EDITOR’S NOTE
On page 12 of the August edition, a reference was made to the laver being the first thing that was seen when the priests approached the tabernacle in Old Testament times. I should have noticed when editing that reference that in fact the altar was the first thing that was seen on approaching the tabernacle, and I wanted to emphasise the significance of that.
Why does the relative position of the altar and the laver in the tabernacle system matter to us as believers in our Lord Jesus in the 21st century? Because the epistle to the Hebrews makes it clear that the tabernacle system as described in Exodus is a representation of Christianity. We can learn so much about our Lord Jesus and the realm of which He is Head and Centre from knowing more about the tabernacle. One thing that we learn from Exodus is that the only way into the blessings and enjoyment of Christianity is through the death of Jesus. That is what the altar represented; all of the sacrifices were burnt on it. When Jesus died for us on the cross, and shed His blood there, He was the supreme Sacrifice. Everything that is ours through faith in Jesus and His work is because of His sacrifice, the shedding of His blood, and His death. So that is why the altar came first – the order is important to us.
This supports New Testament teaching; John in his gospel puts the blood first (John 19:34). To those faithful souls standing by the cross, this brought great assurance that the work that Jesus came to do was completed, and God was fully satisfied. All question of guilt was now a finished matter. The water is referred to next, because in the world that lay ahead of them, a world polluted and guilty of the crucifixion of their Lord, the water was going to be necessary for them in view of service and testimony.
So the laver came after the altar, before the priests entered the holy place; what it represented is very important too. It was a huge basin kept filled with water at all times, and every time the priests approached the tent of the tabernacle itself for service, they had to wash their hands and their feet in that water. That means that while our faith is in our Lord Jesus, and in His death for us on the cross, we constantly need what the water represents. We so easily pick up defilement in this corrupt world through which we have to walk, and from the things that we have to handle. The Holy Spirit helps us to get clean again if this happens, so that when we come into the presence of God, not only are we there on the basis of the death of the Lord Jesus, but we can come near to Him as cleansed persons – our minds and affections are purified and suitable to God’s holy presence, and for serving Him.
In John’s epistle, the water comes first (1 John 5:6). Here the apostle is addressing persons who are already assured of the absolute clearance that the blood of Jesus has secured, so now the water is what is needed. These are persons moving in priestly grace from the altar to the laver in view of entering the holy place to serve God there. This takes us beyond the scene of testimony into what is spiritual.
In John 5 verse 39, the Lord Jesus said about the Scriptures that “they it is which bear witness concerning me”. He was referring to the Old Testament, and we find a huge amount of rich detail there which expands our understanding of the New Testament. The Scriptures are one coherent whole; Old and New Testaments together expand our appreciation of the glories of our Saviour and Lord Jesus. I trust that all who read these Notes will be enlarged in their appreciation of that blessed living Man and His glories.
Edited and Published by John A Brown
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