The Tabernacle of God: The Laver

Exodus 30:17-21

Many years ago, I was directing a church camp, and we had a 17 year old boy who had suffered a brain injury. Though physically he was 17, because of the injury he was mentally about 5-7 years old. If you know anything about boys who are 5-7 years old, they do not like baths. On the other hand, 17 year old boys and girls need both baths and deodorant. Needless to say, we had to do something because this boy was rough. So, we put dish soap on the slip-n-slide and washed both him and his clothes in what he thought was a fun relief from the heat, and we found it to be a relief from the stink! I don't care how religious a person is, they need to wash. We never get so holy that we don't need soap. The same is true for us spiritually while we are on this side of heaven.

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Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water, lest they die.  So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

Exodus 30:17-21

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Again, the laver is made of bronze which signifies judgment. Often in the Bible, sin is referred to as impurity. As a matter of fact, Isaiah said that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The Psalmist said, "They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt (unclean); There is none who does good, No, not one" (Psalm 14:3). Sin has totally messed us up. This is called the doctrine of total depravity.

Some people have a problem with this doctrine because we all know someone who is worse than us. I heard it explained like this one time: If someone takes a cup of pure water and drops a single drop of arsenic into it, would you drink it? Of course, the answer is no. The whole cup of water is contaminated. More arsenic could be added, which only changes the intensity of the poison. Sin is the arsenic, and we are the cup of water. Once contaminated, there is nothing that we can do to purify ourselves.

That is where God steps in. The laver is a picture of Jesus and His being the water that washes away our sins. In Ephesians 5:25-26, while speaking about the church being the bride of Jesus, and her being purified to be an acceptable bride, Paul said that she is washed by "the water of the Word". Let us also remember that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1-4, 14). It is Jesus that washes us white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

In the picture of the tabernacle, the priests had to wash before they entered the tabernacle and before they offered sacrifices. This was a daily and continual washing. God did not disown them every day. They were still His people. However, the dirt of this world (sin) gets on all of us as we walk and work. We cannot run around spiritually stinking. We need to wash it off so that others can stand to be around us. This is why we confess our sins to God daily. It is the washing away of the grime we pick up in this life. Too many of us are like the boy I referenced in the introduction. We do not like baths so we run around gagging everyone around us, and we shrug it off by saying "At least I'm saved". Why would anyone believe us when our attitude stinks, our conduct stinks, our language stinks, and our outlook on life stinks?

Father, wash us with Your Word. Help us to not run from Your cleansing, but rather to run to You. Make us a sweet smelling aroma to both You and the world because it is Christ that they notice in us. I pray that Your Holy Spirit convict us or our need to be cleansed, and that You put people in our lives who don't mind putting some spiritual Dawn on a slip-n-slide if we get stubborn.