This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day two of week eight of our look at the book of Exodus. That means
our last week of looking at Exodus, chapter 37 today. As I said yesterday, we're
going to look at some of these principles of freedom we've learned throughout
the book each day this week.

Yesterday we looked at the principle that someone must trust God. Today I remind
you of two additional principles we learned in Exodus. I must realize what I
cannot do and I must depend on what only God can do.

Moses learned these when he tried to take matters into his own hand and kill the
Egyptian. He realized what he couldn't do. He couldn't make it work on his own
power.

When he met with God at a burning bush and God told him who he is and what he
would do in his life, he began to depend on what only God can do. This is the
principle of freedom. These two that I have to go back to daily, every day.

It's not as if you learn these once in your life and you've got it. Every day
I'm going back to these principles I've got to realize once again today what I
can't do. There are things I can do, things God has given me to do, but there
are things I can't do.

I can't change a heart. I can't take what I've given and bless it. I can give,
but I can't bless it like God can.

I can do things that are in obedience to him, following him, but only he can
take of those things and bring the miracles, bring the joy, bring the life out
of them. Only God can bring life. I've got to realize what I can't do and then
I've got to depend on what only God can do.

That's the life of the follower of Jesus, depending daily on what only God can
do. With those principles in mind, today we have an opportunity in chapter 37 to
focus on one of the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle that we've read about
a couple of times and you may have wanted to focus on it earlier because it is
probably the most famous piece of furniture, religious furniture in all of human
history and that is the Ark of the Covenant. Listen to what happens in Exodus 37
verses 1 to 9.

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a
half wide and a cubit and a half high. He overlaid it with pure gold both inside
and out and made a gold molding around it. He cast four gold rings for it and
fastened them with its four feet with two rings on one side and two rings on the
other.

Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold and he inserted
the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. He made the
atonement cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half
wide. Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.

He made one cherub at one end and the second cherub at the other. At the two
ends he made them of one piece with the cover. The cherubim had their wings
spread upward overshadowing the cover with them.

The cherubim faced each other looking toward the cover. This is an exact
description of what the ark of the covenant looked like. First of all, as we
talk about this ark for most people, the first confusing thing about the Bible
is that there's two famous arks.

I don't know why God did it this way except that that's what the word means. So
you have Noah's ark and you have the ark of the covenant. Why wouldn't we use
different words?

Well, it's because of the Hebrew word. The idea in the Hebrew word is something
that carries something. An ark is something that carries something.

And Noah's ark was huge. It carried all the animals two by two in the world.
This ark is smaller, but it's carrying something also of great value.

Added to that, our confusion is the fact that both with Noah's ark and here with
this ark, we get to talk about cubits. We've talked about this length of measure
several times if you've read through the book of Exodus, and you may have this
looming question I've got to answer before we get to the end of the book of
Exodus, and that is, what's a cubit? What is that length of measure?

It may sound very simple to answer, but the truth of the matter is it could be
different in different circumstances because it was measured by the length of
somebody's forearm from your elbow to your fingers. And the standard was 18 to
20 inches, but depending on how big a person was or small a person was, a cubit
could be different sizes. When they built the tabernacle, it had to be an exact
size.

And most people think that it was the 18-inch cubit here. So that would mean
that this ark, the ark of the covenant, was three feet nine inches long and two
feet three inches wide. It's not a huge piece of furniture.

It's a small piece of furniture that's going to be in the Holy of Holies, but
what an important piece of furniture. The ark is important for what it
contained, but the ark is also important for what happened on this ark, on the
cover of the ark. The ark contained the Ten Commandments, it contained some
manna, it contained Aaron's rod that had miraculously put forth buds.

And over this ark was the cover of what was called the atonement seat or the
atonement cover. If you want a real quick reading of what was in the ark of the
covenant, we've had to read a lot of verses here. You can read about it in the
book of Hebrews in the New Testament.

Hebrews 9, 1 to 5 lays it all out for us very quickly. Here's just the quick
version of what's in this ark. And also in this tabernacle, Hebrews 9, 1 to 5, a
tabernacle was set up.

In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This
was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most
Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of
the covenant.

The ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the
stone tablets of the covenant. Of the ark were the cherubim of the glory,
overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail
now.

The writer of Hebrews said we can't discuss it in detail, but I'm sort of glad.
We just get a quick idea of what was in this ark and what was happening in this
ark with these items that represented the miracles that God had done for the
people. And as you begin to read through the Old Testament, there's a long
history that we could go through of this ark and what happened with this ark.

This ark of the covenant went with God's people and was put in the tabernacle
through the wilderness wandering that they had for 40 years as they looked
forward to going into the promised land. When they finally got into the promised
land, the ark was with the tabernacle located at a city called Shiloh and then
some other places. And sometimes this ark was actually carried out to be with
the people in battle.

You can read about it going around the walls of Jericho, for instance. This ark
of the covenant was actually captured by the enemy, the Philistines, and held in
their country for seven months with great judgment coming upon the people, their
health, and also the people's gods. So they sent the ark back.

Finally, I'm going through a very quick history here of the ark, David built a
temple. And the ark was located there for the reigns of all the kings. The ark
of the covenant in the Old Testament is last placed in that temple.

And the last time we hear about that temple is when Nebuchadnezzar invaded
Israel and burned it in 586 BC. And since then, that's a long time ago, 586 BC,
there are rumors upon rumors upon rumors about where that ark is located, where
it can be found. None of them have been proven, but there are multiplied rumors
about that ark and where it could be found.

And not only are there rumors, but there are popular stories about that. Those
of you that love movies realize I know where the ark is. Indiana Jones found it.

Now it's in some warehouse in Washington, DC. There's all kinds of stories about
it. It's a great subject of interest.

However, as followers of Jesus Christ, where that ark is might be a subject of
interest, whether it was destroyed in 586 BC or not, might be a subject of
interest. But it has nothing to do with your faith. It has nothing to do with
the life that God has given you.

Because the truth is, Jesus fulfills in your life all that that ark meant.
Because of what Jesus did, that atonement cover where the sacrifice was made
once a year for the sins of the people, atonement, the idea of we're at one with
God, atonement, the idea that I can now be in connection with God because my
sins are forgiven. That's why we make atonement.

Jesus once for all gave his life on the cross so that now you and I experience
in Jesus all that that ark meant. That ark was the place where the priest could
come into God's presence once a year. Now because of Jesus, you and I can come
constantly and boldly into God's presence.

And so this is a subject of interest for some, but the truth of the matter is
our faith isn't in an ark. Our faith is in Jesus Christ, and he fulfills all
that that meant in our lives. And in fulfilling that, we have something that
they long for then, the opportunity daily to come boldly into the presence of
God and to speak to him.

So let's right now take a few minutes, because of what Jesus has done, come
boldly into the presence of God. And in prayer right now, because you're his
child, because you're forgiven, would you just say, God, in my life right now,
I'm coming to you, and I'm bold enough to say, this is the need I have for this
day. I don't deserve to have this need met, but it's not a matter of what I
deserve.

Grace is that you give not what we deserve, but you give out of your love to us.
So I boldly come into your presence, and I ask this in my life, I boldly come
into your presence and I ask this for my friend, for my family. I ask you, God,
to be at work.

I ask you, God, to bring people's hearts to you. I ask you, God, to bring
comfort and to bring strength. I ask you, God, to change and transform this
world.

Lord, not based on who I am or what I've done. I come boldly into your presence
because of what Jesus did for me. And so here I am before you, asking,
requesting, surprised that I could be here, but joyous that I could be here.

God, would you do these things that are on my heart? Would you work in these
areas, even this day? I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to look together at the value of the gifts that they gave
to God.