Regarding the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments in End Time Events

   Will the earthly Tablets of the Ten Commandments given to Moses and placed in the Ark of the Covenant be found?

   There are tablets of stone that will appear in the sky just before Christ descends from heaven at His second coming:

   “While these words of holy trust (Psalm 46:1-3) ascend to God, the clouds sweep back, and the starry heavens are seen, unspeakably glorious in contrast with the black and angry firmament on either side.  The glory of the celestial city streams from the gates ajar.  Then there appears against the sky a hand holding two tables of stone folded together.  Says the prophet: ‘The heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself.’  Psalm 50:6.  That holy law, God’s righteousness, that amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as the guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment.  The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the precepts of the Decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire.  The words are so plain that all can read them.  Memory is aroused, the darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every mind, and God’s ten words, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, are presented to the view of all the inhabitants of the earth.

   It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who have trampled upon God’s holy requirements. . .”  (Great Controversy 639)

Question:  WHERE DO THESE STONES IN THE SKY COME FROM? 

ANSWER:  “When God’s TEMPLE IN HEAVEN is opened, what a triumphant time that will be for all who have been faithful and true!  IN THE TEMPLE WILL BE SEEN THE ARK OF THE TESTAMENT in which were placed the two tables of stone, on which are written God’s law.  These tables of stone will be brought forth from their hiding place, and on them will be seen the Ten Commandments engraved by the finger of God….  These TABLES OF STONE NOW LYING IN THE ARK OF THE TESTAMENT  will be a convincing testimony to the truth and binding claims of God’s law.”  (Letter 47, 1902)

   Please read pages 636 to 639  of The Great Controversy in order to clearly understand that the time spoken of in this quote is JUST PRIOR to the return of Christ.  Probation is CLOSED – the earth begins to shake mightily as the seventh plague begins.

QUESTION: EARTHLY STONES TAKEN TO HEAVEN?

ANSWER:  They were not taken to heaven!

   “Among the righteous still in Jerusalem (at the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege in 586 BC), to whom had been made plain the divine purpose, were some who determined to place beyond the reach of ruthless hands the sacred ark containing the tables of stone on which had been traced the precepts of the Decalogue.  This they did.  With mourning and sadness THE SECRETED THE ARK IN A CAVE, where it was to be HIDDEN from the people of Israel and Judah because of their sins, and was to be no more restored to them.  That sacred ark is YET HIDDEN.  IT HAS NEVER BEEN DISTURBED SINCE IT WAS SECRETED.”  (Prophets and Kings 453).

STILL SAFELY HIDDEN: 

   This statement is plain and unequivocal.  Unless the Ark, hidden in 586 BC has been disturbed by being taken to heaven, or unless the people who hit it secreted it in a cave in heaven, the Ark containing the tables of stone that were given to Moses (see 1 Kings 8:9) is still safely hidden in a cave here on earth. 

TWO SETS OF STONE:

   “THE LAW is just as Jehovah wrote it, IN THE TEMPLE IN HEAVEN.  Men may trample upon ITS COPY HERE ON EARTH, but the ORIGINAL is kept in the Ark of God in heaven.”  (Signs of the Times, Dec. 22, 1887) 

   “The law deposited in the ark on earth was an exact TRANSCRIPT OF the LAW IN THE ARK IN HEAVEN.”  (Great Controversy 435)

WHY DOES ELLEN WHITE LINK THEM:

   The answer is that that by the word LAW she is referring not to the physical tables given to Moses, on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, but to the legal statement of the Ten Commandments which, as we have seen, is “an exact transcript of the law in the ark in heaven.”  The tablets to be seen in the SKY are those from the HEAVENLY Sanctuary.

THE EARTHLY TABLES OF STONE:

   “When the judgment shall sit, and the books shall be opened, and every man shall be judged according to the things written in the books, then the TABLES OF STONE, HIDDEN BY GOD until that day, will be presented before the world as the standard of righteousness.  Then men and women Will SEE that the prerequisite of their salvation IS obedience to the perfect law of God.  None will find excuse for sin.  By the righteous principles of that law, men WILL receive their sentence of life or of death.”  (SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY, Vol 1 p. 1109.

   This quote begins with words lifted straight from Daniel 7:10.  ..and judgment was set, and the books were opened.”  Any SDA who knows the Bible and our true history, will recognize that this is a basic text we often use to refer to the investigative judgment which began in 1844, at the end of 2300 prophetic days of Daniel 8:14.  This phase of the judgment is in progress NOW.  Unless I am blind, the above Ellen White quote states directly that the tables of stone on which the law was written by the finger of God, will be discovered and presented to the world AT THIS TIME.

Notice here should be made of several points.

   Ellen White opens the above statement with these words:  “When the judgment shall sit,…. And EVERY man shall be judged,…”  The use of the word “every” clearly includes the RIGHTEOUS as well as the wicked, and indicates that probation has NOT CLOSED at this time.

   To further show that the time spoken of is NOT AFTER the CLOSE of probation, she writes in the next line that “THEN” people “WILL” see that the “prerequisite” of their salvation ‘IS” OBEDIENCE TO THE PERFECT LAW OF God.  Note her use of the present and future tense of the verbs “is” and “will.”

   Since we know that probation is NOT closed, we can rightfully understand that those who “will see” the “prerequisite of their salvation is…” will include only those who are alive upon the earth.  The dead cannot see!

   Finally in the last sentence, she writes that it is by “the righteous principles of the law” that men receive their sentence of “LIFE OR DEATH”.  Were probation closed, no on could still receive “life” eternal anymore- it would be too late. 

   The above quote links the bringing forth of the now-hidden tables of stone containing the law, with Daniel 7:10, AND A PRE-ADVENT JUDGMENT TAKING PLACE RIGHT AT THIS TIME.  The two tables of stone were inside the Ark of the Covenant, so it is impossible to bring forth the two tables of stone without also discovering the Ark of the Covenant.  With this in mind, now read this quote:

   “’(Christ) GAVE UNTO MOSES, when he had made an end of communicating with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, TABLES OF STONE, written by the finger of God.’ Nothing written on those tables could be blotted out.  The precious record of the law WAS PLACED IN the ark of the Testament and is STILL THERE, safely hidden from the human family.  But in God’s appointed time HE WILL BRING FORTH THESE TABLES OF STONE TO BE A TESTIMONY to all the world against the disregard of His commandments and against the idolatrous worship of a counterfeit Sabbath.”  (SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 1 p. 1109)

   It was “righteous” persons “to whom had been made plain the divine purpose” who “secreted the ark in a cave” so it would be beyond the reach of ruthless hands when Jerusalem was ransacked and the Israelites taken captive to Babylon.  (Prophets & Kings 453)

  Clearly, Ellen White is saying that the Ark was hidden according to His directions, and will be brought forth again, according to His directions and this during the time of the investigative judgment. 

   “In the earthly ark Moses was required to place the tables of stone.  These were called the TABLES OF THE TESTIMONY; AND THE ARK WAS CALLED THE ARK OF THE TESTIMONY because they contained GOD’S TESTIMONY in the TEN COMMANDMENTS.”  (Spirit of Prophecy Vol 1, p. 273)

APPOINTED TIME:

WHAT IS GOD’S APPOINTED TIME?

   There is no mention of the earthly tablets being brought forth in connection with the appearance of the original tables in the sky.  Therefore the conclusion seems inescapable that that is NOT the “appointed time” for them to be brought forth.

   When we take into account that the wicked are dead during the 1,000 years, when the bringing forth of the earthly tables could not be a “testimony (to them),… against the idolatrous worship of a counterfeit Sabbath,” it is evident that that is NOT the “appointed time “ either.

   And because the vast majority of those who come up in the second resurrection at the end of the 1,000 years know nothing about “the idolatrous worship of a counterfeit Sabbath,” it seems evident that that also is NOT the “appointed time.”

   But this leaves the period between the present and the time when the original tables appear in the sky as the only time when the “appointed time” logically can be located.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WILL COME OUT BEFORE THE CLOSE OF PROBATION:

   In light of the fact that the earthly tables are brought forth “as a testimony to all the world against the idolatrous worship of a counterfeit Sabbath ,” the “appointed time” evidently coincides with the time when God’s commandments are being disregarded and the idolatrous worship of a counterfeit Sabbath has become a worldwide issue.