A living ark

DEVOTION

EXODUS

A LIVING ARK

Ex 25:10-22

10 "Have them make a chest of acacia wood — two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.   11 Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. 12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 13 Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. 15 The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. 16 Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. 17 "Make an atonement cover of pure gold — two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.   18 And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 19 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. 21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. 22 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.

NIV

So here is the Ark of the Covenant in all of its splendor, completely encased in gold, with the two cherubs hammered out of pure gold. God tells Moses that the space between the two cherubs is where he will meet with Moses and give him all God’s commands for the Israelites. This cover was three and three quarters long and two and one quarter wide, the same over length and width of the ark. We cannot be certain what form, if any, he intended to meet with Moses, but what we can be certain, the Ark of the Covenant was the place. It was to be put in the second chamber within the tabernacle which was called the Holy of Holies. God made sure that both Moses and the people understood the importance he placed in this ark, this place of meeting, this place in which the testimony of God was to be held. There is much to be told about the Ark of the Covenant and its journey among the Israelites and its capture and return and ultimately its loss forever, so that to this day the whereabouts of this ark is unknown. Is it even needed today, other than for historic significance? Finding it would certainly lend credence to this record of its making. But then finding the ark of Noah would also have given proof of its existence. Supposedly its location has been visited and its remains discovered, but still man does not believe in the flood. So would finding the Ark of the Covenant make any difference in people having faith in God? Yet what this shows us is that God places a very high importance for the place he would meet with Moses. It most likely was not for God but for Moses. God does not need a special Gold enshrined place to meet with his people, but it makes his presence far more important to the people. It gives them a sense of his majesty, his holiness, his glory. What do we have today that gives us that same sense? Surely God intends for us to consider him Holy, majestic and full of glory. Over the centuries man has built some magnificent structures for the purpose of worship or for the place to meet with God. But has God declared he would inhabit those places that he would meet with his people in them? Although it is true he said that about Solomon’s temple because that was a solid form of the tabernacle including the holy of holies with the Ark of the Covenant. But it too was destroyed and now there is no more Ark of the Covenant nor any temple for it to reside in. But there is a new covenant and a temple in which the Holy Spirit resides. Jesus is that covenant and we are that temple. What more fitting temple for God to meet us in than the one, not built with human hands, but by his own hands and in which he breathed his own breath into. We still go to church on Sunday and some pastors ask if we are ready to meet with the living God. We still consider church as the place to meet God, yet he does not dwell there nor is contained therein. Does he show up? Yes indeed, but he shows up in us. We bring him with us when we enter the doors. Is that too scary to consider God is in us? We say we have invited Jesus into our heart, so what exactly does that mean? Is it merely metaphorical? No, it cannot be for we are told that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God lives in us, he lives through our lives, and he is our lives. The children of Israel were not to defile the Ark of the Covenant by touching it with human hands. The purpose of the gold covered poles was it could be carried without ever touching it. We know the story about its return on an ox cart and how it looked as if it were going to tip over and Uzzah reached out to steady it and God struck him dead. Yet to do allow our human hands to defile this temple of the Holy Spirit? How they may look might differ with each of us, but we should know just how we defile it. Perhaps not in the physical sense with our hands, but within our heart, do we defile this temple of God?  Jesus taught us that it is not what goes into our temple that defiles it, but what comes out, of our mouths. What we say, is a reflection of what is in our heart. That is a question which needs a great deal of pondering, but the fact is we do defile it in too many ways. In us resides the covenant of God. Should we not live as such?