The Ark of the Covenant

Intro

We have spent the last 6 weeks looking at the blueprints that God gave to build the tabernacle. God gave them these meticulously measured blueprints so they would build a place for him to dwell with them. God looked down at this defiant group of people and said I want to dwell with them. but in order for him to do that they had to be redeemed. They had to be bought back. a price had to be paid. and the only thing valuable enough to cover their sin so they could be bought back was blood.

Because of the blood of the animals sacrificed at the tabernacle God was able to dwell among them. but there was a problem. The people’s sins were so great that the sacrifices had to continue all day and all night forever to allow God to dwell there and his mercy to continue to flow. It was a temporary solution

But God a better plan that the tabernacle pointed to. Because just like how God looked down and saw the Israelites and how defiant they were he looked down and saw you. He saw everything you have ever done, every deep dark thought you never told anyone. I he said I want to dwell with you forever. and the only thing precious enough to pay the price of your redemption to buy you back is the blood of my son Jesus. Today we are going to put all the pieces together and see how the blueprint of your redemption from before time began has always been Jesus.

Exodus 25:10–22 CSB

“They are to make an ark of acacia wood, forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high. Overlay it with pure gold; overlay it both inside and out. Also make a gold molding all around it. Cast four gold rings for it and place them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. Make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them. The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed from it. Put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark. Make a mercy seat of pure gold, forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide. Make two cherubim of gold; make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. At its two ends, make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim are to have wings spread out above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and are to face one another. The faces of the cherubim should be toward the mercy seat. Set the mercy seat on top of the ark and put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark. I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

The Ark of the Covenant is the most famous of the tabernacle elements. Thanks to Indiana Jones. The dimensions and look of the ark of the covenant are were very similar to the movie. except the people caring it didnt wear fidoras or carry whips. The Ark sat in the most holy place. The Holy of Holies. It was where God manifested his presence among them. There was no artificial light in the holy of holies. no candlestick. no lamp. That is because the glory of God shined on top of the ark on the mercy seat. The mercy seat which sat on top of the ark acted as God’s throne. It was the only seat in the entire tabernacle.

God’s presence was manifested on a throne among his people.

1. God Builds His Throne on Grace

God did not make his seat on the bronze altar of sacrifice and judgement. Our God does not sit on a throne of judgement he sits on a throne of grace.

If you grew up thinking of God especially in the Old testament as only caring about dealing judgement. God’s mercy and his judgement are of equal dimensions. The altar of sacrifice was exactly as high as the mercy seat to show that God is full of grace and mercy.

Think about this. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the 10 commandments, God also gave him these blueprints for the tabernacle. You know what also happened at the same time? God’s people were at the bottom the mountain making a golden calf to worship and dancing naked in front of it.

God who knows everything and sees everything is watching his people who he set free turn their backs on Him. While drawing up the blueprints of their redemption. they had already broken the first commandment. and he still decided I am going to make my throne a throne of mercy and grace instead of judgement. because even though God’s mercy and his judgement are of equal dimensions he made a way for his mercy to have the final word. It is God’s mercy that reined over the Israelites. and it is God’s mercy that can rein over you.

Romans 3:24–25 CSB

they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

2. Between Law and Glory Stands Jesus

Jesus has become our mercy seat between the law and the glory of God.

Inside the ark of the covenant was the 10 commandments. God’s law. It kept the covenant between God and his people. a covenant that the people had broken before the 10 commandments even made it into the ark. So inside the ark was God’s law, above the ark on the mercy seat was the presence of God and between it was the mercy seat.

God’s righteousness demanded the death of the guilty because the wages of sin is death.

so Once a year the high priest would go into the holy of holies and sprinkle the blood of a spotless lamb on the mercy seat.

all foreshadowing John 1:29

John 1:29 CSB

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The blood of the lamb was literally sprinkled between the law and the presence of God on the mercy seat. Because of that spinkled blood the throne of judgement had become a throne of grace.

This all points forward to how Jesus’s blood covers us from the penalty of our sin. We deserved the death penalty, to be separated from God forever but by his mercy he kept the law unbroken for us. He died in our place bearing the full weight of the punishment. The blood of the animals sprinkled on the mercy seat were just a shadow of his own precious blood. It was Israel’s faith in the promised redeemer that enabled God to forgive their sins. on credit looking forward to the perfect all suficent sacrifice.

God’s people in the Old Testament could be redeemed by looking forward in faith that the redeemer would come and pay off their sin debt. God’s people today look back in faith that the redeemer has come and has paid off our sin debt.

Just like the 10 commandments remained unbroken in the ark Jesus came and did not break the law. Because God’s mercy cannot be seperated from his holiness and justice he could not redeem us at the cost of his own righteousness. That is why Jesus had to come to live a perfect life refusing to break God’s law so he could die in the sinners place as the sinners substitute.

The blood of Jesus spilled before the father turns what is supposed to be the place of your judgement into a place a mercy. We are able to confidently step into the presence of God symbolized by the ark of the covenant and receive mercy.

I have really enjoyed learning about the tabernacle through my preparation of this series. I hope you have too, but like I have said all along the goal of this series is not for you to learn facts about a tent that existed thousands of years ago. It is so you can have deeper faith in a savior you can know today. As we have seen throughout this series every single piece of tabernacle exists to point to Jesus.

It is the teaser trailer for the greatest story every told.

Hebrews 9:11–14 CSB

But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

3.The Blueprint Was Written in Blood

God drew the blueprint of our redemption with blood of Jesus.

and he didn’t start drawing it in the New Testament. Before the foundations of the earth was laid the plan for your redemption was put in motion. Before God made Adam he knew that Jesus was going to die. then Adam and Eve sin, which he knew would happen, and he didnt alter the plan he told us that a redeemer was coming. Throughout the Old Testament he gave people an opportunity to have the penalty of their sins put on credit through faith that the redeemer would come and pay off the debt that left unpaid would mean eternal death and separation from God.

Then he entered into a special relationship with the Israelites telling them the redeemer will come through you. Set yourselves apart. and he told them what they would have to do in order to be redeemed on their own. And while God was writing the law on the stone tablets he looked down and saw they were already worshiping something else. God looked down and saw the people he was going to die for worship a gold cow and still said I want to buy them back.

So he told them how to build the tabernacle with exact dimensions so every detail would point to the redeemer that would come.

Remember every detail, every element was built and put exactly where God commanded. All to point forward to the redeemer. The only one who could pay the price pay of the penalty of our sin once and for all so that we could dwell with God forever.

So all the barriers that kept people from the presence of God could be removed.

starting with the veil between the holy place and God’s presence that when Jesus died was ripped from the top down.

And the walls of the tent that kept non priests from God’s presence, and the outer walls that kept non Israelites from approaching God.

So now anyone and everyone could see what the blueprint of redemption has always been. So that you could see what the blueprint of your redemption has always been.

Jesus your gate as the way, the truth the life,

Jesus your once and for all sacrifice for sin

Jesus your living water that washes you clean everyday

Jesus your light in the darkness

Jesus your bread of life

Jesus your advocate before the father

Jesus your only path into the presence of the father

Since before the foundation of the earth were laid, before the tabernacle was built, before you were born, way before this series started.

The blueprint of your redemption was written with the blood of Jesus on the cross.

900 years before the first Roman crucifixion. God laid out the tabernacle to point to the place where the plan would be completed. Once and for all.

God told them to to build the tabernacle so he could dwell with them temporarily.

God sent Jesus so you can dwell with him forever.

Jesus was always the plan. and Jesus still is the plan, and Jesus will always be the plan.

It was always his plan to pay the price for you to be redeemed.

I don’t want any of us to miss this moment. to shrug the weight of that off. I want us all to sit with that feeling this morning.

He knew that giving his life was the only way to be with you. And he still drew up the plans, he still came to earth, and he still died a brutal death for you.

I would be doing you a disservice this morning if I tried to limit what the Holy Spirit may be doing in your heart this morning by telling you how to apply this, this morning. I think he could be working in a lot of different ways in each of us.

But one thing we are going to do is continue to sit with this feeling of the weight of what he has done for us. and we are going to remember what it took for our redemption to be paid for. For the blood that was shed for you. We are going to take communion. and as we do before and after you get your elements. spend that time in prayer reflecting on all that went into your redemption, let it move you, let it move you to gratitude at how good he is, and spend time in the presence of your father that your savior made possible through his blood.

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”