“Chapter and verse please. Why must the Ark be the ancient one and not a rebuilt one?”
Jeremiah 3:14-18
“14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.”
Obviously this prophecy has not been fulfilled, since all nations do not gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord yet. So, this shows us the future regathering of Israel, and clearly it states the Ark will not be sought after, missed, or another one built.
“You forget that Jesus and His first disciples worshipped there - for a reason: The Ark was not there, but the Presence of the Almighty was... “
Yes, Jesus and the disciples went to the Temple, and regarded it as a sacred place, as Jesus called it his “Father’s House”, even if the Ark was not there. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the ordinances, even in that day, couldn’t be fulfilled to the letter of the command. I will admit though, that they may still have been acceptable to the Lord, even without the presence of the Ark at that time.
“Replacement Theology makes the Temple of no significance, and punds home the point that G-D LEFT ISRAEL and the proof is the TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED. This is not biblical.”
God never left Israel completely, for He made an eternal covenant with them, but that covenant included the consequences for disobedience that Israel would be suffered, as well as the future promise of reconciliation.
The Temple being destroyed is not proof God left Israel, but it is proof that this prophecy has been fulfilled:
Daniel 9:24-27
“24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Notice the sequence of events: first, the order to rebuild the Temple, then the Messiah will come, then the Messiah will be cut off, then the city and sanctuary will be destroyed, and the sacrifices and oblations will cease.
This is one of the most exact prophesies of all, so there is no “wiggle room” as to the timing, it was fulfilled as it was written. The sanctuary was destroyed, and so we must also admit that the sacrifices have ceased.