What is the Ark of the Covenant?

Response

God established a covenant (a conditional agreement) with the Israelites through His servant Moses. He pledged blessings for them and their descendants if they followed His commandments; however, He also forewarned of suffering, retribution, and scattering if they chose disobedience. As a token of this covenant, the Israelites were instructed to construct a chest based on God’s specifications to hold the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments. This chest, known as an “ark,” was crafted from acacia wood covered in gold. The Ark was to be placed in the innermost part of the tabernacle in the wilderness and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. This container became renowned as the Ark of the Covenant.

The true significance of the Ark of the Covenant lay in the events surrounding its lid, referred to as the “Mercy Seat.” The term ‘mercy seat’ originates from a Hebrew word signifying “to cover, appease, cleanse, cancel, or make atonement for.” Here, the high priest, on an annual basis (Leviticus 16), entered the Holy of Holies where the Ark resided to make amends for his transgressions and those of the Israelites. The priest sprinkled the blood of a sacrificed animal on the Mercy Seat to pacify God’s wrath and displeasure over past wrongdoings. This location was the sole site worldwide designated for such atonement.

The Mercy Seat atop the Ark symbolically prefigured the ultimate sacrifice for all transgressions—the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. The Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee well-versed in the Old Testament, comprehended this concept deeply when he expounded on Christ as our sin covering in Romans 3:24-25: “…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Just as there was only one place for atonement of sins in the Old Testament—the

Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant—there is also only one place for atonement in the New Testament and current times—the cross of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we no longer look to the Ark but to the Lord Jesus Himself as the propitiation and atonement for our sins.