Chapter 4: The Ark of the Covenant
The ark was the central focus of the entire sanctuary. It contained the stone tables of the Ten Commandment law. That broken moral law was the only reason for all the sacrificial services, both typical and antitypical.
When the Lord gave directions for making the sanctuary, His first instruction was, “They shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.” (Ex. 25:10)
It was overlaid within and without with pure gold, with a border of gold around the top.
The cover of the ark was called the mercy seat, and was made of pure gold. On either end of the mercy-seat were sculptures of cherubim, with their wings stretched forth covering the mercy seat, and their faces looking reverently toward it.
In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the mercy seat is called the “Hilasterion,” which means “expiation” or “the means of expiating sin.” One meaning of “expiation” is “atonement,” and the mercy seat is sometimes also called the atonement cover.
It was above the mercy seat and between the cherubim that the visible manifestation of God’s presence, the supernatural light that was called the “Shekinah Glory,” resided. “Shekinah means he caused to dwell,” signifying that it was a divine presence or dwelling of the Lord God on this earth.
That mercy-seat, its covering cherubim, and the visible manifestation of God's presence, are a figure or shadow of God’s throne in Heaven. God was present in the cloud of glory which rested above the mercy seat, between the cherubim. (Ex. 25:21-22) These golden cherubim with outstretched wings were a representation of the covering cherubim that surround the throne of God in heaven. (Ez. 28:14)
There is great comfort in the fact that the Lord Himself covered the tablets of the law, the precepts of which we have broken, with a mercy seat, atonement cover, or “means of making expiation.” Then He, the merciful God, took His position upon that seat, so that every sinner who comes confessing his sins, may receive mercy and pardon.
Within the ark were the stone tables of the law, written by God’s own finger and given to Moses. But this could not have been the first enunciation of these precepts. “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” (Romans 4:15) “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.” (Romans 5:13) Hence, we believe that the precepts of the moral law were communicated to Adam and his antediluvian descendants, and again to the patriarchs after the Flood.
When it was necessary again to make His law known to His people, after their long servitude in Egypt, Moses recorded the account of that awe-inspiring event, so that the generations to come might know that God came from heaven and spoke the ten commandments with an audible voice in the hearing of all Israel. (Deut. 4:10-14) After God had declared the ten commandments from the top of Mount Sinai, He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to Moses, with the instruction, “Thou shalt put them in the ark.” (Ex. 31:18)
The ark was placed in the most holy apartment of the sanctuary, where no mortal eye, except that of the high priest, could gaze upon it, and he only on one day a year, when he went in to sprinkle the blood of the Lord’s goat before and upon the mercy seat to atone for the sins of Israel. “The wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) and the broken law demands the death of every sinner.
In the typical service the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy seat above the law (Lev. 16:15) to show how faith in the blood of Christ, our Great Sacrifice, would free the penitent sinner from the curse of the law, which is death. (Gal. 3:13;1 Cor. 15:56; 2 Cor. 5:21)
There was nothing in the ark but the two tables of stone setting forth the Ten Commandments (Ex. 25:16; 1 Kings 8:9; 2 Chron. 5:10). Aaron’s rod that budded and the pot of manna were to be laid up “before” the Ark (Num. 17:10; Ex. 16:33), not inside it. Paul seems to indicate that the budding rod and the pot of manna were inside the ark, but this contradicts other passages, and Paul apologizes for his rushed summary by adding, “of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” (Heb. 9:3-5) The ark was made for the purpose of containing God's holy law (Duet. 10:1-2) and illustrating the remedy for breaking that law.
No profane hands were allowed to touch the ark. Uzzah was smitten for reaching forth his hand to steady it when the oxen which were drawing it stumbled (2 Sam. 6:6-7), and thousands of “the men of Bethshemesh” were smitten for looking into it (1 Sam. 6:19). None but the Levites were allowed to carry the sacred chest. (Deut. 10:8)
On the occasion of a battle with the Philistines, the wicked sons of Eli, the high priest, carried the ark on to the battlefield, and it was captured by the Philistines; but God impressed their hearts to return it to Israel with a golden trespass offering. (1 Sam. 5) When Solomon's temple was built, the ark was placed in the holy of holies, where it remained until taken by the prophet Jeremiah and hid in a cave in the mountains before the Babylonian captivity, lest it should fall into the hands of the Gentiles. (2 Maccabees 2:1-8)
The writer of the Apocrypha states that the ark will again be brought forth in the last times. That holy law is the standard by which all will be judged. That law will condemn the guilty; for “sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4) The same law that condemns sin will vindicate those who have been given righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21)
TYPE: The ark was placed in the most holy place. Ex. 26:33.
TYPE: God's visible presence was manifested above the mercy seat. Ex. 25:21-22.
ANTI-TYPE: The ark was seen in the heavenly sanctuary. Rev. 11:19.
ANTI-TYPE: The Lord gives His name as Merciful and Gracious and Longsuffering. Ex. 34:6.