
        b.) Seems unlikely that God would allow that considering His history with the ARK.

#2. God removed it and took it to heaven
        1. In Rev 11:19 seems to refer to it

Re 11:19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightning's, noises, thundering's, an earthquake, and great hail.

           2. Scholars question if this was the Ark Moses built or the original in heaven that Moses copied.

Ex 25:9 "According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

Heb 9:21-23  Copies of the heavenly things

#3. The Prophet Jeremiah hid the ARK

Apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees makes some claims of this natures:

2 Maccabees 2: 5 When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: "The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. 8 3 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified."

 

#4.  Ark was hidden under the temple mount.
        a. Many hidden tunnels under the Temple Mount.
        b. Controlled by the Arabs – last thing they want is for the Ark to be found.
        c. Some explores have claims to see artifacts.

#5. The ARK was taken to Ethiopia.

a. Legend  (2 Chronicles 9, Queen of Sheba’s visit)
     1.  Queen of Sheba/Ethiopia came to visit Solomon
     2.  They had a son
     3.  He stayed with Solomon until age 19
    
4.  When he went to Ethiopia he took the Ark with him. 

-  A copy had been made by Solomon
– With the help of priests he took the real one fearing Solomon’s moral decline would cause the ARK to be lost.

Very interesting in light of the following facts:

- Ethiopian history records that Queen of Sheba and Solomon did have a son called Menelik I
- National Geographic did an article in 1935 with various priest all over Ethiopia who confirm this story, including the ARK.
- Encyclopedia Britannica confirms the legend about  the Ark being located in Ethiopia
- Ethiopia has had the longest dynasty of monarchs all claiming to be descendants of Solomon.

-The Ark has been housed by a special underground  series of circles/tunnels

At Aksum, Ethiopia in the church

- A person guards the innermost circles his whole life without ever coming out and is replaced at his death.

- Ethiopian Jews coming back to Israel

- Sources report that the ARK has been returned to Israel and is awaiting the building of the Temple.

What is true?  Don’t know, but it will be revealed.

The real story is what was in the box, and it’s message.

VI. The Message of the ARK

A. The ARK contained three things
B. Tablets, Jar of manna, and Aaron’s rod.
C. God wastes nothing, everything mean something.
D. Bible is full of stories within stories

They Represent:
1. Tablets- God’s requirement of man – and man’s utter failure
2.  Manna- Man’s need and God’s provision
3.  Aaron’s rod- new life
      - Moses & Aaron's leadership was dead – they were going to be.
      - Aaron’s stick was dead.
      - God gave it all new life

Israel carries the ARK around not knowing that it was a prophetic picture of Jesus.

1. He fulfilled God ‘s law, and took the punishment the law demanded of sinners.

Col 2:3 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,  14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

2. He is the manna – bread from heaven – never hunger again

Joh 6:49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.  50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

3.  He is the rod that budded – He was dead, but lived again.

Arron was declared the chosen one by the rod that sprung new life.

Symbol of the validation of Jesus thru His resurrection.

Ro 1:4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

4.  Jesus is our MERCY SEAT – place of forgiveness

Look at this visual picture God gives us of Jesus as our Mercy Seat in the New Testament:

Joh 20:0 Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. 11 ¶ But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

If God has gone to all this trouble to paint a picture of His love for us, don’t you think we can trust Him to take us all the way through.

The message in a box is that

 1. He fulfilled God ‘s law, and took the punishment the law demanded of sinners.

2. He was the manna – bread from heaven – never hunger again

3.  He was the rod that budded – He was dead, but lived again.

4.  Jesus is our MERCY SEAT – place of forgiveness