Jesus and the Ark of the Covenant

In the comments to the last post, Bill Bannon asks a great question. It's great because it notes a peculiarity of salvation history, and therefore offers a great opportunity for me to learn something which I think I've already figured out:

And to make things more complicated, God (which included the Son) killed Uzzah for touching the ark of the covenant with his hands in an effort to prevent it from falling.....raising the question...where does epikeia begin and end?

One thing jumps out at me immediately, which is the relationship between Jesus and the Ark. The Ark contained the decalogue, the ten words of the law; Jesus is the Logos, the Word made flesh. The Ark symbolized God's presence among Israel; Jesus is the face of God present to all nations. In Numbers 4:15, it says that if one touches or looks upon the holy objects, the result would be death; in contrast, Jesus does not complain when sinners touch him and even allows himself to be killed at the hands of Gentiles.

Something happened. Such a wonder it is that Uzzah was killed when he touched the sign of God's covenant, but God has entrusted his body to us who are sinful men and yet we do not die but receive eternal life...