The Ark of His Covenant

It may not be easy to work out the connection of the text; but taken by itself it is eminently instructive.

Much that is of God we fail to see: to us the temple of God in Heaven is still in a measure closed.

There is need that it be opened to us by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has rent the veil, and so laid open, not only the holy place, but the Holy of holies; and yet by reason of our blindness it still needs laying open, so that its treasures may be seen.

There are minds that even now see the secret of the Lord. We all shall do so above; and we may do so in a measure while below.

Among the chief objects which are to be seen in the heavenly temple is the ark of the covenant of God. This means that the covenant is always in the mind of God, and that his most holy and most secret purposes have a reference to that covenant.

It is “covenant,” not testament (see the Revised Version, which is the better translation in this place).

I. THE COVENANT IS ALWAYS NEAR TO GOD. “There was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant.”

Whatever happens, the covenant stands secure.

Whether we see it or not, the covenant is in its place, near to God.

The covenant of grace is forever the same, for—

1. The God who made it changes not.

2. The Christ who is its Surety and Substance changes not.

3. The love which suggested it changes not.

4. The principles on which it is settled change not.

5. The promises contained in it change not; and, best of all,

6. The force and binding power of the covenant change not.

   • It is, it must be, forever where God at first placed it.

II. THE COVENANT IS SEEN OF SAINTS. “There was seen in his temple.”

We see in part, and blessed are we when we see the covenant.

We see it when—

1. By faith we believe in Jesus as our Covenant-head.

2. By instruction we understand the system and plan of grace.

3. By confidence we depend upon the Lord’s faithfulness, and the promises which he has made in the covenant.

4. By prayer we plead the ovenant.

5. By experience we come to perceive covenant-love running as a silver thread through all the dispensations of providence.

6. By a wonderful retrospect we look back when we arrive in Heaven, and see all the dealings of our faithful covenant God.

III. THE COVENANT CONTAINS MUCH THAT IS WORTH SEEING.

The ark of the covenant may serve us as a symbol.

In it typically, and in the covenant actually, we see—

1. God dwelling among men: as the ark in the tabernacle, in the center of the camp.

2. God reconciled, and communing with men upon the mercy-seat.

3. The law fulfilled in Christ: the two tables in the ark.

4. The kingdom established and flourishing in him: Aaron’s rod.

5. The provision made for the wilderness: for in the ark was laid up the golden pot which had manna.

6. The universe united in carrying out covenant purposes, as typified by the cherubim on the mercy-seat.

IV. THE COVENANT HAS SOLEMN SURROUNDINGS. “There were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings,” etc.

It is attended by—

1. The sanctions of divine power—confirming.

2. The supports of eternal might—accomplishing.

3. The movements of spiritual energy—applying its grace.

4. The terrors of eternal law—overthrowing its adversaries.

   • Study the covenant of grace.
   • Fly to Jesus, who is the Surety of it.

Remarks Of Sound Divines

The great glory of the covenant is the certainty of the covenant; and this is the top of God’s glory, and of a Christian’s comfort, that all the mercies that are in the covenant of grace are “the sure mercies of David,” and that all the grace that is in the covenant is sure grace, and that all the glory that is in the covenant is sure glory, and that all the external, internal, and eternal blessings of the covenant are sure blessings.

—Thomas Brooks.

The covenant stands unchangeable. Mutable creatures break their leagues and covenants, and when they are not accommodated to their interests, snap them asunder, like Samson’s cords. But an unchangeable God keeps his: “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall the covenant of my peace be removed” (Isaiah 54:10).—Stephen Charnock.

The ark was an especial type of Christ, and it is a very fit one; for in a chest or coffer men put their jewels, plate, coin, treasure, and whatever is precious, and whereof they make high account. Such a coffer men use to have in the house, where they dwell continually, in the chamber where they lie, even by their bedside: because his treasure is in his coffer, his heart is there also. Thus in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). He is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell” (Colossians 1:19). Hereupon Christ is “the Son of God’s love” (Colossians 1:13); “his elect in whom his soul delights” (Isaiah 42:1); and he is “ever at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).—William Gouge.

A friend calling on the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, during his last illness, said to him, “Sir, you have given us many good advices; pray, what are you now doing with your own soul?” “I am doing with it,” said he, “what I did forty years ago; I am resting on that word, ‘I am the Lord your God’; and on this I mean to die.” To another he said, “The covenant is my charter, and if it had not been for that blessed word, ‘I am the Lord your God,’ my hope and strength had perished from the Lord.”—Whitecross.

The rainbow of the covenant glitters above, lightnings of wrath issue from below. This is the fire that breaks forth from the sanctuary to consume those who profane its laws. It is the wrath of the Lamb that bursts from the altar upon those who trample under foot his blood. It is the savor of death unto death to those who have rejected the gospel as a savor of life unto life. It is the reply of Christ to those who command him upon their own authority to come down from his lofty elevation, and commit himself into their hands. “If I be a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven and consume you.” Humiliation brings Christ himself from Heaven to earth; imperiousness brings down consuming fire. From the same temple, in which some behold the ark of the covenant, lightnings, voices, thunderings, earthquake, and great hail, descend upon those who have profaned its courts with their abominations.—George Rogers.