Tabernacle Truths
The Laver of Cleansing
Exodus 30:17-21
 
A couple of weeks ago we began a tour of the ancient Jewish Tabernacle that was used during the time between their exodus from Egypt and eventual entry into the Promised Land.  After that, they would have a permanent structure called a temple that was built after the same pattern given for this tabernacle. 
 
And I think it is a valid question to ask why we, as New Testament Christians, should study this Old Testament temporary structure.  In fact, a lot of people wonder why we should even bother with studying any of the Old Testament since we are New Testament believers. 
 
There are a lot of good answers to that question, but in regard to the tabernacle in particular, we study it because it is a picture book of our faith.  In fact, something about Jesus Christ and His life and ministry and work are seen in virtually detail of the tabernacle and its furnishings.
 
At the same time, it is also a tremendous illustration of the Christian life, and there are many applications about our daily life as a child of God that can be drawn from the tabernacle.
 
For instance, as we've already seen, the tabernacle was surrounded by a white linen fence.  That fence represents the holiness of God.  It also stands as a reminder that as sinners, we are separated from God. 
 
The good news for the person who wants to come to God is there was a gate in that fence that provided a way to enter.  And in New Testament terms, Jesus is the gate.  He is the only way to enter into the presence of God.
 
However, to come before God, you need a sacrifice.  As the Old Testament Israelite entered the courtyard, the first thing he saw was this large altar made of bronze.  Sacrifices were offered on that altar.  Those sacrifices are reminders of the death of Jesus on the cross, and they tell us that He is our substitutionary sacrifice.  He took our place.
 
As we saw last week, they would take the blood from the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat, covering over the Law that was housed inside.  They would take the ashes from the sacrifice and carry them outside of the fence and dispose of them.
 
In the same manner, the blood of Jesus that was spilled on our behalf allows us to go to God, and we are separated from our sins and they are remembered no more. 
 
By the way, there is one detail in the disposal of the ashes that I didn't mention last week, and I wanted you it.  It is found in
 
Leviticus 6:10-11
 
Notice, the priest dressed in his priestly garments, made the sacrifice, cleared the ashes and set them down beside the altar.  Then he changed clothes and carried them out. 
Now I don't want to read too much into that, but it seems to me that what we are seeing there is a picture of salvation.  When you and I are saved, we are changed.  According to what Paul wrote to both the Ephesians and the Colossians, we put off the old man and put on the new man.
 
And that's just another of those subtle details that provide a picture of the magnificence and glory of our salvation.
 
So after, after preparing and sacrificing a substitutionary animal on the altar and dealing with the ashes, the priest would move from the altar to the next piece of furniture.
 
Today, let's take a look at what I consider to the most unique piece of furniture in the entire Tabernacle.  It is known as the laver of cleansing and it is described in
 
Exodus 30:17-21
 
The requirements for using the altar with the threat of death hanging over you gives a whole new meaning to "cleanliness is next to Godliness".  If you think your mother was serious when she told you to wash your hands, just think about how serious God is when He says it!
 
Notice, this item is described as a "laver of bronze".  The word laver is not a familiar word to us, but we do have an English word that comes from that word.  And while it's not as common as it once was, the more senior among us will remember the word "lavatory". 
Now a lavatory can refer to the bathroom itself, but according to Mr. Webster, the primary definition of a lavatory is a vessel such as a basin for washing.
 
That's exactly what God wants them to make, a basin for washing.  In fact, the Hebrew word means "something round."  So what we have here is some kind of washbasin to hold water.
 
And apparently God was not too particular about how it looked or how it was shaped because He doesn't provide any specifics.  As you can imagine, there is all kinds of speculation about how it looked, but it is a mystery, other than it was to be made of bronze.
 
And before we get into some of the details about the laver, I want to draw some contrasts between this the laver, and the altar we studied last time. 
 
For instance: 
 
- the altar was a place of fire and sacrifice.  In contrast, the laver was a place of water and cleansing. 
 
- the altar is a picture of substitution.  You know that you and I are saved on the basis of Jesus Christ being our substitute at the cross of Calvary.  He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  We are saved on the basis of a substitutionary atonement on the altar of Calvary.  The altar speaks of substitution.
 
 
 
 
On the other hand the laver speaks of sanctification. 
 
In other words, the altar is a picture of salvation while the laver is a picture of service.  I point those things out because they are a vivid picture of your life and mine and what God wants for us.  
 
Remember, we began our journey through the tabernacle as an apprehensive, guilt-ridden sinner who approached this pure white linen fence surrounding the Tabernacle that pictured the holiness of God.  The fence posts holding up that fence were topped with brass representing the judgment of God. 
 
And as sinners we are keenly aware of the fact that it is our sin that separates us from God.  But we come through the gate and make a sacrifice.  Our hands are laid on that substitutionary animal, its throat is slit and it is carried to the altar and a sacrifice is made on our behalf.
 
From that point forward, the picture changes.  Nothing else beyond the altar will picture us as sinners.  Remember, the priest changed his clothes to dispose of the ashes.
 
Now the picture is of 
 
1.   The Believer
 
Outside of the fence and on the other side of the altar, we were apprehensive sinners.  But now, the picture changes and we move from being a sinner to a saint, and in particular, a priest.
 
You will notice in verse 19 it mentions Aaron and his sons.  Aaron was the high priest.  His sons were priests.  That is significant because in the Tabernacle, the people couldn't go into the presence of God for themselves. 
 
You had to have a priest.  A priest was someone who represented people to God.  You had to have a priest in the Old Testament.  But the work of Christ on the cross changed all that.  You now have a new
 
- position
 
When Jesus died and the veil in the Temple came down, Jesus put every priest out of business because now you don't have a priest, you are a priest.  You don't have to have somebody go to God on your behalf.  You, as a believer-priest can go into the presence of God for yourself.
 
That is the beauty and wonder of the precious doctrine known as the priesthood of the believer.  It is one of the most special truths in all of the Word of God in terms of you and  I as born again believers. 
 
Let me give you two Scripture references that assure us that we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are now priests.  the first one is
 
- Revelation 1:6: "and God has made us kings and priests unto God and his father", and the other is,
 
- I Peter 2:9: "but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."
 
 
So just like was pictured by Aaron and his sons, we enjoy the same privilege and responsibility.  The Lord Jesus is the Great High Priest and you and I, as children of God, are priests also.
 
So theologically, that is the doctrine.  We are priests and as such,  we don't need any other human being to get into the presence of God. 
 
But what does that mean practically?  That means you have direct access to God.  I can pray for you and you can pray for me.  We don't have to go to someone qualified to take our prayers to God.  We qualify. 
 
There's nothing wrong with praying for each other,  We should do that.  We print a prayer list and make it available and have church prayer meetings every week.  We ask our friends to pray for us.  That's a good thing to do. 
 
But the truth of the matter is, you don't have to make a prayer request to the preacher in order to have a prayer sent to God on your behalf!  You have the privilege yourself of direct access to God through prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Isn't that wonderful!  That's what it means to be a priest. 
 
And that's not all!  As we've already seen, one of the responsibilities of the priests in the Old Testament was to offer sacrifices to God.
 
That apprehensive sinner would bring that sacrificial animal  to a priest and the priest would sacrifice the animal on behalf of the sinner. 
 
 
But listen to
 
1 Peter 2:5:  says this:  "you.  . . are. . .a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
 
If we are a priest, then we can and should make offer sacrifices.  So what kind of sacrifices should we offer to God?  They offered up animals and grain and incense.  In other words, they made physical sacrifices. 

But we offer spiritual sacrifices.  For instance,  
 
Romans 12 1 says, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice."
 
That's the first sacrifice we ought to offer to the Lord.  It's the sacrifice of our life in total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
In Philippians 4:18, the apostle Paul references a gift that the believers from Philippi had sent to him and he says, " Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God."
 
Did you realize that every Sunday when you bring your tithes and offerings to Lord, as a priest before God, you are offering up a spiritual sacrifice unto the Lord.
 
Hebrews 13:15-16 says, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
 
Every time you gather together in public worship, or when you worship privately in your own private devotions to the Lord, and you offer up praises to the Lord in song, you are offering up a spiritual sacrifice unto the Lord. 
 
That's why every believer ought to sing in the services.  It's a part of your offering of praise unto the Lord.  You can't sing?  That's alright.  The Bible says to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.  As a believer/priest you can offer up praises to the Lord.
 
There's another sacrifice mentioned in Romans 15:16.  Paul is talking about winning people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Listen to how he speaks of winning people to Christ:
 
"that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit."
 
in other words, Paul says, "When I lead somebody to Christ it's as if I am laying a sacrifice on the altar unto the Lord." 
 
I'm saying to the Lord, "Lord, this is how much I love you." It's wonderful to see people praise the Lord in the song service.  It's wonderful to see people get happy about the music.  But there is something wrong with praise that just gets excited about the music and doesn't get excited about people coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
I like to see people get happy when they are walking down the aisle with somebody they have led to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I think that's probably the highest act of worship of which a child of God is capable.
 
Bring some apprehensive sinner to the gate, introduce them to Jesus, let Him provide His sacrifice on their behalf and offer them up as a beautiful offering to God!
 
You're a priest, and it is your privilege to function as one.  As a believer, I have a new position.
 
But I also have a new
 
- problem
 
When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the Bible says that you are forgiven of your sins. 
 
When you went to that altar, that is the cross of Calvary, your sins were forgiven in the Lord Jesus Christ. The sin question was settled once and for all on the cross of Calvary. 
 
But now, very soon after you accept Jesus as your Savior, you make a startling discovery.  You discover that you still sin. Anybody here that can testify
 
It's wonderful when we come to Christ and He forgives us and we're born again and our position is secured by His blood,  That takes care of the eternal consequences of sin. 
 
But we also have the problem of daily sin.
 
Now, obviously, God doesn't want you to sin.  1 John 2:1 says this: these things have I written unto you that you sin not.   God is saying, "I don't want you to sin."   in fact, we instructed to be perfect like God.  So God doesn't want us to sin.
 
And Jesus doesn't want us to sin.  Remember the woman taken in adultery?  Jesus said to her, go and sin no more.   We don't want to sin.  One of the ways I know I'm truly born again is that I don't want to sin anymore. 
 
But I have to confess that even though God doesn't want me too and even though Jesus doesn't want me to sin and even and though I don't want to sin, I still have the problem of daily sin.
 
Now watch this: 
 
I came to the altar and it showed me how God deals with the penalty for sin.  Sin is a big deal to God.  When that animal sacrifice was burned on that altar in the fire of that altar, that animal sacrifice was reduced to ashes and those ashes were carried outside that gate, out to a place, and were dumped there. 
 
That means that our sins have been reduced to ashes.  The penalty of sin has been removed and taken away from us forever. 
That's the penalty of sin.
 
But now we come to the laver and the laver addresses the problem of the practice of sin on a daily basis.  One reason I know I'm saved is I don't want to sin.  Another reason I know I'm saved is that when I do sin, it makes me feel real bad. 
Do you know what I'm talking about?  You just blow it.  Say something you ought not to say.  Act ugly.  Do something that a child of God ought not do.  It makes you feel guilty.  It makes you feel dirty.  It troubles your heart.  The more dirt bothers a person, the more mature they are. 
 
That's true physically, isn't it?  You take a little baby.  Dirt doesn't bother a little baby.  If the pacifier calls out of the mouth of a little baby, it's no big deal to them.  Just pick it up and plop it back in.  Why?  They aren't experienced enough to know just how dangerous that is.
 
But as you get older and grow more experienced, dirt bothers you, or at least it should.  In fact, if you are a grown person and dirt doesn't bother you, that means you have never grown up emotionally. 
 
The same thing is true spiritually.  The more you grow in the Lord, and the closer you get to the Lord the more the dirt of sin bothers you. When you get dirt in your life and when you sin in your life as a born again child of God, it affects your worship. It affects your service for the Lord.  Those priests who worked around that Tabernacle got dirty.  Their feet got dirty.  Do you know what was inside that court?  Sand. 
 
As they walked around on the sand of the wilderness their feet got dirty.  As they slaughtered those animals and cut them and got blood all over them and put that wood on the fire and got the soot and the ashes, their hands and their feet got dirty. 
 
 
We live in a dirty, filthy world and every day of our lives we come in contact with the dirt and the filth and the slime of this old world and the problem that creates is you can't go into the Tabernacle if you're dirty. 
 
Psalm 24:4 puts it this way.  Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord?  And who shall go into his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.  
 
You can't worship God the way you ought to worship when your life is dirty.
 
Now if the priest can't go in, then that means he can't offer sacrifices.  You couldn't serve if you had dirty hands and dirty feet.  Isaiah 52:11 says you had to be clean to carry the vessels of the Lord. 
 
Sin in your daily life hinders you from serving Jesus the way you ought to serve Him.  So, when we sin as a believer, we do not lose our relationship with the Lord, we are still God's children, we are still believer/priests.  We do not lose our relationship but we lose our fellowship.  We cannot worship God effectively, we cannot serve God effectively.  That's the first picture, the picture of the believer.
 
The second picture is –
 
2.  The Laver
 
Now the instruction for making the laver are given here in Exodus 30, but there are two additional details that we need to see. 
 
 
A little later in Exodus 30, we are told about a mixture of spices and olive oil that was used to make a special anointing oil that was reserved for anointing the tabernacle and the furnishings and vessels used there. Then in Hebrew 9, we are told that Moses sprinkled everything with blood.
 
So keep that in mind.  We have this bronze laver that is anointed with holy oil and sprinkled with blood.  What does that picture?  First I'll tell you, then I'll explain it to you. 
 
It is a picture of the Bible.  The laver is a picture of the Word of God. 
 
First, it is
 
- sprinkled with blood. 
 
From cover to cover, the message of the Bible is the message of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for our redemption. It starts early in the garden of Eden where an animal sacrifice was made so coverings could be provided  for Adam and Eve and it continues all the way to the end of the book of the Revelation where we are told that God has redeemed us by His own precious blood.  It's a book of redemption.  It's a blood book.
 
But it is also a book that has been
 
- anointed with oil
 
 
 
 
Scripturally speaking, oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit, and the New Testament tells us that our Bible came to us through the work of the Holy Spirit as holy men were directed and inspired to write God's word. 
 
Now, there's a lot of mystery surrounding this laver.  As I mentioned, we are given no dimensions as we are with other furnishings.  No description is given about its shape or how it was carried. They were only instructed to make it from bronze. There is a mystery about it
 
Did you know there is a mystery about the Word of God?   Think about the mystery of its
 
- inspiration
 
That gives a lot of people a lot of trouble.  They want to know how the Bible cold be God's word if it is written by human beings.  After all, just as we've learned this morning, human beings are tainted by sin.  How can sinful humans write a perfect, errorless book?
 
It is very much the same questions that are asked about Jesus:  How could Jesus Christ be without sin and yet be conceived in the womb of Mary and live as a human? 
 
Here's how: 
 
The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary so that what was conceived in Mary did not partake of her sin, but partook of the sinless nature of the Holy Spirit Himself.  That's why Jesus was referred to in the womb of Mary as "that holy thing."
In the same way, the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit as He used human beings, prone to error.  The Holy Spirit hovered over, if you will, holy, God-selected men and as they were moved and inspired, they wrote what God said.
 
That is the mystery of its inspiration. 
 
There is also the mystery of its
 
- preservation
 
Think about how old the Bible is.  Typically, books don't last long.  And those that do are regarded as invaluable.  For instance, Plato lived from 427-347 B.C., and he was a prolific writer.  We have 7 copies of his work and the earliest copy is dated at 900 A.D. which means it was 1,200 years from the time he wrote it until a copy showed up, and yet they are highly esteemed as his work.
 
Caesar lived from 100-44 B.C.  We have 10 copies of his work and again, the earliest one dates to A.D. 900, about 1,000 years after he lived. And no one questions its authenticity.
 
Homer wrote a classic work called the Iliad.  I made an attempt at understanding it while a student at OBU.  Homer lived around 900 B.C.  The earliest copy of 643 showed up 500 years after he lived.  They are believed to be 95% accurate and I don't remember anyone casting any doubt on its authorship when we studied it.  It is accepted as authentic. 
 
 
Did you realize that in regard to the New Testament, even though it was written in the 1st Cent. A.D., somewhere between A.D. 50-100, the earliest copy available dates back to the second century, less than 100 years after it was originally written.  There are over 5,600 copies of the New Testament available and they are 99.5% accurate.
 
Its credibility and authenticity and accuracy are constantly under attack. Yet still it stands, miraculously preserved by God Himself. That is the mystery of the preservation of the Word of God.
 
Then I think about the mystery of its
 
- application
 
Have you ever thought about how God's word applies to people?  Here we are in this service, a crowd of people of all ages.  We have young, middle, and I can't believe they are still alive!  There are people of all educational levels; people who didn't finish high school and people with earned degrees.  We have multiple ethnicities and social standings and backgrounds.  All kinds of people here. 
 
And yet, we all open the same book and listen as it speaks to each of us. The Word of God applies uniquely, supernaturally and personally to every one of us.  Have you ever thought about the fact that people come week after week to hear a guy just get up here and talk about this book?
 
You tell me one other book on the earth that they would do that for.  How many weeks do you think people would show up here if I started talking about Shakespeare? 
Yet, week after week, year after year, people come to hear a simple man expound the teachings of the Bible.  There's a uniqueness about its application.  
 
One of the reasons I know the Bible is true is that though it was written thousands of years ago, when I read it, it's like the voice of God right out of heaven to my soul today.  Glory to God!  Isn't that marvelous!  They mystery of this laver.
 
Not only the mystery of it, but think about the ministry of this laver.  Obviously, this laver had a purpose.  There had to be a reason for it being what it was and where it was, or God wouldn't have bothered.  And the best picture of the reason for its existence is found in
 
Exodus 38:8 
 
So the women brought their mirrors and they were used to make the laver.  Instead of glass, they used highly polished metal to serve as mirrors.  Now what are mirrors used for?  They let us look at ourselves.  That means every time those priests would go up to that laver and look in they saw a reflection of themselves. 
 
Did you realize that is exactly the purpose of your Bible study time?  God wants us to see ourselves reflected in His Word, the good, the bad and the ugly.
 
When you open up that Bible and honestly read it, you see yourself.  That's why a lot of people don't read the Bible.  They don't want to see themselves like God does. 
 
By the way, listen to what the Word of God says in
 
James 1:22-25
 
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
 
He's talking about the Bible, the mirror of the Word.  Listen:  the Word of God passes judgment on our daily life.  That's why every day of our lives we ought to take a good look in the looking glass—the Bible.  In the looking glass you will see yourself as God sees you.  People today sit in judgment on the Word.  People tear the Word to pieces.  They make fun of the Word.  They criticize the Word. 
 
But Jesus said in John 12:48, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."
 
It's not you sitting in judgment of the Word, it's the Word that sits in judgment of you. 
 
The believer—that's picture number one.  The laver—
that's picture number two.  The third picture is –
 
3.   The Water
 
verse 18b
There are two things in regard to the washing that I want you to see.  For the priest to be prepared to enter into the presence of God, first, there was an overall, complete cleansing.
 
They would get a complete bath.  In New testament terms, that is a picture of salvation. Titus 3:5 talks about the washing of regeneration.  When you got saved you got your overall bath.  The washing of regeneration. 
 
Secondly, these priests would go to the laver every day and would wash their hands and feet so that they would be clean to worship and serve.  This was a cleansing that was daily and repeated and  continual. 
 
Remember the conversation Jesus had with Peter while he was washing their feet?  It's found in John 13.  Peter says, "You're not going to wash my feet, Lord!"
 
Jesus says, "Then you can't be a part of what I'm all about.  You can't fellowship with Me unless you allow me to clean you up."
 
Peter said, "Then give me a bath!  Pour water all over me and don't miss a spot! Wash me all over."  
 
Jesus says, "That's not necessary.  You're already spiritually washed.  You just need to keep your feet clean!" 
 
In other words, you've been saved.  You've already had your bath.  You just need daily cleansing."
 
That's what happened at the laver.  If you will study the tabernacle, you will find the priests were sanctified and cleansed one time only in a never-repeated ceremony.  After that, the only requirement for their cleansing was found at this laver.
 
There, they would wash their hands and feet to prepare to sacrifice before the Lord.  You ask, "Was it really all that important?
 
Exodus 30:21
 
Their life depended on being clean.  And so does yours and mine.  If you and I want to be effective as Christians and we want to minister life to those with whom we co me in contact and to those we serve, it means we have to keep our lives clean every day.
 
Take a Christian whose life isn't clean, and everywhere they go, they minister death.  Put them in  a Sunday School class and they'll kill it every time.   Anywhere you put them, if their life is not clean, they'll minister death.  If your hands aren't clean you transmit disease.   If your feet aren't clean you get disease.
 
In 1818, Ignaz Phillip Semmelweis was born into a world of dying women. The finest hospitals lost one out of six young mothers to the scourge of "childbed fever." A doctor's daily routine began in the dissecting room where he performed autopsies. From there he made his way to the hospital to examine expectant mothers without ever pausing to wash his hands.
 
 
Dr. Semmelweis was the first man in history to associate such examinations with the resultant infection and death. His own practice was to wash with a chlorine solution, and after eleven years and the delivery of 8,537 babies, he lost only 184 mothers; about one in fifty. He spent the vigor of his life lecturing and debating with his colleagues.
 
Once he argued, "Puerperal (Childbed) fever is caused by decomposed material, conveyed to a wound. I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proved all that I have said. But while we talk, talk, talk; gentlemen, women are dying. I am not asking anything world shaking. I am asking you only to wash. For God's sake, wash your hands."
 
But virtually no one believed him. Doctors and midwives had been delivering babies for thousands of years without washing, and no outspoken Hungarian was going to change them now. In fact, it wasn’t until Pasteur proved his germ theory that the medical profession would respond. 
 
Dr. Semmelweis, eventually had a nervous breakdown, was admitted to an asylum and died from injuries in 1865 at the of 47, his wash basins discarded, his colleagues laughing in his face, and the death rattle of a thousand women ringing in his ears.
 
The Bible emphatically states that if we have sin in our life, and our feet are dirty, we cannot have fellowship with Jesus.  Yet, there are those, like those doctors, who disregard the precepts of God's Word only to hear the "death rattle" of their spiritual life "ringing in their ears."
 
Dr. Semmelweis understood what God taught the children of Israel through Moses and pictured through the laver a long time ago.  Life depends on cleanliness, both in the physical world and the spiritual world. 
 
Today, God invites you to the laver.  There you will find cleansing that will enable you to serve as God desires and designed. 
 
Let's pray.