The Tabernacle Tour #2
Anchor scripture:
Hebrews 9:1-10
Lesson 2: The laver (wash basin)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps. 51-10)
Now we are inside the tabernacle (The Kingdom of God - John 3:3)…
Now we have received the message of the Cross…the Sacrifice of Messiah…and allowed ourselves to be crucified with Him (Gal 2:20-21)…
Now through Christ, we are born again into a new life (1Peter1:23)…
Now God will begin to write His Law on our hearts so we will WANT to obey Him (Jer. 31:33)…
Now begins the process of sanctification…a process of pure grace and unconditional love and forgiveness…that will continue for the rest of our lives, until the return of Christ…when, in an instant, He will finish what He began in us (1John3:2)…
And we will see Him as He is. HalleluYah!
Read Exodus 30:17-21
This large bronze wash basin is our next, and final stop, before entering in to God’s Holy Presence. What is it pointing to?
See John 13:10
So if the priests wash just their hands and feet…how then, are we washed?
John 15:3
Ephesians 5:25-26
Here we see a simple picture of continual cleansing …through the washing of waters from the Word…the truth that convicts and then forgives…from the inside out.
Read John 13:3-10…
because although Jesus cleanses our hands and hearts, Satan still can and will bruise our heels…and even cause us to stumble completely.
This is why Jesus instructs us, the Body of Christ, to wash each other’s feet:
How is this done?
Through the Word of God, prayer, fellowship and acts of kindness and compassion. (James 5:14-16)
And ultimately, through the Work of Jesus Christ Himself!
Because we all have come in by the same narrow Way (the altar…the Cross) and we all must now travel together on the journey of sanctification…
***Remember: God is extremely gracious and merciful…slow to anger and rich in love toward those who put their trust in the sacrifice of His Son…he who honors the Son, honors the Father who sent Him:
(Psalm 103:8-14; John5:23-24)
Therefore if our faith should sometimes fail…if we, having received the Sacrifice of the Cross, should somehow grow weak, stumble and fall…
The Father’s forgiveness is swift when we cry out…because of the blood of His Son. (1John2:1)
But…according to 1John1:9, He will not leave us in that state. So next stop is the laver.
And here, we must continually come before God unveiled and trusting totally in Him for Salvation and forgiveness - no hiding!
His blood has opened that Way for us to come, and just as a Bride makes herself ready for her Bridegroom, we must allow the Truth of the Word to cleanse our consciences from the dead works of sin, so we can enter in to the Presence of our Father…who is life.
(Hebrews 9:13-14; Rev 19:7-9)
Read Exodus 38:8
And although we know now that the cleansing of the body is merely symbolic: it does not cleanse the thing that really needs to be cleansed - the soul; it does demonstrate 1. The obedience of the priests 2. Their understanding that they are (as all humanity) unclean - and therefore, in order to come before the Lord, they MUST cleanse themselves…be in some way SEPARATE from the corruption of the camp (representative of this world) See also Exodus 33:7
This would be the final stop for the priests, before entering the Holy Place…
And every time they bathed, it is likely they would have seen a reflection of themselves in the laver…(see James 1:23-27)
Sobering…but also encouraging:
Because it is the truth of the Word of God that washes away all our masks and helps us see ourselves for who we really are…weak and sinful, but saved, cleansed and purchased back, by a holy God, who loves us deeply enough not to leave us where we are! (John3:16).
See
James 1:23-25
2Corinthians 3:12-18
If we have truly embraced the Cross we should be able to come before God with confidence, knowing that he has…and will continually, forgive and cleanse us (as 1John 1:9 says). We must let Him wash our feet - and also wash each other’s.
***A final note:
To stumble as a Christian is NOT the same as to willfully reject the Cross - to ignore the bronze altar (think back to the tabernacle);
…because if you reject the altar of sacrifice, you cannot enter in to the Kingdom of Heaven. (Heb 6:4-6).
But for we who have entered in, let us continue in this journey of sanctification, trusting totally in the sacrifice of Christ, and encouraging one another in this…
That when Christ returns, we will be found looking to Him and for Him…not perfect…but looking upward:
Believing by faith that when we see Him, we will become like Him - in the twinkling of an eye!***
Romans 6:12-14
Ephesians 4:22-32
Philippians 1:4-6
Image: Grace and Truth
See Lesson 3 @
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