Accurate Kingdom Building: The Ark of the Covenant

There, above the cover between the two cherubim over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. Exo.25.22


In the last topic on Accurate Kingdom Building (Intro), we saw how accurate God is--his ways, Word, nature, and life. And he wants us to be equally accurate in our obedience and ministry. We are to build the Kingdom accurately. Each believer is a builder--Have them make an accurate sanctuary for me (25.8).

The Ark

It is interesting to note that God begins with the Ark of the Testimony. Whenever the Israelites set out in the wilderness, they had to begin with the Ark. The shielding curtain was put down and used for covering the Ark. Moses would then tear down the frames of the tabernacle, the court coverings, and go.

As they were going, when the supernatural pillar of cloud or fire stopped, Moses and the priests would set up camp from where the Ark was and put up the tent over it, and then the court.

The Ark was pivotal. It was the reason for the tabernacle and the court. It was the reason why there was a Holy of Holies and a Holy Place. It was the reason why God was with them. It was the reason for the priesthood.

The Tabernacle Took Up Space in the OT

The tabernacle God wanted put up was discussed a great deal in the Old Testament (OT). How it was constructed and how it was used were of primary importance to God. It had to be built accurately, even the sacred furnishings and tools found in it. The size and amount of veneer covering, even the strands of thread or clothing materials, were all specified to the letter. Accuracy was vital for God's presence to descend on the tabernacle. And that was the whole idea--to bring down God.

God was not concerned with beauty or plenty; he was concerned about accuracy. Beautiful buildings were nothing to him. He could've chosen the beautiful edifices in Egypt which the Israelites built. But they did not have heaven's blueprint on them. For God's presence to come down or manifest, the place must have the Kingdom's blueprint. It's not how expensive or impressive--it's how accurate. How faithful.

Church buildings today compete with each other in beauty. But most of the congregations in them are ignorant of the Kingdom blueprint. They build to please human eyes, not God's eyes. Then they imagine God being in their churches--and they all shout Amen! to that. But it's all their imagination. God won't allow his powerful presence without accuracy. Without accuracy, all people will enjoy is merely his omnipresence, which is present even in beer houses and sex dens. What we need is his powerful, awesome presence.

What “God’s presence” inaccurate churches claim to have when they have “high” worship is the goose bump their imagination creates. And the goose bump feeling can be so intense that people think it’s really God—and they cry and wail and worship expressively—and become polite people for a while. That happens even in secular rock concerts where people are “moved” to tears and extreme behaviors. That happens lots of times in inaccurate churches.

Our Bodies--God's Tabernacle

Our bodies, our lives, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is very particular about how accurately our bodies and lives are being built for him. Each one should be careful how he builds, says Paul. We should use gold, silver and costly stones, rather than wood, hay, or straw--because fire will reveal the quality of what we have built.

If we are accurately built in spirit, God's presence will manifest in us. Expert builders are apostolic builders who follow the discipleship and fathering Kingdom pattern set up by my Jesus so that after they lay the foundation, someone else will be building on it (2 Cor.3.10). This is discipleship and fathering, Jesus-style. It is not a teaching class course, which you find in denominations and in the world, but a transfer of life and spirit through the spoken Word, empowered by the Spirit.

Everything Should Start with the Ark

In accurate Kingdom building, everything starts with the Ark. God first specified, before anything else, how the Ark should be built. It was of the best wood, acacia, and covered with pure gold both inside and out. Paul said the best materials for building are gold, silver and precious stones. Gold is for God.

Proverbs 8 says God's wisdom is better than gold and silver and precious stones. And God's wisdom is Christ (1 Cor.1.30). The best 'material," therefore, for Kingdom building is Jesus Christ, the spoken Word of God—God’s gold, the gold of the Kingdom. For accurate Kingdom building, we have to eat Jesus (Jn.6.53)—eat gold to become gold.

And what was inside the Ark? The Word. God told Moses: Put in (inside the Ark) the Testimony. The Testimony was God's Word. And the Word is Jesus Christ.

The Ark Symbolized God's Awesome Presence

The top covering of the Ark was pure gold lid where two cherubim at each end were molded on the cover as one piece with it. This was called the Mercy Seat. The covering protected anyone from seeing the interior of the Ark, thus, the term mercy. Anyone who saw it died.


In 1 Sam.6.19 some inaccurate people tried to look into it and were struck dead by God. They probably had good intentions, but they were inaccurate. God wants nothing but accuracy. He does not want mere good intentions—or good and “biblical” programs. Inaccurate lives and characters will result to death. They may have the most beautiful and biggest church building, plus the best church programs--but if they are inaccurate in life and character, they are dead.

You have the reputation of being alive but you are dead - Rev.3

There God Speaks with His Anointed Man

At the Mercy Seat, God met with Moses and told him what he had to do. In between the cherubim guards whose wings overshadowed the atonement cover, God spoke. This symbolized God's powerful presence. Where that presence is, it is surrounded by powerful warrior angels. Their wings overshadow God's anointed man or woman to protect him or her from death. We should be after this kind of presence in worship.

God speaks with those who have the Ark built into their spirits and hearts and tells them great and awesome things. You can only build the Kingdom on earth if you receive his rhema Word (instructions) straight from the Mercy Seat built in your spirit. God speaks only at the Mercy Seat.

Church people today have to learn in a fresh way, daily, the importance of the spiritual Ark in their spiritual lives. This is urgent.

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