6) THE ARK OF THY STRENGTH, No. 1
Psalm 132:8: “Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.”
This passage calls the ark the ARK OF THY STRENGTH. Also, in Psalm 78:16 Asaph the psalmist writes about the ark of the covenant and says that God “Delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.”
As long as the ark was in the midst of God’s people, His strength united them. This was the same Strength that created all things, that displayed mighty signs and wonders when He delivered them from Egypt, that dried up the Red Sea in the Gulf of Akaba which separated Egypt from Saudi Arabia. He is the Strength of all strengths.
They faced many dangers during their forty years’ wilderness journey in Saudi Arabia, including hostile enemies.
In Numbers 10:33-36 we read how the ark went before them to search out a resting place for them. “And the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered: and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel.”
The Israelites quickly learned that the only way they could survive this dangerous wilderness was to let the Ark of God’s Strength lead them from one resting place to another. They were safe and protected from all enemy attack as long as the Ark of God’s Strength led them.
They had to keep their eyes on the ark. If they didn’t, they quickly lost their way.
The ark was not only God’s Strength, it was also their strength while they kept their eyes on it and did not lose sight of it.
Jesus Christ is now our Ark of God’s Strength. The physical ark of the Old Testament embodied the great strength and power of God and was a type of Jesus Christ, who was filled with the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2;9). The ark represented everything that God is today—His presence, glory, strength, power, leadership, protection, provision, health, wisdom, and knowledge. Oh, how we need His strength.
King David spoke so much of God’s strength.
Psalm 27:1: “The LORD is my light and my salvation’; whom shall fear; the LORD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY LIFE; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 28:7: “The LORD IS MY STRENGTH and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.”
Psalm 118:14: “The LORD IS MY STRENGTH and song, and is become my salvation.”
We must keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, the ark of our strength, at all times.
Be encouraged. Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell