Series: Exodus
Title: Christ
in the Brass Laver
Text: Ex 30:
17-21
Date: June
Place: SGBC, NJ
Exodus 30:
17: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 18: Thou shalt also make a laver of
brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt
put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt
put water therein. 19: For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their
feet thereat: 20: When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they
shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to
minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD: 21: So they shall wash
their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for
ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
Subject: Christ in the Brass Laver
Now,
before we see what is pictured here, we need to remember what God had already
done in his priests.
First,
the priests were washed all over by another—we must first be regenerated by God the Holy Spirit—not by works of righteousness
we have done. It is by the Holy Spirit
of God that we are regenerated. By God’s
mercy he saves us by the washing of regeneration. Regeneration is performed once, it is not
done again.
Secondly, the holy
garments were put on them by another—when
the Spirit of God brings us to faith in Christ, God our Father imputes Christ’s
righteousness to the believer through faith.
God accomplishes the work of
regeneration through the gospel of Christ crucified, typified on the brazen
altar. The priests were made to behold: the
sin-offering: we are brought to behold Christ crucified, bearing the sins
of his people and purging them all away so that we are justified before the law
of God; the burnt-offering: we are brought to behold Christ’s obedience
unto the death of the cross whereby Christ made us accepted of holy God by his
righteousness alone; the consecration-offering: the blood and oil were
applied to the priests—the Oil of the Spirit of God purges our conscious with
the blood of Christ giving us communion/fellowship with God, so that we are made
willing to serve Christ; the burnt-meat offerings: beholding our
salvation in Christ alone, believers offer up the sacrifice of praise, giving
God all the glory for our salvation and our praise is accepted by Jesus Christ
Be sure to get this, at this
point we have a picture of a believer already born-again and brought to faith
in Christ, already redeemed, justified, accepted by the blood of Christ, already
consecrated by the Spirit of God, already a holy, sanctified priest unto God. So what do we have typified in the brass
laver?
Proposition: Though a believer be justified in Christ and never
more so, though we be sanctified in Christ and made holy with Christ dwelling in
us and shall never be more so, still, in order to have continual communion with
God, every believer has a daily need to come to Christ who continually cleanses
us of daily defilement acquired from our sinful flesh and this sinful world.
The night the Lord Jesus washed the disciples’ feet Peter asked to
be washed all over. Christ said, “He
who is washed only needs to wash his feet, for he is clean
every whit.” Christ Jesus washed
the believer completely clean in the sight of God the Judge, before the law, once
and for all time by his one offering. The
Spirit of God washed us in regeneration so that we are holy with Christ our
Sanctification dwelling in us—there is no change in our justification or our
sanctification, it is done. But Christ
must cleanse us from daily defilements that interrupt our communion with him
and our ability to approach holy God in worship and prayer.
THE LAVER AND THE WATER
Exodus 30: 18: Thou shalt also make a
laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal:
This was a laver of brass
which held water. The water flowed from
the laver down. It flowed down to the
base. Then out of spickets it flowed to
the priests and washed their hands and their feet.
First, the laver of brass
itself typifies Christ himself
Jeremiah
2: 13: For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the
fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
that can hold no water.
Christ is our Justifier and our justification and Christ is our
Sanctifier and our sanctification. Out
of Christ’s side flowed blood and water—blood for our justification, water for
our sanctification.
Let the water and the
blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath [blood] and make me pure [water]
Zechariah 13: 1: In that day there shall
be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for
sin [justification] and for uncleanness. [sanctification/purification]
So
the laver itself typifies Christ the Fountain of Life. He justified us of our sin before the law by
his blood. He sanctifies us and
continues to purify us from uncleanness by the water that he gives.
Secondly,
the water typifies two things. One, the
water typifies the Holy Spirit of God. From
Christ the Laver, through his finished work of redemption, flows the water of
Life, the Holy Spirit. Where did they
get the water for this fountain? They were
in a dessert. The water came from the
Smitten Rock! — “
That Rock was Christ”
(1 Corinthians 10:4). The Spirit of God is given us through the finished work of
Christ.
Galatians
3: 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree: 14: THAT the blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; THAT we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith.” (Ga 3:13-14)
Titus 3: 3:
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and
hating one another. 4: But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour
toward man appeared, 5: 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; 6: Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour; 7: THAT being [having been] justified by his grace, we
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [by being born
again].
Through the justifying blood
of Christ, Christ gives the Holy Spirit.
It is he that is pictured in the water first. He washes his elect in regeneration one
time. But the Spirit continually renews
us, purging our conscious, washing our hands and feet. It is this continual renewal that we have
pictured at the laver.
Also,
the water typifies the word of God—the gospel we preach, the holy scriptures. Like the water flowed down from the laver to
the priests, Christ sends the water of the word which is a proclamation of
Christ’s person and finished work. Christ
speaks the word into our hearts making his child clean.
Ephesians
5: 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word 27: That he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish.
John 15:
3: Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
So the laver is Christ. The water is the Holy Spirit of God and the
word of God (the gospel we preach, the scriptures). Christ cleanses his people of
daily defilement by the water of the word through the Holy Spirit.
THE
NEED DUE TO DEFILEMENT
Exodus 30: 18…and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the
congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19: For Aaron and
his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20: When they go into
the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die
not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by
fire unto the LORD: 21: So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that
they die not:
As
the priests went about their daily work their hands were in constant contact
with death. Therefore, their hands were
unclean. They did not wear shoes so
their feet would become dirty. So they
had to wash before approaching the altar to offer thank offerings and before
entering the holy place to worship at the golden altar of incense.
In our everyday lives we constantly come into contact with
death—our sinful flesh and this sinful world.
All believers will know what I am
about to say. We start the week
renewed through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit from Christ our
Lord. But before long our minds are
taken up with our jobs, responsibilities, our troubles and trials. We become set on self and the world rather
than Christ.
Our
old man of sin becomes stronger, our new man weaker. An unloving spirit begins to replace a loving
spirit. An unforgiving spirit begins to
replace a forgiving spirit. Strife and
envy begin to replace joy and peace. The
self-righteous pride of our old man begins to replace the sin-hating, meek and
contrite new man.
Sometimes the devil accuses
us. His objective is to turn us from
Christ. He feeds our self-righteousness. We become haughty, arrogant judges of our
brethren. Or we try to do some work to
soothe our conscious. We must be
cleansed.
The purpose of this
cleansing was so the priests could have communion with God at the brazen altar
and in the holy place at the golden altar of incense. When we attain defilement we begin to lose
communion with God in Christ. Without
communion with God we die. This
cleansing was so “they die not.”
When defiled we are like a branch that is almost severed from the
vine. If Christ allowed us to fall away
from the Vine, from him, we would die.
So Christ washes us from those defilements giving us communion with holy
God our Father and his Son, Christ Jesus.
God is holy so he cannot
receive us unless we be cleansed
Revelation 21:27: And there shall in no
wise enter into [God’s holy presence] any thing that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in
the Lamb’s book of life.
Psalm 24: 3: Who
shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4:
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
When a believer becomes
overcome with a hard, self-righteous, condemning spirit, it is impossible to
have communion with God. We have to be
cleansed so we can look to Christ.
Hebrews 12:15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root
of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Or if a believer is anxious
about his work, overly careful about our family or overcome with some outward
sin, we may go through the motions but our minds are not on God. We are thinking on something else or
thinking, “I hope they hear that!” Christ must cleanse us with the washing of the
water by the word through the Holy Spirit renewing us. Then we enter into communion
with God. We have an illustration of this
in how they made this brass laver.
Exodus 38:8: And he made the laver of
brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the
women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation.
As they left Egypt the Egyptians
gave the Israelite women brass looking glasses.
They did not have glass in them like our mirrors. They were polished brass in which to look at
themselves. It pictures the world, our
sin, and the devil turning us to self, to vanity away from Christ. But through his preacher, God sent his word and
the Israelite women let go of those looking glasses. They were melted and made the brass laver
typifying Christ. It pictures God
drawing us to Christ, through his word, through which the Spirit cleanses us
from self to Christ. So God gets the
glory. Though it is our responsibility
to come, it is Christ who draws us. He begins
cleansing before the cleansing in order to make us come to this fountain.
THE CLEANSING WORK
Zechariah 12:
10: And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon
me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his
only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in
Jerusalem…13:1: In
that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
Here we see how Christ
performs this cleansing work.
First, he makes you
willing to come hear the gospel—the fountain for cleansing—then he blesses it
through the Holy Spirit, “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications.” When Christ pours on us the Holy Spirit
of grace, he makes a sinner love God’s grace freely given. He makes a believer supplicate God for grace. And the Spirit of grace makes the believer gracious. It is impossible to continue in an
ungracious, unforgiving spirit when the Holy Spirit of grace effectually works
in our hearts.
Then Christ makes us behold
Christ. He makes us behold our sins
piercing Christ which makes us mourn for Christ, “...and they shall look
upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn. 11: In that day shall there be a great mourning
in Jerusalem.” We mourn sin only
when we mourn our sin nailing Christ to the cross. Who nailed Christ to the tree? We
have to be made to see it was our sins, my sins!
The
naughty whip, the rugged nails in vain do I accuse
In
vain I blame the roman band and the more spiteful Jews
Twas
you my sin, my cruel sin, his chief tormentors where
Each
of your crimes became a nail and your unbelief a spear
Twas
you, you, that pulled the vengeance down upon his guiltless head
Break,
break my heart, weep my eyes, he died in your stead
Beholding our sinful
acts will not make us repent from sin. Feeling
guilty will not make us truly repent from sin.
Only beholding our sins upon Christ on the cursed tree will work true
repentance. It is only when we mourn our
sin in the face of Christ that we will we truly hate our sin and turn from
it. It is impossible to behold your sin
on Christ and not mourn. It is impossible
to be unforgiving, unmerciful, unloving when Christ effectually works this work
because you see what it cost to give you
forgiveness and mercy. Christ crucified
by your sins personally is the only thing that will make you hate your sin.
At last that spirit of
grace will make you supplicate God for grace and here is what we are shown, “In
that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” Our text says this fountain was perpetual
throughout their generations. Christ
continues all our days, through the preaching of Christ crucified, sending the
Holy Spirit and washing away our uncleanness by giving us a sight of him
crucified for us personally so that we plunge into this fountain.
The sick child pushes
away the medicine but they have great need for the medicine. When we need the word most is when we think we
are unable to even hear it. When we have
no desire to hear the gospel or read the word is when we need it most. Believer, come hear the gospel anyway, listen
to a sermon anyway, read the word of God anyway. Christ will bless it by cleansing you with
the Holy Spirit and by the word.
James 4:
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your
hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be
afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your
joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Psalm 119: 9: Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse
his way, by taking heed to the Word of God?
Come to the water of the
word, Christ will send the water of the Spirit and cleanse his child inwardly. Convincing us of sin he makes us hate it and
repent. Then like the first hour we were
born again, we are able to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and have communion
with God and love our brethren. Then we
stop condemning brethren and love brethren for Christ’s sake.
1 Peter 1: 22: Seeing
ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever
Have you come
to the fountain today? Then go out
renewed, strengthened. But by this
afternoon you will need to come to the fountain again. So go to his word. Tomorrow you need it again. Wake early and read his word. Daily we need this cleansing fountain. By Thursday we will need to come to the fountain
again. Never stop coming to Christ
through the word through the Holy Spirit.
Keep your eye on Christ! May God
never let us go without cleansing.
Amen!