Exodus 16:34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.

When I study the bible I look for evidence of intent in the first usage of words. The Ark was referred to as the testimony. It was their evidence of God’s presence in Israel.

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.

This is a witness of those things that were placed in the Ark.

1 Kings 8:9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

At the time that the Ark was brought into Solomon’s temple, the manna and the shepherd’s staff were no longer in the Ark. But why?

1 Kings 8:10-11 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

The Ark is God’s Testimony that Jesus is the Christ.