Last week, in Wilderness Instructions, Part 4, we learned by looking at the instructions given for the construction of the Ark of the Covenant that God wants us to understand that our ultimate rest and salvation is His first priority. He wants us to be assured that His presence will never leave us, it will stand the test of time, and it should be seen as our most precious possession. The Ark of the Covenant is a reminder that our God is an all powerful, all-knowing, always percent God, whose greatest desire is to spend time with us!
But God gave a few more instructions involving the Ark of the Covenant, this time focusing on its cover: “And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.” (Ex. 25:18-21 NKJV)
The Bible depicts these winged creatures as guardians. Biblical cherubim are analogous to the supernatural gatekeepers of the ancient Near East, for cherubim secured the way into Eden after the fall (See Genesis 3:24). They are also considered to be closely associated with God’s holiness, sovereignty and purity. Archeology shows us that cherubim were creatures who were also known outside of Biblical literature. Some ivory panels unearthed in Samaria depict a composite figure having a human face, a four-legged animal body, and two elaborate, conspicuous wings, and similar carvings of winged sphinxes adorned the armrests of royal thrones in many parts of the ancient New East, including in Israel (see 1 Sam. 4:4, 2 Sam. 2:6, 2 Kings 19:15; Psalms 99:1). Thus, these winged creatures were considered to be symbolic attendants that guarded the “throne” of the Lord’s Kingdom,** and God had them placed on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, guarding the Mercy Seat, because this Mercy Seat was to be where His presence would reside!
Consider this text: “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the Ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” (Ex. 25:22 NIV)
Thus the purpose of the Mercy Seat was to provide a place for God’s presence to meet with Moses, and the cherubim were chosen to “guard” this symbolic “throne of God”!
But why would God’s presence need to have the “box”, the Ark of the Covenant, under it? I mean, technically, God’s presence doesn’t need anything, so why is it so specifically laid out that God’s presence is to sit upon a gold-covered box of wood that doesn’t easily succumb to bugs, fashioned with rings for carrying it?
Just this: The Ark of the Covenant, designed to help us remember that God is the source of our ultimate rest and salvation, that He is all-knowing, always present and all-powerful, that His presence will always be there, that it will stand the test of time, provides the base for God’s actual presence, which is at the Mercy Seat!
Think of it this way: How can we ever put our hope and trust in God’s presence if we don’t believe in God’s power to save? In God’s ability to give us ultimate rest? In His omniscience?
The Ark of the Covenant: Just some ancient box full of Old Covenant symbolism?
Far from that! It is a constant reminder to us today that God is real and tangible, and that He resides in our hearts!
Please join us next week for Wilderness Instructions, Part 6, to find out what the table for the Shewbread has to teach us!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
(To access the entire “Wilderness Instructions” mini-series, please click here.)