01-07-2008, 12:55 PM
The Ark’s Prophetic Role
Grant R. Jeffery
Do biblical prophecies reveal anything about the location of the ark of the covenant? In Isaiah 18 we find the clearest indication that the ark will be brought from Ethiopia in the end times. God addresses the people of Ethiopia in the first two verses of Isaiah 18 and tells them of the role they will play in the events of the last days. Isaiah’s prophecy reads, ‘Woe to the Land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia… All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifeth up an ensign [nes, ard] on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, here ye.’ The closing verse declares, ‘in that time shall the present [nes, ark] be brought unto the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion’ 918:1,3,7). This prophecy may refer to an already-accomplished development- the return of the ark from Ethiopia in the early 1990s. Another fascination prophecy, this one by Zephaniah, states that Israel will miraculously have its language, Hebrew, restored to it when God brings the Jews back into their land: “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord. To serve He with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering” (Zephaniah 3:9-10). Even in the time of Christ, Hebrew was a dying language. It was used only by the scribes and priests for official religious purposes in the Temple. Almost everyone else used the Greek Language, which had become the “international” language of its day. Many conversations would be in Aramaic, a language the Jewish exiles adopted during their seventy years of captivity in Babylon. The revival of the ancient language of Hebrew in modern Israel is another miraculous and unprecedented fulfillment of prophecy in our day. This recovery of a dead language and its revival after some two thousand years is a phenomenon without historical precedent. Notice that the passage in Isaiah 18 connects the time of the return of the “present” to the rebirth of Israel and the time of the revival of the Hebrew language ( see Zephaniah 3:9-10). This “present” may very well be the return of the lost ark of the covenant. One final prophecy provides, perhaps, the strongest evidence that the ark will be recovered and play an important role in our future events known as- the time of Jacob’s trouble. Lee
Grant R. Jeffery
Do biblical prophecies reveal anything about the location of the ark of the covenant? In Isaiah 18 we find the clearest indication that the ark will be brought from Ethiopia in the end times. God addresses the people of Ethiopia in the first two verses of Isaiah 18 and tells them of the role they will play in the events of the last days. Isaiah’s prophecy reads, ‘Woe to the Land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia… All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifeth up an ensign [nes, ard] on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, here ye.’ The closing verse declares, ‘in that time shall the present [nes, ark] be brought unto the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion’ 918:1,3,7). This prophecy may refer to an already-accomplished development- the return of the ark from Ethiopia in the early 1990s. Another fascination prophecy, this one by Zephaniah, states that Israel will miraculously have its language, Hebrew, restored to it when God brings the Jews back into their land: “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord. To serve He with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering” (Zephaniah 3:9-10). Even in the time of Christ, Hebrew was a dying language. It was used only by the scribes and priests for official religious purposes in the Temple. Almost everyone else used the Greek Language, which had become the “international” language of its day. Many conversations would be in Aramaic, a language the Jewish exiles adopted during their seventy years of captivity in Babylon. The revival of the ancient language of Hebrew in modern Israel is another miraculous and unprecedented fulfillment of prophecy in our day. This recovery of a dead language and its revival after some two thousand years is a phenomenon without historical precedent. Notice that the passage in Isaiah 18 connects the time of the return of the “present” to the rebirth of Israel and the time of the revival of the Hebrew language ( see Zephaniah 3:9-10). This “present” may very well be the return of the lost ark of the covenant. One final prophecy provides, perhaps, the strongest evidence that the ark will be recovered and play an important role in our future events known as- the time of Jacob’s trouble. Lee
