Would you turn to Exodus chapter
25? I'm going to speak this evening on the Ark of the Covenant. I think what most people know
of the Ark is Raiders of the Lost Ark. About everybody's watched
that movie, but I think that's about everybody's experience
of the Ark, but I trust that the Lord will Bless us as we
consider the ark. Beginning in verse 10 of Exodus,
Chapter 25, and they shall make an ark of Shittemwood. 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, and thou shalt overlay
it with pure gold. Within and without shalt thou
overlay it. and shalt make upon it a crown
of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings
of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof.
And two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings
in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of
chitin wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put
the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the
ark may be borne with them. The stave shall be in the rings
of the ark, they shall not be taken from it, and thou shalt
put it into the ark of the testimony which I will give thee." When John was given a vision
of the temple opened in heaven, we just read what was it that
he saw. He saw the Ark of the Testament. He saw the same Ark
that we just read of in this passage of scripture, the one
God told Moses to make. When heaven is open, John sees
the Ark. The Ark was the most prominent
of the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. It was the first
thing God told Moses to make. It was a box roughly four feet
wide, two feet deep and two feet high, made with shidom wood and
covered with pure gold inside and out. Now, this ark is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Understand that. This ark is
given to typify the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and this crown
signifies his kingship. It was to be carried with staves,
put through the hole, the loops that were attached to it. They
weren't to touch the ark. It was to be carried with staves
on the shoulders of the high priests. And, you know, no one
could see it. When it was in the tabernacle,
it was behind the veil. Nobody was allowed to see it.
When they moved it, they would put a blue covering over it.
And this blue covering signified how heavenly it was, but at no
time were the people allowed to see the Ark. The only one
who could see the Ark was the great high priest, when he went
in once a year behind the veil. It's the piece of furniture that
was in the Holy of Holies, and it symbolized God's presence. It's called in Psalm 132.8, the
Ark of Thy Strength. Now, on the inside of this ark
or this box or coffin, whatever you want to call it, there were
the Ten Commandments. It was Aaron's rod that budded.
And there was a golden pot of manna. We're going to consider
the significance of that in a few moments. Now, this ark was central
in the worship of Israel because of who it represented. It represented
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that's why it was such an
object of reverence. It represented Christ. Now, there
were times when Israel forgot who it represented and made an
idol out of it. Let me show you this. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter
4. I'm going to ask you to look at quite a few scriptures at
the first part of this message. 1 Samuel chapter 4. Verse 2, And the Philistines
put themselves in array against Israel. And when they joined
battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, and they slew
of the army in the field about four thousand men. And when the
people were coming to the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore
hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us
fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto
us, and when it cometh among us, It may save us out of the
hand of our enemies. Now, do you see where they made
an idol of the ark at this time? They said, if we can get this
ark with us, it will save us out of the hand of our enemies.
And there were other times when they failed to give the ark due
reverence for the one it represented. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 6, verse 19. Now, The ark was returned to Israel
and a bunch of people from Bethlehem opened the ark to look inside
and look what happened. And he smote the men of Beth
Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. Even
he smote of the people 50,000 and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented because
the Lord had spent many of the people with a great slaughter.
And the men of Beth Shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God and whom shall go up for us? You see, forgot
what this ark represented. They opened up the lid to look
inside and God killed over 50,000 people. Is that too severe? No,
it's not. Whatever God does is right. And
this gives us some idea as to the importance of the ark. Now, do you remember when it
was being carried on an ox cart, which, by the way, was forbidden
in the law? There was only one way to carry this ark, and that
was with the staves held up on the priest's shoulders, nobody
was to touch the ark. Turn with me for a moment to
1st Samuel or 2nd Samuel chapter 6. Verse 6. And when they came to Nachan's
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and
took hold of it, for the oxen shook it." Now what had happened,
they had taken the ark and put it on an ox cart. And it was
going through and it hit a rut. It all of a sudden started to
fall off. And Uzzah, that seemed like the
right thing to do. He reached forth his hand and
grabbed it and touched it and held it to keep it from falling.
And what happened when he did that? Let's go on reading. Verse
7. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Uzzah. And God smote him there for his
error. And there he died. by the Ark
of God. Now, this gives us some idea
of what this Ark represents. These are true stories. The Bible
is the Word of God. This is exactly what happened. Now, the Ark symbolized the presence
of God. The cloudy pillar by day and
the pillar of fire by night would rest directly over the Ark. And when the Ark moved, the pillar
of cloud or the pillar of fire would And when the ark would
rest, the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud would rest,
and the Shekinah glory of God, the sparkling of deity, actually
dwelt over this ark. Now, I can't describe the Shekinah
glory of God, what brightness, what power, but it always rested
directly over the ark, symbolizing the presence of God. And when
the camp of Israel moved, do you know what moved first? the
ark. The ark was always before the
camp of Israel. In Numbers chapter 14, when the
spies gave the evil report of the land and God killed them
with a plague, And Moses warned the children of Israel after
that, because the children of Israel murmured, saying, Why did the
Lord bring us this way? And Moses said, Don't go out
and fight against the Amalekites, because they'll beat you. Well,
they presumed to go, and they left the ark behind, and they
were all defeated. You see, victory only comes with
the presence of the ark. Victory only comes in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Joshua chapter 3, when the
children of Israel were to enter the promised land, There was
a river in their way, the Jordan River. How can we cross the river? Well, here's exactly what took
place. The priests bore the ark on their shoulders through the
staves, and they went right at that river. And the scripture
says as soon as the soles of their feet hit the water, it
parted. And they went through on dry
ground. And you know as well as I do
that the river Jordan represents death. It's only through the
ark, the Lord Jesus Christ, that I can enter into glory. only
through him. In Joshua chapter six, the Ark
of God was carried by the priest seven times around the city of
Jericho. Remember that story? Seven times around the city of
Jericho. And on the seventh time, they sounded the trumpet and
the walls of Jericho came down and they came in and destroyed
that city. When the Philistines steal the
Ark and bring it into their temple, look what takes place when you
turn to 1 Samuel chapter five. This is an interesting chapter. And the Philistines, 1 Samuel
chapter 5, and the Philistines took the ark of God and brought
it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the
ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it
by Dagon. That was the god of the Philistines.
It was a fish god of some kind. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon,
and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on
the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fall'd upon his face to the
ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon,
and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the short threshold,
and only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore, neither
the priests of Dagon, nor any that came into Dagon's house,
tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod unto this day. But
the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed
them, and he smote them with emrods, and Ashdod and the tumors,
and Ashdod and the coast thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw
that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall
not abide with us. For his hand is sore upon us,
and upon Dagon our God. And they sent therefore, and
gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said,
What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they
answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about
unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel unto
Dither. And it was so that after they had carried it about, the
hand of the Lord was against the city, with a great destruction.
And he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they
had hemrods in their secret parts. Therefore, they sent the ark
of God to Ekron, and it came to pass, as the ark of God came
to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They brought
about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines,
and said, Send away the ark of God of Israel, and let it go
again to his own place, that it slay us not and our people,
for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The
hand of God was very heavy there, and the men that died not were
smitten with them rods, and the cry of the city went up." Now,
when the Ark is restored to its rightful place in Israel, I want
to read this passage of Scripture to you. Would you turn to 2 Samuel
chapter 6? I love this. This tells us how this Ark is
not just a religious piece of furniture. It represents the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12. And it was told King
David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom,
and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God.
So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house
of Obed-edom unto the city of David with gladness. And it was
so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six
paces, He sacrificed oxen, batlings. I love to think about this. They'd
take six paces, then they'd stop, and they'd offer up a sacrifice,
and they'd take six more paces, and then they'd offer up a sacrifice.
And look what David did in verse 14. And David danced before the
Lord with all his might. And David was girded with a linen
ephod. Who was he dancing before? The ark? No, the Lord. When he danced before the ark,
that's what that represented, the Lord himself. So David and
all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting
and with the sound of the trumpet. Now, can you see the significance
of this piece of furniture that was in the holy of holies? Now, would you turn to Hebrews
chapter nine? Here's a New Testament commentary
on this ark. Let's begin reading in verse
one. Then, verily, the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. This is talking about the tabernacle. He's describing it. For there
was a tabernacle made. The first, wherein was the candlestick,
talking about the holy place. It had the candlestick and the
table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary or the
holy place. And after the second bell, the tabernacle, which is
called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the
Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein
was the golden pot that had the manna and Aaron's rod that budded
and the tables of the covenant. Now, the Ark of the Covenant. Now what's that talking about?
The Ark of the Covenant. Now I don't have any question
what that's a reference to is the Covenant of Grace. There's
two covenants. There's the Covenant of the Law.
Salvation conditioned upon what you do. And then there's the
Covenant of Grace. Salvation conditioned upon what
Christ has done. And the Ark is the Ark of the
Covenant of Grace. It was made of chitim wood which
represents That wood represents the real humanity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, A body hast thou prepared
me. Our Lord, the eternal Son of
God, became flesh. And that wood represents His
real humanity. Jesus Christ is a real man, bone
of our bones, flesh of our flesh, with a heart beating and pumping
just like you have, with hair and eyes and ears, flesh. The
Lord Jesus Christ is a real man. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And that gold represents His
deity. He's the God-Man. Utterly unique. There's no one like Him. The
Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. The God-Man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That's our Redeemer. Jesus Christ
the Lord. And he's always in the Holy of
Holies in the very presence of God. Now, inside that ark were
three things. I remember it's a box. We're
not going to talk about the mercy seat that was over it. We're
going to save that for next week. But inside of the ark, there
was a golden pot filled with manna, manna that had come down
from heaven that represented God's provision. And there was
the Rod of Aaron that budded. It was a dead stick. It was severed,
just a rod, and it had buds coming out of it and almonds growing
from it. Life came out of this dead stick. And then there was
the Law of God, the Ten Commandments, and they were all inside the
Ark, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, first there was the golden
pot with the manna in it. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the bread that came down from heaven. He said so himself. I am the bread which came down
from heaven. And this signifies God's provision
for us. Now the children of Israel were
out there in the desert. They had no way of providing
for themselves. They couldn't grow crops in this place. They
were completely dependent upon the Lord to rain down manna from
heaven, bread from heaven. And when the Lord rain that bread
down the first time. He said, you take a part of that
and you keep it as show bread, as bread forever. And that was
in the ark. Now what that represents is all
my provision is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
I need, everything God requires, everything I want is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's provision. I don't
need anything else. I don't need my works. I don't need anything but Him. If I have Him, I have all I need. He is God's provision. What provision
He is? Let's look at a couple of scriptures.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. It's one of those verses of scriptures
when it's hard to preach a sermon, a gospel sermon without mentioning
this verse of scripture. I dare say that this scripture
is mentioned at least once a week. Do you ever get tired of this?
I don't. First Corinthians 1 verse 30,
but of him, but of him, but of God, are you in Christ Jesus
in the ark? who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Christ Jesus
is made that to me. He is my wisdom before God. Do you know God, the infinite
God, finds me fit for fellowship? How? Because Jesus Christ is
my wisdom. I'm as wise as the Lord Jesus
Christ because I'm united to Him. And I'm fit for fellowship
with God. Now, how could that be? How could God have fellowship
with somebody like me? Because I'm united to Christ.
And I have the very wisdom of God. He's made unto us righteousness. Jesus Christ is my righteousness
before God. How can that be? Well, just as
He was made sin on the cross and suffered the wrath of God,
His very righteousness, my very sin became His. And it really
became His. He was guilty. It was His. And
just as truly as my sin became His, His righteousness becomes
mine. It's called substitution. Thank
God for the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can
come into God's presence with boldness. I have all righteousness
in Him. He's made into us sanctification,
holiness. I can't get over this, but do
you know that I'm speaking as a representative of every believer.
I'm holy. It's hard to say. It ought not
be. If Christ is my holiness, I am holy. I'm holy in the Lord
Jesus Christ. United to Him, I have a holiness
that's equal to the holiness of God, because it's His holiness.
In Christ, I'm holy. He's made unto me sanctification.
And He's made unto me redemption. He's made unto me a sin payment.
He's made unto me full deliverance. What else could you need? Can
you see how all you need is found in the ark of the Lord Jesus
Christ? I've completed Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete. You're complete. You don't need anything else.
Isn't that wonderful? Turn to Psalm 23. David said, And if you would, let me make
this comment on the side. You can find this if you want.
All those seven names of the Lord, Jehovah, Jireh, Jehovah
T'kenu, and all those things are all found in Psalm 23, or
at least described in Psalm 23. The actual words are not there,
but all those things are described in Psalm 23. David said, the
Lord is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want. I have all provision. You see, he makes me lie down
in green pastures. I won't rest. I'm resting in
Christ right now. I'm not working. I'm resting. Isn't it a sweet thing to really
just rest in His righteousness, to rest in His person? I'm not
working. I'm laying down. I'm resting. He leads me beside
the still waters, waters of quietness. I'm not going to lack peace because
He is my peace. I have such peace. I have peace
through His blood. I'm not worried. I'm accepted
before God. What peace there is in being
saved by Him? I'm not worried about anything
that happens because God's in control of it. Right now, at
any rate, I'm not worried. Isn't it wonderful not to worry
about a thing? To be footloose and fancy free and just not worry.
If He's in control, what is there to worry about? There's nothing
to worry about, is there? I shall not lack peace. He leads me in by waters of quiet. Verse 3, He restores my soul.
I won't lack forgiveness. There's pardon for the sins of
past. It matters not how black they're cast. And oh, my soul
with wonder of you for sins to come. There's pardon too. I will
not lack forgiveness. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. I'm not going
to lack righteousness. I have all righteousness in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. I'm not going
to lack protection. For thou art with me. I'm not going to
lack companionship. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. I'm not going to lack comfort.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
I'm not going to lack provision. You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over. I'm not going to lack joy. Surely,
surely, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. I will not lack. Let me show you one other scripture
on this. Turn to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. I'm not going to lack any blessing,
and here's why. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now that verse
of Scripture tells me I've got every one of them. Go on damn
reading how they're enumerated, these spiritual blessings. Every
believer has all of them. Christ is the provision of God,
seen in that golden pot of manna. Now, the next thing that is mentioned
in Hebrews chapter nine is Aaron's rod that budded. Now, let me
give you the story so you'll remember the background as to
what this rod that budded was all about. In Numbers chapter
16, Dathan and Korah and somebody else starts with an A, I can't
remember how to pronounce it, but They got mad at Moses and Aaron,
and they said, you're taking too much on yourself. All the
Lord's people are just as holy as you. You think you're exalting
yourself above the Lord's people. Why, you think Aaron's the only
one that can offer up a sacrifice, and he's the only one that can
offer up incense? We ought to be able to do it, too, because
we're just as holy as Aaron is. Now, what they were doing, they
were bypassing God's priest. They were saying, we can come
on our own. We don't need a priest. So Moses He said, don't do this. And they continued. They continued.
He said, OK, you all come out tomorrow and you hold up your
incense and see what happens. You hold your censors. So they
came out. And at that time he said, if
these fellows that are doing this, Cora and Dathan and their
families, if they don't die, if they die a normal death and
nothing happens, then the Lord never sent me. But let's see
what the Lord does. And that very next day, the scripture
says the ground opened up and swallowed them, 250 men and all
their families, because they presumed to be a priest. Now,
after this, the children of Israel got mad at Moses. They said,
you killed the Lord's people. And the Lord was angry over that.
And he sent a plague into the children, to the children of
Israel at that time. And over 14,000 people died of this plague
because they were complaining about this. And Aaron offers
up a sacrifice. The plague has stayed. And God
says, here's what I'm going to do to show them once and for
all who the priest is. And remember, the point behind
the priest, Aaron being the priest, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the only priest before God. It's not like anybody could be
a priest. Only Aaron could be a priest. He could only offer
up sacrifices to God. He could only offer up incense.
So the Lord said, take all 12 tribes of the children of Israel.
And all of them take a rod and put their names on it. And in
the morning, the one that has life coming out of it, that's
who's going to be the priest. And that'll settle this once
and for all. So they came in the next day.
And of those 12 rods, nothing had happened with the exception
of one, the rod of the Levites, the rod of Aaron. The scripture
says out of that dead rod, which is an amazing thing to think
about, that dead rod, a plant came out and almonds were hanging
from it. And life came out of that dead rod. Now, that was placed in the Ark
of the Covenant. Why? Well, first of all, I see this
as the gospel. Life comes out of that dead rod. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our life comes out of it. But the main point is Christ
is our life, our life before God. is in the ark, in the covenant,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's my life before God.
His life is my life before God. I'm so united to Him, and this
is true of every believer, I'm so united to Him, that His life
is my life before God. And that's why this fellow is
going to hear God say, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Now, it's not going to be because
my preaching was good or my prayers were good or because I've studied
the scriptures. It's not going to be because
I witnessed more than anybody else or I did anything. That
well done is going to be because the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
is my life before God. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. And this is where my confidence
is. I don't feel good about my life. I really don't as far as
my life, but I feel good about his life because his life is
my life and I feel good about my life. That's my life before
God. My life before God is in the
Ark of the Covenant. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what else was in that Ark? The Ten Commandments. Now, Moses
brought the two tables of the law, the Ten Commandments, down
from Mount Sinai. And that's when he saw the children
of Israel worshiping the golden calf and so on. You remember,
Moses got mad. Moses had a temper. And he got
mad and he raised up those tables and he threw them down at the
children of Israel and broke them. And that represents man's
keeping of the law. It hadn't happened. Every one
of us have broken the law. So God took the ten commandments
and wrote them again and gave them to Moses and he said put
them in the ark where they'll be safe. You can't break them. You can't mess them up in the
ark. They're safe in the ark. And in the Lord Jesus Christ
is my obedience. My obedience is the law keeping
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said don't think that I've
come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy,
but fulfill. And he fulfilled the law of God
perfectly. And that is my righteousness
before God. My righteousness has absolutely
nothing to do with my works of obedience. My righteousness is
His righteousness, and His righteousness is my righteousness. It's not
just some legal document. That's my righteousness before
God. Perfect law keeping before God.
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the ark, all we see, the ark
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my life before God. He's
my provision, I'm provided all things in him. There's nothing
else I need. And he is my righteousness before
God. Now, let's close with this thought.
Let's turn back to Revelation 11. Verse 19. And the temple of God was opened
in heaven, I don't know how symbolic this language is. But when John
saw into the temple of God, when heaven was opened and he was
enabled by the spirit of God to see into heaven, what did
he see? The temple of God was opened in heaven and there was
seen in his temple. the Ark of His Testament. He saw the Ark. Now, I think
it's interesting, under the Old Testament, he wouldn't have seen
the Ark. The Ark was behind the veil.
Only the great high priests saw the Ark. And even when it was
transported, there was blue cloth placed over it. So no one could
ever see the Ark. But in the Gospel, in the New
Testament, I see the Ark. Now, how do I see the Ark? I've
not seen that box, nor have I seen the Lord Jesus, who the ark represents
physically. I've never seen him. But turn
with me to John chapter six. Let me say this. If you can't preach the gospel
from the Old Testament, you have no understanding of the New Testament.
You can't preach the gospel without preaching the gospel of the Old
Testament. It's the same as the gospel of the New Testament,
and so many people look at the Old Testament and all these stories,
it's miracles and boring stories and so on, but oh, this is. If
God gives us grace to see what they really mean, the ark being
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I've not seen the ark, I've
not seen Christ physically, but look at this verse, verse 38. For I came down from heaven.
These are the words of our Lord, not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which is sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
You see, everybody the Father gave Him, He's going to save.
That's just settled. But let's go on reading. This
thought's not finished. Verse 40. And this is the will of Him
that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." Now, I haven't seen the Lord physically, and
I haven't seen this ark physically, but I see how Christ is that
ark, and I see how that He is my salvation. And I see that
I do not need anything else. And bless God, I do believe on
Him. I'm resting in Christ my ark
right now. He is my provision. He is my
righteousness. He is my life before God. Thank God for the ark. And I
tell you, one thing that's very interesting, this ark, we're
going to see this next week, this ark really isn't complete
without the mercy seat. The lid of propitiation, and
that's where God meets with the sinner and commutes. OK, let's
pray together.