Children are messy — well, most of them are. I do know some children who can’t seem to stop washing their hands, but this is for them, too. They have a desire to be clean, though not all of us do. Either way, we have a NEED to be clean, and God has provided for us to be clean — truly clean.
The Bronze Laver
As a symbol of this, He placed outside His Tabernacle, a bronze reservoir or “sea” called the Laver. In an effort to sort of get into the right frame of mind, I decided to write down some things that occurred to me when I thought of the Bronze Laver or the Bronze Sea, as some translations refer to it. Here’s what I came up with:
- A mirror
- The scriptures
- The Word of God (Jesus)
- Tribulations
- Sorrows
- Friends
- Foes
- Baptism
- Death
- The well springing up into everlasting life
- Rivers of living water
- The blessed Holy Spirit
- Blood and water flowing from Jesus’ side — from His heart
- The washing of the water of the Word
- Bitter waters (at Mara) made sweet by casting in the tree
- Sea of fire and crystal
- Lake of fire and burning sulfur
- Torment
- Death
- Rebirth
- Purification
Some of these will be posers for you, but this is my stream of consciousness response to the symbolism of the Laver. And here is what I believe I heard from Abba:
This is My way — life comes through death and death (of the old) feeds the new life. The Brazen Altar is a death — first Mine, then yours. In this the spirit is enlivened — set free. The Bronze Altar is done to you, but the washing at the Laver, whether in the figure of baptism or in your daily cleansing with My words, is something you participate in.
At the Laver you wash that which remains, purifying and refining that which is already good and acceptable to Me. The altar makes a new boy; the Laver bathes him and refines him.
See to it that you participate daily in the rituals of washing not only your selves, but washing one another’s feet. Do this in a spirit of love and gentleness, kindness and cooperation, for I have made you one people, and you have given Me your hearts as a dwelling place. I have therefore given you to one another as sibling servants, to care for one another in love and gentleness.
A lot of that grime — that griminess — is the dross of an evil conscience — a conscience that distances you from Me because it falsely accuses you of being in collusion with all the bondage from which you struggle to be free.
But look you, My children — look into the mirror of My word and see who you really are. Take of the waters and clean your face and your hands and I will wash your feet. For you are of Me. You have come through death and into life. Wash off the soot of an evil conscience and see the sort of person you truly are. All that dirt and grime only disguises you. It is not part of you.
