KEY SCRIPTURE: Exo 25:10 KJV “And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.”

We would consider the various components of the Ark and consider how they paint or describe the true nature of the Christian. I believe that having this clear picture of how God has made us would urge us to walk in our true nature and capacity as sons of God.

Our key scripture says the ark was to be made of shittim wood. Shittim is the same as acacia wood. Dear one, wood in the scriptures always represents man. Psalm 1:2,3 speaks of the man who delights in the word as a tree planted by the rivers of water. In Judges 9:7-18, Jotham, the only son of Gideon who escaped from the massacre of the sixty-one sons of Gideon, described how they ultimately settled on Abimelech, who killed his brothers. He described it by saying the trees wanted a king and went to various trees, which refused to rule over them. Finally, they settled on the bramble tree, which was Abimelech. By these analogies, I wish to establish that trees in the bible symbolise men. The shittim wood talks of human flesh.

The shittim wood is very durable. Shittim has a natural resistance to water and decay. It also has high versatility, making it a good choice for various uses and woodwork. It responds well to fine polishing. There are more beautiful qualities of the acacia wood which I may not go into for now. One may ask how we compare this to our frail, weak, sinful body. This is the error we have always held about ourselves. The bible teaches that at our conversion, everything changed about us. It says in Rom 8:3,4 that what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 6:6 also reveals that “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Sin is the master or seed of corruption; its destruction from us meant a new body full of strength and wholeness. Romans 8:11 informs us that the Holy Spirit in us gives life to our mortal flesh.

Let me show you another reason why our bodies as children of God are not the old delipidated ones. In Matthew 9:16,17 the Lord taught that no one will put new wine into an old wineskin. For the new wine to be safely preserved, it must be put into a new wine skin that is strong enough to endure any future fermentation of the wine. In the light of all that I have described about us, may we change our mindset about ourselves as weak, sinful, ailing people left to the mercy of any evil that blows around. We are God’s substance for His dwelling place and must be of the highest excellent durability in every way.

CONFESSION

Thank you, heavenly father, for your perfect work in me, even in my flesh. You took from me the power of sin and its corresponding effects of sickness. I am made qualified by your grace to be a house or a temple for you. I am humbled by this knowledge and awareness. May your name be praised forevermore.

FURTHER STUDIES

2 Cor 3:5 KJV “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;”

Col 2:11 KJV” In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”