#13 The Ark - Where is it?

Jeremiah 3:13-18

The ark will be forgotten

""Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days," says the LORD, "that they will say no more, 'The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD.' It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore. At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.”

Jeremiah is foreseeing a day when the need for the ark to remind the people of their covenant with God would no longer be needed. As you surmised, Jeremiah is alluding to the days of the Messiah.

Recall the words of Jesus, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:21-24). Jesus was telling the Samaritan woman that the nature of worship would drastically change under the new covenant. Instead of being physically based it would be spiritual.

Jeremiah had also said, "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34).

Everyone who is a part of the new covenant would know God's law; indeed, one cannot become a part of that covenant without knowing it. Instead of a law written on stone and stored in a box in a physical location, people would carry the law and God's presence with them. "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16)

As a result, Jeremiah foresaw that the physical ark would disappear and no one would miss it.

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? That is a question that has fascinated theologians, Bible students, and archeologists for centuries.

No one knows what happened to the Ark of the Covenant.  Some think that it was destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC; others think it might have been removed and has been secretly stored in Ethiopia.   Others have speculated that it was hidden somewhere in the Jerusalem area, but we don't know for sure.

In the end, the Ark remains lost to all but God. Interesting theories like the ones presented above continue to be offered, but the Ark has yet to be found.