The Ark of the Covenant – Its Significance

1. Read: Exodus 25:10-16

2. About the Text:

1) “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8).

2) The Ark of the Covenant refers to a piece of furniture that was made for the tabernacle.

3) It was in the most holy place where only the high priest was permitted once a year.

4) It was the “mercy seat” of God.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. The word “ark” means “box.”

1) The English word comes from the Latin “Arca.”

2) Noah’s Ark – “And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits” (Genesis 6:15).

3) The ark into which Moses was put as a child: “But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank” (Exodus 2:3).

2. The ark of the covenant was a wooden box – “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” (Exodus 25:10).

3. It was overlaid with gold – “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” (Exodus 25:11).

4. It was designed to be carried with poles – “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. And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it” (Exodus 25:12-15).

5. The 10 Commandments/Testimony was to be put inside of it – “And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you” (Exodus 25:16).

6. The ark of the covenant had a top called “The Mercy Seat” – “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” (Exodus 25:17).

7. It had two cherubim on the top – “And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:18).

8. The top of the ark was to be placed on the ark – “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” (Exodus 25:21).

9. The ark sat in the most holy place of the tabernacle and later the temple – “And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy” (Exodus 26:33-34).

1. The “mercy seat.”

1) “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” (Exodus 25:22).

2) “Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him” (Numbers 7:89).

2. The Day of Atonement

1) The ark was used to atone for the sins of the priests and the people.

2) The instructions for this day’s activities are found in Leviticus 16.

3) First, the high priest washed and changed into white linen clothing (Leviticus 16:4).

4) He then offered a bull as a sin offering for himself and his house (Leviticus 16:6).

5) Next, he offered incense to fill the most holy place with smoke (Leviticus 16:13).

6) God commanded him to bring two goats, one for a sin offering and the other to escape into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:7-10).

7) He took the blood from the bull and goat and sprinkled it on the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:14-15).

8) No one was to enter while he did this (Leviticus 16:17).

9) “For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:30).

3. It held the items of God’s covenant with His people.

1) The 10 Commandments – “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the Lord commanded me” (Deuteronomy 10:3-5).

2) The rod of Aaron that budded – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.’ Thus did Moses; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did” (Numbers 17:10-11).

3) A pot of manna – “And Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.’ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept” (Exodus 16:33-34).

1. The ark of the covenant was just a physical “thing” God used for a purpose.

1) To provide a place for communication between God and man.

2) To emphasize God’s holiness.

3) To mediate forgiveness of sins until Jesus’ sacrifice.

4) It also served as a historical reminder of the history of Israel (discuss in next lesson).

2. It is lost to history.

1) We don’t know what happened to the Ark of the Covenant.

2) Josiah restored it to the temple in 2 Chronicles 35:3 around 640 B.C.

3) It disappeared after his rule never to return according to Jeremiah’s prophesy.

4) Jeremiah prophesied at this time that the ark would no longer be in the temple in the future – “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.” (Jeremiah 3:16).

3. The ark was a shadow of better things to come.

1) “who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain’” (Hebrews 8:5).

2) “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect” (Hebrews 10:1).

4. The real throne of God is in heaven.

1) “The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men” (Psalm 11:4).

2) “Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?” (Isaiah 66:1)

3) “But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne” (Matthew 5:34).

5. Our high priest today is Jesus.

1) “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).

2) “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever” (Hebrews 7:26-28).

3) “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man” (Hebrews 8:1-2).

1. The Ark of the Covenant had a . . .

1) Form

2) Function

3) Fame

2. Invitation