So what good is an Ark?

February 7, 2009

Today's Reading: Exodus 25, 26 and Matthew 27

Every once in a while, I find two readings that have one common theme that is easy to spot. It can make it easy to find subject matter, which is probably the most difficult part of my writing job, seriously.

Today, it has to be about the Ark. In the Exodus reading, God describes the making of the Ark of the Covenant. In Matthew, there is a description of the Temple after crucifixion. There was an odd occurrence in which the curtain to the Holy of Holies tore down the middle.

Most people justly interpret the tearing of the curtain to the fact that after Jesus’ death on the cross, everything changed. In case you don’t know, Jesus took all of our sins on the cross, and no more would the Holy of Holies be a special place that only the priests can go to, but something that everyone can visit.

In Exodus, God gave very specific instructions for where to put the Ark, and how to build the Tabernacle to keep it in. I talked yesterday about glory, and what it is. I think I defined glory as that which God has that we will never attain, even if we are saved.

You could call the Ark of the Covenant a physical form of God’s glory, but in the end, it is just a fancy box. Granted, it is was a box that could kill you if you touched it, and it required some special care, but don’t tell me that you don’t have things around your house that are similar, like your microwave or television.

Seriously, why did the Nazis want this thing in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Did they really think that it could “level mountains”. Despite the fact that Raiders is one of the awesomest films of all time, I believe there is some sort of biblical mix-up where the character Marcus Brody says “the bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains”. Not only that, “an army carrying the Ark of the Covenant is invincible”.

Uh, excuse me, but I believe the Ark was carried out in a battle against the Philistines, and the Hebrews lost. You know why? Because they thought it was a God-in-a-box, where you could wind it up and God can totally do what you want Him to.

Is it possible that God had to make an Ark because we could easily equate God’s glory with something that is materially present in the form of gold? If so, then we seriously need to get our idea of God out of the box.