Outside the tabernacle, in what was called the outer court, was the laver—a large basin made of brass. This was kept filled with water, and the priests were obliged to wash their hands and feet in it before they went into the tabernacle. They had to be quite clean for the service of God, to handle the holy things in His house.

Afterwards, when Solomon built the temple, he made “a molten sea” in the place of the laver. This was a huge basin made of brass highly polished so that it shone like glass. It was large enough to hold sixteen thousand gallons of water. It was held up by twelve oxen made of brass. Besides this there were ten layers, each of which held two hundred gallons of water.

What did this laver represent? for we have found that everything connected with the tabernacle was a pattern of things in the heavens by which God shows us what He wants His sanctuary everywhere to be.

John said, “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

From the throne of God in heaven, which the ark with the mercy-seat represented, flows a sacred stream of pure, living water. God’s own life is in it, and in it carries life wherever it goes.

You know that water is the life-blood of our world. Ever moving, in the springs, rivers, seas, oceans, and clouds, it circulates through the world as the blood does in our bodies, washing away impurity, and carrying life.

All this water comes from God, “the Fountain of living waters.” “He visiteth the earth and watereth it, and greatly enricheth it with the river of God which is full of water.” So the life-giving water which quenches our thirst and cleanses our bodies, comes to us from the throne of God, and through it He is giving us His own life to strengthen and purify us.

Do you know the cleansing power of running water? Think of the rivers that flow through our large cities. The refuse and impurity of the city finds its way to the river. It is swallowed up in its waters, and what becomes of it? It is lost and disappears for ever, while the water flows on, purifying itself by its own movement, until, when but a few miles from the city, it is as fresh and sweet as ever.

This shows us how the pure life of God can wash away all our sins, everything that defiles us and brings death. It is a picture of how death is swallowed up of life. It shows how we may be washed from our sins in the life-blood of Jesus, so that we may “dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

The prophet Ezekiel saw the temple of God, in a vision, and flowing out from it was the clear river of life. God told him that the waters would bring healing everywhere they went, and “everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh.”

Do you remember the words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria? “Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.”

This well of water in our hearts is not to be for our own refreshment only, but for the blessing of others also, that they may drink with us of the water of life. For Jesus said: “He that believeth on Me . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive.”

The Holy Spirit of Jesus, in the heart of each of His little living temples on earth, will be as a river of life flowing out from them to give life to others. Then they too may be washed from their sins, and quench their thirst from this sacred stream.

But before we can be used of God to serve others, we must ourselves be pure and clean. Like the priests we must be washed from every stain, that like them we may be ready to bring help and blessing to others.

Jesus gave Himself for us that He might cleanse us “by a water-bath in the Word.” He said to His disciples, “Now ye are clean, through the Word that I have spoken unto you.” “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”

The living Spirit of Jesus comes to us in His Word, and if we receive it into our hearts by faith, it will not only make us clean, but it will also make us “like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

The Present Truth – October 31, 1901
E J Waggoner

The Kings House The Laver