The Temple Institute has just ordered production of the plans needed to build a new Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The group that is dedicated to seeing a temple rebuilt has already gone ahead and manufactured most of the furniture needed for the temple including the massive sacrificial alter. The only thing they have not made is the Ark of the Covenant. And there is a reason they didn’t build one. One of the great mysteries of the Bible is the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant, the most important piece of furniture in the Jewish Temple. The Ark consisted of a chest made of acacia wood, about 4′ x 2.5′. It was overlaid with gold inside and out (Exodus 25:11). There was a lid on top made of pure gold referred to as the Mercy Seat (v 17) where two-winged cherubim (angelic beings) made of hammered gold sat on each end (v 18). The Presence of God rested on the Ark between the two Cherubim which was why it was referred to as the …