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The Ark of the Covenant was constructed by Moses under the express direction of God through the being that appeared to him at Sinai (Heb. 8:5; Acts 7:38). It was a copy of the heavenly sanctuary and was made in order to house the symbols of the government of God. It was part of the Tabernacle and the focal point within the Holy of Holies. It gives us much information about the government of God and the beings closest to Him exercising power in judgement over the Host.

The Ark stood inside the Holy of Holies and was opened only to the high priest, once a year. The veil symbolised the exclusion of all mankind, until Christ, who now is our high priest. He became the sacrifice for all by his own blood, which allowed the Holy Spirit, the power of God, to dwell among men. Up until this point we had no access to the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the structures was so that God could dwell in them and thus was a shadow of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The first item of the Tabernacle specified, was the Ark of the Covenant, which was the primary object of the Holy of Holies and the symbol of the power of God and His nature.

Christ was made a man so he could sympathise with our weaknesses. This enables us to draw near to the throne of grace in confidence (Heb. 4:14-16). He was not naturally high priest nor did he exalt himself to that office. He was appointed that position by God, his Father and ours, and is to serve in the heavenly sanctuary of which the earthly sanctuary was a copy. Christ has always been faithful to He who made him, for the builder of all things is God (Heb. 3:1-6). The failure to understand this important point was the reason Hebrews criticised the Church (Heb. 5:11-14). The misunderstanding of the role of Christ as high priest and his place in the Tabernacle is the reason why some are unable to progress to solid meat and are still in need of milk (Heb. 5:1-9).

The Old Covenant was eliminated and what became obsolete was the sacrificial system. This was necessary because we had no direct relationship with God, or access to His Holy Spirit at that time. We are now able to keep the law directly, without teachers, being guided by the Holy Spirit into the ways and nature of God.

The New Covenant was foreshadowed by the nature of the recording of the law. Moses had the law given to him on two tablets of stone, cut out by God. However, on their destruction by Moses, he (Moses) had to cut another two tablets himself. They were small enough for Moses to carry in one hand, each were inscribed on both sides, and pointed parabolically to the law being of two sides; the physical and the spiritual.

The First great and foremost commandment (Mat. 22:36-40) is comprised of the first four commandments, the spiritual, relating to the God-man relationship. The Second great commandment, the physical relationships, comprises the last six commandments. These two tablets pointed toward the duality of the law in the same way, and also to the second covenant. This structure of the tablets pointed towards the future. Man could not live by the physical law and could not fulfil the law without the Holy Spirit. Aaron’s rod that budded and the manna both give way to the Power of God, His Holy Spirit, in the priesthood and to the preservation of Israel in the wilderness.

The fallen Host and the humanity of earth, the descendants of Abraham, were in danger, and for that reason Messiah was sent to earth. Here the distinction of the calling becomes evident. This entire sequence was mirrored in the artefacts of the Temple and in the method of worship and sacrifice.

Aaron was the spokesman for Moses as high priest just as Christ was the spokesman for Eloah or the Father, as head of the elohim. God issued specific instructions, through Jesus Christ, concerning the tabernacle and its contents. It was to be provided from the people who were willing to give to the Lord as he directed that they give (Ex. 25:1-9)

The Ark was made of acacia wood or shittim. The age of acacia cannot be determined because the trees do not grow tree rings. There is no grain in the timber. The spiritual symbolism is the eternality of the Holy Spirit. The wood was overlaid with gold and thus wasn’t visible. This gold is that refined by the fire of the Lord and purchased from Him by the elect. The housing for the contents which symbolised the nature of God and His law is made from many pieces of wood perfectly worked and joined together in a fashioned whole. The concept extended to the boards of the building, each being ten cubits high and a cubit and half in width. (Ex. 26:16). This is the same concept as the stones of the Temple being living stones fitly framed together (1Pet. 2:5). The Ark was not to be touched by human hands even by the Levites, on pain of death. It was carried by poles, which passed through rings on either side (Num. 4:15).

The next item to be constructed was the so-called mercy seat, which was placed on top of the Ark (Ex. 25:17-22). Its real meaning is cover or lid, intended as a cover of expiation, condonation or cancellation of sin (Isa. 61:10).

This cover of salvation had two beings placed on it. These were the cherubim and these beings were directly concerned with the functions of judgement and mercy. They were in this sense most powerful beings concerned with exercising the power of God. It was the footstool of God’s throne (Psa. 132:7; 1Chron. 28:2). This footstool of the throne was regarded as the place where the Lord met the representative of the people, who was the high priest. This physical symbol was the mirror of the throne of God where the high priest met with God at His Throne. In this sense, the Power of God was to be delegated to the High Priest when he had atoned once for all as we see in Hebrews.

The cherubim as adornments of the throne from earliest times, were the guardians of sacred areas (Gen 3:24; 1Kings 8:6-7). They had a double symbolism; the two cherubim on the covering of the Ark were again duplicated as a covering within the Temple. They were presented as half human and half lion but in the reverse of the ancient Sphinx of Egypt (cf. Ezek. 41:15-26).

This vision of Ezekiel is of the millennial system and the cherubim here are of two types, the man and lion headed systems. They represent the two

cherubim that fell from grace, Satan and the second of the system, the lion-headed cherub or aeon that stands at the throne of God. They are to be replaced from the Host. All of the symbolism of this Temple relates to the restoration and the coming system, which has yet to be fulfilled.

The important factors of Ezekiel’s description relate to the throne of God under the cherubim and the appearance of the Glory of God. This being, Jesus Christ, who is the Glory of the God of Israel is a being who is described as leaving by the east gate on his throne chariot (Ezek. 10:18-19; 11:22-23). He returns from the same direction and re-consecrates the purified Temple by his presence (cf. Ex. 40:34-38; 1Kings 8:10-11). Jesus Christ is the "Glory" of our great God and Saviour (Titus 2:11-13).

The cherubim moved with the Spirit wherever it moved and their wings covered the structure touching as it did in the Temple (Ezek. 1:11-12). Ezekiel 10 relates the matter to the Glory of the God of Israel and the plan of salvation. We see from this test that the Glory of Yahovah left the cherubim and stood over the house and the house was filled with the cloud, the court was full of the brightness of Yahovah’s glory. The cherubim is defined as having one of the four faces which, when compared with Ezekiel 1, shows that the face of the cherub is that of the bull, which symbolises the Bull-slaying typology of the Mithras and Mystery systems.

This being that was the Glory of Yahovah of Hosts and was himself given the name Yahovah; his portion is Jacob. He was the angel in the pillar of fire and cloud that followed Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 32:8-9). The entrance of the East Gate of the Lord’s house is reserved for the prince. From his ascent he was anointed beyond his comrades and became a son of God in power from his resurrection from the dead (Psa. 45:6-7; Heb 1:8-9; Rom 1:4).

The typology of this activity is represented by the Atonement Sacrifice of which the bull was sacrificed for the sin offering of Atonement for the high priest and the priesthood. Thus the Messiah was sacrificed to redeem both himself and the Host. The distinction of the two lay in the blood ritual. The priest dipped his finger in the blood and sprinkled it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary and also on the horns of the altar of incense in the tent of meeting, as part of the daily sacrifice or service. On Atonement, the high priest entered the sanctuary with incense and brought the blood of the bull into the Holy of Holies where he sprinkled it seven times each before, over and in front of the covering or mercy seat (Lev. 4:6-7, 16:12-14).

The cloud of incense was symbolic of the shield of the cloud of the Messenger of the Presence when it appeared to Israel and to protect the high priest from his exposure to the presence of "glory" of God.

The mercy seat is actually comprised of two beings over the covering, not on either side, who were responsible for the covering of the testimony. The entire function of the mercy seat is of judgement of which these beings are part of that system (Zech. 3:1-10). The Angel of the Lord or Angel of Yahovah was given the power of judgement. We see that there were two being in this place. The entire structure of the government of God was based on this original structure.

Originally, Satan was an anointed guardian or covering cherub but had been reduced here to accuser.

The Ark of the Covenant then reflects a process, which is a physical representation of the spiritual process of the elect taking the law of God into their hearts and becoming the living representation of the laws of God. The physical symbol had to be removed in order to make way for a greater spiritual symbol that was to find its first expression in Christ but was to extend to the entire elect as sons of God. The elect became the naos or Holy of Holies (1Cor. 3:17). As Christ was the Logos, so too do we become the Logoi. See the paper The Oracles of God (No. 184). The power of God rested within each of the elect.

The Ark had to make way for a greater system and was removed and hidden so that it would not be brought to mind. The prophet Jeremiah explained what was to happen to the Ark (Jer. 3:16).

The Ark of the Covenant is a powerful symbol of the Temple and the laws of God. It is associated with the rule and authority of God. The Old Covenant looked forward to the New Covenant where the Holy Spirit was extended to the people of God on a progressive basis. The entire purpose was centred on the power of God and makes men extensions of His being by virtue of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit being internalised, we could not keep God’s laws in their intent and we would pervert them to our own advantage. Judaism did this by their tradition and Christ castigated them for this fact.

The way into the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies was made open for us from the death of Christ at Passover, when the temple veil was torn in two (Matt 27:51; Mk 15:38; Lk 23:45; Heb 6:19, 9:3; 10:20).

We are the Holy of Holies and our hearts are the spiritual Ark of the Covenant as the repository of the law of God.