Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Many people, including non-Christians, are intrigued by “the ark of His testament” mentioned in Revelation 11:19. This is not the Old Testament ark of the covenant, for as we saw on Thursday from Hebrews 9:24, the heavenly temple preceded the earthly, which was a copy “of the true.” Historical evidence suggests that the earthly ark of the covenant was destroyed in 586 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar burned Solomon’s temple. Even if the ark (a chest of acacia wood covered with gold; it was quite small, about 3’9” x 2’3” x 2’3”) somehow survived, its original purpose as the abiding place of God’s immediate presence is no longer operative, for Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18, 19; and 11:22, 23 reveal that “the glory of the LORD” had departed from the temple and Jerusalem before Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion. Furthermore, Jesus, fully man and fully God, was and is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament (Matthew 5:17-18), including the typology of the ark of the covenant and the temple (Hebrews 10:19-22, as well as the previously-discussed Hebrews 9:24). We should note also that the new temple, prophesied in great detail in Ezekiel 40-48, does not include the ark of the covenant. A simple application comes to mind: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).