THE ARK OF THE COVENANT (Josh 4.18); THE ARK OF THE LORD (JEHOVAH) (Josh 3.13)
First, we will deal with the Ark of the Covenant. The Scriptures speak of two forms of covenant. As far as man is concerned a covenant is a binding agreement between two parties and normally sealed by some token. Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech after the latter acknowledged that his servants had violently seized a well belonging to Abraham. The covenant was sealed with a gift of seven ewe lambs (Gen 21.28). Jacob made a covenant with his uncle Laban, sealing it by erecting a monument (Gen 31.44-46).
However, a covenant established by God is of a different order altogether for He does not consult with man, nor does He seek his agreement. God’s covenants have as their objective the blessing of man on God’s terms. God’s covenant with Noah was in the form of an unconditional promise that while the earth remained He would not again flood the world. On the other hand, the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai was conditional, for all depended on their obedience to God’s laws (Deut 29-30).
Once the nation had passed over Jordan into the Promised Land, the Ark was never again known as the Ark of the Testimony. While the priest bearing the Ark stood still in Jordan as the people passed over it was called the Ark of the Testimony (Josh 4.16), but as soon as the priests came up out of the midst of Jordan the title used for the Ark was the Ark of the Covenant (Josh 4.18), albeit the latter title had been used of the Ark during the wilderness journey. Now that the people were in the Land, the Ark of the Covenant would be a permanent reminder that their blessing depended on their faithfulness to God and obedience to His laws.
So what does the title, the "Ark of the Covenant" signify? In the first place it confirms that the nation was in covenant relationship with God on God’s terms. God yearned that His people would come into, possess, and enjoy all the blessings of the Land He had so long before promised to Abraham and his seed (Gen 17.6-8). While the Ark remained with the people, God was pleased to signal His presence with a cloud of glory. Sadly, because of disobedience and idolatry, the blessings of the covenant, which were conditional, could not be sustained; so the Ark with its attendant glory departed (1 Sam 4.21-22).
Unlike Israel, the saints of God are not in covenant relationship with God, for the new covenant to which the Lord Jesus referred at the institution of the supper (Mt 26.28) has yet to be implemented. Our Lord was speaking about an unconditional new covenant founded upon the efficacy of His shed blood, which God will make with Israel and Judah in a coming day. God will put His law into their inward parts and write it in their heart, and He will be their God. They shall all know Jehovah, from the least to the greatest of them; for God will pardon their iniquity, and their sin will He remember no more - see Jeremiah 31.1-34, and Hebrews 8.8-12. All this will happen at the coming in of the millennial age.
However, the saints of God today are beneficiaries of the New Covenant. The fact that we have eternal life through faith, that we are one with the Lord Jesus Christ, and have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for us, is confirmation enough that these are some of the precious blessings arising from the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian saints confirming that God had made him and Timothy "able ministers of the new testament (covenant); not of the letter (the law), but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2 Cor 3.6).
Second, we will deal with the Ark of the Lord (Jehovah). The name "Jehovah" had reference to His almighty power and of how such power would be exercised in the protection of Israel and in judgment on opposing nations. Such was the power and authority of the Lord of all the earth, as represented by the Ark, that Jordan’s waters divided. So, just as Jehovah’s almighty power delivered the nation from bondage in Egypt, carried them through the Red Sea, and brought down the walls of Jericho, that same power would now enable them to take and secure possession of the land. The Ark of Jehovah in their midst and His glory residing upon it would ensure that all opposing forces were set aside by God to allow for a triumphant occupation of the Promised Land. Alas, the people through disobedience and idolatry never ever took full possession of the Land. Even today, the arch-enemy of souls seeks to hinder the saints of God from enjoying all the spiritual blessings God has put within our grasp and range of understanding. We have in God’s Word a vast reservoir of truth that God would have us reach out for, apprehend, and make good to our souls.
As God’s children we should recognise the power and authority that the Lord yearns to exercise over us to help and protect us along the pilgrim pathway. It is one thing to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, but quite another to know the Lordship of Christ in our lives. The Apostle Paul wrote, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s" (1 Cor 6.19-20). Israel disregarded the holiness, power, and dignity of the Ark of Jehovah so God allowed it to be taken from them. May we daily walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, and be conscious of His strength, power, and love to keep us in the current of His will.
In 1 Samuel 5 we read that the Philistines had taken the Ark of the Lord and set it up in the house of Dagon. It is worthy of note that when the Ark was set beside the idol, its title was the Ark of Jehovah (1 Sam 5.3-4). There was such latent power in the Ark that the idol Dagon, a chimera and the fish god of the Philistines, could not possibly subsist in its presence. First the idol fell on its face, then, when restored to its plinth it crashed to the floor in pieces. The testimony of the saints as to the lordship of Christ should be faithful and powerful enough to demolish any argument that questions the authority of the Word of God. Regrettably, it sometimes happens that because of unfaithfulness, the Lord allows the testimony to be swallowed up in Christendom. This is exactly what happened to Israel: because of their unfaithfulness God allowed the Philistines to steal away the Ark of the Lord.
The Apostle Paul recorded that while all had forsaken him in his defence of the gospel of the grace of God, the Lord stood with him and strengthened him, and "that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion" (2 Tim 4.17). On that occasion, Paul put his own words into practice: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (Eph 6.10).
To be continued.
