“Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you…” “Have them make a chest of acacia wood… There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you…” Exodus 25
The Ark of the Covenant was housed in the mobile tent Moses was commanded to build. People knew God was there. Those that did not treat the ark or the tabernacle with great respect perished in dramatic ways.
For nearly five hundred years the tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. Then King David proposed a more permanent structure. Though God did not permit David to be the builder, his son, Solomon, erected a magnificent Temple in Jerusalem.
Once a year, the high priest went into the presence of God, behind the curtain in the inner sanctuary called the Most Holy Place. There, at the Ark, atonement was made for the sins of the people. Year after year the priestly duties were performed. After about five hundred years, Someone walked by the temple and made a startling prediction: “I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Earlier, this same Jew had made an even more outrageous statement: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it back.”
The One who said these things knew a radical change was at hand. No longer would the Presence of God be in the Most Holy Place of a building built by men – the Presence of God was in Jesus! He knew He was to be the perfect Sacrifice offered once for all men. He knew that when He died the thick curtain that protected the Ark of the Covenant would be “torn in two from top to bottom”. He knew He was providing the way for all men to have access to His Heavenly Father. Jesus also knew His body was the Temple that would not stay in a tomb.
We know these things, but do we keep in mind God’s ongoing story? Today the new covenant established by God is not contained in a holy chest of wood – it is written on human hearts! “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”
For centuries archeologists have searched for the Ark of the Covenant. Yearly, thousands of tourists visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem only imagining how beautiful that building must have been. But arks exist today! The arks are the hearts of those who believe in the Son. And temples live today! Each member of the Body of Christ is the dwelling place of God. Let us thank and worship this One who has given us so much.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” I Corinthians 6:19-20