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It's been a while since I have taught on the Tabernacle of Moses, but the subject is so vast and so deep and so powerful that I believe it is time that we revisit it.

God commanded Moses to set up and build a portable temple called a "tabernacle" in which God could dwell among His people and within which all of the sacrifices of the Law could be fulfilled. It basically was a courtyard made of cloth in which was the actual tabernacle building, a fancy tent, that was divided into two rooms the Holy Place and the Most Holy or the "Holiest of Holies." There were seven items of interest in the tabernacle: six pieces of furniture and the huge curtain called the "veil" that separated the Holy Place and the Holiest of Holies. In the courtyard was the Brazen Altar, a big barbecue pit made of bronze where the sacrifice was offered unto God. In front of the entrance to the Tabernacle was the Brazen Laver, a big bronze bowl filled with water where the Priests could wash the blood off and change garments before entering into the Tabernacle itself. Entering inside the first room of the Tabernacle, to the left was the Golden Candlesticks to the left with seven oil lamps that gave the room light. To the right was the Table of Shewbread a table also made out of gold upon which was placed fresh bread each week for the Priests to eat during their day's work. Directly ahead dividing the Holy Place from the Most Holy was the huge, thick curtain called the veil and before the curtain was a smaller altar, this one made of gold, called the Altar of Incense which was kept burning day and night before the presence of God. Behind the veil was the most Holy Place or the Holiest of Holies where God's presence dwelt and in the small room there was only one piece of furniture, the most important by far, the Ark of the Covenant. It was a golden box with a lid that was fashioned like a seat. In fact, the lid was called the "mercy seat." On either side of the lid was molded two angels, cherubims, and faced each other across the seat. There, in the midst of the two angels, was where the Spirit of God dwelt in a bluish/green cloudlike, visible manifestation called the "Shekina." The Ark of the Covenant was the throne of God on earth and was to be a representation of the throne in heaven.

The New Testament teaches us that all these things within the Tabernacle were to teach us about Jesus Christ and Grace and Salvation after Calvary and the work of the Cross. For this reason, we could spend an entire week's lessons on each item but for the purpose of this lesson I only want to remind you that all of them teach us something about Jesus Christ. He was the sacrificial Lamb whose blood was shed. His blood is the cleansing agent that mixes with the waters of baptism to provide us with clean spiritual garments! He is the light of the World shining into the darkness. He is the bread from heaven from which we get our daily nourishment. He is worthy of praise and prayer to be offered up to Him without ceasing and, of course, the Book of Hebrews teaches us that the veil was a type of shadow of His flesh and it was at the same moment that the flesh of Jesus Christ died on the cross that the veil in the temple in Jerusalem was split in two, forever opening the way into the presence of God for you and I!

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Let me get to my point. For the plan of God to be consistent then if all of the furniture in the Tabernacle represented Jesus Christ and His Work here on earth, the ark of the covenant must represent Jesus Christ also. We normally don't think of the ark of the covenant as a representation of Jesus Christ. We usually think of it as representing the throne of God or as the presence of God or as God's mercy, and all of those types are true. But if all of the other furniture represents Jesus Christ then the ark does as well. The Ark of the Covenant is mentioned in scripture more times than all of the other pieces of furniture combined, so it is the pre-emininent piece of the Tabernacle. With that in mind, it makes sense for it to represent the most pre-eminent man that ever existed: Jesus Christ. The lessons of Christ found in the history of the ark is what I think is the primary and the most fascinating lesson found in Moses' Tabernacle. Or, if I can say it this way, the truths about Jesus found in the history of the ark is THE lesson of the ark of the covenant.

Let's now take a broad view of the history of the ark of the covenant and how it relates to and teaches us lessons about Jesus Christ.

According to Exodus 35 and 36, the ark was made from precise patterns given to man by the wisdom of the Spirit of God. This is the same way that the man Jesus Christ was formed by the wisdom and the power of the Spirit of God overshadowing Mary and causing conception (Luke 1:35; Galatians 4:4).

Another name for the Ark of the Covenant was the "Ark of Testimony" and Exodus 30:26 let's us know that the Ark of the Testimony was "anointed." In like manner, Luke 4:18 and Acts 10:38 we find that Jesus was "anointed to be a Testimony!"

The ark was never exposed to the people's eyes when it journeyed through the wilderness (Numbers 4:44-45) and in similar manner we find that Jesus removed Himself from all human interaction for forty days and forty nights in a journey through the wilderness. Also when the ark was visible to the people's eyes in it's journey, it was covered with a veil to keep the people from directly seeing the Shekina presence of the Spirit of God . The people could see the form of the Spirit of God without the death that would come from sinful flesh seeing the Spirit of God. In like manner, Jesus Christ was God "manifest in flesh" and the Book of Hebrews tells us that His flesh was 'a veil' (Hebrews 10:20). Jesus Christ was God revealing His glory in a veil of flesh. When we viewed Jesus Christ we could see the form of God through the veil without seeing the pure holiness of God in our sinful condition that would have brought death. Paul put it like this describing the Son of God:

Understand that when you see the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, you are not looking upon another "god" separate from the one true Jehovah God of Israel, but rather are seeing that same God in a different form, veiled in flesh, that He could come to this wilderness of sin called earth and bring us direction and salvation! That's why in the Old Testament, within the confines of the ark, there was a visible manifestation of God's Spirit (Exodus 40-33-38). When you look at Jesus you are not seeing another but a visible manifestation of the Spirit of God! Jesus was the Shekina glory cloud robed in flesh!

Exodus 25:22 and Numbers 7:89 tell us that the voice of God spoke from off the ark of the covenant. We know that three times the voice of God spoke over the man, Christ Jesus and beyond that, since "all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ, bodily" (Colossians 2:9), when Christ spoke, it was the voice of God speaking from the "ark" of His flesh!

Psalms 132:6-8 says that the Israelites "found" the Ark their Strength! When Philip went and told his cousin about Jesus he said "we have found Him!" And this Jesus whom He had found was to become His strength and power in life! Has anybody found Jesus Christ and found Him to be your strength and reason for living?

Joshua 20:18-28 teaches us that the ark of the covenant teaches us that the ark was the place where man could find the will of God concerning his life. The New Testament scriptures teach that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life" and that He is the ONLY way to the will of God in your life!

In Numbers 14:44-45, we find that for the Israelites to try to fight against their enemies without the Ark present meant sure and swift defeat. Is this not true for Jesus Christ today? To try to fight your own spiritual battles against Satan without Jesus on your side, is to guarantee that you will not win and that you will lose quickly!

We also find in 1 Chronicles 16:4, 37, 42 that there was to be a continual ministry before the ark with musical instruments and praises. We know from Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 that we are to worship and minister unto Jesus in the like manner!

In Exodus 40:33-38, the cloud overshadowed the ark in the Tabernacle when it was first set up upon it's mountain. The same thing happened when Solomon built his temple upon the mountain in Jerusalem and placed the ark of the covenant within it -- the glory cloud descended upon the ark. It can be no coincidence that it was upon another mountain, the place that we call the mount of Transfiguration that Peter, James, and John saw a cloud of God's anointing descend upon Jesus Christ (Mark 9:2-8).

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These eleven similarities should be enough to point out that the ark of the Covenant was formed to teach us about Jesus Christ. But when you study a few specific stories concerning the ark of the covenant, the similarities to the life of Jesus Christ become quite astounding.

The first story is the recordings of King David's dealing with the ark of the covenant. They paint a picture of the last events of Christ's life. It was King David who in 2 Samuel 6 brought the ark of the covenant back into the city of Jerusalem from a man's home where it had been stored. The scriptures record in verses 12-18 that there was a great rejoicing and celebration and shouting that went forth from the city of Jerusalem as the ark entered the city. It would be thousands of years later when Jesus made His "Triumphant Entry" into Jerusalem that the disciples and the city would begin to shout and praise and dance upon His entering of the same city (Matthew 21:8-9).

Not only that, but the scriptures record that those who despised the coming of the Ark and the worship in David's day were smitten with physical barrenness (2 Samuel 6:20-23). The Gospel of Luke records that those who despised the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem were smitten with spiritual barrenness (Luke 19:41-44).

Later when there were some who rejected David as King, he left the city through the eastern gate and crossed over the Brook Kidron as he left (2 Samuel 15:23-24). Jesus Christ fulfilled this remarkably when after the Last Supper with His disciples and after Judas Iscariot had already left to betray Him, He exited the city out the eastern gate and passed over the brook Kidron (in the Greek, Cedron) and entered into the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1)!

The second story that I would like to bring your attention to continues the story of Christ and is found in the fourth and fifth chapters of 1 Samuel. The story begins with the Israelites preparing for battle against their hated idolatrous enemies, the Philistines. The first day of battle, the Israelites tried to fight on their own strength and power and were resoundingly defeated. The second day, somebody came up with a "great idea" to go get the ark of the covenant from the temple and maybe the presence of the Lord would fight for them. The problem was that they sent Hopni and Phineas, the backslid sons of the High Priest to get it and the Lord refused to fight for them. That's another lesson for another day, but for now let's notice what this story teaches us about Jesus Christ.

When the ark of the covenant arrived at the camp of Israel, the Bible says that they shouted for joy (1 Samuel 4:5-6) but when the enemy Philistines saw it, they trembled with fear (1 Samuel 4:8-9). When Christ will come to the earth again, it will cause a great shout of joy to the church who loves Him and is expecting His return, but the enemies of God and the world will shudder in fear at the sight of His return!

Going back to the Old Testament story, God refused to fight because of the idolatry of the people and the backslidden priest's sons and so the Philistines defeated Israel and captured the ark of the Covenant. Simply put, when the ark was lost there was no victory or glory. Even today, attempting to live your life and stand for truth without Jesus in your camp and in your home and in your life, means no victory or glory!

Here's where the analogies get fun. When they saw that the ark was being taken, the children of Israel fled and ran (1 Samuel 4:10). When the disciples saw that Jesus was being taken by the Roman soldiers, the scriptures say that they all ran and fled (Matthew 26:31, 56)! Then came the dilemma of the Philistines. The scriptures say that the Philistines wondered what they should do TO the ark (1 Samuel 6:2). They also say that the Philistines wondered what they should do WITH the ark (1 Samuel 5:8). Those particular phrases were not there by accident because the scriptures say in Luke 6:11 that the Pharisees and the scribes communed one with another what they might do TO Jesus, and Matthew 27:22 records that Pilate wanted to know what he should do WITH Jesus!

The Philistines chose the wrong thing to do because they decided to take the Ark and place in the temple of their idol before their "fish god," Dagon. The next morning, they came to worship their idol and found poor little Dagon flat on his face on the floor bowing to the ark of the Most, High God of Israel. They set their little god back upon on his little pedestal and thought it was just a freak occurrence. But the next morning when they got to their temple to worship, poor little Dagon was on the floor again, and this time was broken in pieces before the ark! The Bible says that they were so shaken up that they never returned to that temple again to worship their little fish god (1 Samuel 5:5)! They learned the hard way that no god can stand up before the ark of the covenant of the true, Almighty God!

What does this have to do with Jesus Christ? The scriptures say that every knee must bow to the Lordship of Christ. Paul said it like this:

That's why in John 18:6, when Jesus Christ told the Roman soldiers who had come to arrest Him "I am He," that everyone there that did not believe in Him fell to the ground! No man can glory in His presence and everything that tries to exalt itself above Christ will be brought down!

Not only did God destroy the Philistines' fish god, but he also brought horrible judgment upon the Philistines for as long as they kept the ark. He struck whole cities with "emerods" an old King James word for hemorrhoids! And after nobody could walk straight, they finally decided to get rid of this "ark thing." As long as the ark was in the camp of the enemy, it was a curse, but when it was in the camp of Israel, it was a blessing! So is Jesus Christ, the living Word, a two-edged sword. He brings life to those who are within the camp and death and judgment to those who choose to live against His principles!

To get rid of the ark, the Philistines decided to put the ark on a cart of wood pulled by cows to take it back to Israelites (1 Samuel 6:1-21). When the ark got back into the camp of Israel, the Levites took the ark off the cart, killed the animals as sacrifices and offered them to the Lord upon the wood of the cart which was laid into a fire. The offering of the blood brought forgiveness to them and atonement.

Hopefully you can see the similarities to Jesus and why this story is recorded. The Roman soldiers followed the demands of the Levites (Pharisees and such) and placed Jesus Christ upon the wood of a cross and unknowingly offered Him as a sacrifice for their sins and it was His blood that would bring them forgiveness and atonement with God!

Now let's finish our survey of the history of the ark of the covenant with four more points all who wrap up the story of Jesus Christ amazingly!

In Numbers 10:33-36 is recorded one of those stories that just reading through the Bible you might wonder God bothered to record. It is the story of when Moses was seeking direction in where to lead the people of Israel next, and the Bible says that He took the ark of the covenant out of the Tabernacle and was taken on a journey into the wilderness to find a place for the Israelites to rest. During the journey, the glory departed from the temple, but at the end of the ark's journey, the children of Israel came to where it had gone and then the glory came back into the tabernacle. At first reading, you would wonder "so what?" But the significance comes when you realize that the scriptures say that the ark departed out of the camp and out of the tabernacle for three days and three nights! There is nothing in scripture by accident, because this story foretold of another day when Jesus experienced a journey of three days and three nights! His body (the tabernacle) was taken down off the cross and the glory of God departed from it for three days to purchase spiritual rest for you and I! But after three days, the glory of God came back into that tabernacle and in the resurrection the power of God returned to that physical body! And it will forever reside there!

In Joshua 3:3-15 we find the story of Joshua leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land. They were a little nervous because to enter into the Promised Land, they would have to pass through the river Jordan. Then, Jordan was known as a "river of judgment" because it had been on the banks of this river that God had "toasted" the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But God had a plan. The priests carried the ark of the covenant into the river, the scriptures say "about 2000 cubits" ahead of the rest of the people, and the ark held back the waters for the others to get across into the land of Promise without the waters even touching them!

So it was with Jesus Christ! He entered into and conquered the waters of death, hell, and the grave about 2,000 years before the experience of the Church at the end of this age of Grace, and He has restrained the power of the waters of judgment until you and I could have a chance to cross into the Promised Place of the Holy Ghost!

Two more. You have to have time for two more!

Go ahead to Joshua chapter 6. There's the big-walled city called Jericho in the way of the Israelites. But again God had a plan, and again involved the ark of the covenant. Seven priest were selected and seven trumpets preceded the ark as it marched it's way around the city. On the seventh time, on the seventh day, at the sound of the seventh trumpet, there was a shout and all things collapsed. The Kingdom was possessed by God and His people!

And so we fast forward to the last book of the Bible the Book that is called "the Revelation of Jesus Christ!" We find seven angels with seven trumpets before the coming of Jesus Christ. Again there is a great shout that goes forth and this shout combined with the blowing of the seventh trumpet signals the fall of the kingdoms of this world and ushers in the age of the Kingdom where Jesus Christ can rule and reign for 1,000 years!

And finally, in Joshua chapter 8, we find that the ark of the covenant is brought between two mountains, Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. The people are divided some on the left side and some on the right side. And one group of people receives blessings and the other receives cursings (Joshua 8:30-35; Deuteronomy 37:28). And there is a day coming when Christ will be "in the midst" of two companies of people: those on the right will be sheep and those on the left will be called goats and all people will be divided according to one of two categories: a group that receives blessings and a group that receives the cursings and judgments! I want to be in the right group!

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There has to be a practical point to all of this or our Bible Study had done no good -- and there is a point! Let's finish the lesson by bringing what we have learned "back close to home."

Hopefully I have convinced you that the ark of the covenant represented Jesus Christ. With that in mind, let me draw your attention back to our texts, the first one in Hebrews which talked about the fact that there were three things within the ark of the covenant.

The writer of Hebrews says that when the ark of the covenant was placed within Moses tabernacle, it came to have three things within it: a golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the Tables of the Covenant, or the laws of God that were inscribed on stones for Moses. These three things all represent something and all three are found in Jesus Christ:

1. Golden pot of manna - Represented provision. It was the bread from heaven that fell from the sky to feed and to take care of the Israelites in the desert. It represents the fact that God takes care of us and material and physical blessings that come by doing things God's way! How many of you have learned that in serving Jesus, he will never "leave you nor forsake you" but will give you each day your daily bread and will take care of your physical needs!? We can truthfully say that provision, the golden pot of manna is in Jesus Christ today!

2. Aaron's rod that budded - When the rebellion of a man named Korah challenged the leadership, authority, and spiritual power of Aaron as the High Priest, God instructed every leader of every tribe to bring their walking sticks -- dead, dry pieces of wood and to lay them in the door of the Tabernacle. Through this, God said He would prove whom He had chosen to be the spiritual leader and to have spiritual authority. The next morning when they got to the Tabernacle, they found that Aaron's dead, dry walking stick had sprouted new life and had almond buds on it! This was a supernatural sign that God had chosen Aaron to be the High Priest. The walking stick was then placed within the ark of the covenant and represents spiritual authority and power.

Spiritual authority and power was certainly in Jesus Christ. He had the power to calm the storms and cast out devils and to heal all manners of sicknesses and even to walk on water! So we can say truthfully that the type of Aaron's rod that budded was certainly in Jesus Christ!

3. Tables of the Covenant - This was the written Word of God and thus represents the scriptures and the commandments and promises of God. These were certainly in Jesus Christ because He "was the living Word!" John wrote:

Jesus Christ was the only man who was ever perfect! He was the only one who ever obeyed perfectly without one blemish the Word of God! Therefore He was and is the Word! So we can definitely say that the Word was in Jesus Christ.

Now let me remind you of our other text in 1 Kings 8. Solomon has built his temple and is moving the ark of the covenant into the Most Holiest Place. And the scriptures make this notice:

At the time of Solomon's dedication, the only thing in the ark was the Two Tables of the Covenant! Somebody had removed the bowl of manna and Aaron's rod! The immediate question is then "who removed them and why?" Who had access to the ark of the covenant besides the priest between the time of Moses and the time of Solomon?

The answer is in the story which we've already covered. The Philistines were the only foreigners who had possession of the ark of the covenant during this time period. Obviously then, they are the ones that removed the pot of manna and Aaron's rod. The answer to the why is what you need to always file away and never forget. You see, the Philistines wanted the provisions of God and the physical blessings and they also wanted the spiritual power and the authority, but the Word of God was just a little too much for them. Therefore they were willing to take the provisions and the authority as long as they did not have to obey the commandments of His Word. They mistakenly thought that they could pick and choose.

And so now you know what the true lesson of the ark is because you now know what the ark of the covenant represents. It represents Jesus Christ and you need Jesus Christ. But there are many religions and people today, even in Pentecostal and Apostolic pews, that are doing the same thing that the Philistines did. They want the provision of God and the blessings of God in their life. They want the spiritual power and the authority to cast out devils and heal the sick and see miracles and such found in the name of Jesus. But they don't want to obey all of the Word of God. They'd rather leave some of the commandments out of their life. Because it might require that they change. It might require that they sacrifice. It might mean that they have to crucify their flesh and do something against what their fleshly desires is telling them to do. They'll take the manna and they'll grab quickly the budding rod, but the Word of God? Some of that's just too tough to live!

But when you study the history of Israel and the Philistines the unerring truth of the lesson of the Ark of the Covenant becomes clear. Because with just the Word of God, Solomon experienced the fire and the presence and the miracles of God in His temple, while with the manna and the rod but no Word, the Philistines died enemies of God, lost for eternity forever.

The Word of God is not optional. It is just a much of having Jesus in your life as the others. Jesus said:

It's more than just believing in His work and/or saying that we love Him: we must keep the commandments of His Word! I want the provision and blessings. I want the authority and the miracle-working power. But I must above all else have the Word of God in my life! Everything else hinges upon it! And I must have it complete in my life. I cannot afford to ignore any part of it. Because Jesus is the Word and to disobey it is to turn my back on Him! I need the Word of God and that is the lesson of the Ark of the Covenant!