The Ark was separated from the Tabernacle of the Congregation in the days of Samuel. The Ark never was brought back into the Tabernacle. In the days of King Solomon, both the Ark and the Tabernacle were placed in the Temple of Solomon, being reunited in that exalted structure (II Chronicles 5:5).

As soon as the Lord Jesus returns to earth, at the time of His appearance as King of Kings, the Ark of the Covenant will be seen in God's Temple in Heaven (Revelation 11:19). This signifies that the Lord Jesus and His firstfruits are as the Ark that David placed in a tent in Zion, the fortress city of Jerusalem.

At the beginning of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ, it is not the Ark but the "tabernacle of God" that is emphasized (Revelation 21:3).

First the Ark, at the beginning of the thousand-year period, and then the Tabernacle, the new Jerusalem, at the beginning of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:16,17)

The firstfruits, those who stand with the Lord on Mount Zion, will return with Him to establish the Kingdom by a Davidic-type warfare. This will take place during the Kingdom Age, the thousand-year Kingdom Age between the coming of the Lord and the descent of the new Jerusalem from the new Heaven.

As we understand the Divine plan, the remainder of the Church, those who are not of the firstfruits, will not be raised in the first resurrection. They will remain in Heaven during the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

After the thousand-year Kingdom Age has been concluded, all Israel, the whole Wife of the Lamb, the entire Tabernacle of God, will descend from Heaven as the new Jerusalem. The firstfruits still will be Zion. They will be the wall of defense around the new Jerusalem. This is why the wall is emphasized in Revelation to the extent that it is.

As portrayed by the uniting of the Ark and the Tabernacle in the Temple of Solomon, all of the Lord's elect, having been made one eternal Tabernacle of God during the thousand-year period (some on earth and some in Heaven), will come together in the seventh day, the day of rest—the period typified, not by the violent reign of David but by the peaceful reign of Solomon.

The violence of David is necessary if we are to have the peace of Solomon, and so the Kingdom Age is a time of smashing the resistance of the nations with a rod of iron, subjugating them to the will of Christ.

To be continued.