4.What articles were contained in the Ark of the Covenant?

The golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that sprouted, and the tables of the Covenant—the Ten Commandments.

The golden pot of manna symbolizes the body and blood of Christ that we eat and drink as we draw strength and wisdom each day from the Lord. Aaron’s rod that sprouted portrays the eternal resurrection life by which Christ is our high priest and in which we are to live. The two tables of stone, the Ten Commandments, speak of the eternal moral law of God that is being engraved in our mind and in our heart.

The manna represents the fact that the victorious saint has learned to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Aaron’s rod that sprouted is found in every conquering saint. It speaks of the eternal life working in the priesthood that has been chosen of God. There are many imitators in our day, many would-be religious leaders, many rebels against the true royal priesthood. But in the hour of testing the Life of God will come forth in the priesthood He has chosen and the pretenders will be swept away.

The tables of stone also must be wrought in the personality of the conqueror. God judges and makes war in righteousness, and only in righteousness. Until the eternal moral law of God has been formed in us we cannot serve God as we should in the struggle between good and evil. The morality must be carved in stone in us so that it never changes, even though our application of it to others is softened by the "flesh" of compassion and understanding.