Mysteries of the Ark of the Covenant

What does the Ark of The Covenant and the death of Jesus have in common? Everything. The Ark was a shadow of the good things to come on the cross of Calvary.

When Moses led his people out of bandage in Egypt and they wondered for forty years in the wilderness their God set up a procedure of worship and sacrifice for His people so He could have fellowship with them and they could find forgiveness from Him who had saved them. This process was to construct portable temple they called a tabernacle in the wilderness. Inside this tabernacle was a system of sacrifice that the lay person could use for himself and family. This was performed in the outer portion of the tabernacle. The inner portion of the tabernacle was designed for the high priest chosen by God who would perform a yearly sacrifice for the nation.

Within this inner section of the tabernacle was the Ark of The Covenant. A box, if you will, covered in gold. Inside the Ark were a jar of manna, Aaron's budded rod and the broken Ten Commandments. They represented sin, the sins of the Israelites. Manna for their rejection of God's provisions, Aaron's budded rod for their rejection of the priest system and the broken commandments for their disobedience. When God looked down on the Ark all he saw for a year was the sin these objects represented. When the high priest sprinkled the blood of a goat over the Ark all God now saw was the blood. He could no longer see the sin and He knew a life had been sacrificed and He was satisfied. The blood covered the sin from his sight and the people were forgiven until next year. But, it was only temporary.

When Jesus was crucified on the cross He became the human Ark. He took on the sins of the world and when God looked on Him all He saw was our sins. But, as the blood shed by Jesus was flowing down His body and the cross and the sacrifice was made by His death God only saw the blood and no longer saw the sin and He forgave the people. But, unlike the temporary sacrifice that was made with a dead animal this one was made by the living God Himself. He gave His life and shed His blood for our sake and by His grace we became free to live forever.

The mysteries of the Ark is really no mystery at all if one understands the reason God chose to preview His grace to His people in the wilderness. He was painting a picture for them of the good things to come when there would no longer be a need for the annual blood letting to find forgiveness. When Jesus said "it is finished" it put an end to one system and began a new system of forgiveness.

Dan Scott Ruster
Restaurant consultant, Pilot, former pro football player, businessman and Christian alcoholic. I give speaches and lecture on the mysteries of the Bible and my personal testimony.

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