The Ark

And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. (Ver. 3.) The ark is first mentioned, for it sets forth Jesus, God’s center of gathering to his own people, and in whom they are builded together for an habitation of God. (Ephesians 2:22.) God begins with Christ, and so should we.
But it is the ark covered with the vail; for it is Christ incarnate in whose name we are to gather.
“The ark of the testimony.” Such is the title here given to it. The house of God, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, is set for the testimony and maintenance of that great mystery of godliness, “God manifest in the flesh,” with which is closely connected those other precious verities, “Believed on in the world;” “received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:15,16.)
Until Christ came in the flesh, there was no Church of God on the earth, no “habitation of God through the Spirit,” nor “living stones built up a spiritual house.” The tabernacle in the wilderness, indeed, foreshadowed the Church’s earthly sojourn, in connection with heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5), and the temple in the land foreshadowed its heavenly glory. But until the Word had been made flesh, and from a crucified and exalted Savior the pentecostal Spirit had been sent down, there was no Church on earth.