What is the Ark of the Covenant
and where is it?
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This question was asked by a young lady named McKenna, and it has a really exciting answer. I'll start by answering the question, "What is the Ark of the Covenant?"
The Ark of the Covenant was a golden box that God instructed Moses to build after Moses lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. This golden box had two gold cherubim (Angels) on top of the box. Each cherubim had six wings and with four of these wings they covered their feet and eyes. They were meant to be like the two real living cherubim that are in heaven facing the throne of God. With the other two wings they fly. The space in between the angels on the gold box is called the mercy seat and it is meant to represent the throne of God. Inside the box Moses put the real Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod that budded, and a pot of manna. Manna was the special bread from heaven that God fed the Israelites with during their forty years of wandering in the desert. Because this box was meant to represent God's throne, it was a very special and holy box. As you study your Bible you will find a number of stories in which the ark is used by God and it displays miraculous power. When this happens God is sending us a message that He is holy and powerful and should be respected. God gave the people very strict instructions for the ark. The most important instruction was that the ark was to be kept in a special place called the holy of holies. This was a special room in the tabernacle (Church) that represented where God lived in heaven. This room was blocked by a huge thick veil or curtain so that nobody could see inside the room. God was very clear that nobody was allowed to enter this room or look at the ark except for the high priest and only on one very special day of the year. This is because nobody was allowed to enter heaven until one very special day. The very special day was called the Day of Atonement. On this one special day the high priest of the temple would take two goats. One of the goats was sacrificed for the sins of the people of Israel. The priest would then place his hand on the head of the other goat and confess the sins of the people. This goat would then be sent out of the city and it would never return. Now something very special would happen. The high priest could now go into the holy of holies after having sacrificed the goat for his sins and he would do something incredible. He would take the blood of the sacrificed goat and sprinkle it on top of the Ark of the Covenant. He would place the blood right onto the mercy seat where God was supposed to sit. This probably seemed strange to some people. But God had a very good reason for all of this. God did all of this to teach them and us about Jesus. God teaches us that our sins are horrible and that we deserve to be punished. God then teaches us that He loves us very much even though we are all sinners. The fact is He loved us so much that he took our punishment for us. Every year when the innocent goat would be sacrificed for the sins of the people it was pointing to the day when the real Lamb of God would sacrifice Himself and shed His blood for our sins. Every time the priest would enter the holy of holies after the sacrifice it was showing us all that we would be able to enter heaven too after Jesus died for our sins. One of the greatest miracles in all of the Bible occurred the moment Jesus died on the cross. The Bible tells us that the veil or curtain that kept people out of the holy of holies was torn in two from top to bottom the very moment that Jesus died. When Jesus died he paid for our sins and heaven was opened to us. That is amazing. The reason the blood was placed on the throne of God on top of the ark is because this is where the real Jesus is right now in the real heaven. Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated on the throne of God. I also would like you to remember the second goat. This was the goat that the priest confessed their sins upon before it was sent out of the city never to return. The first goat shows us that Jesus first died and took the punishment for our sins. The second goat shows us that if we will confess our sins to God, He takes them away from us and they will never return. God really does forget all about them. The Ark of the Covenant is all about Jesus who loved us so much that He would die for our sins and open heaven to you and me.
The next question is an intersesting one. "Where is the Ark of the Covenant?" Some people believe the Ark was destroyed by one of the many armies that invaded Israel. Many other people believe the Ark was hidden by the old priests to keep it safe from these armies and some of the evil kings in Israel. There have been some stories told that some people in Israel found the ark and are keeping it in a safe place in Israel. Some people even say that God took the ark to heaven. I dont know the truth for sure but I think the best story is that the Ark is in Axum, Ethiopia. There is a huge group of Christian people in Ethiopia who claim they have the Ark and that they have been guarding it for over two thousand years. These people have been telling this story for thousands of years and they believe it is true. They keep the Ark in a special building and they keep armed guards around it at all times. One very special man is chosen to live in this building and he will spend almost his entire life there. The people in Ethiopia say that one day when the time is right they will return the Ark to Jerusalem. You can learn about these people and their story on the internet and you can watch a video called, "The Mystery of the Ark of the Covenant." Whatever the truth may be, I sure am glad that I can read about the Ark in the Bible and it's there that I see the amazing love of Jesus.
Thanks for the question McKenna.
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