{"id":2427,"date":"2023-03-09T07:39:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T12:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2427"},"modified":"2023-03-09T07:40:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T12:40:09","slug":"jeremiah-316","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/09\/jeremiah-316\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremiah 3:16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th<\/sup> verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2019In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,\u2019 declares the Lord, \u2018people will no longer say, \u201cThe ark of the covenant of the Lord.\u201d It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.\u2019\u201d (Jeremiah 3:16)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what ever happened to the most important sacred object in the history of ancient Israel? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s easy.  After Indiana Jones survived the moment when the Nazis foolishly popped off its lid and peered inside, the ark of the covenant was securely tucked away in a ginormous warehouse somewhere in the continental United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s one possibility.  But the real story, while not quite as dramatic, is definitely just as mysterious.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line is that no one really knows if the ark still exists.  But that hasn\u2019t diminished the enthusiasm of a group of imaginative authors and conspiracy theorists who have suggested that the ark may have ended up hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the Promised Land.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the ark so special? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the book of Exodus, Moses received detailed instructions from God concerning the construction of several pieces of sacred furniture.  These items were to occupy special places in the Holy and Most Holy Places in the interior of the tabernacle (and later, the temple).  Thus they would remain unseen by the vast majority of God\u2019s people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ark was a gold-covered wooden box \u2013 approximately four feet long, two feet high, and two feet across \u2013 which contained the two stone tablets Moses had received on Mt. Sinai.  The words of the Ten Commandments, etched by God himself, appeared on the tablets.  A pair of golden cherubim graced the heavy lid (known as the mercy seat), their wings outstretched over the ark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Jews, the tabernacle \/ temple was the most significant piece of real estate on the planet.  It was the chief place where heaven (God\u2019s domain) intersected the Earth (the domain of humanity). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the most important component of that most important place was the ark of the covenant.  Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, God met with just one person \u2013 the high priest \u2013 in the presence of the ark. No one else was ever granted access to the Holy of Holies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ark is routinely mentioned in the history books of the Old Testament.  But then, seemingly out of the blue, it disappears from the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Roman general Pompey conquered Palestine in 63 BC, he couldn\u2019t resist doing what the Jews had sternly warned him not to do.  He strolled into the Holy of Holies to have a look for himself, to see what all the fuss was about.  The general was disappointed.  Instead of jewel-encrusted statues or relics with supernatural power, all he found were a few simple pieces of furniture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no ark.  During the time of Jesus it was widely known that the ark had been missing for a very long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbis speculated that it had probably been destroyed by the Babylonians when they besieged Jerusalem and burned down the temple in 587 BC \u2013 an opinion shared by many modern scholars.  Others suggested that it was carted off to Babylon, then presumably lost or misplaced amidst piles of war booty.  Still others believe one of the prophets had removed the ark from the temple before the siege even began, hiding it in an underground storage room on the Temple Mount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

British journalist Graham Hancock, in his 1992 book The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant<\/em>, believes the ark ended up in Ethiopia.  Today, he suggests, it is kept under lock and key by a special group associated with an ancient church.  As recently as 30 years ago, a group committed to the notion that God now sees the British as the true Chosen People began excavating a hill in Ireland in the fervent expectation of finding the ark buried there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremiah could have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Jeremiah 3:16, the day is coming when the ark will no longer be the focal point of God\u2019s presence on Earth.  It won\u2019t be remembered, won\u2019t be missed, and won\u2019t be replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christians have an abiding conviction that that day came a long time ago.  In fact, it arrived when Jesus of Nazareth launched the Church \u2013 a movement that redefines God\u2019s Chosen People as including all those, no matter what their background, who choose to follow him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremiah himself describes what this new covenant, this new reality, looks like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2019This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,\u2019 declares the Lord.  \u2018I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, \u201cKnow the Lord,\u201d because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,\u2019 declares the Lord. \u2018For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more\u2019\u201d (Jeremiah 31:33-34). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this new covenant \u2013 the \u201cnew deal\u201d between God and humanity ushered in by Jesus \u2013 there\u2019s no need for a gold-covered box containing God\u2019s commandments.  God\u2019s laws are no longer written on a set of stone tablets.  Now they\u2019re written on human hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which means if you\u2019ve given yourself to Jesus, they\u2019re actually written on your heart<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may seem incredible, but the place where heaven meets Earth \u2013 where God chooses to reveal himself \u2013 has changed forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are that place. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And not just one day every year, but every single day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.  \u201c\u2019In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,\u2019 declares the Lord,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571],"class_list":["post-2427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-316-verses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2430,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions\/2430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}