Monday 11 March 2013

THE ARK OF REFUGE / THE COVENANT



After the sins of the ancient world came to fullness in Noah's time went instruction to build an ark. This was a prophetic declaration of a coming temple, replicated severally over history.  Similar was a direction to come out of Egypt, after which a temple would be built, and so pharaoh was told to let the people go so that they could worship God. This same thing had been promised to Abraham in a distressing dream, when he got information of an impending bondage of His children, to be released after the sins of the Ammorites had come to a fullness. The promise here took a more substantive turn; the inheritance of the nations. After conquest of the same by Israel, the time had come to make it more permanent. An important aide in this conquest would be the presence of God, who rested on the temple from the time it was dedicated. 

A new order concerning the temples building, complete with dimensions, was ordered in the days of David, implemented by a more restful Israelthrough Solomon and later replicated by Cyrus the median King of Babylon, when He ordered the return of the Jews  to their land at will. This restored temple would usher the Messiah who in turn introduced a new form of worship and temple, worship in the spirit(Phil 3:3). 

The religious piety of the day could hardly comprehend the phrase "worship in the spirit". This new order cost Him His Life, just as He had planned, for from that day, He literally became the new sacrificial offering of sin for humanity(in the new declared temple), that as many as would come to believe in Him, would have eternal life(John 3:16.)

Jewish rabbis say that the numerical dimensions of the ark and the temple have a significance. This is because the Hebrew language is expressive, and all letters of the alphabet are assigned to a special number and significance. The dimensions of the temple and the ark are said to spell out the Characters of God, both His loving kindness, and vengeance against sin. As much as God is love, He is also a consuming fire. This both make up the wall of protection surrounding the saints, a garment.

The construction of these buildings signaled completion of one dispensation, and the start of a new. All with prophetic significance to the times that were coming in past years, and more importantly of now and of the glorious future of the reign of Christ after  the end of the age we are in. This is the cyclic nature of all prophesy, that a word seemingly addressing today should be relevant two thousand years ago.

Presence or absence in the covenant (Noah's and Israel's) determined whether one would live or not. So for Noah, only the eight members of the family locked in lived. In Moses' temple, the covenant was in the oath before God, that "all He says we will do," referring to the commandments that would be given by the hand of Moses. This covenant would be protected in the ark of the covenant, together with the covenant of priesthoods budded rod of Aaron, and a pot of manna, the provision of the wilderness.

The ark of the new covenant of Christ, entered into by a partaking of His body("Unless one eats my flesh and drinks my blood, He is not worthy to be my disciple" Christ said,) which is an expression of a yielding to His Lordship, and worship of only Him in spirit(Phil 3:3). Christ is the new Sacrifice, replacing the sin offerings of the old testament/covenant.

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