Mary: The Ark of the New Covenant (Copy)
By Janina Leone
Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. In this article we will examine this through the lens of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. What was the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament? The Ark of the Covenant was a chest made of setim wood (an incorruptible acacia), & it was overlaid within and without with the purest gold, and a golden crown or rim ran around it. Upon it had been place two cherubim of beaten gold.
(The Ark of the Old Covenant)
New Advent records the following: “According to Exodus 25:10-22, God Himself had given the description of the Ark of the Covenant, as well as that of the tabernacle. God's command was fulfilled to the letter by Beseleel, one of the men chosen "to devise and to work in gold, and silver, and brass, and in engraving stones and in carpenters' work (Exodus 37:1-9). On that day God showed His pleasure by filling the tabernacle of the testimony with His Glory, and covering it with the cloud that henceforward would be to His people a guiding sign in their journeys. During the journeys the Ark went before the people; and when it was lifted up they said: "Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee from before Thy face!" And when it was set down, they said: "Return, O Lord, to the multitude of the host of Israel!" (Numbers 10:33-36). Thus did the Ark preside over all the journeys and stations of Israel during all their wandering life in the wilderness.”
The Ark contained:
A golden urn of manna (bread from Heaven)
Hebrews 9:4 Having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
The Ten Commandments (The Stone Tablets)
Exodus 25:21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you.
Exodus 20:3-17 You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. ...
Aaron's Rod (He was the high priest, and the rod that as proof of the true high priest).
Hebrews 9:4 Having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
In the New Covenant, Jesus fulfills the Old Covenant, and becomes The Word made flesh, the new manna, and the High Priest:
The womb containing Jesus, the Bread of Life, which replaced the manna in the Old Covenant:
John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6: 57-58 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."
The fulfillment of the Word (The Word of God in the flesh):
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
The new High Priest:
Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
The bread in the Old Covenant came down from Heaven but did not give them eternal life, which is why John 6:58 says, “Your ancestors ate manna and died.” This manna (bread) was in the Old Ark. Jesus is the Bread of Heaven and those who eat this Bread (His body) receive eternal life. It is the same case for the other two things contained in the first ark of the Old Covenant.
The old Ark of the Covenant contained:
The Ark of The New Covenant (Mary) contained in her womb:
The Ark of the old Covenant was a type of Mary. It's contents are a type of Jesus Christ. This is called Typology, which the Bible is filled with. Let's examine Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant which contained all the same things the ark of the first Covenant did. Before we move on, let’s compare these following passages to each other thoroughly:
It is crystal clear that Mary perfectly parallels the first ark. Now let’s look at Revelation (Apocalypse), keeping in mind in the 13th century, Archbishop Stephen Langton developed the chapters that we use now in all modern Bibles. Dominican Santes Pagnino was the first to incorporate verses in the 15th century. Prior to this, the Bible did not have chapter and verse breakdowns. Since we know Mary is called “Woman” in the Bible (see my article on this here) this next piece of evidence is compelling:
Revelation 11:19 is the last verse of Revelation 11:
Revelation 11:19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
This rolls right into Revelation 12. Remember, this is all one text before the Church added chapters and verses to break down the Scripture more easily:
Revelation 12:1-5 And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.
See also how it says iron rod? Remember what the Ark contained? Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. Mary has also been described by the shepherd children at Fatima in 1917 as brighter than the sun and was also described as having the moon under her feet by Juan Diego from the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. She performed a miracle of the sun in Fatima, Portugal in 1917.
Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, Portugal 1917
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Fatima 1917
Mary's womb contained God Himself. If the Ark of the Covenant was made of pure gold, think of who Mary must be.
2 Samuel 6:5-7 But David and all Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of wood, on harps and lutes and timbrels and cornets and cymbals. [6] And when they came to the floor of Nachon, Oza put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it: because the oxen kicked and made it lean aside. And the indignation of the Lord was enkindled against Oza, and he struck him for his rashness: and he died there before the ark of God.
No one could even touch the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament or they were struck dead. The Ark of the Old Covenant was the holiest thing on earth outside of God himself. So think of how holy Mary must've been if she is the New Ark. Sinless. She had to be in order to carry Jesus (God) in her womb. If the ground Jesus walked on became holy, imagine the womb of his Beloved Mother. God made Mary a spotless vessel to be worthy to conceive her Son, the spotless Lamb.
Isaiah 52:11 Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord.
Church Fathers on Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant
St. Hippolytus (AD 170-c. 236) “At that time, the Savior coming from the Virgin, the Ark, brought forth His own Body into the world from that Ark, which was gilded with pure gold within by the Word, and without by the Holy Ghost; so that the truth was shown forth, and the Ark was manifested....And the Savior came into the world bearing the incorruptible Ark, that is to say His own body” (S. Hippolytus, In Dan.vi., Patr. Gr., Tom. 10, p. 648) (Blessed Virgin, p. 77).
St. Athanasius of Alexandria (AD 296-373; the main defender of the Trinity and the deity of Christ against the 2nd century Arian heretics.) “O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O (Ark of the) Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which Divinity resides.” Homily of the Papyrus of Turin.
St. Jerome (AD 45-420) “Behold one in truth, the handmaid of the Lord. Holy she is, in whom is no guile, all simplicity....The spouse of Christ is the ark of the covenant, within and without overlaid with gold, a keeper of the law of the Lord. As in the ark there was nothing but the tables of the Testament, so too in thee no one from outside should be thought of. Over this propitiatory, as though upon the Cherubim, the Lord is pleased to sit....The Apostle thus defines a virgin, that she should be holy in body and in spirit... (Epist. Xxii., Ad Eustoch. Nn. 18, 19, 21, 24) (Blessed Virgin, p. 216).
St. Ambrose (AD 339-397) “The prophet David danced before the Ark. Now what else should we say the Ark was but holy Mary? The Ark bore within it the tables of the Testament, but Mary bore the Heir of the same Testament itself. The former contained in it the Law, the latter the Gospel. The one had the voice of God, the other His Word. The Ark, indeed, was radiant within and without with the glitter of gold, but holy Mary shone within and without with the splendor of virginity. The one was adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly” (Serm. xlii. 6, Int. Opp., S. Ambrosii) (Blessed Virgin, p. 77).
