Cleaned by the Water and the Blood

The first thing in the tabernacle courtyard was the bronze (brazen) altar.

Exodus 27:1–2 ““You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze.”

The bronze altar was prominent upon entering the courtyard.

Exodus 40:6 “Then you shall set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.”

IT was 7 by 7 and 4.5 feet high. It was the largest and most noticeable of the 7 pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. The bronze altar undoubtedly in my mind represented the cross. You can’t consider going to heaven without the cross, you need to pass by the cross where Jesus died His sacrifice to get to heaven. Do you remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus wasn’t in heaven yet. He couldn’t go, the sacrifice hadn’t been paid yet. The only way to the holy is passing the Altar!

Anything that touched the bronze altar became holy.

Exodus 29:37 “Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.”

The Holiness of God is imputed to us. 1 Peter calls you a holy people. Not holy because you are great but holy because you have touched Jesus. If you have touched the cross you are holy. Nail it to the cross!

Sacrifices were made daily.

Exodus 29:38 ““Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually.”

This is where the bronze altar differs from the cross. Jesus died once for our sins, making a one time propitiational atonement for you. He died once for all but his sacrifice is perpetual.

The fire of the altar was never extinguished.

Leviticus 6:13 “A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.”

The gospel message will never lose it’s fire. You may think it wanes or it is old fashioned. That’s a you problem not a gospel problem. Jesus is still working. The Savior is still winning people to the LORD.

Bronze is associated with judgment.

Revelation 1:15 “His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;”

We have already been over this topic but when you seen bronze in the temple or the tabernacle think fire and judgment.

Jesus’ sacrifice paid for the judgment that we deserved.

1 Peter 2:24 “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

Jesus took your sins and faced the full force of God’s wrath on the cross. He felt every sin Every flame of the lake of fire. He did all that for you.

Everything in the tabernacle begins and ends with the cross.

Colossians 1:20 “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

The altar reminds us of the cross, the door reminds us of the cross the mercy seat reminds us of the cross.

Between the altar and the tabernacle entrance was the bronze Laver.

Exodus 30:17–18 “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,”

When you find the cross you are saved from the penalty of sin. Today you are in the process of being saved. One day you will be saved from the very presence of sin. The tabernacle is a guide to your sanctification. Sacrifice of the blood, Washing with living water, eternally in the presence of God.

The Laver was with the altar and before the Holy place.

Titus 3:5–6 “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

I love this verse. The imagery of the washing and the mercy seat. This is the tabernacle’s plan for salvation.

The Laver was for the priests to wash with water.

Exodus 30:19 “for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it.”

You need to be clean to enter the presence of the Almighty. To do service for Him. We want you to be a member of the church to serve. WHY? A number of reasons. Legally vetted Spiritually legitimate we have to be sure your clean before you serve.

Jesus is the living water who cleanses your life!

John 4:10 “Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.””

The believer is washed in the blood of the lamb.

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

That’s the title of the message you have to be washed in the blood and the living water of Christ. The courtyard took care of both. These things happen at the moment of Salvation.

The Laver represents the cleaning power of the Word.

Ephesians 5:26 “that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,”

Do you remember the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet? Peter objected. “Lord are you washing my feet?” Jesus told Peter that he didn’t understand yet…

You shall never wash my feet!

You need to be washed.

John 13:8 “Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.””

Jesus continued to tell Peter he only needed his feet cleaned in order that all of him would be clean. Jesus said go and do likewise. Just a few minutes later Jesus would talk about his cleansing power.

You need the cleansing power of the word of God.

John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”

John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

Wash daily in the Word.

Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”

The Laver was made from mirrors that were brought from Egypt.

Exodus 38:8 “He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.”

The Word helps us see our spiritual reflection clearly.

James 1:23–25 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

The priest was to be clean before he entered the holy place.

Exodus 30:20 “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.”

The Laver was necessary for life.

Exodus 30:21 “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.””

From beginning to end, God has provided living waters.

Genesis 2:10 “Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.”

Revelation 22:1 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Water destroyed Pharoah’s army, cleansed the world at the time of the flood. Moses struck the rock Jesus and the water poured out. Israel had just seen that miracle. It poured out of Christ’s side fittingly with the blood of our salvation. The Water and the Blood go hand in hand together to cleanse us of our sin. The blood of Jesus to pay the ransom and cleanse our lives. The living water of Jesus the living word of God. The Scriptures that He uses daily to clean our lives. The water and blood.

The Bronze (Molten)Sea.

1 Kings 7:23 “And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.”

In the temple the laver was given the name the molten sea (Kjv) giant version of the laver a little different. In the temple there were 10 lavers they had oxen on the bottom of them and they were in a little different position than the tabernacle. But the suggested name reminds us of the sea of glass around the throne. As the redeemed cleansed from the water sing the song of moses and the lamb they stand on the cleansing waters of God’s Grace a contstant reminder of his cleansing power. Remember the tabernacle is a glimpse of heavenly things.

The Sea of Glass, a sign of Victory!

Revelation 15:2 “And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.”

If you are clean you are eternally victorious over the enemy. You are redeemed by the blood cleansed by the water and have access to heaven the holy place and the throne of the King of Kings.

But you have to be clean! Are you washed in the blood of the lamb!!!!!