We are The Temple: Outer Court Part 2 – The Laver 2

So, from what we have considered thus far, I would say that the Laver experience is very personal to each of us. It is us, deliberately reaching for the heights of godliness. And it is God, reaching for us, privately, in response to our reach, and corporately as we let Him live through us to minister to each other.

Today, we look at one thing about the Laver experience that absolutely thrills me. No one really knows exactly what the Lavers looked like, but the following gives a hint of one probability.

“Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.” (Exodus 38:8 NASB)

All translations I read reveal the use of the bronze frames of mirrors as they gathered the material for this project. The fact that the command of God was for this basin and stand to be made of pure bronze supports the understanding of the extraction of the bronze from the mirrors. However, some translations and commentaries say the following:

“Bezalel made the bronze washbasin and its bronze stand FROM bronze mirrors donated by the women who served at the entrance of the Tabernacle.” (Exodus 38:8 NLT)

Some believe that the mirrors were kept intact and used to form the basin. This meant that when the priest leaned over it to wash their hands and get water to wash their feet, they saw their reflection in the basin.

Wow! That possibility speaks volumes to me. As priests unto God in Christ, we are called and equipped to represent Him and His interests in this world. Each hand and feet washing session gives opportunity for the priest to check their image as a Christ follower. Are we bearing forth the image of God? As we leave the altar to go into the Holy place, did we rightly and truly represent Christ in that altar encounter we just had?

As mentioned, an altar encounter may be with someone in need of meeting Christ as Savior, or it may be with a fellow Christian in need of recognizing His Lordship and righteous teachings in some area of struggle. In that encounter with a struggling Christian, our responsibility is to help them grow in their commitment and understanding of dying to self and self interest so He may live stronger in us. Whichever we are dealing with, we must check our stance and be sure we minister to the need as bearing forth fruit in keeping with righteousness.

We are not judge and jury. God’s Word is. As long as we stand in truth on the Word of God, we do well, but we are to take care to speak, act, and react in line with full truth.

The Laver, for us, is coming to the Wellspring of Living Water after any altar encounter, to cleanse ourselves in Christ. To pray for those ministered to with a view to our own lives, recommitting self to purity in that area of our lives, so we are not tempted away and caught in the same snare.

Also at this time, looking in the Laver mirror for the image of Christ in us, we take a moment to evaluate ourselves in the way we behaved, repenting any sin revealed in us through the ministry encounter. This preps us to enter into the Holy Place for the needs of others, which we will begin looking at in our next post.

Then, as we leave the Holy Place to return to outer court ministry, we wash again, asking whether we truly represented Christ in our service to God done in the Holy Place? And at this time, we seek to put on Christ anew in preparation for our next service opportunity. These are the checkpoints we have at the Laver of our life and ministry.

Today, as then, God is approached by way of the blood and the water. Jesus is our blood sacrifice and we stand in Him. Jesus is the living, life giving water, and we live, breathe and move out of the flow of His provision, as represents Him. Thus, the Laver represents our reliance upon and reception of His every provision in our lives and ministries.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NASB)

One final thought here: if I’m understanding correctly, in the Old Covenant, the priest washed his own feet and hands. In the New Covenant, Jesus teaches us to wash one another’s feet. As I think on this, I see where both are important for us to know and do.

We don’t always have a fellow believer nearby to help us evaluate our life and practices. We need to be able to practice self-evaluation and cleansing: bringing self into alignment with Christ’s likeness throughout our day. What was it that Paul asked in Romans? “In teaching others, do you not teach yourselves also?” (Romans 2:17-24 NASB)

While we need to be able to teach and evaluate ourselves, we also need to recognize that we are one body in Christ, and there are times when we need the aid of others.

This completes the outer court ministry area of our lives as the Temple of our Living God. Because of His Presence in and around us, it is holy ground and part of our Temple of God reality. Wherever we are is holy in Him and we are to behave as the holy people of God.

Next blog post we enter the Holy Place. Until then, I pray you have a very BLESSed Thanksgiving.