2. Ark of the Covenant resurfaces.

 Two, Chapter 3: 2, the Ark of the Covenant resurfaces. 

What if I told you that the most sought-after sacred object in history was never lost. 

For centuries, we've been obsessed with the Ark of the Covenant. 

Archaeologists, rulers, and treasure hunters have combed the desert searching for that chest of wood and gold. 

It vanished in 587 BC when the Babylonians raised Jerusalem. 

 It disappeared without a trace. 

But here's the twist. 

The ark resurfaced. 

 And it wasn't hidden in a cave in Ethiopia. 

Luke, the physician who wrote one of the gospels, left us a treasure map. 

We all know the scene I'm about to tell. It's Christmas, or nearly. 

Mary, a young woman who has just learned she's carrying the Son of God, runs to share it all with an older relative. 

At first glance, it feels like a moving family moment. 

But read closely and you realize Luke is saying something much bigger. 

This isn't sentimental filler. 

It's a coded message. 

Luke tells us that Mary got up in those days and went in haste to the hill country to a town in Judea. 

Why does Luke give us such precise details? 

The hurried journey, the hill country of Judea, the stay of exactly three months. 

None of it is accidental. 

They are the keys to unlocking one of the New Testament's best kept secrets. 

Let's go back a thousand years. 

King David has a sacred mission to bring Israel's most important object, the Ark of the Covenant, up to Jerusalem. 

The ark wasn't just a box. 

It was God's visible throne on earth, the epicenter of His presence. 

Where the ark was, God was. 

And here's where the connection gets astonishing.

 Where does David take the ark first? 

The book of Samuel tells us he brought it to the hill country of Judah, exactly the same destination Mary travels to. 

You might think that's just a geographic coincidence. 

Hold on. 

The story's about to get much more interesting. 

When David sees the ark arrive, he's gripped with holy fear. 

He feels unworthy to have God's presence so near and cries out, "How can the ark of the Lord come to me?" 

Now jump to Mary entering the home of her cousin Elizabeth. 

What's the first thing Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit shouts? 

Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 

See it? 

It's practically the same line. 

Luke is using David's words as a template, but he's changed the main character. 

Where there once was a chest of wood and gold, now there is Mary. 

Because of an unexpected turn of events, David has to leave the ark in the house of a man named Obed-Edom. 

And how long did it stay there? 

Scripture is crystal clear. 

The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for 3 months.

 It was exactly the same length of time that Mary stayed with Elizabeth. 

During that stretch, the house of Obed-Edom was blessed beyond measure. 

God's math is perfect. 

But here's where the parallel reaches its peak. 

When the ark arrives, King David can't contain his joy. 

The Bible says that he leaped and danced with all his might before the Lord. 

Now look at Elizabeth. 

She too was pregnant with a pivotal figure, John the Baptist. 

As soon as she hears Mary's greeting, Elizabeth exclaims, "The moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the child leaped for joy in my womb." 

The unborn prophet is responding just like Israel's greatest king, dancing for joy at the Lord's arrival. 

The pattern is unmistakable, isn't it? 

Luke isn't writing a simple family anecdote. 

He's using the Ark of the Covenant's journey as a template to reveal something astonishing. 

Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant. 

Think about it for a moment. 

In the Old Testament, the ark was sacred not because of its wood or gold, but because of what it held, the tablets of the law, the word of God written in stone, the manna, the bread come down from heaven, and Aaron's rod, a sign of God's priesthood. 

Mary, the new ark, carries in her womb, the Word of God made flesh. 

She doesn't carry cold stone tablets. 

She carries he living Word. 

She doesn't carry manna that's spoiled. 

She carries the true Bread of Life who gives eternal life. 

Even the angel Gabriel's greeting to Mary fits perfectly. 

He said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high wil overshadow you." 

That phrase overshadow is the very Greek word used in the book of Exodus to describe how the cloud of God's glory descended and covered the tabernacle where the ark came to rest. 

The very presence of God wasn't on top of a box. 

It dwelt within it. 

Chapter 4: 3 ( Click here to continue)

Three, the sacrifice of Isaac. 

Many people believe the hardest story in the Bible is about a father who was about to sacrifice his own son, but they're mistaken. 

You probably know the account. 

It is without question one of ....