THE ARK AND THE MERCY-SEAT
THE ARK AND THE MERCY-SEAT
We have seen in type all the elements that make up the divine system in the opening verses of this chapter. The revelation of God, the moral and official glories of Christ, different aspects of the Spirit, and lastly the saints as borne upon the heart of Christ the heavenly Priest.
We come now to the consideration of them in detail and the first thing to be described is the ark. God begins with this very distinctive type of the One in whom He has secured everything for Himself, and who has sustained His glory in every way, and by whom He will bring to pass His will in the reconciled universe. He would have that Person to be known and enshrined in our affections. Paul’s prayer was that the saints might be strengthened with power by the Father’s Spirit in the inner man, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts” (Ephesians 3: 16, 17). He would secure a place for the Ark in our affections.
No type of Christ in Scripture is more wonderful than the ark, and in this chapter it is seen as “the ark of the testimony”. That is a character of the ark peculiar to the wilderness; it is never spoken of as “the ark of the testimony” after the crossing of Jordan. Testimony is not needed in the sphere of resurrection or in heaven, for there is no evil or darkness there. (In Revelation 11: 19 it should read “the ark of his covenant”). Testimony is what comes into [p. 155] witness for God in a scene of darkness and contrariety, and every element of that witness is embodied in Christ, so that there is no true testimony except as He is held in our affections.
It is well to remember that in normal conditions the ark had its place in the holiest, and could only be contemplated there. I do not think that we could rightly understand what is presented in Exodus 25 except in the light of the holiest. Entering into the holiest is not a privilege reserved for very advanced saints; Scripture rather puts it as open to all who have remission of sins. (See Hebrews 10: 14 - 22). If you have remission of sins in the witness of the Spirit you have the freedom of the holiest. Now the question is, Have you a true heart? Do you really love the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, you will delight to approach in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to your heart from a wicked conscience, and washed as to your body with pure water, to contemplate all that Christ is as the Ark of the testimony and the Ark of the covenant.
“The Ark of the covenant” is Christ as the One in whom the love of God is made known, and the perfect answer to that love in a Man. Everything that gives character to the covenant is set forth in Him. “The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8: 39) suggests to my mind the Ark of the covenant. Christ Jesus is the One in whom is perfectly set forth the disposition and thoughts of God man-ward. But then we cherish Him, too, as the One in whom all the suited conditions on man’s side are secured also. Man is in the presence of the holy love of God in perfect response to it without a cloud or a trace of distance. And nothing can separate God’s elect from that. It is eternally secured in Christ as the Ark of the covenant.
“The ark of Jehovah” is Christ as the One in whom all the rights of Jehovah are maintained. It is at the Jordan that this title comes in: “the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth” (Joshua 3: 13). He asserts His title to everything, and maintains it in power. It was the far-reaching power of “the ark of Jehovah” that caused the waters of Jordan to stand “in a heap, very far”. It was “the ark of Jehovah” that compassed Jericho and brought down its walls. And it was before “the ark of Jehovah” that Dagon fell on his face. Power completely victorious over all the strength of death and the enemy is seen in the ark under this title.
In the time of Eli they tried to use the ark to secure victory over the Philistines when their own moral condition was not at all in keeping with it, but God would not allow this to succeed. They thought they could repeat the triumph of Jericho, but the attempt only ended in disaster; the ark of God was taken. “The ark of God” is a title much used in days when God had not His true place in Israel. Its being taken by the Philistines was the departure of glory from Israel. Its being brought back to Bethshemesh by the kine, and afterwards to the city of David by the king, strikingly pictures how all that is due to God has been maintained in the face of His public dishonour here. Christ has restored that which He took not away. He has brought it back in a path of suffering love, but of complete devotedness, which ended in the offering up of Himself. In a coming day as the true Solomon He will bring it all to its proper and public honour. In the meantime the place of the ark [p. 157] in the house of Abinadab on the hill, and in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, and “in the midst of the tent that David had spread for it”, suggests different aspects in which Christ is cherished and honoured before the day of His public recognition as Centre and Head of all things in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
In the wilderness the ark went before the people to search out a resting-place for them. But in moving forward there is always sure to be conflict. Hence, when the ark set forward, Moses said, “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thy face”. But when the ark rested there was restful enjoyment for the time of the presence of Jehovah, so Moses said, “Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel” (Numbers 10: 33 - 36). If the two and a half tribes had really been identified in their affections with the ark they would not have wanted to stop on the wrong side of Jordan when the ark went over.
The ark was to be made of acacia-wood. This speaks of a holy and incorruptible humanity brought in by the power of the Holy Ghost, and in which everything was suitable for the setting forth of the glory of God in a Man. There is clearly a difference between the acacia-wood, and the pure gold with which it was covered. The acacia-wood sets forth the kind of Man that Christ was as begotten in the virgin of the Holy Ghost. “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” (Luke 1: 35). There was nothing in Him but what was suitable for the Spirit of God to come into contact with. Everything inwardly and [p. 158] outwardly was of such a character that the Holy Spirit of God could descend upon Him and abide on Him. But then this was in view of all that God was being expressed in a Man, and this is the gold. The acacia-wood and the gold came into most intimate contact in the type, though clearly distinguishable one from the other, and we see what answers to both in Christ — perfection in Manhood, and the setting forth of all that God is in a Man.
“A border of gold” is on the ark, the table, and the golden altar. It indicates something which applies in a distinctive way to these three types. The ark is that of the testimony, the table speaks of an order and administration in which the people of God are maintained before Him in accord with the testimony, and the golden altar teaches us that all is sustained by intercession — by the activity of dependent affections. The “border of gold” — a double border in the case of the table — is in each case “round about”. It seems to intimate that the apprehension of Christ in each type is to be held in the soul as surrounded — one might say, guarded — by a distinct sense of the divine glory of His Person. This is essential to any right thought of the testimony or the covenant, and it is essential to all priestly intercession, and the type would suggest that it is doubly essential, if one may say so, to any true communion of saints in accord with divine order and administration. This will come before us, if God will, when we consider the table.
Then the “rings” and the “staves” — whether on the ark or the other things — tell us plainly that all was intended to be carried. Everything that is of God, every divine thought that has been made good [p. 159] in Christ, is to be carried in testimony through the wilderness. This is an important part of Levitical service, and it has to be carried out under priestly direction. It is the privilege of all who have the Spirit to be Kohathites, and to bear the most holy vessels, but how far we are spiritually competent to take up this service is another matter. “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of Jehovah” (Isaiah 52: 11), is a very important word in this connection.
No one is debarred from being a Kohathite if he has desire and affection to take up this service. But only sanctified persons can take charge of the ark. The men of Kirjath-Jearim had a sense of what was due to the ark when they hallowed Abinadab’s son Eleazar to keep it (1 Samuel 7: 1). I do not think that Uzzah was a hallowed person; his touching the ark was not a hallowed touch, so “he died by the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6: 7). Indeed, putting the ark on “a new cart” was not at all “after the due order”; such an expedient might be allowed in Philistines, but not in David. The religious world uses many “new carts”, but woe betide us if we depart from “the due order”.
When the ark was brought into the temple the staves seem to have been partly removed to indicate that its journeyings were over, and it was now in rest. But “the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle” (1 Kings 8: 8). Every divine thought will be brought to fruition and rest as manifested in glory, but it will never be forgotten amid the holy splendour of the kingdom that all was once carried in testimony through a scene of difficulty. It will never be forgotten that saints have carried the ark in testimony for two thousand years before it was [p. 160] brought to the place of its rest. There will be no burden-bearing then; so that we find each family of the Levites taking its part in the service of song. But even in the wilderness the ark was not always being carried. From time to time it sought out a resting-place for the people. That answers to the coming together in assembly, where it may be realized that:
“The Spirit’s power
Has ope’d the heavenly door,
Has brought us to that favoured hour
When toil shall all be o’er”. (74:5)
“And thou ... shalt put in the ark the testimony that I shall give thee”. In chapters 19 and 24 the law is spoken of as the covenant, and morally the covenant comes before the testimony. That is, we must know the covenant before we can be really identified with the testimony. The covenant is private rather than public; it is the bond between God and His people, the terms proposed by Him and definitely accepted by them as committed to Him in affection. If we are not in “the bond of the covenant”, how could we be identified with the testimony? The testimony is the public witness on God’s part. As written with His finger on “the two tables of testimony, tables of stone” (Exodus 31: 18), it signifies that His will is to prevail universally. But this was to be brought about by the introduction of One who could say, “Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40: 7, 8).
The will of God — His good pleasure — has come into the world as having its place in the heart of Christ,
[p. 161] and just as everything in the tabernacle centred in the ark, and, one might say, took character from it, so Christ has come in to be the Head and Centre of God’s moral universe, and to give character to everything that stands in relation to Him. At the present moment God is giving testimony to His good pleasure by setting forth Christ as the One who came to do it. Hebrews 10 is a wonderful setting forth of the will of God as brought in and established by Christ.
Christ is the Ark of the testimony. The will of God has come into the world in a way of supreme blessing for man. Every man may now be blessed in Christ according to the good pleasure of God without any compromise of what is due to God. To believe in Christ is to accept His Headship, and to be blessed in Him according to the wealth of God’s good pleasure. But if the divine testimony is refused or disregarded, judgment is inevitable, for God’s will must prevail. If man’s lawless will is not judged and set aside in repentance, in presence of all the blessedness of God’s will made known in Christ, it must go out as expelled from His presence in judgment. It is utterly unfit to have a place with Him; it cannot be part of the reconciled universe.
How blessed to get an apprehension of Christ as the Ark of the testimony! To see Him as the One who not only delighted to do God’s will personally, but as great enough to give effect to God’s pleasure in relation to men, and indeed to all things. It is God’s pleasure that men should be blessed through believing in Him who has come to give effect to His will in a scene of lawlessness. Those who believe on Him receive His Spirit, and are thus brought into moral accord with Him. They then delight to [p. 162] contemplate Christ as the Ark of the testimony — to see in Him the expression of God’s blessed will, and to know that He will make that will the law of the universe. The will of God is known in Christ as a will to bless man infinitely, so that, though fallen and lost through sin, he may know God as One who willed his blessing, and who sent forth One who came in obedience and love to establish that will. Christ is the great Testimony of what is in the will of God for man, and indeed for the universe. God has made Him the Head of every man, the Head of all principality and authority, the Head over all things. Everything must take character from Christ; this is God’s great testimony in His universe.
Christ coming to do the will of God, and with God’s law in His heart, was with a view to God being known as sovereign in mercy. The Ark of the testimony sustains the Mercy-seat, and from above the Mercy-seat God speaks with the Mediator, and through Him to His people.
“Thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold”. God sets forth in the Mercy-seat what is altogether of Himself, hence it is of “pure gold”. It supposes utter and hopeless ruin on man’s side, so that nothing but mercy will meet the case; everything must stand in mercy. It is God coming out according to what He is in Himself when His creature has become fallen and lost. It is the setting forth of God’s righteousness in the way of mercy, but it is founded on the fact that His will has been established in Christ. The Ark supports the Mercy-seat.
It is through death that Christ has become the Mercy-seat; the blood is on the gold. Man being what he is, and God being what He is, death was a necessity if God’s rights in mercy were to be established. “The redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of his righteousness in the present time, so that he should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus” (Romans 3: 24 - 26).
Nothing is more wonderful than that God should assert His sovereign rights in the way of mercy and grace. The Mercy-seat was sustained and measured by the Ark of the testimony. God has brought in One by whom His will has been done, and by whom His pleasure will be established in the whole universe. It is in Him that God sets forth His righteousness in the way of mercy. Christ coming to do the will of God involved the removal of man after the flesh, and the glorifying of God as to all that that man was, and had done, and this becomes the support of the Mercy-seat.
It was a wonderful moment when God had Christ here under His eye. We can understand the heavenly host saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. The Ark was there, and everything was secured for God and man; the sure pledge of everything was there; an unshakable pillar for the support of God’s moral universe. But all this involved His death; we can only read the Gospels rightly in the light of His death. The Epistles really prepare us for the Gospels, for they show us — Romans for example — how every question that was connected with our guilt and state has been met, and that sets us free to come to the Gospels and contemplate that wonderful Person who is the Ark of the covenant and the Ark of the testimony. Then in the light of the [p. 164] Epistles and the Gospels we can take up the Old Testament Scriptures and see how “the things concerning himself” are everywhere and presented with most instructive detail, and in moral connections that add greatly to our apprehensions of Christ.
Then the two cherubim of gold were to be made “out of the mercy-seat ... at the two ends thereof”. The only place where cherubim had appeared before was as guarding the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3). Man, as fallen, could not be allowed access to the tree of life to perpetuate a sinful life upon the earth. But the cherubim are seen here in a very different character. In Genesis 3 they were found with “the flame of the flashing sword”, but what is made prominent here is their outstretched wings over the mercy-seat. I think the cherubim are representative of what must ever be attendant on God’s throne; they enforce in a judicial way what is morally suitable to all the attributes of God. “Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of thy throne”. The seraphim seem to be more identified with the divine nature; they ascribe holiness to God, and fly with the swiftness of divine love (Isaiah 6). But when God comes out as revealed in Christ according to what He is in His nature, it is seen that all His attributes are in perfect accord with mercy. His throne can take publicly the character of a Mercy-seat, and be glorified in doing so. The cherubim were to be made “out of the mercy-seat”, and they were to cover it over with their wings. In Christ and through His death all God’s attributes are seen to be in accord with what is in His heart. God’s rights in mercy are secured and protected by all His attributes. As we sing:
“The glories that compose thy Name
All stand engaged to make us blest”. (330:1)
[p. 165] His righteousness, and all that is concerned in His moral government of the universe, are in harmony with His sovereign mercy. How could this be, save through the death of Christ? We can understand it now, but it is divinely wonderful, and it claims adoration and praise from every heart that perceives it.
“Toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be turned”. They were not to look outward to take account, as it were, of man’s state or guilt, but inward and downward on that “pure gold” which ever carried, as we know, the blood sprinkled there on the day of atonement. The righteousness of God is not at the present moment taking account of men’s sins and their state for judgment, but is taking account of the infinite value of the blood of Christ, so that men universally are in God’s view from the standpoint of Christ and His death. Justification, forgiveness, reconciliation, are God’s thoughts — what He has in His heart — for all men. People do not believe it, but it is so. God would be known by all men as having come out in Christ, and as having secured His rights in mercy through the death of Christ. He is a Saviour God; it is His glory to be so.
Then it is “from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony”, that God speaks. All that He has to say to men at the present time is from thence, whether it be to His people or to men universally. The Mediator is introduced also. “There will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee”. God is speaking to men by Christ, and all that He says is in keeping with what Christ is as the Ark and the Mercy-seat. It is the speaking out of all that God is in supreme and infinite grace. And it can be spoken because the testimony is in the Ark. God’s will has been done, His glory and all that was due to Him maintained even as to sin, the man that was an offence to Him removed. The Ark with the testimony in it is the support of the Mercy-seat, and the wings of the cherubim cover it.
“God’s righteousness with glory bright,
Which with its radiance fills that sphere,
E’en Christ, of God the power and light,
Our title is that light to share.
O mind divine, so must it be
That glory all belongs to God:
O love divine, that did decree
We should be part, through Jesus’ blood.
O keep us, love divine, near Thee,
That we our nothingness may know,
And ever to Thy glory be
Walking in faith while here below”. (88:4)