02.15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen The Brazen Sea The Brazen Sea in the court of the Temple took the place of the Laver of the Tabernacle. All these vessels are the embodiment of Divine thought connected with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As in the altar we see Christ as our redemption, so in the Layer we have Christ as our sanctification. One beautiful title by which God is made known in the Old Testament is Jehovah-Mekaddesham, which means “I am Jehovah that doth sanctify you. “How does Jehovah sanctify? In Christ Jesus through the truth (John 17:17). The Word of God is the means, and the Word is effectually applied by the Spirit. This is the truth set forth in the Tabernacle Laver. The larger reservoir, the Brazen Sea, suggests the idea of a greater fulness and more abundant supply. It was thirty cubits in circumference, ten in diameter. five in height, a handbreadth in thickness. It was constructed to hold three thousand baths; it generally contained two thousand (1 Kings 7:23-26; 2 Chronicles 4:2-5; 2 Chronicles 4:10; 2 Chronicles 4:15)—each hath being calculated to be equal to seven gallons and four pints of our measure. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three toward the west, three toward the south, three toward the east, their hinder parts inward. The Brazen Sea made by Hiram for Solomon, standing by the Temple of God, reminds us of the words of the Psalmist, “With Thee is the fountain of life. “It is said concerning the Laver— “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat” (Exodus 30:19). The Hebrew expression is “there from, “teaching that the water was drawn from it; the water in the Laver remained uncontaminated. The same explanation will apply to the Brazen Sea: it was for the use of the priests; they could not reach up to dip their hands into it. In some old drawings water is represented as flowing from the mouths of the oxen; the oxen were probably hollow. The brim was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies, and knops or gourds in two rows, ten knops to a cubit. This Brazen Sea, with its vast collection of water, presents to us the idea of unlimited supply; it is emblematic of Jesus in resurrection and in ascended glory, in whom dwells all fulness of spiritual life, power, and blessing. The water is typical of the Spirit as given from the risen and glorified Christ. In John 7:37-38, we read, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that helieveth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. “Then follows the interpretation, “But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe in Him should receive, “when He was glorified. God the Father, the Source of all. The Brazen Sea is the Fountain-head. But “it pleased the Father that in Him (the Son) should all fulness dwell. “He is the vast Reservoir; the Father the Source. In Christ all fulness dwelleth; and the fulness of the Father which is in the Son is communicated to us by the Holy Spirit sent from a glorified Christ. The water in the Brazen Sea, as interpreted by the Lord Jesus, signifies the Holy Spirit descending from a glorified Christ, as at Pentecost, remaining in the Church until that Church as the body and bride of Christ, is made meet for Him to come and receive her to Himself. The Twelve Oxen

We have a beautiful embodiment of Divine thought connected with ministry, of which the ox in Scripture is the emblem of patient, laborious service. This figure is applied by the Apostle Paul to those who minister the Word— “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. “The ox treading out the corn for the household represents that servant whom his Lord has set over His household, to give them their portion of meat in due season, and who, by going over the Sacred page with unmuzzled mouth, feeds as he treads it out for others. The oxen through which the water flowed may be typical of those who, abiding in Christ, and drawing out of His fulness, minister the Spirit to others, according to that word, “He that ministereth to you the Spirit” (Galatians 3:5). This is true ministry—drinking into the Spirit of Christ, receiving out of His fulness, speaking out of the abundance of the heart, ministering the Spirit, so ministering grace unto the hearers.

Living Waters In the Temple of Ezekiel neither Laver nor brazen sea are mentioned; the waters that issue from under the threshold take their place. They flow down eastward, at the south side of the altar (Ezekiel 47:1-23). These waters are emblematic of life in the Spirit small in its commencement in the new birth, it goes on deepening and widening as it flows, leading to purity of walk, as symbolised in the water reaching to the “ankles. “A patient continuance in holy walking leads to a spirit of worship; this is indicated by the waters reaching to the “knees. “The prophet was conducted from the south side—the side of loving-kindness and grace—back to the north—the side of righteousness and judgment—a further progress, that of “worshipping God in the Spirit, “realising the holiness of Him whom we worship. “Our Father which art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name. “The waters now reach unto the “loins, “for worship leads to service, the bent knee to the girded loins, occupied with the service of the Master in the hope of His return. “Waters to swim in. “Patience continuance in well-doing leads the soul into a richer and fuller acquaintance with God, the enjoyment of His manifested presence, and the communion of the Holy Ghost. Strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man, Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, rooted and grounded in love, the believer is led to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the length and breadth and depth and height of love Divine; and, knowing the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, the soul is “filled into all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19,—an ocean of boundless blessedness, without a bottom and without a shore. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him “—like a fish in ocean depths, drinking in from the boundless fulness which surrounds it, and enjoying unlimited freedom in the activity of its happy existence— “a river that could not be passed over. “ The River from the Throne of God and of The Lamb The river in Revelation 22:1-21 is traced up to its source in God, the fountain of living waters, and reveals the sovereignty of His grace, founded on the atoning work of His beloved son.

Ezekiel 47:1-23 gives the literal and earthly view, Revelation 22:1-21 the spiritual and heavenly; while both are millennial. The Bases and Lavers

There were ten bases and layers of brass (1 Kings 7:27; 1 Kings 7:38), five placed on the south or right side or shoulder of the Temple, and five on the north or left side (1 Kings 7:39). The bases were square, four cubits wide, three cubits high, with ledges, borders, or sides, and certain additions, and undersetters or supports for the layer. They stood on wheels, one and a half cubits high, and had gravings of lions, oxen, and cherubim. There are two Hebrew words both rendered “base “in 1 Kings 7:1-51. A base under the Laver—keen, the word rendered “foot “in connection with the Laver in the Tabernacle; and the larger base, meeonah, of four cubits by three. The lavers were circular, four cubits in diameter; each one contained forty baths (1 Kings 7:38). Altogether they appear to have stood about eight cubits in height. Such things as they offered for the burnt [ascending] offering they washed in them” (2 Chronicles 4:6). The inward and legs of the burnt offerings were washed; thus they became typical of Him whose inward thoughts, feelings, purposes, and desires were ever pure and holy; whose walk and ways were blameless and undefiled, and who “offered Himself without spot to God. “

“The pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to King Solomon for the house of the Lord, were of bright brass” (1 Kings 7:45).

—Our Daily Homily