Hi everyone,
Today, I just thought I’d share a bit of a study I did. I broke it down into two parts. So here’s part 1:
There was a guy called Moses who God liked to speak to face to face. It was to Moses that God first revealed His special name; Yahweh. Moses would go up Mount Sinai and Yahweh would descend in a cloud and speak to him like a man would speak to a friend. It was on this mountain, in the presence, that Yahweh gave Moses the blueprints to the temple that would allow God to dwell among His people; Israel.
At the centre of this temple, in the innermost sanctum called the Holy of Holies , rested the ark of the covenant where God’s presence would dwell. The ark of the covenant was square box made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold inside and out. The arc would eventually contain three things:
- The stone tablets inscribed with the 10 commandments
- A golden pot containing manna
- And Aaron’s staff
The stone tablets represented the covenant that God made with Israel. Moses stayed 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai as God gave him the commandments and he inscribed them on the tablets. When Moses came down from that mountain his face shone with the glory of God! Everyone knew that he had been in the very Presence of God.
The manna represented the miraculous way in which God provided for the Israelites as He led them out of Egypt. For 40 years in the desert they never went hungry. Every morning (except for the Sabbath) the manna came and those who collected little had just enough and those who collected much had none left over. It was through signs and wonders such as these that God showed the Israelites that He was with them and He would take care of them.
The staff of Aaron represented authentic leadership appointed by God. Aaron’s staff was the one that turned into a snake in Pharaoh’s court swallowed the snakes conjured by the Egyptian magicians. It was Aaron’s staff that God used to turn the water of Egypt into blood. And it was Aaron’s staff that summoned the plagues of the frogs and gnats. The staff was a symbol of God’s authority. The holder of the staff was authorized to represent God in the earth.
Each of these items represented very significant aspect of Israel’s relationship with God. His covenant, laws and statutes. His provision, signs and wonders. His rule, power and authority. Obedience, faith, submission. God put into the ark items that would remind Israel of what was required to walk with a Holy God.
But as I studied these items I began to see them from another perspective:
- The stone tablets in the ark were not the first ones. They were the second. Moses had broken the first pair of tablets when he had come down the mountain the first time and met Aaron and the Israelites worshipping a golden calf.
- The manna was in fact God’s response to the complaints and grumbling of the Israelites. “Oh, that we would have died by the hand of God in Egypt where we meat and bread to the full,” they said. They had just seen God part the Red Sea and kill all the Egyptians!!
- The staff was put in the ark after God had to crush a massive rebellion against Aaron. 250 leaders challenged Aaron which was really a challenge against God’s authority Himself and that pissed off God. He opened the earth and swallowed up the rebels led by the sons of Korah and when the people still grumbled against Aaron and Moses, He began to kill them off with a plague. The same leaders had to intercede (as they had many times before) for the lives of the people to be spared. God then called all the leaders to bring their staffs into the tent of the testimony and the next day only Aaron’s staff had sprouted buds and blossoms and ripe almonds thereby confirming Aaron as God’s chosen man. The bible says that God instructed Moses to put the staff in the ark as a sign to the rebels and to stop the grumbling against Him so that no one else would die.
So, you see, each item also represents the absolute inability of the Israelites to walk with God. They were disobedient, faithless and rebellious.
We know that the physical Old Testament temple was but a shadow of the New Testament spiritual reality fulfilled by Christ! We know that we are the temple of God! Therefore, in the ark of our hearts we must have the laws, the manna and the rod. We must have a heart to keep the covenant and obey the statutes of God, faith to believe that He will provide and take care of us and submission to His sovereign rule and his earthly appointed authorities.
We also know that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…. But where we fall short brothers and sisters, the grace of God traverses the gap… because covering us as the mercy-seat of God covered the ark is the broken body and spilt blood of the spotless Lamb of God! The blood of Christ covers every shortcoming and every lack allowing the Presence of God to dwell in us as He did between the cherubim of the ark!
Now that is cause for great joy!
Copyright 2018, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.