The story of two arks

After 10 generations lived on earth, God “saw the wickedness of man” and declared, “I will destroy man from the face of the earth.” God told Noah, a just man, to build an ark for eight people: Noah, his sons, Shem, Japheth, Ham and their four wives. Also entering the ark were a male and female of every animal, bird and creeping thing.

The ark measured 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high—the largest sea-going vessel until the 19th century. Enough storage capacity existed on the ark to fill 370 railroad boxcars with food rations. God sent rain for 40 days and nights until the waters rose above the highest mountain peaks. Everyone on earth perished except the eight people aboard the ark. A year expired before the waters receded and dried enough to disembark. After the flood, God told Noah and his sons “to be fruitful and multiply.” God made a covenant with Noah by placing a rainbow in the sky. God promised: “Never again will there be a flood to destroy all life.”

After issuing The Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, God instructed Moses to build a sanctuary in the desert. Inside the sanctuary was the Ark of the Covenant which measured two feet wide, two feet deep and four feet long, Made of hardwood, it was covered outside and inside with gold. Atop the chest were two golden figurines of cherubim, facing each other, whose wings almost touched. God spoke with Moses from between the cherubim (Numbers 7: 89). Placed inside the Ark were The Ten Commandments, a pot containing manna, and Aaron’s rod.

Later in history, when the Jews crossed into the land of Canaan, the waters of the Jordan River miraculously split and the Ark led them through (Joshua 3). The most dramatic demonstration of its power came when the Jews breached the walls of Jericho merely by circling them, blowing horns and carrying the Ark (Joshua 6). Anyone touching the Ark instantly died. Even some who merely looked at the Ark suffered death.

After the desert wanderings and the conquest of Canaan, the Ark was brought into Jerusalem during the reign of King David. After the Ark was moved into the Holy of Holies chamber of the Temple, it was accessible only once a year by the high priest.

II Maccabees 2:5 reveals that the prophet Jeremiah hid the ark inside a mountain cave on Mount Nebo and sealed its entrance. Consequently, the ark was missing when Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and “carried away the temple treasures” (II Kings 24: 13). The Ark is most famous today as the subject of the 1981 film “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Harrison Ford played the key role.

Only those who believed God survived the flood. Since the Great Flood, all people on earth have proven they cannot follow The Ten Commandments or the Mosaic Code; therefore they need a Savior whose atoning sacrifice at Calvary saves us from sin and eternal death. Jesus is the true Ark who said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”

HHJ News