Housesitter

‘It’s the most holy object on earth,’ claimed Prof. Tudor Parfitt of the University of London’s School of African Studies in a Channel 4 documentary last week. Parfitt’s film, and the accompanying book The Lost Ark of the Covenant describes his quest to track down the Ark, which hasn’t been seen since it disappeared from the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction by the Babylonians in around 586BC.

A friend gave my wife Lorna a book for her birthday entitled A radical encounter with God. In it, author Greg Haslam the minister of London’s Westminster Chapel shares his vision of God’s bigness. He takes issue with our casual use of the word ‘awesome’, which he feels debases the word. ‘ “Awesome” is a word that needs to be recovered and used sparingly,’ he says. ‘It rightly belongs to God.’

The Bible tells us the Ark of the Covenant was a modestly-sized container made at God’s command by Moses, the leader of the Jewish people as they travelled through the desert, refugees from slavery in Egypt, heading for the Promised Land. It was made of gold-lined wood, and on it two gold ‘cherubim’ were mounted – winged celestial creatures, facing one another, their outstretched wings touching.

The Ark’s contents included the stone tablets listing the ten commandments which God had given Moses, when he made a ‘Covenant’ with the Jewish people, promising to bless them if they obeyed his commandments.

When the Jewish travellers had pitched camp, the Ark was kept in the Tabernacle – a tent of worship, which symbolised the fact that God had chosen to dwell with his people. This Tabernacle, and especially the ‘holiest room’ inside which housed the Ark, was regarded with deep awe, as a place for meeting God.

On the annual Day of Atonement, the High Priest sprinkled the blood of a sacrificed animal on the lid of the ark beneath the cherubim, a reminder that while breaking the commandments deserved punishment, God was prepared to accept a substitute and so forgive his people.

When the Jewish people were travelling, the Ark was carried in front, symbolising God’s leadership of his people. In battle it was a reminder that if they obeyed him they could rely on his support. It was not that the Ark itself possessed magical powers – rather, the power which brought victory was the power of the God whose presence the Ark symbolised.

Dedicated Ark seekers are familiar with many theories about its present whereabouts. Some say it is hidden on Mount Nebo in Jordan; others that it’s concealed in a church in Ethiopia or buried somewhere in Jerusalem. Tudor Parfitt’s rather fanciful theory is that the Ark was actually a musical instrument, a drum, and that it found its way to Africa where he has discovered what he claims to be a centuries-old replica of it. But a rabbi speaking in Parfitt’s film said with an enigmatic smile ‘I don’t think the Ark wants to be found.’

Of course, the quest for the Ark is fascinating. But to Christians, the Ark’s religious significance is no more than historical. To us it is a symbol of the one who was coming, and who now has come, the one who invites us to welcome him into the tabernacle of our lives.

For Jesus Christ is our Ark – he is with us, indeed within us; he leads us, and strengthens us in our inner battle with spiritual forces; he is the living expression of perfect obedience to God’s commandments; he is himself the sacrifice, dying as our substitute thus making it possible for a holy God to forgive us. And his presence makes our hearts a holy place where we can encounter God.

And yet, we’re so prone to content ourselves with symbols like the Ark which point us to God – words, songs, parables which resonate with us, similes and metaphors, ideas about him, all of which give us some emotional fulfilment. But we don’t press beyond the symbols to encounter the unimaginable God who draws near us through them, this God of whose awesomeness Greg Haslam rightly reminds us.

Why do we not see more of God’s glory? Partly, I suspect because we satisfy ourselves with the symbols and don’t press beyond them. Partly because we explain away the evidence of God’s grandeur in his creation and in our lives. Partly because we sometimes foolishly seek to use God’s power for our own ends. And partly, I think, because God in his mercy spares us from the terror of seeing him as he is.

And yet, we can find and know this untamed Majesty as our Father through our precious Ark, the Ark who is Jesus, an Ark which most definitely wants to be found.

John A. H. Dempster

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Ray
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SweetSurrender

I think I learned once on this Forum that the Art of the Covenant was taken to heaven because it contained the presence of God Himself in the O.T. days.

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"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument."

J. Damascene

We don't need the Ark. It was of the Old Covenant. We are in a new covenant, sealed in Christ's blood.

Besides, Indiana Jones already found it

Housesitter

Amen that is why, in his article John makes the point

And yet, we’re so prone to content ourselves with symbols like the Ark which point us to God – words, songs, parables which resonate with us, similes and metaphors, ideas about him, all of which give us some emotional fulfilment. But we don’t press beyond the symbols to encounter the unimaginable God who draws near us through them, this God of whose awesomeness

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Ray
Enjoy a rent free holiday with
Christian House Sitters
www.christian-housesitters.com

Remnant

Amen!
Revelation 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 lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

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SweetSurrender

Cool, Remnant! I didn't know there was a verse like that! That about answers the question doesn't it? Why search anymore?

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"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument."

andiclare

Whoever said that may have been talking about the Ark of the New Covenant.

As for the Ark of the Old Covenant, I heard on the radio a few months ago that some scholars think the Ark of the Covenant (from the OT) is located somewhere around Arkansas in the U.S. No, it wasn't a joke! There was some convoluted archaeological explanation but I can't recall it. Has anyone else heard this, or am I just insane?

SweetSurrender

What's the Ark of the New Convenant? I didn't realize there were two arks. But, then there was a third . . . Noah's ark!

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"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument."

Boanerges

The Ark of the Covenant contain the tablets of the law (ten commandments) and the rod of Aaron. This represented the law. It was covered with the mercy seat and God only met man when the blood of the lamb was applied to the mercy seat. God's mercy (Jesus shed blood) covered the law and God met with man. This is certainly a type and shadow of our great new covenant forged on Calvary's hill.

Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Heb 9:16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Heb 9:17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Heb 9:18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Heb 9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

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Because the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, I have received forgiveness of sins; because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, I have received new life; because the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father, I have received the outpoured Spirit. All is because of Him; nothing is because of me."
Watchman Nee

J. Damascene

Some people will tell you that Mary was the ark of the New Covenant.