The Ark of the Covenant

I was recently browsing Twitter, yeah, I know, but God will use any available tool, even me, but I was browsing and someone posed the question, “Who has in their possession the Ark of the Covenant?” In that mysterious way that I cannot explain, I immediately had the understanding that we, the chosen, are the Ark of the Covenant. 

I know what you’re thinking, but if you continue to view that book in a literal sense, you are missing the mark. The words we use every day don’t mean what we think they mean, and this is a prime example. I advise you to make it a habit to research the etymology of the language used in the bible, in order to find the meaning in the time it was written. I’ll also remind you that much of the bible is allegorical, it’s parables. The Word is hidden from all but those who seek. Did you think that had changed?

So, let’s explore the biblical myth of this Ark of the Covenant. A basic internet search will tell you that the Ark of the Covenant contained "the golden pot that held manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant (the ten commandments)." If you look at the modern definition of the word “Ark”, you’ll find a reference to the ship that Noah built, a box, a container, and you’ll be referred back to the biblical story of the Ark of the Covenant. That’s a whole lot of words to tell you absolutely nothing of real value. 

You’ll also find references to a “sacred” box or container. Something that affords safety and protection. All true, there’s no lie there, exactly, because if you can harness the God Within, you can give much power to any object if your belief is strong enough. All it takes is the faith of a mustard seed. 

The lie is in the fact that you’ve been taught to believe that, somewhere out there in this world, is hidden a literal gold plated wooden chest that houses the power of God and is a mighty weapon of war, among other things. Because of that, man has been searching high and low for it for thousands of years. Another example of the church directing your attention outward instead of inward, which is what Jesus instructed us to do.

In Old Testament times, an arc was a box “deemed” sacred by the Hebrew, one of which sat in every one of their synagogues, and was representative of the presence of God among them. You know, like the cross in our churches today is representative of the Blood of the Lamb. The physical cross itself holds no real power. So, the Ark spoken of in the bible is representative of an intangible essence, not a literal, physical, anything. 

The Ark, perhaps, is your awareness of God Within, or the presence of God among us. Jesus was the presence of “God Among Us”.  Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise. Manna is, in its literal sense, sustenance from heaven, which itself flows from the Ark, or the presence of God. 

Aaron’s rod that budded, to the people of that time, was indicative of the one who had the exclusive right to the priesthood of the tribe of Levi. However, the earliest known use of the word “bud” was somewhere around the early 1500’s and meant “to push forward or to thrust” (Germanic). Later it came to mean “a bag or a purse” (Old Saxon), and it continued to evolve into the word we know and understand today. Did this fabled rod exist at all, and if it did, what was really its significance? 

I offer you this; in ancient tribal times, the chief of a tribe, or head of a nation, was denoted by the staff, or rod, that he carried with him. It indicated his place in society and afforded him protection and safety in his travels. There’s a very enjoyable story about the explorer Livingstone and his experiences with a particular African tribe, wherein the tribal chief actually gave him a tribal staff as a show of their solidarity, and none in all of Africa would cross Livingstone because of it. 

Even now our leaders wear various symbols to identify themselves. The President has the presidential seal, military rank is declared by various pins, sashes, badges, ribbons, etc. We recognize the authority of police officers by their badge. Priests by their garments. Medical personnel have color-coded uniforms and distinctive white coats, etc., etc.  Could be as simple and uncomplicated as that. The bible is nothing if not full of hyperbole.  

If you have read your bible closely, studied all the teachings of Jesus, you’ll know that He referred to these tablets of the covenant, the ten commandments, as the laws of man; they did not come from God. Not the God of the organized church many follow today, anyway. He further stated that the old covenant was dead and encouraged us to embrace His new covenant [if such a covenant is required by you]. Amazing how stubborn the self righteous can be.  

And lest ye forget who Jesus was, let me remind you. Jesus was the whistle-blower of His time and He came with a vengeance. He came with Truth. Who did He come against? The establishment; the kings and the priests of that time. The liars, the deceivers, and the traditions of mankind. They, in turn, persecuted, slandered, tortured, and then killed Him, while His mother cried, begging for mercy, and offering to Him what strength and comfort she could. One of the many beautiful and uplifting stories from this sanctified book of antiquity. Yet, His Word endures. 

In biblical times a covenant denoted a “sense of cutting”, specifically in reference to animal sacrifices. They “pierced His side”, remember? I believe they did it without any true sense of why they did it, or they wouldn’t have. Because by doing so they fulfilled a prophecy, which proved to the people that Jesus was exactly Who He said He was, thereby nullifying the motivation behind killing Him, since they believed His death would prove He was not the Son of God. 

It was the sacrifice itself that proved who He was, because human sacrifices had ended almost 100 years before His birth. They thought it was poppycock! Imagine if you heard, in this day and time, that one would come along that would be publicly sacrificed, according to the understanding of sacrifices they held then.  Make no mistake, we still sacrifice people, we just don’t do it in that manner and for that stated reason. 

Furthermore, the use of the word covenant as you understand it today didn’t exist until the mid 1300’s, and was then used to describe a "mutual compact to do or not do something, a contract," from Old French covenant, convenant "agreement, pact, promise", originally present participle of covenir "agree, meet," from Latin convenire "come together, unite; be suitable, agree," from com- "together" + venire "to come," from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to go, come." I get no sense from that of an obligation that you had no mutual agreement in, nor an obligation that, if broken by you, would send you to the fiery pits of a mythical realm called “hell”. 

The Ark of the Covenant is also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God. Cherubim are placed above the “seat of mercy”, or the covering, and the cherubim are never to be removed. During times of war, the Ark was consulted before engagement and this practice is especially important in the context of spiritual war, which is the origin of all wars, in truth. Today we consult the Ark before games of sport in hopes of leveraging its powers to insure a win for our team. Talk about violating the “Holy of Holies”! 

Also, as you are probably aware, given names in the bible are no accident. Each name tells a story, gives warning, or, is prophetic. When the Ark was captured by the Philistines, the old priest, Eli, whose name means “high or elevated”, fell dead upon hearing of it. His daughter-in-law, pregnant at the time, later named her newborn Ichabod, which means “the glory [of God] has departed”. 

I believe the priest, Eli, is a warning, or perhaps a prophecy. Allow me to unravel this thought process. Those who are elevated in the church on the backs of false idols, those who worship false gods, are destined to fall. Eli was so shaken at the thought that the Pharisees took the Ark because he clearly didn’t have the understanding that he, himself, was the Ark. 

If he thought some thing outside himself, a box, contained the power of God, then he was worshiping a false idol. This also explains why the Ark offered no protection to the Pharisees. They had no understanding; there was no God within them. The true power is within, not without. Imagine if a group came into the churches of today and stole all the crosses. Christians would be devastated, because they attribute powers to that cross. They worship that wooden cross. 

That box that they toted around, if they did indeed carry such a thing around,  had no real power except the power given to it by their beliefs. Interestingly enough, according to the story, the Philistines, who did not understand the power of the Ark, continuously suffered plagues until it was returned to its rightful owners. In the late 1600’s, this story would have been deemed “witchcraft” had it not been labeled “from God '', and there's enough fodder in that statement for another entire book. 

In the book of Revelation, 11:19, it says the prophet saw God's temple in heaven opened, "and the Ark of His covenant was seen within His temple." Jesus told us plainly, before the Pharisees twisted His Word in the book of their God’s word, which you may as well call the Book of the Damned for those who have chosen to follow the church rather than Jesus. Contrary to His teachings, they put Him front and center of their “new” religion, 300 years after his death. 

Jesus said,  “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”

Jesus said, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

You are the temple of God for He is within you. He is seated on His throne within you, and your awareness of that, and the power that knowledge holds, is what people have been seeking for thousands of years. When the Ark is properly placed in the temple, the glory of God fills the house of God. Finally, the Ark is placed under a veil, to conceal it, and it remains concealed today - by the church.