Exodus 25:1-1 1
WHEN THE Lord commanded Moses as to the tabernacle, the first thing that He mentioned was
The Ark of the Covenant
“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. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it.” vv. 10,11.
The ark, or chest, was made of wood, thought by some to have been the imperishable acacia, and would speak of the humanity of Christ the Holy One who was not allowed to see corruption. This was covered within and without with pure gold, which is used in Scripture as a symbol of divine intrinsic righteousness, because, when “tried in the fire” (Rev. 3: 18) it yields no dross (being pure), and therefore loses nothing of its weight. Now who was He that, as a Man, was divinely pure and righteous “within and without"? I am sure that you will say at once that it could be no other than the same precious Lord Jesus Christ, “God manifest in the flesh.” The ark then was a type of Christ.
Then within this ark the two tables of testimony, on which the law was engravers, were preserved (chap. 25:16; 31:18; Deut. 10:55And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me. (Deuteronomy 10:5)). Now who but Christ could say, “Thy law is within My heart.” You see He was not only spotless in nature, but His righteousness, as a Man, was as perfect as His obedience was unlimited. The First man could not keep the law, but the Lord preserved it, every iota, unbroken. How absolutely true it was of Him, as a Man, that He “loved the Lord His God with all His heart, and with all His soul, and with all His strength"! And did He love His neighbor as Himself? Ah, how much more than Himself! Yet who could be neighbor to Him who stood alone in His perfections — the spotless One?
Well then, He went beyond the law, and loved His enemies; and that so much more than Himself that “He gave His life a ransom” for them. He “died for the ungodly,” and thus did not simply keep the law, but went far beyond its righteous requirements. The law did not require Him to lay down His life; no, He did that, as He says Himself, because “this commandment have I received of My Father,” (John 10:1818No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10:18)).
It was His delight to glorify His Father at any cost, and that is more than the law. Neither did the law demand of Him the path of grace and goodness toward men in which He walked. What law required Him to heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, weep over Jerusalem, bear in blessed sympathy our “sicknesses, and carry our sorrows,” and then at last endure the wrath of God for our sin, shedding His own life’s blood for us? No, we must look somewhere else than to the law for the spring of all this. Surely we know it was not law but love; for “God is love,” and He was love, “God manifest in the flesh.”
A crown of gold was to be placed around the top of the ark. The One who was rejected by man on earth, is now crowned with glory and honor in God’s own presence in heaven.
ML-05/03/1970