Ark of the Covenant Revealed

Things that are hidden or lost often build mystery and anticipation before their revealing. The ark of the covenant is no different. Ever since seeing “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, I’ve often wondered about the ark and the mysteries surrounding it. Even if the ark is never unveiled to the public in our lifetime, everything you need to know about it is already written in the Bible. I would like to share some of what I found.

Hebrews 9:4-5 tells us that inside the ark of the covenant were three items: a golden pot filled with manna from heaven, Aaron’s rod that budded, and two stone tablets with the ten commandments written on them. These three items were to be kept within the ark. They were symbolic of the covenant which was to come and were a foreshadow of Jesus. In the Bible, an Old Testament foreshadow is a representative or type of a thing or person to come.

Both the old and new testaments show us that the only way to God is through a priest. In the old covenant, the priestly lineage was established by God through the descendants of Levi.  A prince from each of the twelve tribes of Israel placed a branch in the tabernacle of the congregation with their name on it.  Aaron was the prince of the tribe of Levi.  In the morning, Aaron’s branch budded indicating that his descendants would carry on the priesthood of Israel, as described in Numbers 17. The Levitical priesthood performed sacrifices for the yearly covering of sin and was a foreshadow of the eternal priesthood of Jesus.

The ten commandments were written on the two tablets of stone and placed in the ark, as spoken of in Deuteronomy 10:1-5. They were God’s Word and the truth. Jesus was sent to replace the old law with the law of love. Jesus revealed the truth in the new covenant by His actions and words. He did and said nothing except as God directed Him, making him the very image of God. John 1:17 says, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

Jesus refers to himself in John 6:51 as “the living bread that came down from heaven... for the life of the world.” The pot of manna kept in the ark was a symbol of the bread that fed the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years; but the manna did not give eternal life. It was only a foreshadow of the eternal life God would later give through the sacrifice of His Son.

In addition to the items inside the ark, there was a mercy seat on top of the ark.  This is where the blood of goats and calves was sprinkled by the Levitical priests for the yearly covering of sins. This sacrifice was a foreshadow of the sacrificial blood to be poured out in heaven by Jesus, according to Hebrews 9:12.

The ark was a coffin meant to bury man’s efforts to reach God. Everything about the ark in the old covenant was a picture of the heavenly things shown to Moses that the savior would later fulfill. Man, through his efforts, could never satisfy the requirement of perfection necessary to bring him back to fellowship with God.

The Levitical priesthood, the law and the manna never got rid of sin or brought life. They only brought distance between man and God.  The compensation one received by following the law was death, because no one could fulfill the law except Jesus. If you break one part of the law, you break the entire law, according to James 2:10 and Deuteronomy 27:26.  The old covenant sacrifices could never take away sin, they only covered sin for a year.  They could never wipe out the guilt of sin either, according to Hebrews 10:1-4. It was only faith in the savior to come that brought righteousness and freedom from condemnation.

God put the old covenant in place to reveal the sin of the world and the need for a savior. God found fault with the old covenant and replaced the old covenant with a new and better one, according to Hebrews 8:6-8.

The rod that budded represented the way to God, the ten commandments were the truth of God and the manna was a picture of the life God was to give the world. These items were concealed within the ark of the old covenant, only later to have their true meaning revealed by God sending His one and only Son.

In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” Jesus became the high priest, revealed the truth and gave us eternal life through His willful and perfect sacrifice on the cross in the new covenant.

If you believe God raised Jesus from the dead and forgave your sins, turn from your sin and accept the sacrifice Jesus made for you. Then, confess that Jesus is your Lord and receive him into your heart right now.