Ark of the Covenant

How many of you have seen the movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark? Isn't that amazing?

Except for, you know, probably 80% of the people here, no matter what ages, raised their hands. The other 20% don't watch movies. But it's amazing how many people of all ages—I mean, the movie's almost 35 years old. How many people have seen that? And of course, it's a cartoon movie. I mean, it's so unrealistic, it's fun. But Indy is going to save the world because whoever gets the Ark of the Covenant—it's the Ark of the Covenant that was back in the tabernacle of ancient Israel—whoever gets that Ark will have complete power. And he's trying to save the Nazis from getting it, because somehow if the Nazis get it, they'll be able to use the power of God to take over the world. So yeah, Indiana Jones against the whole Nazi regime, and he saves the world by getting the Ark of the Covenant. Now, in reality, there are people who are always trying to look for the Ark of the Covenant. There are archaeologists who are always trying to find it. You'll read stories every once in a while where they think they have a lead, or a book comes out, or the Smithsonian Channel will have a whole program on the Ark of the Covenant. The two theories that seem to be real popular right now is that it's in Ethiopia, although there is in Ethiopia a temple there where they claim inside is the Ark of the Covenant, because Solomon went there, and he took it. He's supposed to have taken it there after he died, or ended up there at some point. And then the other is that it's under the temple mount. But you can't get to it because it's blocked, and nobody will let you get to it.

Well, the real Ark of the Covenant has a lot to do with this day. If you thought I was going to tell you where the Ark of the Covenant is, well, in a way I am. Okay, in another way I'm not. But the real Ark of the Covenant has a lot to do with the Day of Atonement, and what this day is all about. Let's go to Exodus 25, where they were given the instructions on how to build the Ark of the Covenant.

It's very interesting. In the Jewish society, the book of 2nd Maccabees, which is a historical book, claims that Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant, was inspired by God, took the Ark of the Covenant up to a mountain and buried it in a cave and sealed it. And there it would stay sealed until the coming of the Messiah. So those who believe that 2nd Maccabees is historically correct, and there are some things in it that are.

I mean, the 2nd Maccabees does give us some history, but that's the teaching of that book that Jeremiah was inspired to do that. Now, there's nothing in the Bible that says Jeremiah did that, although Jeremiah does make sure the Ark of the Covenant is a prophecy. But we'll talk about that later. Verse 18. First of all, it tells them to build this Ark. Here it's called the Ark of the Testimony. And the reason it's called the Ark of the Testimony is because the Testimony from God, the two tablets of stone, continuing to take commandments, were to be put into this Ark.

And this Ark wasn't very big. It was about 2 and a quarter feet high, and maybe 3 and 3 quarters feet long. It wasn't very big. Made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. And then there was something that was supposed to sit on top of it. And what was supposed to sit on top of it, there was a lot of detail. Let's look at verse 18. And you shall make two carabim of gold. Let's go to verse 17.

We'll look at that first. You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length, and a cube and a half shall be its width. So on top of this was what is called the mercy seat. And it's solid gold. And the whole, what I want to talk about in the sermon today is the mercy seat. We're going to look at the mercy seat. The Day of Atoven has more rituals in it than any of the other holy days.

And we could probably get four sermons and never cover all the rituals. But I'm just going to zero in on one thing. And that's this mercy seat. That's this. We had some problems today. I forgot my, why don't I have a clicker? And I forgot my laser pointer. So we're going to do this really old-fashioned way. Okay.

I'll have the shouting from here. This is the mercy seat. This part, that here with the horns on it. Okay. It sits on top of the Ark of the Covenant. See? You might have technology, but sometimes in a pinch. Now here's what's to be on top of that, on top of the mercy seat there.

Verse 18, And you shall make two caravim of gold, of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Now the caravim are a type of angel. It's the highest form of angels that are mentioned in the Bible. Make one carab at one end, verse 18, the other carab at the other end. And you shall make the carabim at the two ends of it one piece with the mercy seat.

So they were to be made into it, not just laid on top of it, but attached to it. And the carabim shall stretch out their wings above the covering, or above covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another. And the faces of the carabim shall be toward the mercy seat.

And you shall put the mercy seat on top of the Ark, and in the Ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you. So here's an artist's rendition. You'll see various renditions of what it was supposed to look like. This is, you know, it's a good idea of what it would look like. One of the things that's very interesting is the simplicity of how it was to be moved, and the instructions on how it was to be moved were very specific.

See the poles that run through it? There's poles that run through it. Those poles were to be attached. When it was time to move it, those poles were to be put through those holes, and then they would pick them up and they would carry it, one on each side. There were Levites trained specifically to carry it. Oh, that might help if I start walking around much.

Thank you. Okay, good.

Now look at verse 22. This is very important about this day, and it's about you. Now here it's about specifically ancient Israel and the high priest, but this day has a lot to do with your relationship with God. And there I will meet with you and will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two carobie, which are at the Ark of the Testimony, of all things I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. And when God says, when I speak to Israel, I will speak to them from this chest, from the top of this chest, not in it. And I will come to the top of it, and I will be between those two carobie, and I will give you instructions. So this was the place where God came, and in a very real way, it's a symbol of the throne of God, the mercy seat, the seat, the chair of mercy.

So this is the mercy seat of God. Now we do know that later, you know, that there's the two, many heroes, of course, has put the two tablets of stone, but later was put a number of other things.

The contents of the ark eventually contained not only the two tablets of stone, which had the Ten Commandments, but a jar containing manna that never got old and never decayed. So this ark was full of miracles. And Aaron's rod. Now you go out and you make yourself a walking stick out of some wood, and of course, as soon as you trim it, you cut it, you trim it, it dies, right? This stick continued to bud. It was a miracle. So it continued to bud even after, you know, all the time that Aaron had it. After he died, they put it inside the ark, and it continued to bud. So this is what was in the ark for these three things. Now the ark would have a very specific purpose then in terms of the work of the priesthood. What you have here is a rendition of what the tabernacle was. Now you see the tents of the Israelites nearby. Those tents would have stretched out for thousands of yards in every direction. This was the very center of the Israelite encampment.

The very center was where the tabernacle was. There was a gate here at the front that would come in to this area here. And here is where they would do the sacrifices. I don't think that's a real clear picture, but at least you get the idea. They would do the sacrifices here. This was very busy in here. There was a tent inside this enclosure, and this part here is called the sanctuary. And there's a lampstand in there, there's incense in there, there's a table with showbread in there. And the various of these Levites would go in there and do various things. Inside this tent there is a veil, there is a big curtain, and inside that set the Ark of the Covenant. Nobody could go inside here except once a year. Because if you went in there, you immediately died. And here's why. There was a cloud. Remember the cloud that they would see? Remember, they did this for 40 years in the wilderness. And remember, during the day, they followed a cloud. And at night it was a pillar of fire. When they weren't moving, where was the cloud?

It was in here. They could see it. Every morning they got up, they looked, and they knew right in the center of the cabinet was a huge cloud, a pillar of cloud coming out of this tent. They were in their tents, and this tent is where God was. And nobody was allowed in there. Now, this little rendition of the high priest is interesting because it shows all of his clothing. And maybe for one day of atonement, I'll go through just the clothing of the high priest. Because every piece of that clothing was important to the ceremony of this day. In fact, he's carrying some incense, which is very important. He had to carry incense on this day. So, nobody goes in to this place because God is literally there. His presence is there. At night, when you looked over here, guess what you saw? Fire. Fire coming out of this tent. A huge bill of fire. I don't know how far it went up in the sky, but you could see it all over the camp. And you knew, oh, God is in his tent. He's dwelling with us. He's there with us. And so, all the time that they were in the wilderness, this was with them. Now, that place where the Ark of the Covenant was, where God rested on the mercy seat. Remember what he said, I will speak to you from that mercy seat. I will talk to you from that spot. It was called the Holy of Holies. Sometimes it's called the Most Holy Place. Sometimes it's called the Holiest of All. But in all these, the exact name is obvious. This place is the holiest place because this is where God comes. The Ark of the Covenant resided in the Most Holy Place. And this Shekinah, or Shekinah, the glory of God rested on the lid of the mercy seat.

And it was there on the Day of Atonement.

So, understand, when the high priest on the one day of the year, the only person that could go in there walked in that Holy of Holies. He walked in and the place was a cloud. It was filled with like a mist, a cloud, a thick cloud.

It must have been a little frightening to go in there.

Okay, that gives us an introduction of what I want to talk about here.

Let me get out of this. Well, we can shut this down. There we go. Let's go to Numbers. Numbers 10. So, this gives us an idea of the Architecovidus' purpose. Numbers 10.

Now, remember, on the Feast of Trumpets, I talked about how those trumpets would blow whenever the people would move. The first part of this, of chapter 10, is about the silver trumpets, how they were to make them and how they were to blow them. Let's look at the last part. Look at verse 33. Numbers 10.

And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp. So, it was wherever the ark was sent out, Moses said. So, there was a ceremony. This ceremony would be, the cloud moved. You know, you get up one morning after maybe being camped in one place for months, and you'd go out and you'd look at the tabernacle, and the cloud was moving. And very quickly, guess what you hear? The trumpets blowing to assemble to move, and everybody sort of tear down their tents. And the Levites would run over to that tent. They were all very organized, very well trained, and they would take down the entire tabernacle. They would take down the altar where they sacrificed the animals. They had this big bowl of water, where they had the showbread, and they would go in. Now, remember, the glory of God, the pillar had moved. They could go into the Holy of Holies now and pick up the ark. But nobody could go in there while God was in here. So, they'd go in, and they had to pick it up in a very certain way. They had to put the poles in, and they had to pick it up, and then they would follow the cloud. So, it's not like everybody started marching. The cloud would move, and then four Levites would come along carrying the ark of the covenant following the cloud. And when the cloud stopped, they would put the ark there and put the temple around it, and everybody would come because every tribe knew exactly where they were supposed to camp, and they would camp all around it. And it would be the center of the camp again. It would be the center of the camp again. So, the ark was everything as far as the relation with God was understanding where this ark went, to where it stopped, because that's where God was. In fact, there was a part of the ceremony, verse 35, is whenever the ark would move, Moses would have to get up and say these words, Rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. And when it stopped, they would know, okay, this is where it's going to be, because he would say, Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel. And so they would set up the tabernacle. It was on the day of atonement that this holy of holies and the ark of the covenant took on very special significance. Let's go to Leviticus 16. There's an awful lot in Leviticus 16, but once again, I'm just zeroing in on the mercy seat.

Verse 1, because the entire chapter of Leviticus 16 is about the day of atonement, about the rituals of the day of atonement. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord had died. And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at simply any time into the holy place inside the veil. That was that second big curtain. It was called the veil. Before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. So he said, Nobody comes in there except under very specific circumstances. And that circumstance was the day of atonement, because atonement had to take place. Now it was mentioned in the Sermonet that atonement, what we translate atonement in English in Hebrew, literally means to cover. The idea was, was God would look at the sins and they wouldn't be there. They would be covered. This was a day for their sins to be covered. If they were not covered, they were exposed to God's judgment. This was a very, very solemn day. They all gathered outside that tabernacle by the hundreds of the thousands and watched what went on here, because this determined whether they existed as a people or did not, because of what happened on this day. They would gather around and the ceremonies would start. Let's go down to verse 11. Pick up a very specific ceremony, because there's the two goats, which is a whole subject in itself, a very important part of this day, but we're going to look at verse 11. And Aaron shall bring the bull of sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering, which is for himself. Then he shall take a censor full of burning coals of fire, from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense, beat and fine, and bring it inside the veil. Now he's going now inside the Holy of Holies. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat, that is on the testimony, lest he die, lest he die. When he pulled back that veil and walked in there, and the veil went behind him. No other Levite went in. Anybody else goes in, they die. And unless he did this very specific things, he died on this day. Verse 13, he shall put the incense of the fire, or unless verse 14, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. So he had to go in there and say, this blood is for me and my house. And he had to go in there, and he had to sprinkle this blood and say, take this blood as my substitute. He knew what it meant here. My sins are covered. My blood is required. Let the blood of this bull cover my sins. Now, imagine the anxiety as everybody watches. Imagine the anxiety inside the sanctuary, inside the area where they had just killed the bull, as all the Levites, some of them covered with blood for killing this bull, stand there and watch. The high priest goes in there and he closes the veil, and they're waiting to see if he comes out. Because you know what happens, what it means if he doesn't come out. It means God hasn't accepted him as the high priest.

They don't have a high priest. I have read that by the time of Jesus, when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies, they had a rope tighter on his ankle. Now why if he died? At least they could get him out, because nobody was going to go in there after. He goes in. Their very existence now depends on God accepting the sacrifice for Aaron. So Aaron goes in, he sprinkles with blood, he comes out. There's a big sigh of relief. But now there's another ceremony before the mercy seat. This isn't just legal-parted, I mean a governor can give a pardon, a president can give a pardon and legally say, okay, I pardon you for your crimes. It's like they didn't exist. This is totally different. This is God extending mercy. This is a relationship issue. This isn't just the law. It is saying, I am accepting a substitute for you. You broke it. This isn't just, you're not just pardoned, but I am accepting a substitute for you. Otherwise, your sins are uncovered and you are under judgment.

So what happens? Aaron comes out. There's this relief. Oh good. Thy priest is accepted. Now notice verse 15. Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering. So now he has to come back out into that area where they did the offerings and the sacrifices. Now he has to kill a goat, which is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and deal with the blood as he did with the blood of the bull and sprinkled on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, because of their transgressions for all their sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle of the meeting, which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Verse 17 says, There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes into making atonement of the holy place until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and all the congregation of Israel.

It goes on the whole rest of this chapter. It's about what this means. Your sins are covered. When he came out the second time, the people of Israel knew they were still the people of God. He had accepted the high priest, and he had accepted the high priest's sacrifice for them. And the blood of that goat covered their sins. Those sins were no longer looked at by God. You can see why, even today in the Jewish community, this is such a very, very important day. Sometimes we look at this as just sort of the next step between a trumpet and a feast of tabernacles. And we miss this day, the remarkable reality of this day. So now we have all these incredible rituals, but we say, okay, what does that mean to us, the church? And let's face it, for many people today, if they read Leviticus 16, they just say, oh, that's sort of weird. Leviticus 16 has enormous importance for New Testament, New Covenant Christians. And that is explained in great detail in three chapters in the book of Hebrews. We're only going to look at one. Let's go to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9.

Paul is writing to Jewish Christians who have a great understanding of all that we've been talking about here. They know about the tabernacle, which is Solomon's temple and Zerubbabel's temple. Now it's Herod's temple. And these activities are still going on every day of atonement. They were about to cease because the Romans were about to destroy the temple. But these were still going on. They solved them. And now he's explaining to him through the book of Hebrews, these were just copies. You were watching a play. Now we have to understand the reality of the play. Look what he says in verse 1.

There was that tent inside this tabernacle complex, and there's this tent and there's two parts. And the one part is called the psych short. And beyond the second veil, this heavy veil that's in between these two rooms, and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the Holist of Holy, which stands the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were golden pots that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. And above it were the carobene of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat of these things we cannot speak in detail. No, Paul says, you know these things. Well, you do too. You know, we're letting it 16. These people actually had experience, but you least intellectually know of these activities that we're doing this day. Verse 6, now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. That's where the showbread was. That was the lampstand was. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins, committed in ignorance. And so we've looked at that. We've seen that. Once a year, he went in there. But notice now, Paul's going to say, but this is what it means for us. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. That's a remarkable statement. Verse 9, It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience or the mind, concerning only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation. Here he says, understand, they were going through a play that symbolized something greater. It didn't change their hearts and minds. When you think about it, when God gives the instructions for what the high priest is supposed to do on the day of Atonement, it's in context with Aaron's two sons, or the two priests that served directly under him who had just been killed by God, because they took these duties lightly.

They took these duties lightly, and God killed them.

And that's the context in which he comes along and says, now, a high priest can come into the holy of holies once a year. And here Paul says, understand, these were symbols of a reality. You and I need to live in and understand the reality. The Day of Atonement hasn't been done away with. We're still supposed to observe it. We're here observing it. But we're not observing it the way they do. Even if you were a Jew today and walked in here, you would think this is the strangest service. Well, this isn't about the Day of Atonement, because they wouldn't understand what we're talking about. Because we understand the meaning of what they were doing. Look at verse 11. But Christ came as high priest. This day focuses us on the work God is doing through Christ as the high priest. There is a high priest in heaven. That high priest has a specific job he does in interceding for the people, just like that high priest did. A high priest is the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is not of this creation. He said, he's in a temple that's not like this one. He's in a tabernacle that had nothing to do with animal skins, and acacia wood, and gold. Now with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. He entered the Holy of Holies.

Now what we're going to see here is a connection between the Passover and the Day of Atonement.

The events of the Passover and the Day of Atonement are connected together. Jesus dies as the lamb. His blood is the substitute for us. He is resurrected.

The way she's offering. Don't hold on to me. Don't touch me. I have to go and do what?

I have to go present myself in the Holy of Holies. I have to go to the temple, not the temple in Jerusalem. He either goes to the temple where his father is and presents himself and be accepted. So the events are connected together.

Here on the Day of Atonement, it fits right between trumpets and tabernacles because it's about his second coming. And in his second coming, he takes the saints and makes them at one with God. But what is the process by which that happens?

And it starts with him being the substitute for us. God requires our blood. God requires our lies for our sins. It's that simple. And we have to understand that. He requires it. He requires your life for your sins. As loving as God is, he will not put up with our sins. He requires it. So either you give your eternal life, you sacrifice your eternal life to God for your sins, or there has to be a substitute. He will accept nothing less.

I think sometimes we forget that. Ah, we're okay. Now, before God, there was one requirement, your life and my life. And if there is no substitute, there's no eternal life.

So he says, verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies the purer fighting of the flesh, that was in a physical sense, they were able to have a relationship with God. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience, purge your mind from the dead works to serve the living God? For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, and those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. You could not give eternal life to ancient Israel through the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement. When the high priest walked out of that veil the second time, they could breathe a sigh of relief because God was still their God in their lives. There was no promise that they would receive eternal life because they came out of that.

Holy of always. It was just that God would still be their God, the God of Israel. And they would physically live. Their sins were covered. He would not destroy them.

But the promise of eternal life comes from a high priest who serves at the actual mercy seat of God. And at that mercy seat presents a remarkable sacrifice. Let's look at verse 23.

Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven should be purified with these things, but they heavily things themselves with better sacrifices. Now, I want you to really think about that. The whole play that Aaron went through all those 40 years of the wilderness were copies of a reality. These are copies. Before, we already said they're symbols. They're copies of a reality. And he says if the people could physically maintain a relationship with God through the blood of a bull offered by an imperfect human high priest, then how much more is accomplished to the reality? For Christ, verse 24, has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another. This isn't something he had to do every year. I mean, if it's not like Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and then every day of atonement, since then, Christ had to die. No, he had to die once. That's his argument in verse 26. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now, once, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This is such a remarkable sacrifice. The high priest would go into that holy of holies. Aaron would go in there, take the blood of a bull that he just killed outside, take a bowl of warm blood. It's an incense. And here, the cloud is there. The presence of God is there. He must have been terrified. And he had to take and sprinkle this blood, hoping that God says that covers your sins. Jesus Christ appeared before God and said, here is my blood. My blood.

The high priest offered himself for the people. That's why later he talks about how this high priest is different than any other high priest. This high priest didn't have to go before the holy of holies. The very mercy seek the throne of God with the blood of an animal. He went to it with his blood. He said, here, this is the only thing that's worth more than all of them. It's worth more than all of creation. Take this for them. Verse 27 says, And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation.

Those who eagerly wait for him, when he comes back the second time, are sins are covered.

Are sins are covered. The idea, you know, every time I go through the day of atonement, I try to pick a different part of it to go through, but I have to admit, I get really excited about the mercy seat.

About the idea of a high priest offering himself as the sacrifice. And that Jesus Christ right now is the high priest. There is a high priest in heaven that functions, not among the copies, veils and made out of animal skins and tables made out of acacia wood. Now he actually, you know, there's a big bowl there that was made out of bronze. Now that's not what he's working with, but he's actually fulfilling the reality of covering our sins, of interceding with the great almighty God for the people.

To this day, unfortunately, that is not known in the Jewish community. And among many Christians today, there's a knowledge of this, but not how it ties into this. You know, a minute ago I said that the Passover and the Day of Atonement are tied together. What happened in the temple when Jesus died? You know that. What was it? The veil was ripped. The veil of the Holy of Holies up on that hill the Temple Mount was, was ripped. All those who could turn and look in, guess what they saw?

Nothing? Was there anything in it?

It was gone. The whole... It's ripped.

They look inside. There's no pillar in there.

The way is now possible to go before the literal mercy seat, the real mercy seat, where there's actually two caribbean that hover over the mercy seat. That's a reality.

That's not, you know, that's not just a nice artistic thing. There is a reality where those two caribbean are over the mercy seat, where God sits.

And when it was ripped, God was saying, you can come now. It's now possible. Why was it possible? Because it was, they were going through the process of a high priest sacrificing himself so that he could present himself and his blood for us.

2 Corinthians 3.

You notice he didn't need any blood for himself. Remember, Aaron had to take in blood first for himself. Christ did not have to appear with a sacrifice for himself. He was the Son of God. He was perfect. And that's what, you know, when you look at Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10, it talks about he's a perfect high priest. He didn't have to bring a sacrifice for himself. He just had to bring it for the people. 2 Corinthians Chapter 3. Verse 7. The context here is Paul was talking about the whole system of having a tabernacle and doing the sacrifices was an administration of death. The word here is ministry, but in many translations, we'll actually have an administration. In other words, here's God's way, and it's administered this way. You and I are keeping, as I said before, the Day of Atonement, but it's administered quite differently than theirs was. We still keep the Day of Atonement. We're still fasting and still sundown the sundown, but we're doing it a whole lot different than Aaron would have walked in here and said, oh, I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong place and walked out. This isn't anything like what he would have understood. So it's administered differently. Verse 7. But if the ministry or administration of death written and graded on stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit be not more glorious? You know, when Moses came down from getting the tables of stone with the Ten Commandments, his face glowed. They had to put a veil over his face. People just were distracted. They were horrified by a man with a glowing face. So they had to put a veil over his face. He says, how much more glorious is this when we're not play-acting? We're not doing the copies. We're living in the reality. Don't rush through this day because it's a little uncomfortable, and we've got to hurry up and get to the feast. Don't do that because this day is so important.

For if the ministry of condemnation was glory, the ministry of condemnation, you'll hear me go through 2 Corinthians 3 on a number of sermons over the years because it's so important understanding. He's not saying that God's law was evil. He said, but law of itself only leads to condemnation. If I steal and I break the law, I must be punished.

If I break God's law, I must suffer eternal death. That's what God requires of me. He requires my life.

The law can't save me. If it was without the law, I can't tell the difference from right and wrong. Without the law, I wouldn't even know what sin is. Sounds like Romans 7 and 8. I don't know what sin is without the law, but the law can't save me either.

I'm in a problem. I have a law that tells me this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. Oh, I'm doomed. So I have to have something in addition to the law. I have to have the definition of right and wrong, but I have to have something else to cover the sins. That's this administration of God's Spirit. For if the administration of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels. He says, comparing, this is so much more wonderful to be in the reality instead of the copies. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were hardened. For until this day, the same veil remains, un-lifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. In other words, you and I see great meaning and purpose and just the wonderfulness of God in the Old Testament. We don't rip that out of our Bibles and say, oh, here, just have a New Testament. That's all you need. He's speaking here of the Jews of his day, and he says, they don't even understand the Old Testament because there's a veil.

They don't have direct access into the Holy of Holies. We look back at Leviticus 16, which just seems sort of weird to most people, and it's like, wow, this is about Jesus Christ. This is about redemption. This is about a torment. This is about justification. This is about everything God is doing, especially when you couple it to the passages that are in Hebrews. And so here we are because we have a high priest that is now in the Holy of Holies, and has already offered himself, offered his blood for you to cover your sins.

You know, the Ark of the Covenant, people keep looking for it. I don't know if they'll find the actual Ark someday.

There's some debate over what the next scripture actually means. It's about the Ark of the Covenant. It's about the Feast of Trumpets. Remember, trumpets and atonement, all the Holy Days are connected. Sometimes we tend to separate them apart. You know, we just talked about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Well, that has to do with Pentecost. All these Holy Days, they complete a big picture. They're not just independent of each other. But on trumpets, at the seventh trumpet, something happens. Let's go to Revelation 11.

Revelation 11.

That's seventh trumpet. A Christ is coming back.

Then the seventh angel settled it. Verse 15. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. He shall reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders, these are the type of angels who sat before God on their throats, fell on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and at the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and shall destroy those who destroy the earth.

So this is happening in heaven. And then notice verse 19. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven. Oh, the temple of God! Remember, these things are just copies. The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple, and there were lightnings, and noises, and thunderings, and earthquake, and great hail. Some people wonder if that's where the ark of the covenant is. If God just took the ark and took it there. Other people say, well, it's a copy, so why would He take a copy? That's the original. I don't know. I'll tell you when we get there.

But the ark of the covenant, the real one, the one that matters, is there. Is there. If someone finds what's supposed to be the ark of the covenant now, that'll be interesting. It doesn't mean anything.

Because you and I don't... it's just a prop, you see. It's just part of the play. You and I live in the reality, before the very throne of the real God, the very temple that you are God's temple.

You're here before His throne. When you gather here today, you're part of His temple.

So here we are, celebrating this day. You know, I mentioned earlier that in the Second Maccabees it says that... it's a real interesting passage. If you have an apocrypha, if you don't, don't go buy it. But, you know, in the Second Maccabees they claim that Jeremiah took not only the ark of the covenant, but all of the things that were in the temple, the parts of the tabernacle that they still had from the old days, and he buried it in a cave. And when people tried to go find it, he scolded it for it. So God doesn't want it found. It'll only be discovered when the Messiah comes. But, you know, Jeremiah did give... he did give a prophecy about the ark of the covenant, and that prophecy is very important. So let's go to Jeremiah 3 as we conclude here.

Jeremiah 3. And look at Jeremiah's prophecy about the ark of the covenant. Now, this prophecy is dealing with Israel, or with Judah. It's dealing specifically with Judah, but it expands out to the whole world. It's very interesting how many times the prophets would be giving a specific prophecy, and then all of a sudden it expands out as it becomes messianic. It involves everybody. So here it starts in verse 14. He says, So he says, I'm going to bring back... He's telling the Jewish people. He's going to bring them back to Zion, which is where the Messiah will reign. And I will give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. He said, there's going to come a time when a physical ark of the covenant won't even be important. Why? Wait a minute. The ark of the covenant is so important. Here in Jeremiah it says, there's going to come a time when God gathers these people and it won't even be...and don't even forget about it. Why? Verse 17, at that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord. That's why. You won't need a physical ark of the covenant. Jesus Christ will be right there. Now, He's going to build a temple. I don't know what He's going to have in that temple. But Jeremiah says that the props of the play won't be important when the reality is taking place. Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord to Jerusalem. They shall walk no more after the stubbornness of their own evil hearts. See, the whole world comes here. That has to do with the millennial prophecy there. Yeah, it would be nice, I guess, to know where the ark of the covenant is and to have it. But you know what? It's just a prop. It's just a prop. You and I live in that reality. You and I go before the mercy seat. You and I have God...you know, when we go before the God Himself, we're not going into a pillar of smoke or cloud which contains His presence. We're going right into His presence at His throne. And there's a high priest there. And there's a high priest who says, accept my blood for these children. You don't need a sacrifice for me, but you need for them. So accept mine. And we are now able to come before God. When that veil was ripped, there no longer was a need for a priesthood to stand between people and God. When you pray, you go right before God's presence. You're there! And this day pictures that. This day shows us that at one that we can have with God and how great that will be in the future. But that's another part. There is one part of this day that I am very, very thankful for. I think of myself being back in ancient Israel, wringing my hands, watching the high priest go into the Holy of Holies. And he seems to be there a long time. And then he comes out, and you're like, oh, God. And then he's got to take the blood in of another animal for me. And he sees him being there a long time. You see, you don't have to do that.

Your high priest has already been accepted by God. Your high priest has already been accepted. And your sacrifice and your stead has already been accepted by God. Jesus has already done that.

He's already doing that right now, carrying out that function.

So when you and I get discouraged, we need to remember that. We're not like the ancient Israelites worried, oh no, oh no, is he going to accept my sacrifice? Now, I'm not saying God accepts us of rebelling against him. I'm talking about accepting your sacrifice so you have the legitimacy to come before him, to be forgiven, to stand before the mercy seat, to fall before the mercy seat and be forgiven. Yes, you can have that great gift given to you. And the only reason you have is because your high priest has already been accepted, and because your sacrifice has already been accepted. Have a great feast of Tabernacle!