[Music] [Music] all right so Jesus the new Adam marries the new Eve what about the Ark of the Covenant well you look at the New Testament very clearly depicts Jesus as the new manna from heaven that's John chapter six I deal with that in my book Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist right Jesus describes himself as the bread that has come down from heaven now if your first entry do and you know that about Christ then the question that follows is well if Jesus is the new manna then where is the new Ark because every Jew would have known that when the manna came down they put it in a golden jar and then they put it in the Ark of the Covenant right so in order to see how Mary fulfills that prophecy of the new Ark we got to go back to the Old Testament and look at the Ark of the Covenant there now when it comes to the Ark it's helpful that there was a movie about the ark Raiders of the Lost Ark so if even if you haven't read the book you've seen the movie know that joke getting too old okay I'll do it again all right all right is the Lost Ark no actually this one's really important for me because when I was a kid I was too young to see right as a lost art when it came out in the theater but I did get a read-along record book I don't know little records that would come along and then all these pictures of Professor Indiana Jones and the Bible and I remember this one picture from the record book which I still own of Indiana Jones pointing out a picture of the Old Testament into the image of the Israelites carrying the Ark of the Covenant into battle because whenever they brought the ark into battle they would defeat their enemies they were unstoppable and whatever they didn't bring it they would be defeated and of course in the movie that's why the Nazis want the ark because so powerful right I can't help but wonder if that had any influence on me becoming a Bible professor you know because any i owns is a professor I'm just throwing that out there okay he's a professor all right anyway so in the ark in the Old Testament the Ark of the coming is this powerful object and it's powerful because it is the dwelling place of God on earth the Lord comes down to Wells in the ark with his people and then moves with them throughout the desert in the book of Exodus so when you look at Exodus 25 to 40 you're going to see some elements of the Ark of the Covenant that are really important for understanding Mary's identity in the New Testament here are a few of them first I've already mentioned it's the dwelling place of God on earth second it's a sacred container ok so it was a it was a box made of acacia wood that was covered in gold and with two golden statues of angels on top of it and the israelites put certain things in it they put three things in particular first the manna from heaven already mentioned that second they put the two tablets of the Ten Commandments in the Ark and then third they put the staff of Aaron that miraculously butted to show his tribe was the priests priestly tribe chosen by God they put the staff of Aaron in the ark and they carried it about with those three sacred objects most people know that but there's some other elements that are a little interesting that are easy to miss number three the ark was also described as holy and as having been made of incorruptible wood really interesting it was made of this special wood already mentioned it's called acacia wood which is very hard very durable and just does not rot okay and so when you want it to make something sacred you use acacia wood because it was really hard and it didn't corrupt okay you don't use like cheap pine okay just rots like that since I made few years back pay big money for two years rotting okay I need an acacia wood fence that would only cost like 100k all right okay no incorruptible what forth the Ark is covered in gold why is it covered in gold why don't they just give the gold to the poor Israelites you know people complain why do all these gold in your churches because that's how God likes it evidently right he commands them to cover the ark with gold because gold is a symbol of divinity and it's a sign that in the ark God is with us on earth we're like entering into heaven on earth whenever you see gold it's a symbol of heaven on earth it's a symbol of purity it's a symbol of holiness the absolute holiness of the ark which if you look in the book of Kings was so holy that if any mere man would touch it right he could be struck dead holiness is it's good but it's dangerous it's like Aslan and the Chronicles of Narnia no it's true right he's a good line but he's not tame and that's how God is in the Old Testament he's good but he's dangerous he's not tame he's powerful he's mysterious one other element of the ark that is really interesting that I just discovered and working on this book is that whenever they took the ark out it wasn't just gold they would cover it in a cloth and the cloth was look so if you think Ark of the Covenant you think blue and gold isn't that interesting Oh into the University of Notre Dame what the colors alright so numbers chapter 4 verse 7 the Ark is blue and gold and then finally the most importantly the reason the Ark was the dwelling place of God is because when they completed it God comes down from heaven in the book of Exodus in chapter 40 and his glory cloud the Shekinah of his glory the pillar fire and pillar of cloud comes down upon the ark so that the Lord might dwell there Exodus 40 verse 17 and 18 actually says this I've given you a quote Moses brought the ark into the tabernacle and then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle that's why the ark special because God dwells in the ark with his people and so after this happens what do they do they head on over to the promised land they crossed the river Jordan they bring the ark the ark is the first thing to go across the river Jordan with 12 priests they carry it across waters part bring the ark into the promised land and then it moves around for a bit during the period of Joshua and the judges until David takes the Ark of the Covenant and brings it up to Jerusalem so that he can give a permanent sanctuary a permanent place of worship for God's people to encounter him eventually in the Temple of Solomon and second Kings chapter second Samuel Chapter six and first Kings chapter a so that's about a thousand years before Christ unfortunately though if you fast-forward to the sixth century BC something devastating happens to the people of Israel and to the Ark of the Covenant the Babylonians come in to the Land of Israel they conquer the Judeans that conquer the Southerners they burn the city Jerusalem to the ground they destroy the temple and in the process of all that what happens the ark is lost right now and in fact Josephus tells us this he was the first entry Jewish historian by the time Jesus was alive in the first century AD everybody knew that if you went into the Holy of Holies guess what was in it nothing no no nothing no it's empty it's just a pitch-black room right the priest was supposed to go in the holy Holies once a year and pour the blood of atonement on the ark on the mercy seat cover the ark but I can't do that when Jesus alive because there is no heart it's gone right now of course this led to all kinds of theories about what happened to the ark this is why the title the movie was Raiders of the Lost Ark right because it's lost right and so you have all kinds of speculation about what happened to the ark you know some people think that the Babylonians took it although the Book of Kings does not listed among the implements that they took from when they destroyed it other people suggest that it's been found and that it's in this monastery in Ethiopia you you you watch these documentaries I know you've seen this stuff on Discovery Channel History Channel right they make you sit through two hours of where is the Ark and then you get to the end they're like oh it's it's in the sanctuary that's protected by these monks and we can't get in sorry no one can verify or falsify as if it's the Ark and then there all kinds of other theories as well what's interesting about this is as Catholics we don't need to actually wonder we actually know what happened to the ark because our Bible tells us right in the Catholic Old Testament in the second book of Maccabees we have the most ancient account of what happened to the Ark of the Covenant in second Maccabees chapter 2 now most Protestant Christians aren't familiar with this ancient tradition because it's only in the Catholic Old Testament and most Catholics are familiar with this ancient Jewish tradition because it's in the Catholic Old Testament but it's very important okay so second Maccabees chapter two it tells us this it tells us that Jeremiah the Prophet who was alive during the destruction of Temple took the ark he was a priest and he hid it in Mount Nebo which is east of the Jordan River where Moses went up and saw the promised land before he died now Mount Sinai Mount Nebo okay so this is what it says quote Jeremiah ordered that the tent and the Ark should follow with him and he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and seeing the inheritance of God and Jeremiah came and he found a cave and he brought there the Ark and he sealed up the entrance now some of those who followed him came up to mark the way but they could not find it now when Jeremiah learned about he declared the place meaning the location of the ark shall remain unknown until the glory of the Lord and the cloud appear second back mieze chapter 2 verse 4 to 8 what does that mean the cloud he's not talking about a thunderstorm here he's talking about the glory cloud from the Old Testament because in the Book of Ezekiel it tells us that before the temple was destroyed the glory cloud departed from the ark and departed from the temple and they heard a voice we we shall depart hints like in other words we're leaving ok meaning that the angelic presence that was there with the ark and the divine presence took off and then the temple was destroyed so Jeremiah's saying is you're not gonna know where the Ark is until the cloud that overshadowed the ark comes back down again from heaven all right now with all that in mind now that you got your Jewish CCD writing and catechism all got it down now go to the New Testament and read the account of the Annunciation to Mary and you can see something very very important and it's this that in the Gospel of Luke Mary is depicted as fulfilling the role of the Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament she is the ark so to speak of the New Covenant and you can see this whenever the angel says to her this is in Luke chapter 1 verse 35 the angel Gabriel comes to her and says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be called holy the Son of God Luke chapter 1 verse 35 now if you look at that little chart that I've given you there Luke uses a very distinctive Greek verb to describe the Holy Spirit and the power of God overshadowing Mary the Greek word there is epi Scott so it's just just a couple times in the Old Testament and it's used with reference to the glory cloud overshadowing the ark so in Exodus 40 verse 35 the glory cloud epi Scott saying it overshadows the tabernacle with the ark in it and the same thing happens in Luke chapter 1 verse 35 the Holy Spirit epi skia say overshadows the Virgin Mary and even Protestant commentators on Luke who know the Old Testament well who looked at this it said it appears here that Mary is being depicted as the new Ark of the Covenant in other words her body is the new dwelling place of God on earth now it doesn't stop there if I had more time I could actually show you how it isn't just the Annunciation it's also the visitation to Elisabeth so in the book Jewish roots of Mayer on page 58 I take you through more parallels this is just one there are about five parallels between Mary and the art in the Old Testament and New Testament in the visitation to Mary so in the Old Testament second Samuel 6 David arose and went to the hill country of Judah just like Mary arose and went to the hill country of Elizabeth when living in Judah and David says in 2nd Samuel 6 how can the Ark of the Lord come to me and in the New Testament Elizabeth says how is it that the mother my lord should come to me right in the Old Testament David bleeps before they are and he shouts with a loud voice and although we missed this in Luke chapter 1 it says that not only does John the Baptist sleep in Elizabeth's womb but Elizabeth cries out with a loud shout blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb she doesn't just quietly say it she shouts she explains it she's filled with the Holy Spirit and then finally the Ark remains in the house of obed-edom for three months and then Luke says something weird he doesn't say Mary stayed with Elizabeth told John was born he says Mary stayed in the house of Elizabeth for three months why does he do that well again Catholic and non-catholic scholars have recognized it's because he's drawing out the parallels between the art coming up to Jerusalem and Mary coming up to the house of Elizabeth because she is the new part of the color now if you have any thoughts about that you can just fast-forward to the book of Revelation and there's one more connection between Mary and the Ark it's in Revelation 12 again the image of the woman clothed with the Sun but it's in the immediate preceding verse in revelation 11 19 most of us missed this because the chapter is divided but there aren't any chapter divisions in the original Greek in fact there aren't even even periods and sentence divisions it's just letters running in a line right so in the original vision scholars recognize there's a parallel being drawn here look what it says revelation 11 19 John says then God's temple in heaven was opened and the Ark of his covenant was seen within his temple now pause right there here first century Jew you've been waiting for the arm to show up right for almost six centuries right since the time of Jeremiah everybody's waiting when is the art going to come back where is it going to be so when John has this vision this is a big deal and far from being in Mount Nebo across the Jordan where is the ark it is in heaven and no sooner does that does the temple in heaven open because the Ark's in the Holy of Holies right doors open John sees into it then he also sees another sign in heaven what a woman clothed with the Sun and the two verbs that John used here parallel one another and scholars have pointed out that he appears to be describing and he does this elsewhere in the book like overlapping symbols two ways of looking at the same thing the ark and the woman right the place where God dwells Mary the mother of the Messiah all right so so what so Mary's the new Ark big deal she's just an ordinary woman right well not really yeah there's a little more to it than that right what are the implications of Mary being the new Ark well first of all it should just tell us about the holiness of Mary sometimes people get bothered because we call her Holy Mary Mother of God well she's the new Ark of the Covenant I'm sorry she's whole like by definition okay her body is consecrated it's set apart to be the dwelling place of God now I don't have trying to get into this tonight I have a whole chapter in the book on the perpetual virginity of Mary right this is something that not just Protestant Christians but lots of Catholics I've met really struggle with the Catholic doctrine that Mary remained a virgin her entire life that she didn't have any other children and the her a st. Joe's have never had marital relations and people will ask you know what's the big deal I mean if they were married why would she remain a virgin within marriage you know isn't that up that's a good is there something wrong with sex I mean doesn't God say be fruitful multiply is the first words out of his mouth in Genesis so obviously marital relations are good something wrong with them so why does Mary remain a virgin I have a whole chapter that deals with that and the Brothers of Jesus and all that stuff but for now I just want to throw one little point in st. Joseph even had the slightest clue that the Holy Spirit in the Incarnation overshadowed Mary like the glory cloud overshadowed the Ark and he also would have had a very lively awareness of the sanctity and the holiness of Mary as well right remember in the Old Testament if you're not a consecrated priest you can't even touch the ark right because it's so powerful it's so holy it's set apart for God any way we can maybe talk about that in a question in the answer session if you want a little bit more but I just want you to think about that so holiness and Mary second it's her body that's holy because her body is the dwelling place of God so in the Old Testament what was in the ark it was the 10 commandments it was the manna it was a cellphone and no that was not in the Old Testament and they won't be in heaven either right no cellphones good reason to try to get to heaven no cellphones aren't you okay where was I I was in the arc thank you okay so what's in New York ten commandments the manna from heaven and then the staff of Aaron so if Mary's the Nuart what is it that's in her body the Word made flesh the bread of life and the eternal priests of God the true priest Jesus Christ that's who she is that's the role she plays and then finally Mary's enemy is the Newark is crucial for understanding her bodily assumption into heaven because if Jesus is the new Moses who's inaugurated a new Exodus and who brings us into the heavenly promised land right the heavenly temple like Hebrew says then where does the new Ark belong where does it go it goes in the heavenly Holy of Holies and not just Mary soul because it wasn't very soul that's the Ark it's her what it's her body right so it's fitting that if she's the Ark that at the end of her life her body would be taken up into the heavenly temple to be with God and Pope Benedict the 16th actually said this in his homily on the Assumption of Mary August 15 2011 you know if the listen to me the Holy Father said quote if Mary is the new Ark and it makes sense that her body would not experience corruption but would be brought up into the heavenly Holy of Hope remember the Ark was made of incorruptible wood and so was the body of our label [Music] [Music]