07-CHAPTER SEVEN THE LAVER OF BRASS

CHAPTER SEVEN
THE LAVER OF BRASS
Christ - Our Cleanser
Exodus 30:17-21; Exodus 38:8; Exodus 39:39; Exodus 40:7, Exodus 40:11, Exodus 40:30-32 IN OUR first lesson of this series we saw, in the bird’s eye view of the Jewish tabernacle, that between the brazen altar and the door, just in line with the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, stood the laver of brass. Thus the brazen laver became an important link in the prophetic outline of the cross, which was made by the God-given arrangement of the six pieces of furniture, placed in the outer court and in the two rooms of the sanctuary.
The Holy Spirit has not recorded the specific details concerning the shape and size of the laver. We know only that it was made of brass, from the looking glasses of the women; that it had a foot or pedestal of brass; and that there the priests washed their hands and feet before they entered the Holy Place or returned to the brazen altar to serve God.

“Aaron and his sons” washed their feet “thereat” (Exodus 30:19).

The word “thereat” suggests that the water was taken out of the laver into a smaller vessel for this cleansing. The foot or pedestal of brass rested upon the desert sands, yet lifted the laver above the earth, suggestive of the fact that those who washed were pilgrims, “in the world,” but “not of the world.” They were on their way to the Promised Land, of which Canaan was but a type.
The significance of this brazen laver is very plain. Aaron and his sons, as we have seen, were “shadows and types” of believer-priests in this church age. They were washed all over, once for all, by Moses at the door of the tabernacle, a picture of our having been washed once for all from the penalty of sin by the blood of Jesus. But daily, for many years, the priests in Israel had to wash their hands and feet at the brazen laver, a picture of our confession and cleansing from the daily defilement of sin before we may worship God or serve Him for His glory.

As born again souls, we are “in the world,” but “not of it.” We are pilgrims here, on our journey from the godless world to the heavenly Canaan. And how much we need the daily, constant cleansing from the defilement of the desert sands of this Christ-rejecting world!

May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to discern the full and rich message which He has for us in this lesson, as we seek to see, by faith, “The Glories of Christ As Foreshadowed in the Jewish Tabernacle,” with its laver of brass for the cleansing of hands and feet.

It is a lesson of instruction, of warning, and of comfort, as we see prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ, our Cleanser from every stain of sin!

We turn to Exodus 30:17-21 to read God’s instructions to Moses for the making of the brazen laver:

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not” (Exodus 30:17-21). THE LAVER - A TYPE OF THE WORD OF GOD AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD

Water, in the Scriptures, is used as a type of the Word of God and of the Holy Spirit of God. Two clear passages, from among others which might be cited, make this truth very plain:

“Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26).

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified)” (John 7:37-39).

Again, in His intercessory prayer for His own, our Lord asked the Father to keep His disciples from evil, adding, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

Those of us who love the Lord know all too well that, when we neglect the reading and study of His holy Word, our lives are barren of joy in the Lord, barren of fruitfulness in proclaiming the gospel.

- Our hands, which speak to us of service, become defiled with the pleasures of sin.
- Our feet, symbolic of our daily pilgrimage, go in the paths that lead away from a close and constant walk with God.

We are still His children; He loves us still; but, like Peter before the cross, we follow the Lord “afar off.”

Those of us who love the Lord know also, all too well, that when we “grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” we are powerless to do His will. Our efforts in so-called Christian work are futile. Our work is as “wood, hay, and stubble” in His sight.
But how often those of us who love the Lord have gone to Him, confessing our sins, letting Him speak to us through His sanctifying, cleansing Word, and have found in Him forgiveness and power through the ministry of His Holy Spirit!

The longer we travel on this pilgrimage, from Egypt to Canaan, as it were, the more we realize our helplessness, apart from the Word of God applied to our sinning hearts through the Holy Spirit of God. The older we grow in our Christian experience, the more we become conscious of our need for daily, constant cleansing from the defilement of sin through “the washing of water by the word,” made “quick and powerful” through the eternal Spirit of God.

When we examine our hands and our feet - our service and our walk - in the light of the Holy Scriptures; when we confess our sins, and by the power of the Spirit put them away; then our Lord “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

David knew the wretchedness of defilement, even after he was saved.

He had broken three of God’s holy commandments,

- Having been impure in his life,
- Having lived a falsehood,
- Having committed murder.

God sent His prophet, Nathan, to tell him of his awful sin; whereupon David asked God’s forgiveness, saying, in part:

“Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin . . . Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation” (Psalms 51:2, Psalms 51:7, Psalms 51:10-12).

David lived before the cross, before the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers in Jesus.

In those days God sent the Spirit upon individual men for special service. That is why David cried unto the Lord, asking that He take not the Holy Spirit away from him. Living on this side of the cross, as we do, following the Day of Pentecost, we need not pray that prayer. Our Lord promised that His Spirit should never leave us; and He always keeps His Word! Yet it is possible for us to “grieve” the Spirit of God by our wayward, selfish lives.

David prayed that God would “restore” unto him “the joy” of God’s salvation. And surely we need to pray such a prayer every time we wander afar off!
The English poet, William Cowper, knew the meaning of this eternal truth; for he wrote:

“O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

“The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.

“So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.” THE WORD OF GOD - A “MIRROR” TO THE SOUL

It is in Exodus 38:8 that we read of Moses’ having made the laver of brass “of looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

Possibly these were the women who helped to make the fine linen curtains and hangings, embroidering them with the figures of cherubim, in blue, purple, and scarlet. Possibly there were many ways in which the women could serve among the “willing-hearted” who gave of their time and gifts to make this sanctuary for God’s dwelling place among them. At any rate, these women who “ministered” gave up their treasured mirrors, that the laver of brass might be fashioned according to God’s pattern.

And the Word of God is likened, by the Holy Spirit, to a mirror. We read of this in James 1:22-25 :

“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass [or mirror]: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was [forgets all about how he looked]. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty (the Word of God), and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
As we look at ourselves in our own polished mirrors, we may think we have a beauty all our own; but as we examine our hearts in the light of God’s Holy Word, like Job, we “abhor” ourselves.

Like Paul, we see that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing. (See Job 42:6; Romans 7:18).

Our mirrors reflect our natural beauty or our deformities; but they cannot alter our appearance. Not so with God’s Word. It reveals our sins to our quickened hearts; and it can wash us “whiter than snow”!

Only the grace of God put into the hearts of the women in Israel the desire to give up the mirrors which revealed to them their natural beauty. And only the grace of God can put into our hearts the desire to give up our own self-righteousness, to kneel at the foot of the cross, asking for cleansing that will cause the beauty of the Lord to rest upon us. As we surrender our own “fancied beauty,” as we let the Holy Spirit apply the Mirror of the soul, then we learn how God can cleanse and empower for service which will honor Him and make us happy in the doing.

We have a striking illustration of the natural use of the mirror in the Pharisee of Luke 18:9-14, who “prayed thus with himself,”

“God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.”

Again he looked into his mirror, and added,

“I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”

How satisfied that Pharisee was with himself!

Paul, likewise, before he was converted on the Damascus road, boasted in the heritage that he had through Abraham:

“Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Php 3:5-6).

How Saul of Tarsus delighted in each feature, as he looked at himself in his own mirror! But on the road to Damascus he saw the Lord Jesus; and that vision of the sinless Saviour and Lord broke his heart. With the memory of that glory, he wrote, saying,

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung [refuse], that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Php 3:7-9).

Then Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, wrote one of the most beautiful of Bible prayers, saying,

“. . . that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death . . .” (Php 3:10).

Earlier in his ministry he had written to the Roman Christians, showing them the struggle between the two natures - the old nature under the law and the new nature in Christ Jesus.

Turning to the law, which condemned his sins, seeking to use it as a means to holiness, he saw himself as a struggling, despairing sinner. Forty times in the seventh chapter of Romans he used the personal pronoun - “I,” “me,” “my.”

The result was that he cried out in agony of soul,
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).

Immediately God gave him the answer,

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25).

Then followed the eighth chapter of Romans, filled with the Person and work of the Holy Spirit of God. It is the high point of the Epistle, the answer to all the prayers of an honest heart - God’s answer - giving life and power and blessing to the Spirit-filled and Spirit-led child of God. Do you see the message of the brazen laver in the outer court of the Jewish tabernacle, my friend? It speaks to us of the cleansing power of the Word of God, when applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God. There is no other way to blessing and power and communion and worship. When we neglect our Bibles, we grow cold and indifferent to the things of Christ. When we let the Mirror of the soul reveal the defilement of our hands and feet - our service and our walk - then we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

WASHED IN JESUS’ BLOOD “ONCE FOR ALL” -
CLEANSED DAILY BY HIS WORD

There were two ceremonial washings of the priests, as we saw in our last lesson:

- First Moses washed them all over at the door of the tabernacle when they were consecrated to the office of a priest.
- Then they washed their own hands and feet daily before they entered the Holy Place, and as they came out to minister at the brazen altar.

Moses’ washing the priests all over was a picture of Another’s washing them once for all in His precious blood, even the Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of this the altar of burnt offering speaks. But in the laver we have the picture of Christ as the believer’s “Advocate with the Father,” washing His disciples’ hands and feet from the daily defilement of sin.

Thus He maintains fellowship between Himself and His believer-priests.

- We are first justified by His blood;
- Then we are sanctified through confession of sin and cleansing by “the washing of water through the word,” as it is applied by the Spirit of God.
As Dr. W. G. Moorehead once wrote,

“There is a bath which requires no repetition!”

Once saved, always saved - by the grace of God. “Regeneration is never, never repeated!”

To all who have put their faith in the atoning work of Christ, He says,

“Ye are washed . . . ye are sanctified . . . ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
This is what Christ meant when He said to Peter, as He washed the disciples’ feet,

“He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all, For he knew him that should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean” (John 13:10-11).

Let us remember that brass, in the Jewish tabernacle, speaks to us of judgment upon sin.

We saw that in our former studies concerning the brazen altar, where the sacrifice was slain - for sin; and in the pillars and sockets of brass. We saw that the brazen serpent in the wilderness was used by our Lord, in His conversation with Nicodemus, to illustrate His bearing our sins upon the accursed tree; for the serpent is the symbol of sin; brass, of judgment.

Now as the penalty of sin was judged at the brazen altar, so defilement was confessed and judged - put away - at the brazen laver.

We were born again at the cross; we are cleansed daily as we let Christ, our Cleanser, forgive us of all unrighteous acts and thoughts by the way. At the altar the animal sacrifice was slain; at the laver water was used to make clean the hands and feet.

- At the cross Christ was crucified; and from His wounded side there came forth “blood and water.”
- From the smitten rock in the wilderness there flowed a life-giving stream. And “that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).
No wonder the hymn writer sang, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure, Cleanse me from its guilt and power.”

- By the blood of Christ we are justified;
- By the water of the Word we are sanctified.

The leper in Israel who was cleansed was sprinkled with blood seven times; then he washed himself and his clothes with water. Leprosy is a type of sin. “Nothing but the blood of Jesus” can take away the guilt of sin; and He has provided a living fountain of water through the Spirit and the Word, whereby the redeemed of God may keep their garments “unspotted from the world,” which thrust Him out at the point of a spear. (See James 1:27).

After the priests had washed their hands and feet at the laver of brass, they went on into the Holy Place.

- There they walked in the light of the golden candlestick which pointed on to Christ, the Light of the World.
- There they ate the shewbread, a picture of Christ, the Bread of Life.
- There they stood before the golden altar of incense to pray for the people, prophetic of Christ, our Intercessor and “Advocate with the Father.”

From this place of communion they went forth to serve God at the brazen altar, and to serve His people, as their representatives.
My Christian friend, how do we attempt to do the work of God? In the energy of the flesh? Depending upon our own supposed strength? Or in the power of the Holy Spirit alone?

Long ago the prophet gave us the secret to soul winning, when he said,
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
And again the apostle echoed the thought, saying,

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing [laver] of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

“And having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:21-22).

CLEANSED FOR SERVICE

Only the priests could wash their hands and feet at the laver of brass; and to be a priest in Israel, one had to be born into Aaron’s family.

Only the born again child of God can claim the cleansing power of the Word and the Spirit of God.

Indeed, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

To approach the inspired Word of God merely as literature, or as a source of human knowledge, is to seek blindly for something that cannot be acquired by human skill. “Ye must be born again,” our Lord said to Nicodemus many centuries ago - born again by the Spirit of God as He applies the living Word of God to the sinner’s heart. (See John 3:3-8).

Aaron and his sons had to meet God at the altar of sacrifice before they could approach the laver; and only by the way of the altar and the laver could they enter the sanctuary of God for communion and fellowship with Him. No manmade schemes for worship, no manmade schemes for service can please God. Would that all men everywhere would heed our Lord’s own Word, “Ye must be born again!”

Moreover, let us who have been regenerated by His precious blood not forget that we have been saved to serve. God has “no other plan” for making known “the unsearchable riches” of Christ. He is depending upon His own.

“As the Father sent” Him, “so sendeth he” us who have been born again by His grace. That He expects fruitfulness from our lives, we know, even as He said,

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16). No CLEANSING - No WORSHIP - No SERVICE

Repeatedly God said to Moses that Aaron and his sons should wash their hands and feet at the laver of brass, “lest they die.”

Without this cleansing, they dared not enter the sanctuary to worship; without it, they dared not seek to serve at the altar or in the Holy Place. There was no blood-shedding at the laver; yet the priests dared not worship without its cleansing!

Again, the lesson is plain. We cannot approach God except with clean hands and a clean heart. If we would know His quickening power, we must confess our sins, that He may cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10).

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalms 24:3-5).

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalms 119:9).

Whatever the coldness of your heart, my Christian friend; whatever the lack of power and blessing in your life may have been; go to Christ in full and complete confession, and He will restore unto you the joy of your salvation. He will forgive and cleanse and empower you for worship and service. He will put a song in your heart to stay. “Though we are faithless, yet he abideth faithful!”

CHRIST - OUR CLEANSER A perfect and beautiful picture of Christ, our Great High Priest, ministering at the laver, is seen in the thirteenth chapter of John, where He is the Girded One, washing His disciples’ feet. There He is our Advocate at work; and in this scene He gives us a glimpse of His present ministry of intercession before “the throne of grace.”

He had just partaken of the last Passover with His disciples. He Himself was soon to be offered as the Passover Lamb, the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Arising from the supper, He took a towel, and girded Himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, wiping them with the towel wherewith He was girded.

Peter, not understanding his Lord’s purpose, refused to let Him wash his feet; he knew his own unworthiness, and felt that the Lord Jesus should never do for him what seemed to him as a menial task.

“Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (John 13:6-8).
In effect the Lord had said to Peter something like this: “Peter, this is a picture of the work which I shall perform for you when I return to the Father, cleansing you, restoring you to fellowship when that fellowship has been broken by sin in your life. You do not understand now, but you shall hereafter.”

Every believer is “in Christ,” and that position cannot change. But every believer also sins, as long as he is in the flesh, in this present life; and to have fellowship “with Christ,” to have “part with Him,” in comradeship and communion, he must let Christ keep him cleansed.

Still Peter did not understand. Going to the other extreme, he said,

“Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”

And the quiet, wonderful answer of the Lord was simply, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet but is clean every whit.”
The believer, having been washed “with the washing of regeneration,” needs that washing no more. The cleansing effect of the new birth is not to be repeated. He to whom the precious blood of Christ has been applied has been set in a position of unchangeable righteousness in his standing before God.

To think of the necessity for a second application of that blood would be to dishonor it.

It is the blood of the Father’s well-beloved Son, and it has once for all redeemed and made nigh every believer. The need now is for the washing of the soiled feet - the cleansing from the daily defilement of those who have been redeemed.

“Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it,” once for all, “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

- He died to make us clean.
- He lives to keep us clean.

We are made just as clean as His precious blood can make us, and that is “whiter than snow.”

We are kept just as clean as the water of His Word and the power of His Holy Spirit can keep us.

The cleansing of the blood is once for all. The cleansing from the defilement of the desert sands is just as often as there is need for it.

Bathers in the surf are often seen going to the bathing pavilion with a pail of water. This is to remove the sand with which their feet become soiled as they walk across the beach.

In the believer’s walk from the cross to the New Jerusalem, where he will be clothed in a robe of beauty like unto his Lord’s, he becomes defiled, and has constant need of the tender ministry of an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Our blessed Lord is there, in the presence of the Father, girded to serve our daily need, that we may “have part” with Him, in fellowship and communion and worship and service. When He shows us some evil way, some defiling spot, we may at once submit our feet to Him, and have them cleansed, fully cleansed!

Thank God! At the altar which is His cross the penalty of sin has been forever paid! And at the laver of cleansing, through His Holy Word, the Spirit of God gives us power over sin. The Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God are interceding for us at the Father’s right hand!

“WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM!” As long as we are pilgrims, journeying from this world to heaven and home, we shall need the laver of cleansing, as it were; but in that eternal city there will be no need for cleansing from defilement; for nothing that defileth shall enter there.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

“For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Php 3:20-21).
As someone has beautifully expressed it:

“The streets of gold will reflect the purity of the redeemed. A sea of glass will show forth the unsullied beauty of the sons of God, who shall have been glorified, transformed into the very image of the Lord!”

There shall be no more curse, no more sin, no more tears, no more night. In the presence of our crucified and risen Lord we shall worship Him throughout all the endless ages!

Until that coming day, we stand in need of Christ, our Cleanser, in a very real sense. As we wait for His appearing; as we look beyond the blood and tears of a war-torn, war-weary world; let us give our whole selves into His hands for the daily, constant cleansing that can make us ever-increasingly like Him, more and more “meet for the Master’s use.”

This we shall do only as our hearts can sing a song of William Cowper, written many years ago. This great English poet knew the pangs of sorrow. He knew the need for the daily ministry of his omnipotent Lord. An orphan at an early age, he fell in love with his cousin, whom he could never marry. Failing in his chosen profession of law, he knew even greater trouble in temporary fits of insanity. Upon one occasion, in such an illness, dear friends prevented him from taking his own life. Then, upon regaining his mental balance, he wrote those majestic lines,

“God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.”

It was this godly man who also wrote,

“There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.” But his hymn that shows his realization of constant need for cleansing by Christ, through the Word of God applied by the Holy Spirit, is this one; may we make it the song of our hearts - till Jesus comes!

“The Spirit breathes upon the Word,
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford
A sanctifying light.

“A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic, like the sun:
It gives a light to every age;
It gives, but borrows none.

“My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of Him I love,
Till glory breaks upon my view
In brighter worlds above”.

~ end of chapter 7 ~

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