Hebrews 9:4, describes the contents of the Ark of the Covenant, inside were three objects, the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the tablets of the Covenant, most people think of the Ark as a treasure chest, a sacred container holding God’s greatest artifacts, but look more carefully at what those three items actually represent. The tablets of the Covenant, God wrote his law with his own hand and gave them to Israel, Israel broke them almost immediately when they built the golden calf at the base of Mount Sinai. The golden pot of manna, God provided bread from heaven every single morning to feed his people in the wilderness and what did Israel do, they complained about it, they called it worthless, they said they were tried of it. Aaron’s rod, God confirmed Aaron’s priesthood by making his staff bud and blossom, ending a rebellion that questioned God’s chosen leadership, the rod was proof that Israel had challenged the very authority God appointed over them.
Three items, three failures, the Ark was not a treasure chest, it was an evidence box, every piece of evidence inside it, pointed to human failure. Israel broke God’s law, Israel rejected God’s provision, Israel challenged God’s authority and where did God keep this evidence, inside the Ark, in the Holy of Holies, right beneath the Mercy Seat where the the blood was applied once a year on the Day of Atonement. God preserved the record of human failure and then he covered it with mercy, the Mercy Seat sat on top of the evidence and when the High Priest sprinkled blood on that golden lid, mercy was covering the proof of every broken promise, every act of rebellion, every moment of ingratitude.
Romans 3:25, God presented Jesus Christ as the place of atonement through faith in his blood, Jesus Christ himself became the Mercy Seat, he became the place where blood meets the evidence of human failure and mercy covers it. The entire tabernacle was pointing to him, the golden lid on the Ark was a shadow, Jesus Christ is the reality. This is who God is, he does not destroy the evidence inside the Ark of the Covenant, he covers it with blood, he covers it with mercy, this pattern established centuries before Jesus Christ was born, pointed directly to the cross, because on that day, the blood that covered the evidence was no longer the blood of a goat, it was the blood of God’s own son.
Three items, three failures, the Ark was not a treasure chest, it was an evidence box, every piece of evidence inside it, pointed to human failure. Israel broke God’s law, Israel rejected God’s provision, Israel challenged God’s authority and where did God keep this evidence, inside the Ark, in the Holy of Holies, right beneath the Mercy Seat where the the blood was applied once a year on the Day of Atonement. God preserved the record of human failure and then he covered it with mercy, the Mercy Seat sat on top of the evidence and when the High Priest sprinkled blood on that golden lid, mercy was covering the proof of every broken promise, every act of rebellion, every moment of ingratitude.
Romans 3:25, God presented Jesus Christ as the place of atonement through faith in his blood, Jesus Christ himself became the Mercy Seat, he became the place where blood meets the evidence of human failure and mercy covers it. The entire tabernacle was pointing to him, the golden lid on the Ark was a shadow, Jesus Christ is the reality. This is who God is, he does not destroy the evidence inside the Ark of the Covenant, he covers it with blood, he covers it with mercy, this pattern established centuries before Jesus Christ was born, pointed directly to the cross, because on that day, the blood that covered the evidence was no longer the blood of a goat, it was the blood of God’s own son.
