Preached in Markham Baptist Church, March 4, 2007

This morning we are standing in the Most Holy Place. For the last eight weeks we have been slowly making our way through the wilderness tabernacle to this very spot.  This has been our goal, our desire, to gain access to the Most Holy Place because it is here - specifically - that God says that he will meet with his people and speak with them.

We have entered God’s presence.  So this place is called – the Most Holy Place – because it is where God lives.

It is quite awesome when you think of it, for we now realize that God does not live in some far off galaxy. He is actually here, living with His people, working among His people.  God is here and as we have learned for us Christians God is here inside us.  You are a temple of the living God. (2 Corinthians 6:16)

But in the days of Moses God was physically among His people in the form of  box – a chest,
“the Ark of the Testimony” as it is called in our text at verse 21.  (called “the Ark of God” in 1 Samuel 3:3; “the Ark of the Covenant” in Hebrews 9:4)  During the time of Moses if you wanted to meet with God, it was at the ark. 

The ark of the testimony actually refers to two pieces of furniture.  The first piece of furniture is called the ark and is described in our text from verses 10-16.  It is a Hebrew word aron which means chest, a coffin.  It is the same word used to describe the coffin containing Joseph’s embalmed body. (Exodus 50:26)  In 2 Kings 12:9 aron is the word used to describe a box with a hole drilled in the top for offerings to be deposited for repairs to be done on the temple during Josiah’s reign.   So the ark is simply a chest, a box.  

It is made of acacia wood and covered with gold. It measures about 3 ¾ feet long, 2 ¼ feet wide and 2 ¼ deep.  Two poles are made and attached to the four rings so that the priests can carry it as the people travel.  We will examine its contents next week but in our text this week we are told in verse 16 that Moses was to put in the Testimony – that is, the covenant, the written law of God, into the ark. 

The second piece of furniture is described in our text from verses 17-23.  It is the atonement cover or mercy seat. It is basically a lid that fits perfectly over the ark, covering the ark. It is made of pure gold with a cherubim on each end and their wings are outstretched.  They are to face each other and to look down at the cover.  Together with the ark and the atonement cover you have what is called the ark of the covenant. 

Given its beauty you can understand why historians, scholars and movie makers have been interested in the ark of the covenant and to discover its whereabouts. 

We know for sure that Solomon had the ark and put it into the temple. After that, King Josiah who followed King Solomon many generations later, was sweeping up and found the book of the law. He read it and got converted and moved the Ark into the temple (2 Chronicles 35:2).  After that we don’t know what happened to it. 

We do know that the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and ransacked the temple certainly after that the story of the ark enters the domain of legend. 

The apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees (Maccabees 2:4-10) states that the prophet Jeremiah smuggled the ark away and buried it in a cave on Mount Nebo.

Another theory suggests that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba got together when she visited and knew each other in a biblical sense and had a son.  The son came back to visit, Solomon insisted that the first born of his elders go back with him to Ethiopia and take a replica of the ark with them. The sons of the elders don’t want to leave the real thing behind so they steal it and leave the replica behind.   

Another theory was popularized by the first Indiana Jones movie. It suggests that during it was carried off by Egyptians.  In 1 Kings 14:25-26 we read, “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace.  He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.”

So the king of Egypt could have carried off the ark and taken it to his capital city, Tanis. This occurred anywhere between 945-924 B.C.

Others suggest that it is buried under the hill called Golgotha and others say it is under the temple mount in Jerusalem and when the temple is rebuilt in the last days, the ark will be restored to its rightful place.

And then of course there is the theory that Xena the Warrior Princess steals the ark from a profiteering warlord and returns it to is rightful owners. That would be season one, episode one. 

I am not in a position to comment on the validity of these theories – though I’m pretty sure the Xena theory never happened! If you simply google “Ark of the Covenant” and you’ll discover a whole host of theories.

But I’m not sure you want to waste your time on that what I find much more interesting is the Scriptural spiritual reality that we do know!   

I mean, look at verse 22 of our text. There God says, “There above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.”  This is God’s promise. 

As we read Scripture we discover that this is the throne of God.  This is what we read in 2 Samuel 6:2 – It says, that David and all his men “set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark.” This is God’s throne.

This of course reflects the spiritual reality, remember the tabernacle is a shadow of what is true in heaven – and the spiritual reality is that God is enthroned in heaven with cherubim surrounding Him.  So we read in Psalm 80:1 “Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, … you who sit enthroned between the cherubim.”  So we see again the physical reality reflects a spiritual reality. 

But even more astounding about all this is that God would actually be with His people.  He would live in their midst and talk with them.  And we have learned that this is a present reality for us Christians “who are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”  (Ephesians 2:22)   

And as we do each week we must ask what practical truths can we learn from the ark of the covenant.  What can we take home today besides some interesting facts and some trivia?  And this morning I think there is a mistake to avoid and a truth embrace. 

The mistake to avoid comes to us through an event surrounding the ark in 1 Samuel 4.  The Israelites are in the promised land and they are battling their enemies, the Philistines.  They lose the battle so that the Philistines kill about 4,000 Israelites on the battlefield.  When the soldiers return to camp they ask, “Why did God allow us to lose?”  And then they say, “Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” 

What?  What are they thinking?  They are thinking that the power is in the box.  They are treating the ark as if it is God.

But the truth is the ark only represents God – it is not God.   The Israelites knew this at first. In Joshua 3 we see the ark of the covenant going on another outing as the Israelites are entering into the promised land.  Joshua, who is leading the people at this time says, “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”  And he said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them. 

As we read on in that chapter the priests do as Joshua asks and when they get to the river Jordan carrying the ark of the covenant, the river, at its flood stage, piles up in a heap a great distance away, allowing the people to cross over on dry ground.

Notice to whom Joshua attributes the miracle – Joshua says, “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”  

The role of the ark was important but it was not the ark that brought about the miracle - it was God.  He was responsible for the miracle. 

We witness something similar in Joshua chapter 6. We see Joshua commanding the priests to carry the ark of the covenant around the city of Jericho.  One day, two days, they do this for seven days.  On the seventh day they march around the city seven times and give a big shout and the walls come a tumbling down. 

What brought down the walls of Jericho?  Was it the ark of the covenant?  Was it the shouts of the people?  No.  God said to Joshua, “See I have delivered Jericho into your hands.” (Joshua 6:2)  And Joshua declared on the seventh day, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.” 

The ark is only a symbol of God’s presence and power, it is God Himself who performs the miracle and God alone. 

The Israelites, when they went to battle against the Philistines in 1 Samuel, had forgotten what Joshua and the people knew – that it is a mistake to substitute the power of God and the presence of God with a symbol of His power and His presence.  It is God alone who can do great things.  But the moment we start believing that substitutes do the work God, He’s gone.  

Now think about this, because we do it all the time and it really is a mistake in our intimacy with God we want to avoid.  We want to be intimate with God not with the things that draw us into His presence. 

For instance, we will celebrate communion this morning – it is a powerful time but the heart of this celebration is not the bread or the cup. They are only physical expressions of great spiritual realities of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  As we share in this meal we experience the forgiveness of sin, we experience the fullness of Christ, we experience the joy of new life, we know the thrill of sins forgiven.

Is it the bread and the cup that assure us of this?  No, they are mere expressions to help us realize spiritual truth.

Or think about prayer.  We say that prayer is powerful.  But that really is an untrue statement.  Prayer is not powerful, it is God who is powerful.  It is God who does great things in response to our prayers.  Prayer is not powerful - God is powerful. 

You see, the mistake we sometimes make is that we treat spiritual activities as if they are God.  They are not God, they only bring us into the presence of God. We are sometimes like the Israelites who say, “Bring out the ark of the covenant and let it go before us to save us from the hand of our enemies.”   We sometimes do it with people we revere – if Billy Graham could only come to our city, our city would know revival.  If you could just talk to so and so, you would be able to get in touch with God.  No, no.  People are but vehicles for God to work through.

So with prayer, or worship, or the Bible, or any spiritual discipline which we may practice – we mistakenly think that that activity will save us, or strengthen us, or help us so if we just do a bit more of it then we will feel better. 

Or we say, “Our Kids’ Kamp changes kids.”  Our Kids’ Kamp does not change kids.  God is the only one who can change kids. 

You may say it is a small point – but the mistake can lead to a great danger of robbing God of praise that is due to Him and Him alone - of stealing glory that belongs to God – of belittling the strength of God – of exalting the power of an activity, a place or a thing. 

This is the point  - when it comes to intimacy with God, “the moment we substitute God Himself with even a legitimate means by which He works, God moves out.  Anything God may bless as an expression of Himself, He curses when it becomes a substitute for Himself.”¹

We need to ask ourselves, are we substituting an experience, a so-called spiritual practice, a building, a ritual for God himself?  So the ark points us to a mistake to avoid. 

It also points us to a truth to embrace. In Leviticus 16 we read of the day of atonement.  We read it together in our daily devotions this past week.  On this day the High Priest was to enter into the Most Holy Place and meet with God as the people’s representative.  But he was not to come in empty-handed.  He was to come in first with the blood of a bull and sprinkle some of it on the ark of the covenant to make atonement for his own sin and for his household.  Then he is to bring the blood of a goat for the sin of for the people and sprinkle it on the atonement cover. 

What spiritual reality is being demonstrated here?  The spiritual reality is that God is both just and merciful.   You say that’s impossible. A person can’t be both just and merciful at the same time. 

If some one punches you in the nose,  you can either practice mercy – and say that’s okay I needed a nose job anyway.  Or you can practice justice and call the police and have the person arrested for assault.  But you cannot be just and merciful to the same person at the same time.  Justice is giving people what they deserve.  Mercy is not giving people what they deserve. 

So, how can God be both just and merciful?  There are some would suggest that God is not just – He is simply merciful and the whole idea of blood in Scripture and in the New Testament is barbaric and is not of God.   But they are wrong.  Ignoring the truth of Scripture is not how to solve the dilemma.

God is able to be just and merciful at the same time only because He introduces a third party.  In the time of Moses God allowed bulls, goats and lambs blood to be slain.

Here’s the picture.  God dwells above the ark of the covenant and He looks down in that ark and sees the Testimony, the law which we have all broken.  He sees that we have all fallen short.  We have all sinned, deserving death.  We all deserve judgment - but the day of atonement comes and the blood is sprinkled on the ark and now God looks down and what does He see?  He doesn’t see the laws which convicts us and shows us to be the sinners we are. No, He sees the blood – it covers the sin. 

So God is able to practice both justice and mercy.

Now for the Israelites, God in His grace covered the sins of the people through the sacrifice.  They are not taken away, for in the book of Hebrews we read that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)

The blood of bulls and goats in the Old Testament functioned like a cheque might function today.  The cheque itself is worth nothing – it is only paper.  If I write Colin a cheque for a million dollars, is the cheque worth anything? No, because I don’t have a million dollars in the bank.

But let’s pretend I wanted to buy some Royal Doulton from Colin for Janet for her birthday which just past.  I don’t have any money in my account and my line of credit is used up.  But I do have some cheques – so I arrange with Colin to make out some post-dated cheques that cover the cost of the china. I know that I get paid on the 10^th of the month and the money will be in the bank and my account can handle the cheque.  So I give him the cheque and I get the figurine.  My debt is being covered – though not yet paid for – by the cheque.

The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was the writing of a post-dated cheque.  It covered the sin like my post-dated cheque covers my purchase.  The actual money has not yet arrived in Colin’s pocket.  The debt is covered but not yet removed.  Only when money is in my account can the cheque be cashed and exchanged for the real thing.  Then the seller has the money.

The blood of bulls and goats was the cheque, post-dated to the cross of Christ.  It acknowledged the debt, it covered the sin, but in itself it was of little value. 

Only at Calvary when the sinless Son of God was made sin was the debt finally paid.  When Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished,” He was declaring that all history might hear, “The debt is paid!  The money is in the bank!  You can cash your cheque!  The sin that for centuries has only been covered is now removed.  There is no more debt - you are free!”

We no longer post-date the cheque.  “The blood of Jesus, His son purifies us from all sin,” we read in 1 John 1:7. 

This is the truth the ark of the covenant calls us to embrace – at the moment of true repentance and a willingness to turn from our sin and confess it to Christ, the account of the Lord Jesus is credited to our account in full payment for our sin and we are free.  It is paid in full.  Our sin is not only covered, it is removed. We are no longer in debt and can never be called to account for it again.      

This is the truth that we are called to embrace.  For those of you who have not trusted Jesus Christ to be your Saviour  - let me tell you why you need to, because without faith in Christ you only meet God as your judge.  He will judge your sin most severely – the penalty for sin is death – eternal death. 

But if you trust in Jesus Christ and in His sacrifice for you, then your sin is taken away and when God looks at you He does not see your sin but He sees His Son Jesus Christ covering you with His sacrifice making you holy in God’s sight.   You are now in Christ. 

To live an eternity without God is a fate too frightening to imagine – but it is the fate of all who refuse to change their mind and their attitude about sin and say to Jesus Christ I need a Saviour; to say I need you to satisfy the justice of God so that I can experience the mercy of God – and go on to know intimacy with God.  Forgiveness is not the goal, forgiveness is but the means by which we are able to be intimate with God. 

Will you do it?  I pray to God that you would. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - March 2007

ENDNOTES:

1. Charles Price, Alive in Christ, (Grand Rapids Michigan: Kregel Publishers, 1995), 20.

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