Revelation 11:19 seems to indicate that this woman can also be seen as the New Testament fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant. Is there anyway in which the contents of the Ark support that idea?
The Ark of the new Covenant is Mother Mary who bore Jesus. In the old Covenant, God was carried in the form of Manna and the Tablets. In the new, God was carried in her womb. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is the embodiment of the Manna, the Staff and the Commandments.
Absolutely correct, Deacon. To further this we can also point to the fact that when the Scripture that makes up the Bible was written, there was no separation of chapter and verse; that did not occur until Stephen Langton (sp) took it upon himself to divide the books of Scripture in that manner in the middle 1200's, thus making it much easier to locate pertinent passages. However, in doing that, it does not necessarily provide that each chapter is a "complete" segment or thought consistent with the structure of literature as suggests what a chapter contains. This passage in Revelation is one of the most noticeable examples of this. Continuing on from Revelation 11:19 we move right into chapter 12, verse 1 which perhaps can be seen as a "new chapter" because it is introducing the "woman" who is not mentioned in the scene described at the end of chapter 11. However, the ending of chapter 11 does not complete a "scene" or "act" as it were; there's no completion to the revelation of the ark - except in the revelation of the woman in Rev. 12:1 out of the "flashes of lightning, loud noises", etc. seen in Rev. 11:19, preparing for the woman who carried in her womb the "Law/Word" (Ten Commandments), the "High Priest" (Aaron's staff) and the "Bread of Life" (the manna).
Normally it doesn't occur to us that the Scriptures were written without chapter verse form. Unconsciously the two approaches (one with chapter verse separation and one without) affects the perspective of what we read right? Thank you for bringing it up Steve. The following (from your response) also makes it clear the equivalencies of the contents of the Ark between Old and New Covenants.
Law / Word - Ten Commandments
High Priest - Aaron's staff
Bread 0f Life - Manna
Normally it doesn't occur to us that the Scriptures were written without chapter verse form. Unconsciously the two approaches (one with chapter verse separation and one without) affects the perspective of what we read right? Thank you for bringing it up Steve. The following (from your response) also makes it clear the equivalencies of the contents of the Ark between Old and New Covenants.
Law / Word - Ten Commandments
High Priest - Aaron's staff
Bread 0f Life - Manna
