<description>The Ark of the Covenant, carefully crafted according to Gods design, symbolized His holy presence among His people and pointed forward to the ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ. It revealed both Gods justice in His law and His mercy through the atonement cover, known as the mercy seat, where sin was covered by sacrificial blood; this was ultimately fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice, who is our true and lasting mercy seat. This reminds us that God dwells with us today, offering victory over sin and enemies through faith in Jesus, who is always present to save and sustain us.
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The Ark of the Covenant, carefully crafted according to Gods design, symbolized His holy presence among His people and pointed forward to the ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ. It revealed both Gods justice in His law and His mercy through the atone

Old Testament Reading



Our Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 25, verses 10 through 22. And this is the infallible and inerrant word of God. Exodus 25, 10 through 22. They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside, shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.



You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold. Of hammered work shall you make them on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another. Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.



New Testament Reading



Keep your place there in Exodus and turn with me to Romans chapter three for our New Testament reading. Romans 3, 21 through 26. Romans 3, 21 through 26. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 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. This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.



Context of the Tabernacle



It’s been a couple of weeks since we were last in Exodus. And so just to review what’s happening at this point in the book, we’ll just set the context for you. The Israelites are at Mount Sinai. The Lord has just made his covenant with them. And God has called Moses by himself to come up to the top of the mountain to meet with him and to receive these instructions that he will give to him. And Moses tells us that he entered the glory cloud, that cloud that was on top of Mount Sinai in which God’s presence dwelt. He went into the presence of the Lord there. He was there for 40 days and 40 nights.



And the first thing that the Lord told Moses was that he was to take up a special offering of all the various materials that would go into making the tabernacle and all the various parts of the tabernacle. And then in verses eight and nine, the Lord tells Moses to tell the Israelites to build this tabernacle exactly after the pattern of the one that the Lord showed to Moses on the top of the mountain. And so in verses eight and nine, which we did not read this morning, but just right before our passage, verses eight and nine say, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst, exa

Mt. Rose OPC

The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant

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