THE LAVER

(Part Four of the Tabernacle Series)

This important article was made of brass mirrors contributed by the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle. The revised version describes them as “the serving women which served at the door”. Just what is meant by this statement is not easy to determine. Probably they were devout women who loved the public service of Jehovah, and who manifested their devotion by their attendance on His worship. They may have been the same people who spun the linen and goat’s hair for the tabernacle.

THE SHAPE OF THE LAVER is not described but most likely it was round and sufficiently large to hold all the water required for the priestly cleansings, and probably also for washing parts of the burnt offering. The basin rested on a base called a “foot”. The foot seems to have been something distinct from the body or bowl of the laver, and perhaps was separable.

The laver stood between the altar of sacrifice and the door of the tabernacle. There, every time the priests entered the sanctuary for any service, they were required to wash their hands and their feet. So strict was the command that death was the penalty for neglect. Twice the solemn words are used: “THAT THEY DIE NOT” (Ex. 30:20, 21).

The laver typified sanctification and holiness. The psalmist alludes to its cleansing power when he says, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar” (Psalm 26:6).

Water is nature’s great purifier. There is a solvent power in it which removes what is foul, and purifies what is polluted, — expressive type of that cleansing without which fellowship with God is impossible. The unwashed priest perished. God’s holy presence demands nothing less. Complete and perfect purity alone is fitted to be near him. The priest drew nigh to God by the shedding of sacrificial blood at the altar, and by washing his hands and feet at the laver. His action was symbolic. We draw nigh to God through that of which both altar and laver were only shadows; namely, the atoning work of Christ and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. The priestly washings at the brazen laver typify all the means God has ordained for our sanctification; for example, the Word, the ordinances, and especially the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit.

The laver prefigures regeneration. In Titus 3:5 we read, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The phrase, “washing of regeneration,” literally rendered, is, laver of regeneration. The Greek term is the same as Exodus 30:18. The reference seems to be to the laver of the tabernacle. The renewing by the Spirit is a creative act, and is identical with being born again, or born anew. This regeneration is described as being by the laver, or washing by the Spirit, The instrument he uses in effecting it is the Word of God. No ordinance, however important, can ever effect it. This sheds light on John 3:5: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” It is the Word the Spirit employs in effecting the new birth. That the word is compared to water and its action, Ephesians 5:26 clearly proves: “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing (laver) of water by the Word.”

There is a bath which requires no repetition, which is accomplished once for all. Regeneration is never repeated. A child of wrath, becomes a child of God, remains evermore God’s child. Justified once, we are justified forever. Both acts, regeneration and justification, are simultaneous, instantaneous, complete, and final. “And such were some of you; but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the spirit of our God.”

The consecration of Aaron and his sons for the duties and the privileges of the priestly office illustrates this point still further. First, they were washed, or bathed; next, Aaron was anointed; then the offerings were presented, and the sons were anointed with the holy oil and the blood. These acts were never repeated. The consecration was final and complete from the beginning. But each time they entered the sanctuary to perform the functions of their high office, they had to wash their hands and feet. No matter how often they entered the sacred precincts, every day and many times in a day they must wash. The provision for their purification was the brazen laver. Their consecration was at the altar; their cleansing at the laver. Our pardon, acceptance, and separation unto God are secured for us by the death of Christ. Our daily cleansing likewise through him is no less sure. Jesus prayed, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Christ is our Laver.

Two things are indispensable in order to glorify God and enjoy him forever: right relations with God and a right character in us. By right relations with God is meant a justified relation, a peace relation with him. By right character in ourselves is meant, deliverance from the dominion and the pollution of sin. Both believers have in Christ, and in him both are perfect. Both, too, are symbolized by the altar and laver in the court of the tabernacle. At the one, propitiation for sins is signified; at the other, purification from sins. At the one, justification is typified ; at the other, sanctification, with regeneration as its initial step. At the altar, sin is judged and forgiven. At the laver, sin is washed away. Jesus Christ in his atoning death and prevailing intercession is the glorious Antitype of both.

Next Month: The Sanctuary and Its Furniture

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