Pastor Gary

My Chapel received two questions by way of email overnight. Since these topics may come up here at CFS as well, I'd like to provide the answers to those two questions here, in Bible Studies.

First, we were asked "where is the Ark of the Covenant today"?

If we look carefully at the text in Revelation 11:19 (KJV) we see that when John was brought into the vision to see the future happenings, he actually saw the Ark of the Covenant in Heaven ( The Temple of God ). Those non Christian 'scientists and explorers' who keep searching for the golden Ark should just develop a little faith, and read Revelation 11:19 (KJV). The answer is there for all to read.

Secondly, another email asked this question:

"What is the difference between B.C. and B.C.E in time dating"?

B.C. is a Christian reference to time and means "Before Christ."

Those non Christians who refuse to even recognize the birth of Christ as a historically and a religiously meaningful event have developed B.C.E. - which stands for Before the Current Era. No Christian should use B.C.E. or give any credence to those persons and organizations that do.

Boanerges

Pastor Gary I have a question. If the book of Hebrews tells us that the eathly tabernacle was a type and shdow of the heavenly would the same apply for the ark?
Either way without devine intervention the wood used in the ark would have undoubtedly rotted away long ago.

Pastor Gary

Larry - We see the construction of the Ark of the Covenant as clearly described in Exodus 25:10-22 (KJV). With the extremely low mid-east humidity and the fact that it was overlaid with solid gold, rot and decay of the wooden elements would have been very slow - if at all.

It was not only protected from weather by the guilding as it was carried in the migrations by the Levites, but it had the hand of God upon it at all times to protect it. We know this from the incident where Uzzah had a bit of an issue with touching the Ark as told in 2 Samuel 6:3-7 (KJV).

Sometime between the days of King David, around 1000 BC and about the time that Josiah became king in 628 B.C., the Ark had vanished. We know this because Josiah sought to restore the House of the Lord and asked Levites to bring forth the Ark. The Levites said they were “unable to comply.”

Perhaps we should just ask Harrison Ford and George Lucas of Lucasfilm, Inc., as to where they placed "it" after they finished making their 1981 movie...

Boanerges

He only talks for big $

Jasher

The explanation in the Apocrypha was that Jeremiah hid the Ark in a cave in Mt. Nebo before the Babylonian invasion, and that its location would not be revealed until God was ready for it to be found. It was never found again and was absent in the Second Temple. The Nebo theory finds support in the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees. The narrative in that book says, "the prophet, warned by an oracle, gave orders for the tabernacle and the ark to go with him when he set out for the mountain which Moses had climbed to survey God's heritage. On his arrival, Jeremiah found a cave-dwelling, into which he brought the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense, afterwards blocking up the entrance" (2 Maccabees 2:4-5).

The late Ron Wyatt caused a stir back in 1982 claiming that he had found it in a cave near Jerusalem and developed a stunning story about how the blood of Christ dripped through the creavices in the rocks and fell upon the mercy seat of the hidden Ark.

Only problem is that his location was wrong according to my information. Jesus was crucified "outside the camp" - near the southern summit of the Mount of Olives. "Outside the camp" is defined as being anything over a radius of 2,000 cubits (or 3,000 feet) from the door of the Holy Place in the Temple. So criminals, like Jesus, had to be executed over this minimum distance from the Temple. So his findings do not mesh with the known Jewish law of Jesus' day.

http://www.arkdiscovery.com/index2.htm

Boanerges

Aren't there some Africans who claim to have the ark of the Covenant?

Pastor Gary

They "CLAIM" to have it in Ethiopia, but they will not allow ANYONE to view whatever it is that is contained in that secure building.

I'll stick with the information in Revelation 11:19 (KJV) as fact... after all, it IS the Word of God, not the word of 'man'.

Boanerges

vinyamar777

Pity about Raiders! I think I’d go with Boan, #2, with the link to Hebrews & decomposition – why would God preserve what is redundant? Rv.11:19, in whatever EV, does not in itself require a literalism, especially in line with its rich symbolism. I think that what the ark symbolised in the OT, the presence of God in mercy & commitment to his people, is what Rv.11:19 is saying. Must we really image that there is a temple “in heaven”, presumably bigger than God & presumably co-eternal, with perhaps various holy items within?


I doubt that even Dispensationalism requires the latter, and if it does not, can it insist on the former?


On BCE & CE, I personally neither like nor use them, but some organisations I deem validly Christian do use them either to be in tune with a wider audience or if deference to non‑Christian Jews. To rule out such organisations is, I feel, OTT.

Whirlwind

Pastor Gary:

I'm having a hard time understanding why God created man twice? In Genesis it says that He created man and woman. And then later on, he created man again out of dust and breathed the life into him. What happened to the first men and women? Were they the ones that got to name all of the animals? Were they the nephilim?

Thanks!
WW