The ARK of His Testament

Revelation 11:19 “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”

John said in Revelation 11:19 that he saw that “…the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament…” In the Old Testament the ark represented the presence of the Lord. Within the ark was the tables of stone, the golden pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. God would come to commune with the high priest once a year over the mercy seat of the ark as the priest made atonement for Israel’s sin. But when we come to the New Testament, Jesus is the ark of the covenant. The word ark in the Hebrew means coffin, and the children of Israel carried the box for all those generation’s not knowing that it pointed to Jesus who had to lay down in the ark for three days and three nights. It was a funeral! It was a shadow of the burial of Christ! Notice Exodus 25:18-20 which says “And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 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. 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.” The two Cherubims were at Sepulcher of our Lord proclaiming His resurrection! John 20:11-12 says “But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.” Jesus was the word in the coffin, he was the true manna that came down from heaven, and he was Aaron’s rod that budded. And now he’s not a dead word in the ark (coffin), but he’s the living word inside of every believer. We have the presence of the Lord inside of us. No wonder Deut.33:27, says “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.” The phrase “…everlasting arms…” is talking about the wings of the Cherubim over the mercy seat. Angels are messenger’s; but Jesus is the Messenger of the Covenant, whose arms were outstretched on the cross for an everlasting memorial of our atonement being paid and full. When he returns, he will cast out the last enemy to be destroyed, which is death.“ 

-Anthony Booker