Mary and the Bible - Part 4, Ark of the Covenant (Issue #308)

Topic

Mary and the Bible - Part 4, Ark of the New Covenant

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General Comments

Just a quick reminder: For any of you close to the Detroit area, I will be speaking on Friday, September 15th, at the St. Paul Street Evangelization annual banquet. The event will be taking place at the Shelby Gardens Banquet Center. Cost is $50/person, which includes dinner and open bar. You can register by calling: 657-777-2963, or online: www.stpaulse.com/gala.

Introduction

Okay, this week I'm continuing the series on Mary and the Bible. This segment is on Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. Hopefully you'll enjoy it...

And, please remember to make use of the social media tabs at the top and bottom of this newsletter to share this on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc., and forward to friends and family as well, to hopefully plant some seeds...

Challenge/Response/Strategy

Mary and the Bible (Cont'd)

I want to pick up with our discussion of Mary at the place we left off a couple of weeks ago - Revelation, chapter 12. Well, I actually want to start with the last verse of Revelation 11 before moving back into Revelation 12. In Revelation 11:19, the last verse of the chapter, it speaks of the Ark of the Covenant. Now, keeping in mind that the chapter breaks in the books of the Bible were arbitrarily imposed on the text hundreds of years after it was written, will help you better realize and understand the relationship between Rev 11:19 and Rev 12:1.

Rev 11:19, “Then God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen within His temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, and earthquake, and heavy hail.” Now, again, remembering that there were no chapters and verses in the original, right after John says the ark of the covenant is seen, what is the very next verse?

Rev 12:1, “And a great portent appeared in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

The ark of the covenant is seen within the temple in Heaven and the very next verse speaks of this woman. And who is this woman?

Rev 12:5 “…she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron…” The male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron…is Jesus Christ. And, just in case you have any doubt about that, look at: Rev 19:15-16, “…and He will rule them with a rod or iron; He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.” Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Therefore, since Jesus is the male child, the woman who bears the male child must be Mary. Some will say that the woman who brings forth the male child, the Savior, is the Church. At one level of interpretation, that makes sense, because it is the Church that bears Jesus to the world, but the Church did not originally bring forth Jesus, Jesus brought forth the Church. Others will say it is Israel, which is also true at a certain level, since Jesus was indeed a son of the nation of Israel. But, look at the passage, carefully. It is talking about real persons. The male child – Jesus - is a real person. And, in verse 7, we read about Michael the Archangel - a real person - and his angels (all real persons), and about this dragon and his angels. In verse 9 we see that this dragon is identified as Satan - a real person - which means his angels are the demons, also known to be real persons. So, this passage is talking about Jesus (real person), St. Michael (real person), the good angels (real persons), Satan (real person), and the demons (real persons). Which means, this woman must be...merely a symbol, right?!

Sorry, but it doesn't work like that. To be consistent, then at a fundamental level of interpretation, the woman must be a real person as well, rather than a purely symbolic reference. And the real person who brought forth the male child...is Mary.

So, this woman in Heaven, with a crown on her head, who is essentially revealed as the ark of the covenant, who brings forth the male child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron - is Mary. Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant.

The Ark of the Old Covenant contained the staff of Aaron the high priest; the Ark of the New Covenant contained the high priest Himself. The Ark of the Old Covenant contained the manna from Heaven - the bread that God fed the Israelites with in the desert; the Ark of the New Covenant contained the living bread from Heaven - the bread which, unlike the manna, a man could eat and not die (John 6:48-51). The Ark of the Old Covenant contained the Word of God - the Ten Commandments - in stone; the Ark of the New Covenant contained the Word of God in the flesh.

Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant. There is a fascinating parallel between 2nd Samuel, chapter 6 and Luke, chapter 1 that gives further scriptural support to the notion that Mary is indeed the Ark of the New Covenant:

2 Sam 6:2, “And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah [which was a city in Judah] to bring up from there the ark of God.”

Lk 1:39, “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah…”

2 Sam 6:9, “…and David said, ‘How can the ark of the Lord come to me?’”

Lk 1:43, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

2 Sam 6:10, “…but David took [the ark] aside to the house of Obededom the Gittite.”

Lk 1:40, “and she entered the house of Zechariah…”

2 Sam 6:11, “And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months.”

Lk 1:56, “And Mary remained with [Elizabeth] about three months…”

2 Sam 6:12, “So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom to the city of David with rejoicing…”

Lk 1:47, “…and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…”

2 Sam 6:15, “So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting..”

Lk 1:42, “…and [Elizabeth] exclaimed with a loud cry…”

If a person cannot see that Luke was deliberately making the connection between Mary and the Ark, then I would say that is more than likely a case of being willfully ignorant.

Mary, the God-bearer, the Ark of the New Covenant.

Closing Comments

I hope all of you have a great week. Please share this with friends using the social media tabs...thanks!

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