Exodus 40:20
"And he took and put the testimony into the ark, (the tables of stone as a witness against unbelief as it was written on stone and not hearts of flesh) and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark."
The testimony was and indeed could only be written on stone because that had become the true nature of bestial man. As they (the nation now of Israel) though redeemed in Moses had not entered Salvation. As to do so requires a heart like that of Moses, broken, with true repentance and contriteness of heart.
Now I’m going to stop and shock a few people. The word ‘ark’ in Hebrew is also what we would call a what? A coffin, with the sense of gathering. Same word. And the analogy is the same; So this Ark of the Covenant was a coffin around which the dead gather (spiritually dead, those under the Law) that is. Because the letter of the Law does what? Kills. Oh, not for a human corpse but for something else that was going to die and it spoke of death throughout Scripture and what was that? The Law!
I know and understand that shocks people but I’m going to show you here that that’s what the Scripture called it, ‘a ministration of death.’ So the Law, the tables of stone, were placed into that little box, that Ark of the Covenant, which was a coffin that spoke of death. But whenever you speak of death in the spiritual, what’s the next item? Life! Out of death always comes newness of life. Let’s follow it. That’ll come in a little bit later.
Exodus 40:21-22
"And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses."
In other words, that’s the table of show-bread. So here are the instructions: that as you would come in from the East, up here on the North side was to be the table of show-bread. Alright, then just read on a little bit further.
Exodus 40:24
"And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle (where?) southward."
So you’ve got the table of show-bread up here; on the south-side you’ve got the candlestick and then in the center right next to the veil was the altar of incense, so that the incense would literally cover the Ark of the Covenant without actually being in the room. Now here's another shocker the smoke from the incense was the covering caused by mans sin. The actual veil of separation. And we'll see in a little while that Jesus took His Blood and removed this veil of smoke to gain for us entrance into the presence of God. So, we have two coverings one of woven cloth (the old cloth of the parable upon which the new could not be sown or applied) and the other of smoke for mans sins both were a separation from the presence of God, it was not behind the veil but it was close enough that the effect would cover the Ark of the Covenant. Verse 25.
Exodus 40:25-26
"And he lighted the lamps (down here in the candlestick) before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail."
In other words, right in front of the veil was the altar of incense. Now another point of interest the candlestick or lamp-stand is a picture when looked at from above it of a wheel within a wheel, the center candle being the axle of the wheel. And the next object or word in this case that catches our interest is the word "congregation" because its so over looked. It means to be gathered together at an appointed time, a fixed time or season as with a festival or at the end of days or the appointed time. This took place three times during Christ's ministry to Israel the last one was by invitation of the king (God). Revealed by His parable as found in Matthew 20 though its veiled here but can be seen in chapter 22 more openly in verses 1-14.
Exodus 40:27-28
"And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle."
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