What was the Ark of the Covenant for?

In Exodus 25, God gives the plans for the Ark of the Covenant — the most sacred object in Israel. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains what the ark was really for, and what it pointed to.

God asks for the people’s finest materials, not their leftovers, and the ark is the first item described — because His glory would rest upon it. The true focus is the “mercy seat” on top, between two golden cherubim, where God promised to meet with His people. Dr. Holt traces the ark’s dramatic history and corrects the popular fascination with its contents, pointing instead to the mercy seat — fulfilled when Christ’s blood was shed. We need no rediscovered ark; Jesus is the meeting place between God and sinners.

Questions this study answers:

1. What was the ark, and why was it important? It was the sacred chest at the center of the tabernacle, where God’s glory rested. The whole structure pointed to it.

2. What was the “mercy seat”? The gold lid on the ark, between two cherubim, where God met His people and atoning blood was sprinkled. It pointed to Christ.

3. Where is the ark today, and does it matter? Its location is unknown, and it does not matter — Jesus has fulfilled what the ark and mercy seat pictured. He is now our meeting place with God.

“And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony.” — Exodus 25:22 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Exodus Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.