Week 81: Seeing Jesus In OT - The Ark of Covenant

Last week, we examine the Noah's ark and see the various section of the ark as a type of Jesus. This week, we will examine another ark. And that is the Ark of Covenant.

Exodus 25:10-22

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. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

The ark was so important to God that He gave the Israelites very specific instructions on how it was to be constructed. Even though we can only skim the surface, every detail of the ark allows us to get a clearer picture of Jesus since there are no insignificant details in the Bible.

Let's look closely at some components of the ark of the covenant. The box portion of the ark is made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. Wood in the Bible speaks of humanity. (Isaiah 55:12, Mark 8:24) Acacia wood is known in Israel as incorruptible wood, so this speaks of Jesus' incorruptible humanity.

Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh as a man, but there was no sin in Him. Gold in the Bible speaks of divinity and deity. (Isaiah 2:20, Song of Solomon 5:11,14-15) So the wood overlaid with gold speaks of the person of Jesus - He was completely human and at the same time completely God.

The entire lid of the box was made from a solid slab of gold and it covered the box. The lid in Hebrew is called "kapporeth" which means "mercy seat."

There were three items kept in the ark of covenant. The first was the stone tablets on which God wrote the Ten Commandments.The tablets speak of our rebellion and inability to keep God's laws perfectly.

The second was Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod was not just any ordinary rod. It was placed overnight in the tabernacle and not only did it shoot forth branches, it also bore fruit and flowers. (Numbers 17:1-10)

Why did Aaron's rod budded? This was because the children of Israel were complaining against God's appointment of Aaron as the high priest, so God caused Aaron's rod to bud supernaturally to show the people that it was He who had appointed Aaron. Aaron's rod thus speaks of man's rebellion against God's appointed leadership.

The final item in the ark was the golden pot of manna. The Bible calls manna "angels' food." (Psalm 78:24-25) and when the children of Israel ate it while they were in the wilderness, none of them were sick for 40 years. Yet, they called it "worthless bread." (Numbers 21:5) So the golden pot of manna speaks of man's rebellion against God's provision.

Notice every item in the ark speaks of our sins and rebellion against God. And yet God put them all into the ark of the covenant. Why would God put them into the ark?

We can get a hind when we understand what the ark is all about. There were three of ark mentioned in OT. There was the Noah's ark which we spoke about last week. And we have this ark where Moses's mother put baby Moses in to save him from the hands of Pahraoh who gave the order to destroy the Hebrew male children in Egypt. And the third ark was the Ark of Covenant mentioned here.

The first two arks which was mentioned, the original Hebrew written in the Bible is the word "tebah" which means 1)vessel which Noah built or 2) basket vessel in which Moses was placed. However, the Hebrew word for the "Ark" in the Ark of Covenant is  a different Hebrew word. It is the word "aron" which mean "box or coffin"!

Genesis 50:26 

26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

The word "coffin" used in this verse is exactly the same Hebrew word "aron" used for the "Ark" of Covenant.

In other words, the three items in the Ark of the Covenant speaks of our rebellion spells death! All the rebellion ended up in the coffin! But praise be to God for God covered them with the mercy seat where the blood of the animal sacrifices was placed. By doing this, He was saying that He did not want to see man's sins and rebellion. When He looks down, He cannot see man's sins and rebellion because they are all covered by the blood on the mercy seat.

Because God cannot see man's sins and rebellion, Israel rejoiced every time their high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and place the blood of the animal sacrifice on the mercy seat.When the blood was on the mercy seat, God could not see the rejection of His laws in the Ten Commandments. He could not see the rejection of His appointed priesthood in Aaron's rod. And He could not see the rejection of His provision in the golden pot of manna. He could only see the blood on the mercy seat! Amen!

Likewise, today we have the blood of Jesus covering us. God could no longer see our sins and rebellion! Hallelujah! God, being holy, has to judge sins but yet He loves us! God loves us but hates the sins in us. Just like a father loves his son but hates the cancer in his son's body. The degree in which the father loves his son is exactly the degree the father hates the cancer in the boy's body. Our blood is tainted with sins since Adam's sin. The extend where God loves us is the extend He hates the sins in our lives!

How can a just God reconcile with His love for us? If He forgive us without any basis, He is love but He will no longer be just. On the other hand, if He judge us, He is just God but He will no longer be love.

The solution to this dilemma  is the cross! Hallelujah! God sent His Son to deliver us from our sins. He took the imputation of our sins in exchange for His righteousness. Jesus who knew no sin bore our sins, so that we who knew no righteousness become righteous in Him. Amen!

The penalty of sins and rebellion is death. God put the rebellion of man over His provision, His standards and appointed leadership in the Ark of Covenant; literally a coffin. It symbolizes death! But in His mercy. He covered the Ark with the mercy seat. And the two cherubim on the mercy seat stood as guardians of God’s righteousness and holiness.

Representing God’s eyes too, they looked at the blood on the mercy seat. As long as the blood was there, the entire nation of Israel was forgiven. God’s judgment passed over them and they were blessed for another year. (Leviticus 16)

Today, the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat is not the blood of bulls and goats, but the precious, eternal blood of the Son of God!

Hebrews 9:12

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 

Jesus is our “mercy seat” for “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world”. The word “propitiation” in the original Greek text is the same word as “mercy seat”.

Romans 3:25 (AMP)

24 [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,

25 Whom God put forward [[c]before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.


1 John 4:10

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Today, God does not see our sins and count them against us because He sees His Son’s blood. He sees His Son’s perfect work that has more than satisfied Him. God does not want us to see our sins either. He does not want us to look inside the ark by focusing on our sins or our rebellion. He wants us to focus on Christ our "mercy seat"; the propitiation for our sins.

As long as we see the blood on the "mercy seat"; His shed blood for our sins, we are forgiven. God’s judgment will pass over us and we will be blessed! Amen! Hallelujah!

Grace and peace be with you.