As far as we know, this is the first time the Ark of the Covenant is seen since the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, several hundred years before the birth of Christ.

It is significant that the Ark of the Covenant is revealed at the time of the resurrection of God's victorious saints. The Ark of the Covenant represents the warlike remnant, Zion, the firstfruits of God's elect.

Let's go back in time in the history of Israel.

Because of the sins of Israel, during the period that Eli was the High Priest at Shiloh, the Philistines were able to capture the Ark of the Covenant. The Philistines held the Ark for awhile and then it was returned to a household in Israel.

When David became king one of the first things he did was to bring back the Ark to Jerusalem. The remainder of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, including the Holy of Holies, the room in which the Ark was to be kept, was located at the high place in Gibeon, a few miles north of Jerusalem.

The Ark was never joined again to the Tabernacle until David was dead and Solomon placed both the Tabernacle and the Ark in the temple he had constructed.

When David brought the Ark back to Jerusalem he did a surprising thing. He did not return the Ark to the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. He easily could have brought back the Tabernacle to Jerusalem and placed the Ark in its proper place.

Instead David left the Tabernacle at Gibeon and built a tent for the Ark in his city, Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem.

When you see "Zion" mentioned in the Book of Psalms it is referring to the city of David, especially to the Ark and the accompanying Glory of God.

The placing of the Ark at Zion and leaving the Tabernacle at Gibeon may be one of the major types of the Old Testament.

This type, and others, such as the rule of David over Judah and then later over all Israel, and the winning of the battle by Gideon's three hundred before the remainder of Israel was involved, tell us that the rule of Christ over the earth will take place in two sections. The first section we have termed the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The second section then would be the eternal new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

The thousand-year Kingdom Age, the counterpart of the Ark of the Covenant, will be a period of warfare, of the rule of the rod of iron, a "Davidic" era so to speak.

The eternal new heaven and earth reign of Christ will be an endless peace and prosperity, a "Solomonic" era.

The fact that the Ark of the Covenant, the heart of Zion, is revealed at the time of the resurrection of the witnesses, tells us that the Davidic reign is about to commence. The kingdom of the world is now to become the kingdom of God and His Anointed. The nations will be subdued with the rod of iron.

We see no such expression at the onset of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. Instead there descends from Heaven the beautiful Bride of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem.

To be continued.