The Contents of the Ark of the Covenant

1. Read: Hebrews 9:1-5

2. About the Text:

1) Hebrews is a sermon about encouraging Jewish Christians to stay faithful to Jesus.

2) The argument is that Jesus is so much better than Judaism.

3) The central argument is that Jesus is a better high priest than that of Judaism.

4) The end of Hebrews 8 argued that the Old Covenant was fading away.

5) This included the temple service.

6) The author mentions the key pieces of furniture in the temple and the ark is one of these.

7) He discusses the items that were in the Ark:

8) The pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the 10 Commandments.

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

1. Setting

1) The children of Israel have left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.

2) For years they were dependent on the providence of Egypt.

3) They are now in the wilderness on their own with only God to depend on.

4) Who is going to provide food?

2. The people complain – God loves us enough to listen!

1) “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).

2) Their complaint is not to man, but to God – “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord” (Exodus 16:8).

3) “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14).

3. God loves us enough to provide!

1) God heard their complaint and met their needs.

2) “So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was” (Exodus 16:13-15).

3) “And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31).

4) “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30).

4. God loves us enough to test us!

1) “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily” (Exodus 16:4-5).

2) Some tried to save the manna for the next day – it became wormy (Exodus 16:20).

3) Some went out on the Sabbath to try to collect more – there was none (Exodus 16:27).

4) “That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

5. God wants us to remember His love.

1) “Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 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 16:32-34).

2) The pot of manna was put into the Ark of the Covenant for the “generations.”

3) “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24).

1. Setting

1) Korah, Dathan, and Abiram brought 250 leaders to challenge Moses’ leadership.

2) They argued the following: “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:3).

3) Moses instructed them to bring censors (with burning incense) so the Lord could show who is holy.

4) Korah, Dathan, and Abiram refused to do this and were swallowed by the earth (Numbers 16:31-34).

5) The others brought their censors before the Lord and were consumed with fire (Numbers 16:35).

2. God cares about leadership.

1) God chose Moses and he wanted the people to know that.

2) Soon after Korah’s rebellion God gave Moses some instructions.

3) They were to take a rod for each leader of each tribe of Israel and put their names on them (Numbers 17:2).

4) Aaron’s name was to be written on the rod for Levi (17:3).

5) They were put in the holy place of the tabernacle (17:4).

6) God said that the rod of the man He chooses would blossom (17:5).

7) “…thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you” (17:5).

3. God chooses leaders.

1) “Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds” (Numbers 17:8).

2) This miracle was intended to prove once and for all that Aaron’s family was chosen.

3) “Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod” (Numbers 17:9).

4) “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” (Acts 20:28).

4. God continues leadership.

1) “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.”

2) God has a plan for leaders, and we need to respect that plan.

1. God pronounces His law.

1) He gave the ten commandments directly to the people.

2) “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”” (Exodus 20:18-19).

3) “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven’”” (Exodus 20:22).

4) Today, God speaks through Jesus – “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrew 1:1-2).

2. God perpetuates His law.

1) “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”” (Exodus 24:12).

2) God’s law is perpetuated today in the Bible – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

3. God preserves His law.

1) “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) Jesus promised that His words would never pass away: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

1. The Contents of the Ark of the Covenant have some great lessons for us.

1) God’s Love – the pot of manna.

2) God’s Leadership – the rod of Aaron.

3) God’s Law – the Ten Commandments.

2. Invitation