The late J. Revell
The center of all the system of ritual and ordinance instituted under the law of Moses was the chest containing the tables of stone, called the ark of the testimony, and the ark of the covenant.
In the contents of that ark there was, in letter, the expression of God’s mind respecting man (the testimony), and also that God bound Himself to be the God of such a man (the covenant): but the man was not present.
It is affecting to think of the desolateness of the holiest in the tabernacle. God placed the sign of His presence there, for He dwelt between the cherubim, but there was no man, only a record in stone in the sacred chest.
Now in the Lord Jesus the man is found; He is the spirit of all that had previously been only in letter. All that the ark prefigured is found in Him.
His perfect humanity was set forth in the incorruptible wood of which it was made.
Divine Righteousness was set forth in the gold with which it was covered; and the testimony (the law) found its living resting-place in Him.
He is set forth a mercy seat in the power of His blood (Rom. 3:25), for in Him every attribute of God finds its satisfaction’; and the divine glory dwells, for the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
It is a deep joy to contemplate everything that was set forth in figure and letter finding its living fulfillment in Him.
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You thank God for your food, thank Him also for your medicine, for a day’s trial is often of more value to you spiritually than a year’s prosperity. We may not be able to go to the heathen abroad, but we are not thereby released from our obligation to the heathen at home.