The Ark of the Covenant is God’s throne (of judgement) which carries God’s presence
Components
Mercy Seat
Lid of the Ark
Elements inside of the mercy seat
The ark of the covenant consists of two pieces: The ark itself and the mercy seat. The ark is a box, a container.
The mercy seat is the lid of the ark, fits on top of the box.
Contents
– Aaron’s budding rod
– The tablets of testimony, where the instructions of God – His Torah – were written on, which we have made 1 x 1 cubit to (a) be able to fit inside the box and (b) to signify that we need to live the instructions of God according to our own cubit – according to our own conviction – as He reveals His Word, His Torah, His instructions to us.
– a golden pot with manna
Measurements
2 ½ x 1 ½ x 1 ½ cubits
Meaning of the Materials
Acacia (shittim) wood speaks of Yeshua coming in the incorruptible flesh, where He was scourged and chose to die to flesh and to show us the glory of God and therefore the ark is covered in gold. The crown tells us that God’s presence can only be in our lives if we crown Yeshua as King and that we can only have His covenant if Yeshua is our Messiah. We cannot base our lives only on the Torah. We must rather base our Tora-based lifestyle on Yeshua as Messiah by the grace and mercy of God. The calves’ feet of the cherubim tell us, that Yeshua came and gave His life as the Servant of all.
The staves remained in the rings to remind us of our responsibility to always carry God’s presence wherever we go.
Meaning of the numbers
1×1 (the tablets of stone) which is 1m2 because true worship is connected to: “Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu Adonai echad שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד
LISTEN AND DO, oh Israel, for the Lord your God is One.”
Material
The ark was made of:
shittim wood
overlain with pure gold
with a golden crown roundabout (the measurements of the crown are not specified, so we opted to use the same measurements as on the crown of the showbread table and altar of incense, which is the width of a hand)
4 golden rings on the 4 corners
2 staves of shittim wood, overlain with gold, which will remain in the ark and not be removed
The mercy seat is made of:
pure gold
measures 2 ½ x 1 ½ cubits (same size as the box)
2 cherubim of gold, one to stand on one end of the arc and one to stand on the other end of the arc and not on top of the arc as one often sees in pictures of the ark
cherubim stand with their feet on the ground holding the mercy seat (the lid), making it look like a chair with four legs
wings covering the mercy seat and faces of the cherubim
faces of the cherubim look toward one another
Exodus 25:10-22
10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.
13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.
16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
The ark of the covenant is connected to the sixth of the six foundations of our faith in Hebrews 6:2, which is “eternal judgement” and is actually God’s throne, which is held up high by the gospel (the cherubim). That means that God’s mercy is being carried by the gospel. What is mercy? The Hebrew word for mercy is RACHAMIM רַחֲמִים֙ which is also used for the womb of a woman. Life will be brought forth to us and in our lives through the gospel, but it’s a gospel where we need to be the servant of all.
The ark, which consists of two pieces, was assembled and carried as one. How can you carry the gospel around on this earth and in your life? By picking up the covenant! To do this, we need to understand what the specific covenant we have with God is based on.
First of all, it is based on the Torah, which is a marriage covenant or ketubah כְּתוּבָּה in Hebrew. There are two tablets of stone in the ark which are called the tablets of the testimony, which means that there are two copies of this marriage covenant – one for the husband and one for the wife – and not two tablets with five of the ten commandments on one and five of the ten commandments on the other as is often assumed. The covenant we have with God is thus based on a marriage contract. The tablets testify that there is a marriage contract between God and His people, between God and those who believe and follow Him.
Secondly it is based on God’s Word sown in our lives which is represented as the golden pot filled with manna. The Bible says in Numbers 11:7: “And the manna was as coriander seed”, which means that it was seed and not a warm and fresh baked bread which fell from heaven. The manna is God’s Word, but we need to work with it, plant it, use it, so that it can bear fruit in our lives and make us to shine forth His glory (the golden pot).
Thirdly it is based on righteousness, of which Aaron’s budding staff is a representation. Aaron’s staff was made of the almond tree and had leaves, flowers and fruit on it. Our covenant with God is based on the fact that He has made us righteous.
