THE LAVER.
WE have to pass the brazen altar before we come to the laver, for we never could understand the teaching of the brazen laver until we have understood the teaching of the brazen altar. But now, having passed the altar, we have a right to the use of the laver; but remember, the laver is not atoning. The only place where we found atonement was where the blood was shed; I need to be washed by the water here, but that does not atone for sin; the only thing which atones for sin, is the blood of Christ. Now there is no such thing as a man being beyond the need of the blood of Christ, for " if we walk in the light as He is in the light," then, " The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin," but while I am never on any other ground than on the ground of a blood-washed sinner, yet every sinner who trusts Jesus is saved, and the blood puts away his sins forever. " For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified " (Heb. 10:1414For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)). This is simply God's blessed word; not my interpretation of it, but God's own word; every one whose conscience has been touched by the blood is perfected forever.
" For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat" (Ex. 30:1010And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord. (Exodus 30:10)). This is not then for atonement at all, but for washing the hands and feet of the priests. He made the laver of brass, of the looking-glasses (the polished brazen mirrors) of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of t he tabernacle of the congregation. There is avert' instructive thought for us here. " If any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein," etc. (James 1:2323For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (James 1:23)). The word then is like a looking-glass, but if we look into the word it will never give us a nice picture of ourselves. Looking-glasses are more often resorted to for flattery than for censure, but the word of God never flatters. So-called "students of human nature " flatter, and if we listen to them we will think all is going well, but if we examine ourselves by the word of God we will be convinced more and more that in us there is no good ' thing. I think Moses made good use of those brass mirrors. He made a brass laver and put water into it. Brass is significant of judgment all through God's word, and water is the word that cleanses us; thus we get in the brazen laver the judgment and cleansing one's self by the word. Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet every time they went into the tabernacle or ministered at the altar. There was need of constant cleansing of that used to serve at the Lord's altar, and of that used to walk in His presence. Nothing, nothing but the blood of Christ can atone for sins, but we have to examine, ourselves continually by God's word, else service and walk will be hypocritical; self must be constantly judged There are three judgments in God's word-God's judgment, self-judgment, and Christ's judgment. God's judgment against sin, that is what Christ endured on the cross for every soul that trusts in Him. If I accept of Christ the judgment is passed. No soul that is saved will ever come into judgment as a sinner. Then there is self-judgment-I have need to judge myself all the time, and it is a precious privilege. I have a right to go to the water now and wash myself While I was away from Christ, washing was of no avail, the leopard could not change his spots, but now the guilt of sin is put away by the blood (for I had to come to the altar to get to the laver), the practices of sin must be washed away by the water. David says, " Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word." There is a third judgment, and that is Christ's judgment-the judgment He will execute when He comes to judge the nations with a rod of iron. I might put this also in another way, our judgment as sinners, our judgment as sons. amt our judgment as servants. And it is well to distinguish these things. Our judgment as sinners is past, our judgment as sons is every clay when He chastens us, and our judgment as servants is when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment that we have in the brazen laver is that which we have every day.
Turn now to the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel. The Lord after supper took water and washed His disciples' feet (verse 3). Peter says, " Thou shalt never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, IT I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Mark, He did not say you have no part in Me, but you have no part with Me. If I allow a single sinful thought in my mind, there can be no fellowship with Him. Then Peter says, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." Peter did not know that he was all right without his hands and head being washed. Jesus said unto him, " He that is washed (bathed) needs not to wash save his feet, but is clean -very whit." Mark this, Christ affirms that every one ",hat is bathed is clean every whit. He needs to have his feet washed every day, but still he is clean every whit. The washing (bathing) of regeneration (Titus 2:55To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:5)) can be but once. The priests needed the feet washing daily, but the bathing of their consecration was but once, for the' priests once consecrated were priests always. This washing (regeneration) is before come even to the gate. Without it I would have been content outside.
If our- Lord and waster has washed our feet, we ought to wash one another's feet. And I shall never be successful in doing so by pointing him to the laver and saying, " There! you have dirty feet, go and wash yourself." No; let me get down, humble myself, and approach him, not as a superior, but as weaker than he, and endeavor to restore in the spirit of meekness, considering my own liability to fall if tempted.
Remember again the position of these things, for many would have us use the laver to get that which is only obtained through the altar, and many say "the blood cleanses" in a sense only used in Scripture of the washing of water of the word, and others do away with the laver altogether. We need the altar and the laver, and the laver and the altar, but the ALTAR first.
Notice there was no measure given for the lave'. There is no limit to our need of the washing of the word. Some people say they are sinless. God says they deceive themselves (1 John 1:88If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)). I need the water to-day, and to-morrow and next day, and every day of my life down here. By and by we will stand on a sea of glass. You cannot wash in glass, can you? What then is it for? It reflects. Now, we understand we are children of God and beautiful before God, but by faith. Then we shall not need any faith; we shall not need the water to cleanse us, 'but we will have a sea of glass to admire ourselves in, if I may so speak. While we are here our beauty in Christ is a matter of faith and not sight. While we are here we need the water all the time. We never become sinless here, but "when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
The Curtains.
Now we come to the tabernacle itself and its four coverings (Ex. 24), the outside coverings of badger's
or seal skins. Why is the outside covering of this nr P Because outwardly, to man's eyes, He bath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him; He is despised and rejected of men " (Isa. 53). That is true until to-day. Man does not see any beauty in Christ. If _people did, they would not go on a single, moment in their sins. We who have had our eyes opened, do with shame confess that we had seen no beauty in Him. "We hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him nut." We did not see the beauty underneath these. It was all hid by the sombre covering. Then the prophet roes on and says, " Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities." Thus, if I throw back these curtains we find another covering of rams' skin dyed red. He was the One who shed His blood to put away our sins. This is the next thing we discover in Christ; the very One: I have been despising was put to shame for me. Now if I throw back the rams' skins, you will find a covering underneath that; curtains of goat's hair. This may suggest to us the deeper knowledge of Christ we get when we understand Him as the goat of the sin-offering, the One who not only bore my sins, but was also "made to be sin" for me. Remembering too that the Nazarite was characterized by his long hair, we may have in this also a type of Christ in His thorough Nazarite separation to God. The curtains of the tabernacle, which gave grace and beauty to all, were of fine twined linen. They were made of two is of five, joined together by taches of gold and loops of blue. The goat's hair curtains were joined with taches of brass, showing the severe character of His separation. T remarked before as to the meaning of the colors. The at the had the same colors on it. These colors were worked upon a ground work of fine twined linen. The fine linen is a type of Christ's righteousness; blue is the type of the heavenly One. It always comes first, for He must first come down from heaven. Purple is the insignia of royalty. When Christ was crucified they put a purple robe upon Him. In the scarlet it is the one who shed His blood for us-scarlet blood to put away scarlet sins. He never could have been the Messiah unless He came down from heaven. Presented as Messiah, He is rejected, and goes to the cross to die for that nation and for all.
The cherubims I think, point to Christ as the ser- vant of God. We have these things in the four gospels. Why were there four gospels written? The four evangelists were something more than mere witnesses, for Matthew tells us of things that he did not see or hear. John, who saw things Matthew saw not, does not mention them. For instance, in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, you find a beautiful ac- count of the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration, but none of these were present. John, who was there, does not say a word about it. Again, Matthew gives an account of Christ's agony in the garden, though he was not with the Lord John who was, omits it. Matthew was the pen the Holy Ghost used to write the life of Christ as the, royal One; Mark, the life of Christ as a servant; Luke, the suffering Son of Man; john, the divine and heavenly One.
The Entrances.
Why are there three? The gate of the court, the entrance into the holy place, and another veil at the entrance into the most holy place? Christ is the way all along. He is the door which leads me into the presence of God as a believer. He is also the door which leads me into the place of a priest, and through Him I enter the holiest. But each entrance had its distinctive character. The hanging for the gate of the court was upheld by brass pillars, in brass sockets, for it is through a Christ who bore judgment. and a way founded in judgment, that the believer comes to God. The hanging of the door of the tabernacle was upheld by wooden pillars, overlaid with gold and socketed in brass, for it is the Risen Christ who leads me into the place of a priest, though all stand fire in judgment. But no brass entered into the hanging of the veil; silver sockets were used here, for His presence we can stand on no other than redemption ground.