THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

Exo. 25:9-22

Morning Meditation 6/2/2013

I will not print this text. I would take too much space. So I ask you to follow in your Bibles. I will print the portion of the text that I am commenting on. Let's look first at--

The first vessel God instructed Moses to make was the Ark. All the others were of no value apart from it. As the symbol of Jehovah's presence, all must take their relative value from it. What is the Church without Christ but a tabernacle without an Ark, a system without a sun, a body without a soul? What the Ark was to the Israelites Christ ought to be to us--an ever-present, all-sufficient, solemn, and divine reality; a source of blessing that never failed when rightly approached. Let us look at the Ark, then, as a type of Christ, "Emmanuel, God with us" (Matt. 1:23).

THE ORIGIN OF THE ARK--OR THE REVELATION OF CHRIST

Jehovah Himself revealed the plan and pattern of the Ark to Moses (Exo. 25:10-22). The whole scheme was divinely originated and divinely revealed. So the holy men of old who lived in the mount with God, it was given to testify of Christ as "He that should come."

Hebrews 1:1-2, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;"

It was God's desire to create a place for mankind. He did it in the man Christ Jesus. Isa 32:2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

2 Corinthians 5:19, "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Verse 2 says, "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, &c.] Or, "that man"; the King Messiah before mentioned; who had agreed to become man, was promised and prophesied of in the Old Testament, had often appeared in a human form, was to be incarnate, and now is; though he is not a mere man; were he, he could not be what is here said of him, "as a hiding place, and a covert from the wind and tempest", of his Father's wrath, raised by sin; and which all men are deserving of, and on whom it must fall, unless secured from it by Christ."

All were in Adam when he was created. There is not a man on earth whose line cannot be traced back to Christ. Had there been no Adam and Eve there would be no us. Christ is our Ark of salvation and safety. Next let's look at--

THE MATERIALS OF THE ARK, OR THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST

Exodus 25:10-11, "And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: 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."

The incorruptible wood and the pure gold reminds at once of the pure humanity and glorious divinity of our blessed Lord--two natures as distinct as wood and gold, yet mysteriously united in one person. Unitarianism is put to shame, even in the types.

The wood grown in the earth represents Christ as our kinsman, "bone of our bone." The gold speaks of Him as God's Fellow. Jesus said, "I and my father are one (John 10:30). It is the gold of His divinity that gives power and preciousness, glory and beauty, to the wood of His humanity. Incorruptible humanity alone could not stand in the sinners stead. Christ is divinely fitted to represent both God and man. Many needs one to represent him to God. This is what the Ark taught; this is what Christ does. Let's look at--

THE ANOINTING OF THE ARK, OR THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

Exodus 30:25-26, "And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony,"

The holy oil consecrated the Ark of God's appointed purpose, set it apart for its special mission. The holy oil represents the Holy Spirit, which comes forth from God the Father to consecrate and fit for service. This holy oil was not to be poured on man's flesh (Exod. 30:31-32). The old man, or selfish life, is not to be sanctified, but put off. At the banks of Jordan Christ, the Ark of our testimony, received His holy anointing, and was publicly set apart for His holy mission.

So He could say, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," to preach, to heal, to deliver, to recover, and to set at liberty. This the Ark did for Israel; and this the Christ of God does for us.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White