Ark of the Covenant

[HisVessel]

This was in yesterdays links on the RR site. I have heard before that there is a church in Ethiopia that claims they have the ark. I have heard all kinds of convoluted theories and ideas about whether the ark is truly there or not. I find it interesting that an elderly monk is assigned to watch over the ark if there is no ark. Now they may be getting ready to move the ark - see the link. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti....html?ITO=1490

I'm so curious if this is true. Didn't the Bible say that if we looked upon the ark or touched it (can't remember which) we would die. Do you think that would still be true?

[RosettaLuv]

The Bible did mention the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6 who touched the Ark and died when transporting it back to Jerusalem. So, yeah, only the high priests can look at and move the Ark. I don't know if this rule still applies today.

My family is Ethiopian, and my father told me about our country claiming to have the Ark. I'm not sure whether if our country does have the Ark or not. But since our country has gone through famines and is one of the poorest countries, my father told me how he wondered that maybe our country has the Ark after all. In the Bible, when a foreign nation (I can't remember which one) captured the Ark form Israel during an invasion and brought it to their homeland, all sorts of problems and havoc occurred in their land, so much that they told Israel to take back their Ark.

[CitySearcher]

The ark has to be somewhere, due to the fact that the priests will need it in order to re-establish temple worship during the tribulation.

[bowhunter]

Will all the unrest and "Tribal Warfare" that goes on in Africa, I'm sure some gang of heavily armed thugs would have ransacked that church and taken the Ark by now; or at least tried to based on the rumors.

[Mtown]

The Bible did mention the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6 who touched the Ark and died when transporting it back to Jerusalem. So, yeah, only the high priests can look at and move the Ark. I don't know if this rule still applies today.

My family is Ethiopian, and my father told me about our country claiming to have the Ark. I'm not sure whether if our country does have the Ark or not. But since our country has gone through famines and is one of the poorest countries, my father told me how he wondered that maybe our country has the Ark after all. In the Bible, when a foreign nation (I can't remember which one) captured the Ark form Israel during an invasion and brought it to their homeland, all sorts of problems and havoc occurred in their land, so much that they told Israel to take back their Ark.

I remember watching a show on this(NGC channel I think) where a temple in Ethiopia claimed they had it and the lead of the show, went through some history studying and said he believed they did indeed have it. Thing is they guarded this temple and nobody was allowed inside. Maybe?

[Verisimilitude]

Grant Jeffrey claims that Ethiopia did indeed keep and protect the Ark of the Covenant for centuries, and that in the 1990's, the Ark was returned to Israel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHXii6ejLXY

Without the Ark, there can be no new temple. The thing is, the Israeli's have been working fervently on getting everything together for a new temple. This is a clue to me that they have the Ark. They are waiting for a sign to actually build a new temple. I don't know what that sign is, but the fact that they are teaching the priests how to perform animal sacrifices tells me that they are expecting the sign to appear soon. Maybe it's the red heifer they are waiting for.

One thing for sure...the Ark exists somewhere right now, because there can be no new temple without it. I believe the Temple Institute knows exactly where the true Ark is and that it is in the possession of the Israeli's.

[Gideon300]

Grant Jeffrey claims that Ethiopia did indeed keep and protect the Ark of the Covenant for centuries, and that in the 1990's, the Ark was returned to Israel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHXii6ejLXY

Without the Ark, there can be no new temple. The thing is, the Israeli's have been working fervently on getting everything together for a new temple. This is a clue to me that they have the Ark. They are waiting for a sign to actually build a new temple. I don't know what that sign is, but the fact that they are teaching the priests how to perform animal sacrifices tells me that they are expecting the sign to appear soon. Maybe it's the red heifer they are waiting for.

One thing for sure...the Ark exists somewhere right now, because there can be no new temple without it. I believe the Temple Institute knows exactly where the true Ark is and that it is in the possession of the Israeli's.

The second temple was built without the Ark and never housed it, so it is not necessarily needed to construct the temple. If allowed the temple would be erected right now, so I don't think they(Israel) are waiting for the Ark either.

[Tall Timbers]

Israel will build the next temple on their own without God telling them to do so. God will never dwell in the next temple. If the Arc finds it's way into the coming temple, it will never having anything more in it than it now has. God will not occupy the next temple, but the one after that... that's the one I'm most anxious for. I don't think the Arc is important in the sense of when Israel will build the next temple... though I'm sure they'd love to have it, if they don't already.

[Florian9]

If they find it.....and open it....don't look.....(if you remember Indiana Jones)

[Pistos]

Anyone think God uses the ark to turn back the invading armies? That would turn Israel back to covenant. He said they'd know it was Him. That'd be one way to do it

Perhaps after rapture, the ark gets recharged?

We, the Bride, will be gone of course, nonetheless, fun to ponder.

[cheymat]

I think the Ark is under the Temple Mount being gaurded by Angels. Even though the Arabs are doing all kinds of digging under there and what have you, i believe its being guarded. And when the time comes i believe The Lord will allow it to be found.

[Shonsu]

If they find it.....and open it....don't look.....(if you remember Indiana Jones)

It's true!

Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.

1 Samuel 6:19, NKJV

[Shonsu]

I'm not so sure about it even being here on this earth. Revelation 11, at the time of the 7th trumpet, it is in heaven:

Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.

Revelation 11:19, NKJV

[Raphael]

If the Revelation ark is the literal OT ark of the covenant, that definitely lends doubt as to its existence on earth at this time.

The Temple Institute has been building replicas of the laver, candlestick, and other items of temple worship for years - in accordance with Biblical descriptions, using real gold. They are vague about the Ark. If they don't have it, a replica will almost surely be built - if it has not been built already.

The AC won't care if it's the original, or a pawn shop fake, or the prop from Raiders of the Lost Ark. "Don't look at it, Marian!" - Indiana Jones

[I Am's child]

Personally, I don't think we'll ever see the ark again here on earth.

Check out Jeremiah 3:15-18. The time frame is what I call future-future, in that it was referring to the future when written and still is yet to come.

15 "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.
16 "It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land," declares the Lord, "they will no longer say. 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.
17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the Lord', and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the 'name of the Lord'; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18 "In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

This, coupled with the passage in Revelation Shonsu referenced, seems to point out the ark will not be seen again--at least on this earth.

[Mr. Duffee]

I'm not so sure about it even being here on this earth. Revelation 11, at the time of the 7th trumpet, it is in heaven:

Revelation 11:19, NKJV

Yeah, I think it's in Heaven already.

[IamPJ]

I believe the ark was destroyed and the one seen in heaven is the real ark. The one Moses built was a copy of what was seen in heaven wasn't it? Didn't the Lord tell Moses to build everything exactly like what he was shown in heaven?

[Verisimilitude]

I believe that the Ark in Heaven is actually Jesus. The Ark was made of wood covered with gold. Jesus human form has been covered with a glorified body and His deity.

The Ark contained the 10 commandments, Aaron's staff which had sprouted and a jar of manna. Jesus came to earth and kept the law. He was dead and rose from the dead the same way that Aaron's staff was dead and yet sprouted and Jesus is the Bread of Life.

The cover on the Ark was a flat top with cherubims on each end of it. It is known as the mercy seat. John 20:11-12 says that Mary Magdelene looked in the tomb and saw the slab Jesus had been on, with an angel at each end of it, just like on the mercy seat. Further, it is Jesus Whom we go to for mercy. I see Him as the Ark of the Covenant, and that the Ark was actually a tangible prophecy. A physical proof of the coming Savior. The Ark was placed in the temple, and was among mankind. Jesus will take His rightful place in the temple one day, and just as He dwelt with mankind once, He will do so again. He was never known as Emmanuel in His first coming so I'm kind of thinking that during His second coming and the millenial kingdom, we we call Him Emmanuel.

On another topic, it never dawned on me that the second temple had no Ark. I know that many of the golden vessels were returned to that temple from Babylon (Ezra 1:7). I wonder if it is possible that the priests knew, and were keeping it secret, that the Ark that may have gone into Babylon was not the real Ark and that the fake Ark ended up in the second temple. I don't know if the Jews would have ever attempted to rebuild the temple without having the Ark, after all, the entire reason why David wanted to build the temple in the first place was so the Ark would have a resting place (2 Samuel 2). What would be the purpose in building a second temple if there was no Ark to house in it? I am aware that the Lord put it in Cyrus' heart to do so, but still, what would be the purpose if there was no Ark to house in it, even if it was a fake?

[getlost63]

Grant Jeffrey claims that Ethiopia did indeed keep and protect the Ark of the Covenant for centuries, and that in the 1990's, the Ark was returned to Israel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHXii6ejLXY

Without the Ark, there can be no new temple. The thing is, the Israeli's have been working fervently on getting everything together for a new temple. This is a clue to me that they have the Ark. They are waiting for a sign to actually build a new temple. I don't know what that sign is, but the fact that they are teaching the priests how to perform animal sacrifices tells me that they are expecting the sign to appear soon. Maybe it's the red heifer they are waiting for.

One thing for sure...the Ark exists somewhere right now, because there can be no new temple without it. I believe the Temple Institute knows exactly where the true Ark is and that it is in the possession of the Israeli's.

The second temple that was built didn't have the ark in it. Does it say someplace that I am missing that says the Third temple can't be built without the ark.?? Just wondering if I have missed something.

[HisVessel]

So if the ark is in heaven, and I'm not disputing this, what would be the advantage of a church in Ethiopia secretly, but out-in-the-open, claiming to have the ark? They also claim that one monk guards the ark and is not allowed to leave the grounds. This sounds like big claims if they don't have the ark. Also, if the ark truly were there I would think someone would have tried to steal it by now, it doesn't sound very secure.

PS I also believe we won't be here for the rebuilding of the temple but I've always wanted to see that as well, just from an architectural curiosity.