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Treasure Chests

  • RHM Devotional: Treasure Chests from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

    Today I want to talk about containers, particularly treasure chests: boxes that hold things. Let’s start with the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25. God told Moses:

    They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. Exodus 25:10-11 ESV

    The ark of the covenant was rectangular box about the size of a small seaman’s chest. It was built from common wood, and then covered in pure gold. A cubit is defined as the length of a man’s arm when measured from the elbow to the tip of the forefinger, so around 18 inches. Using that scale means the ark would have measured around 45 inches long, 27 inches wide, and 27 inches tall.

    Inside of the ark were the Ten Commandments, written on tablets of stone, and a few other priceless treasures, like Aaron’s staff that had budded almond blossoms, and a golden pot of the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness (Hebrews 9:4). It was called the “Ark of the Covenant” because it contained God’s law, which was the covenant between God and Israel.

    The ark was crafted from natural wood, cut from trees that grew out of the earth. It was then overlaid in pure gold, which in scripture typifies God’s divine nature. Gold is an element and unlike other precious stones, it did not derive from anything else. For example, diamonds are created from other materials under immense temperature and pressure, but gold in its pure form, existed from the very beginning. According to Revelation 21:21, there will be streets of pure gold in heaven.

    So when examining the ark, we find something made of common materials, overlaid with something eternal. The common, overlaid with the divine, then filled with precious treasure. The ark was a sacred treasure chest, and it contained the old covenant, but God planned to do something better. He said this in Jeremiah 31:

    Jeremiah 31:31–33 (ESV) “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

    Jesus’ atonement brought in the New Covenant, and the old ark was taken away. Atonement means At-One-Ment. Think of two parties that were separated, but are now joined together as one. That is what Jesus did for us on the cross.

    Like the ark, the human body is a container. It contains our spirit, and it can contain others like the Holy Spirit, as well as evil spirits. Apparently, it can hold many of them simultaneously. When Jesus cast the demons out of the man with the legion in Mark chapter 5, there were enough demons to kill 2,000 pigs living inside of that one man. Jesus talked about this more in Luke 11:

    “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”  Luke 11:24-26 ESV

    The spirit referred to the person as “my house.” He once lived there, and at the end of the story, there were at least eight evil spirits living in there. Our body is a container for spirits, both good and bad. I’ve seen enough Christians delivered, and felt them leave from me, to know that you can have the Holy Spirit, and a few others in there as well.

    Your body is a house that God is taking over room by room. Eventually, hopefully, our body will be full of light, having no part dark (Luke 11:36) but it certainly does not begin that way. There are still “red light districts” inside most of us, areas of our lives that are not submitted to God.

    Today, we are God’s treasure chest. He wants to cover us with His likeness, and fill us with His Holy Spirit. Instead of His law being written on stone and stored inside of the ark, God writes His word on our hearts. Paul said this:

    2 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV) And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

    Romans 2:14–15 (ESV) For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts 

    Just as the Ark of the Covenant was made of wood, and then covered in pure gold, we are made of earth but covered in His divine nature. The natural covered by the divine, filled with His presence, filled with His word. We are God’s treasure chests.

    You can pray this with me if you like:

    Prayer: Heavenly Father, please mold me, deliver me, and help me fulfill my purpose here. Fill me with Your word, Your Spirit, and cover me with Your presence, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.


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19 comments
  • 1
Marisa Jackson
Marisa Jackson

Amen!!

March 3, 2019
  • 1
Celeste Strenn
Celeste Strenn

Amen 

March 4, 2019
  • 2
Beverly Hagar-Schmerse
Beverly Hagar-Schmerse

Thank you, Pastor Dion.

This valuable information, and helps me to understand why some Churches have very fancy Tabernacles. :)  So am I right in assuming that maybe the reason others do not have such fancy tabernacles, is because their focus is at the end of Jesus' life...when he was simply laid it in a rock-hewn tomb?  The one representing His joyful entrance into the world; and the other representing his simpler and very mournful exit thereof?

 

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Sylvia Todd
Sylvia Todd

Very interesting thought, Beverly, perhaps so <3!

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Schalk  de Beer
Schalk de Beer

Amen Lord Jesus, amen

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Linda Clark
Linda Clark

Praise God 

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Lynn Brown
Lynn Brown

Thank you for this message Pastor Dion! Amen.

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Kay Collinsworth
Kay Collinsworth

Amen

March 4, 2019
  • 1
David  Earlywine
David Earlywine

Amen,thank you Paster Dion.

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Mari Kaufmann
Mari Kaufmann

Please find favor with me dear God Amen. 

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Roseanne Braverman
Roseanne Braverman

Beautiful, thank you Pastor and Sylvia:)

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Wanda Pennington
Wanda Pennington

Dear Lord, mold me,  deliver me, and help me fulfill my purpose here. Fill me with your word, Your Spirit, and cover me with Your Presence, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Tracy Carroll
Tracy Carroll

Pastor, I see everyone's comments & I'm left to wonder a few things,,,is it just 'me'? I'm very concerned about the possibility of there being unwanted spirits in me & I'd like to know what to do about this??? How do you know if there are spirits within you that you don't want? What's a sinner to do???? I don't want my container contaminated!

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Dion Todd
Dion Todd

Tracy, to simplify it: As you pursue Jesus, evil spirits leave... There is nothing new to see or do, except to be on guard when you are "compulsed" to do something that you cannot seem to stop. James wrote:  James 4:7 (ESV) "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  That is the way it is. We submit our lives to God, resist doing bad things, and the devils move on to find a more cooperative target.  Hope this helps  :)

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Jose Simo
Jose Simo

Heavenly Father I need Your grace, mold and lead me to be a resemblance of You. That I be covered with Your presence and Your Holy Spirit, in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Thank You Lord for all Your support. 

Thank you Pastor, God bless you. 

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Liesel  aka  Lisa Wardle
Liesel aka Lisa Wardleedited: March 4, 2019

Amen and Amen!!! Please fill me up oh Lord my God with Your holy presence, more and more of You and more and more like You, in Jesus i ask and pray, Amen!

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Sherry McCosh
Sherry McCosh

Thank you for today's devotion. They are all very much appreciared!!

 

March 4, 2019
  • 1
Kathie Byram Lopez
Kathie Byram Lopez

Amen

 

March 5, 2019
  • 1
Wesley Paulus
Wesley Paulus

Amen!

March 5, 2019