The Bible says in Exodus 37:1-5, And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and
a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a
cubit and a half the height of it: And he overlaid it with pure gold within and
without, and made a crown of gold to it round about. And he cast for it four
rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one
side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. And he made staves of
shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the rings
by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. The
ark was a container. What was important about the ark was what was placed in
it. Perhaps the most significant thing placed within the ark was the tables of
stone that had the Ten Commandments written upon them.
Notice that Numbers 10:33 calls it the
ark
of the covenant. It says, And they departed from the mount of the LORD
three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before
them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them.
The important thing was not that you had an ark, but that you had a covenant.
The fact that the ark went in front of the entire people of
The ark of the covenant represents the
law, which reminds us of our sinfulness and inability to keep the law.
Therefore, we rely upon Gods mercy to us. It says in Exodus 37:6-9, And he made
the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was
the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And he made
two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made
he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat; One cherub on the end on
this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy
seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and
covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another;
even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims. This is the ark of the covenant.
We know what is inside the ark: the Ten Commandments, which represent the law.
As we think of the law, we must also think of the truth that we have not kept
the law. We have failed, and we have sinned. Therefore, we are all guilty
sinners. It says in Romans 3:23, For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
How fortunate we are that our God is a merciful God. Because of the sacrifice
of Jesus, the Lord is always ready and willing to forgive. No matter how much
we have failed at keeping the holy law of God, He will always forgive us, if we
repent and pray to Jesus for forgiveness.
If all that we had was the law inside
of the ark, we would have no hope because our hope is in Christ and what He has
done for us. We would face the judgment of God in the guilt of our sins. But
thank God when He commanded that the ark be built and the Ten Commandments be
placed within the ark, God also commanded that the mercy seat be placed upon
the top of the ark. In that way the Israelites would be reminded of Gods mercy
even before they saw inside the ark and were reminded of the law. In order to help
peoples thoughts to be drawn to the mercy seat, God commanded that two cherubim be created, one on each side of the mercy
seat, and each one facing the mercy seat which was between them. The cherubim
were pointing to the mercy seat by the way that they were facing. Experiencing
the mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ is critically important because
it is the way to heaven. That is why in Luke 18:13 that Jesus pointed to the
example of the publican who humbly bowed his head and prayed. Jesus said, And the
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
To be merciful means to withhold
punishment even though punishment is deserved. There is no doubt that God is
merciful. It says in Exodus 34:6-7, And the LORD passed by before him,
and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's
children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
It also says in Deuteronomy 4:31, (For the
LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy
thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware
unto them. And the Bible also says in Psalm
116:5, Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
yea, our God is merciful. There is no doubt
that Jesus is merciful. The only question is: will you see your own need to
seek and to receive His mercy?
Exodus 37:10-15 tells us about a table
within the tabernacle. It says, And he made the table of shittim
wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a
cubit and a half the height thereof: And he overlaid it with pure gold, and
made thereunto a crown of gold round about. Also he
made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold
for the border thereof round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, and
put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof. Over
against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table.
And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear
the table. The ark had no significance in and of itself, but what
was placed inside the ark made its significance. The same is true of the table.
The table itself had no significance, but the objects that were placed upon the
table did.
Concerning one of the objects that was
always placed on the table, God said in Exodus 25:30, And thou
shalt set upon the table showbread before me always. The word showbread refers to
simple ordinary bread. It was not a special type of bread: it was just your
average piece of bread or loaf of bread. By seeing an ordinary loaf of bread on
the table, we are reminded that God has promised to supply our needs. Jesus
made the same teaching when Jesus said in Matthew 6:11 that we should always
pray to the Lord, Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus also said in Matthew
6:33, But seek ye first the
Of course, bread has an important
symbolic and spiritual meaning to it. Jesus provides our physical needs, and He
also provides our spiritual needs. Jesus is the spiritual bread. Jesus said in
John 6:35, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger
The real
significance of what people call communion has to do with the fact that bread
is symbolic of Jesus Christ Himself. If you have received Christ through
spiritual contact with Him, then you have already received the bread of life.
That is what Jesus was talking about in Revelation 3:20, Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Exodus 37:17-18 tells us about a
golden candlestick that was placed within the tabernacle. It says, And he made
the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his
shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:
And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the
candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick
out of the other side thereof. Of course, the candlestick gives off light.
Because there were no windows in the tabernacle, this candlestick was the only
source of light. From a spiritual standpoint Jesus is the only source of true
light to reveal to us the knowledge of God. Jesus is the manifestation of God
in the flesh. That is why it says in John 1:1-9, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without
him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the
light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended
it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a
witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the
true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world.
There is an interesting correlation
between the golden candlestick with seven branches, and the seven golden
candlesticks described in Revelation 1:12 where John wrote, And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me. And being
turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. In Revelation 1:20 Jesus said to
John, The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the
angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. By the time that the book of
Revelation had been written, the spiritual purpose for the tabernacle and what
it represented as a witness to the world, had been replaced by the believers
who are together known as the
Once we believe on Jesus, He wants us
to grow in faith and understanding so that we can be lights for Him. Jesus is
interested in bringing all people to faith in Himself. Jesus said in Matthew
5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
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Copyright; 2011 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved