WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY: THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

1st Sunday in Lent – March 13th, 2011

Exodus 25:10-22

When someone is planning to build a house, they usually start by planning the actual structure. How
many rooms is it going to have? How many bathrooms? How big is the kitchen going to be? There is a
definite outside-in approach that takes care of the square footage and initial structure design, and leaves the
details, like furniture, curtains and the like for a later time.
When God gave to Moses the plans for his house in Exodus, he didn’t begin with the outside structure.
He started with the furniture, outlining every single piece that would occupy an important place in the
worship life of the Israelites. The most important piece of furniture in God’s house of worship was the Ark of
the Covenant, that 4’x2’x2’ chest of acacia wood overlaid with gold that resided in the Most Holy Place in the
tabernacle, the place where only the High Priest would enter once a year to atone for his sins, the sins of his
family and the sins of the people of God.
This Lenten season, we are going to learn about some of the lesser-known pictures of Christ’s glory in
the Old Testament. What we have to realize is that we are looking at the passion of Jesus from a different
perspective than the Israelites. We look back on pictures that have found their realization in Jesus. Whereas,
God’s people in the Old Testament only had pictures, types, symbols of the one who was to come to make
atonement for the sins of the world, and those types permeated every single part of their lives, from the
geography of the land they occupied, to the worship they engaged in, even extending to the clothing that the
High Priest wore during their worship convocations and festivals. Everywhere the Israelite turned, they had a
reminder of the ancient promise of Eden that God would one day send the woman’s seed to “crush the head of
the serpent.”
The benefit for us today is that we are able to see the glory of our Savior, the glory of the cross shining
on these types that were given to God’s people in the Old Testament, and gain a great appreciation for the
wonderful ways that God made his salvation known to his people. Thus, we can say even with them, “we too
have seen his glory.” They saw Jesus’ glory prefigured in the many pictures afforded them in their everyday
lives. We see Jesus’ glory in the fulfillment of those figures as they are so carefully laid out in Scripture.
Today, we have seen his glory in the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark of the Covenant was the most prominent article of furniture in the tabernacle, which is why
God gives it primary attention before anything else regarding his house. The purpose of the Ark of the
Covenant is clearly given in verse 22:
“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.”
God is everywhere. He is omnipresent, the word that catechism students learn year after year. He
truly “fills all things in every way,” and yet he chose in grace to localize his presence among his people so that
they have a constant reminder of God’s presence among them. Wherever the Ark of the Covenant was, there
God was with his Word of holiness, according to both judgment and promise.
Access to the ark, however, this local manifestation of God’s presence, was severely limited. If you
were a common Israelite, you only saw the Ark of the Covenant precious few times, if at all in your lifetime. It
was visible whenever the people would pick up and move in the wilderness. It led the people to their next
settlement, and it led them in battle. Other than that, it resided in the Most Holy Place in the
tabernacle/temple, and only the High Priest had authority to enter the Most Holy Place in the
tabernacle/temple, one time a year, on the Day of Atonement. Every other person was forbidden to enter into
the presence of God and his holiness under penalty of death, and there are several examples in the Pentateuch
where people were careless with the ark and paid for their crimes with their lives.
Now, the spiritual picture of the ark is quite clear. No one can enter into the presence of God without
sacrifice, without innocent blood and without a mediator. To attempt such a thing is certain death. Where
God is, there his powerful Word is to both condemn and save, always on his terms. We cannot choose which
way to gain access to the eternal presence of God, as if there are several choices to pick from. Access to God’s
presence is given only through the go-between, the appointed mediator who bears innocent blood upon his
hands which covers up all sins and grants the sinner access to God and his favor. Any other way is “denied.”
It’s so frustrating when we receive messages that tell us that “access is denied.” How many times have
you forgotten a password for a website or for your computer and after guessing a number of times, you’re
locked out of the website or hard drive with that awful message, “access denied.”
For the Israelite, access to God’s local presence among them was denied except through the work of
the mediator who approached the presence of God for them with blood on his hands and with their names on
his heart and shoulders. Thus every gathering for worship, every Day of Atonement, when the High Priest
would enter that Most Holy Place, the residence of the Ark of the Covenant where God promised to dwell, the
people saw the glory of Christ in beautiful picture form, because it would be Him, the Great High Priest, the
Great Mediator, who would ultimately and perfectly and completely grant sinners access to the Father
through His innocent sacrifice and the presentation of His holy blood to atone for all sins of all people.
It is a privilege that we have of being able to see the entire plan of salvation laid out for us in Holy
Scripture so that we can make the connection between the picture and the reality, and have an appreciation
for the grace of God in giving his people these pictures of redemption and salvation. Now, however, in the
New Testament era, post-resurrection, post-ascension, we recognize that the ark has served the purpose for
which God commanded its construction in Exodus 25. There is now no more need for an Ark of the Covenant,
a specific local place of dwelling, because all the fullness of the deity has dwelled in bodily form. The picture
has found its fulfillment in Christ – who was not only a localization of divinity in the world, but who also
served as the One who grants access to the eternal presence of the divine through his blood, shed on the cross.
The writer to the Hebrews tells us in chapter 9:11-12: “11 When Christ came as high priest of the good
things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made,
that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he
entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
We have seen his glory! The ark of the covenant was the throne of God among his people. It gave to
them confidence to know that God was with them, that he was abiding with them, and that his Word was with
them, specifically his Word of deliverance from sin, which was enacted for the people through the work of
their High Priest, who approached the ark with blood on his hands and their names on his heart.
Well, we too have seen his glory! The central piece of furniture that God chose for his Old Testament
house, the ark, is gone, but the reality remains. Your Great High Priest, Jesus who bore your names on his
heart and presented his blood as the price for your sins so that you are declared “blessed” and “holy,” he has
torn the curtain down by his death and given you access to the eternal presence of God, and the comfort that,
until you come to that eternal presence, the Lord will bless and keep you, make his face shine on you, be
gracious to you and lift his countenance on you, giving you peace! Amen.