THE ARK AS REPRESENTING CHRIST
A. McBride
Exodus 25: 20; Matthew 2: 13, 14; 2 Samuel 15: 23–26; 2 Chronicles 35: 1–5, 18
I wanted to speak about the ark as representing Christ, and particularly from the point of view of its protection. As we know the testimony is Christ. We are charged to maintain the testimony of our Lord in a hostile scene; apostasy is arising all around us and John tells us there are many antichrists. So there is a need, beloved brethren, of devotion to take up the great thought of the ark representing Christ in testimony; to take up the great thought of what He is to God and for men; so that He has a place in our hearts and we find that we can in some way enter into the protection of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I read in Exodus about the cherubim, they were on the mercy-seat. They convey the idea not only of protection, but also the idea of divine pleasure. The cherubim represent the maintenance of the rights of God. The ark was made of acacia-wood with the mercy-seat on top. It was made of pure gold, these cherubim were part of it, and they were looking on the lid of the ark. In Hebrews they are called the cherubim of glory. God was taking care of what spoke to Him of Christ. That precious ark, its dimensions are given and its construction is given; God was taking care of it by way of these cherubim, expressing to us His delight in Christ as a Man here who came to do the will of God. That is the ark of acacia-wood, that is Jesus Christ here in devotion and service to His God and Father, bringing the basis for God dwelling with men, because it says, “there will I meet with thee”. The ark was the centre of the whole tabernacle system, everything was related to the ark, everything in the system; the tribes were all related to the ark too—their movements were all related to the
ark. God’s centre is in Christ and He would tell us that His delight is in that blessed Man. It says, “and shalt put in the ark the testimony that I shall give thee”. We spoke this afternoon of Jesus Christ; that would be the ark as made of acacia-wood, His humanity. I think the mercy-seat all of gold brings out the greatness and glory of this blessed One, the Son of God. That is who was here in testimony, none less.
I wanted to link that with the scripture in Matthew because there you get the idea of protection in these two dear people, Joseph and Mary. Joseph is told, “Arise, take to thee the little child and his mother, and flee into Egypt”. That is the Ark; the true Ark is Jesus, the little Child. It brings out something of the way that Christ was here; how He came into lowly circumstances in view of bringing God to us, in view of letting us see that there is a divine dwelling-place, and that we can be held in relation to God in that dwelling-place. They were told to go down to Egypt to escape; it is a question of the protection of this little Child. I think it alludes to the apparent vulnerability of the testimony of our Lord today, assailed on every hand; the power of the antichrist and the power of apostasy rising all around; and it would appear that the testimony would be vulnerable. But beloved brethren, it is not vulnerable.
Who was this little Child? This little Child was the true Ark of God; He was the true Ark of the covenant; He was the Ark of Jehovah’s strength. He was all of that, but He was there as a babe. Think of the inscrutability that was there in that little Child—it is like the half cubit in the measurements of the ark. It brings out the inscrutability of the Person who was here, a real Man, but God in His being. How blessed that is, and we are charged with the care of this precious testimony, the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The scripture in Exodus would show us God’s regard for the ark. So He would bring out in these two dear people their regard for Christ, and challenge you and me
as to our regard for Him. How precious it is to think that as Jesus came in in His lowliness and smallness, God arranged for these persons to be related to this blessed One for His protection. Also, in Luke, Anna and Simeon were there. You think of Jesus being brought into the temple, and Simeon taking Him in his arms, the true priest bearing the Ark of God in the temple. He says, “now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace”, Luke 2: 29. How He was served by those who loved Him! That is a challenge to you and me.
Are we ready to serve the Lord in this way as taking up the apparent vulnerability of the testimony, of all that would speak of Christ, taking it up and protecting it as best we can?
I just wanted to speak about David because he too had his part in the protection of the ark. It was not always protected, it was carried away by the Philistines, coming eventually to the house of Abinadab, where it was out of sight. When David speaks about it in Psalm 132, he speaks about finding it in the fields of the wood; those who should have cared for it did not care for it at all. That is the truth; much of that which professes Christ’s name has no heart for Christ. Let us not be like what we are surrounded with; not only the apostasy, not only the antichristian influences, but the so-called religious influences, they have no heart for Christ. It says, “we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood”, Psalm 132: 6. That is no place for the ark of God. It is like the dark ages, the testimony apparently out of sight. O, the heart of David! He says, “I will not come into the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed”. What devotion was that! Think of David as a young man getting some impression of Christ. O, dear young believer, Have you a real impression of Jesus? Are you set for Him? David says, I will not go in for my own comfort despite the sufferings. He says, “remember for David all his affliction”. He knew what affliction was. Then he says, “Until I find out a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob”. O, that we may have a devotion, a commitment like that to go after Christ. He brought the ark to its own place.
He had to learn lessons, as we all do; he had to learn lessons about priestliness; he learnt the sad, sorrowful lesson of the new cart, that the priests only could carry the precious ark. He was adjusted and had help from God how to care for this ark. We need that help, beloved brethren. David brought the ark into its place, spread a tent over it, and put it in the midst.
Have we been helped to do that? That is the place for Christ. He is the only One who has the right to that place, in the midst. It was a temporary setting, he spread the tent; it awaited Solomon coming on to the throne to build the temple. But the ark was there as cared for by one who loved it, he could speak about it as the ark of Jehovah’s strength. How beautiful that is! It says elsewhere that those who looked after it, in that interim period, were the sons of the priests. It was cared for in the liberty and blessedness of sonship. That is our part today; we are waiting the finality when we will enter into the glory, where all is secured in what answers to what Solomon typifies.
We know the history after its setting in the tent. Solomon came to the throne, the house was built, the ark was brought into its place, and the staves drawn out, typical of Christ at rest.
There He needs no protection; but today, in this provisional time. He needs protection, and 2
Samuel 15 brings out the protective feelings of David for the ark. Absalom had arisen; he represents what is antichristian. John says there are many antichrists, but Absalom would represent something that is set against Christianity. He usurped David his father’s throne, and here they were, fleeing from him; they were in defeat and flight. David went out with all the people, “And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over”. Do we feel the way that the rights of Christ have been usurped in our day? They went out
and this man Zadok, priest as he was, brought the ark of God. He meant well but he took it out of its place, he brought the ark of God to be with David in rejection. David says, “Carry back the ark of God into the city”. You think of the feelings of David as to that; he would not expose it to the rigours of flight, nor would he take it out of its place.
We need to realise and respect the place that Christ has. The centre of divine unity is in Christ. The ark in Zion represents the centre of divine unity and divine glory; whatever the exigency, whatever the difficulty that might arise, we cannot take Christ out of His place.
There are those who perhaps would have things their own way without reference to Christ, without reference to the implications of the Lord’s supper; that is like the ark out of its place.
David says, “Carry back the ark of God into the city”. He was holding, I believe, to the, unity of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit relates to a fixed order of things. Paul speaks about these three concentric circles in Ephesians 4 relating to the unity of the Spirit; they all have one centre and that centre is Christ. So David says, “Carry back the ark of God into the city”; Christ will not be moved from His place. Those who would protect Him would honour that; they would honour the place that God has given Him, and honour the place that He has in the assembly. That really relates, I believe, to His rights at the Supper; that we regulate our lives, and we regulate our exercises in regard of the Supper. So he says, “If I shall find favour in the eyes of Jehovah, he will bring me again”. God did bring him again. What it brings out is the beauty of David’s feelings, his desires, his exercises in regard of the ark and its rightful place.
So let us be like that, beloved brethren, in the times of public departure that we are part of, seeking to maintain Christ in His own place.
Now, I just want to speak about 2 Chronicles. This is care for the ark in days of recovery; Josiah’s is the last recovery and is like the days we are in. In the
course of God’s dealings with His people there had been failure on their part and through mercy some recoveries. Now this is the last one. What happened after this was disastrous and applies to the public situation in which we have part. What we want to see, beloved brethren, is the way that Josiah was helped to bring the ark into its right place. He calls it the holy ark.
We need to be developed in our feelings for Christ. We spoke this afternoon a little of His deity, who He is; yet He was here in manhood, but He is holy; the ark is holy. We need to understand that. It is a mark of divine recovery amongst men when we begin to appreciate, as God does, the holy character of Jesus. It says, “Josiah held a passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem; and they slaughtered the passover on the fourteenth of the first month”. That is, they got back to first principles. It is a great matter after failure to get back to first principles; they held the passover on the fourteenth of the first month. There was some provision for it being done in the second month, but Josiah’s recovery was such that he got back to first principles; he celebrated it in the first month. Then he “set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah”. How fine it is that someone is so imbued with the spirit of recovery in relation to this holy ark, that he could encourage persons as to their service in the house of Jehovah. Would that we could encourage each other to a greater degree of service in the house of Jehovah.
Josiah was not an old man, he was quite young. We are told at one time that he was eight, and then he was sixteen, and at the time that this thing happened he was twenty-six. So that is an appeal to all of us, but especially to those that are in that age group, that your energy, your devotion, your committal is required. We would encourage you into the service of the house of Jehovah. Then he refers to “the Levites, that taught all Israel”. What thankfulness we should have, beloved brethren, for the amount of teaching we have had in the ministries of the recovery! They are all there for us to
go in for, and they have helped us as to what is due to Christ, and what place Jesus, the holy Ark, should have amongst us. I would encourage all to go in for the teaching; to read the books, to find out the value of them and compare them one with the other. You will find there is a Levitical line running through which is teaching, bringing out the glory and the greatness of the things of God.
Then he says, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built”. Solomon represents God’s highest thoughts in sonship; it was Solomon who built the house; it was Solomon who made the place for the ark; it was Solomon who “assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 5: 2), to bring up the ark into its own place of rest.
Josiah’s recovery was to that level. I do not know whether we really appreciate the quality of what we have been recovered to, the primary thoughts of God. All these things have entered into the ministries of the recovery. Let it be, beloved brethren, that for us, in our little part in the testimony, it is truly the greatest recovery. They were to “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; ye have not to carry it upon your shoulders”, that is the ark is to be at rest as it was in Solomon’s day, with no more conflict, no more journeying. In 2 Chronicles 5 the staves were drawn out, but they were not for the public to see. They were for the eye of God, a memorial before Him of the pathway of that blessed One as He did the will of God. Now He is installed in glory.
Josiah says, “Serve now Jehovah your God, and his people Israel”. He organised everything.
The heave-offering was there, that large appreciation of Christ. They had the passover too, that preceded it. I should have mentioned more as to it; they had the passover, that is they entered into the feelings of the sufferings of Christ. Every blessing, every recovery is based on the
appreciation of the sufferings of Christ. They ate the passover seven days, it was no passing matter, it was no light matter, they let the import of that be with them for the whole period.
So it is to be with us, beloved brethren, we are exhorted to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. That underlies our care for the ark, it underlies the basis for any recovery.
Then it says in 2 Chronicles 35: 18, “And there was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel hold such a passover as Josiah held, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present”.
We may wonder why the reference to Samuel comes in here. I think he represents a line of recovery; he represents the maintenance of the rights of God. There was another recovery which went back to Joshua’s day, but this one goes back to Samuel the prophet. Josiah’s recovery suggests the top note, and if we want to touch that we go back to the power of the prophetic word; to the teaching of Christ, and the teaching of the Scriptures, and the prophetic word that has come down by the Spirit throughout the dispensation. I think God would be pleased with that. I think the Spirit’s comment, that there was no passover like it holden in Israel, is a comment of divine pleasure. That is possible as we take up our responsibility to care for the things of Christ, small and vulnerable as they may be in an outward way, but they are intensely glorious.
Let us be helped to realise the holiness of the things we have to deal with, to be conscious that we are handling holy things, and that the holy things relate to the Person of Jesus. I have spoken very feebly, I know, but I trust you get the message, beloved brethren, that we are obligated to care for the things of our Lord, and care for the Person of our Lord. Love would meet that obligation. There is need for that more than ever today as the tide of antichrist and of apostasy is rising, indeed
awful things that are being said about Christ. It means that you and I are to maintain this thought of the holy ark; Jesus in the intrinsic purity and holiness and sinlessness of His humanity. Let all of us be in this great, final recovery for His name’s sake.
Address at Glasgow
20 June 1998