The Laver and Baptism

[Stryder06]

Does anyone have any material on how this connection is made? I'm working on a seminar and I have a theory that I'm working on, but I'd appreciate any additional help.

BTW, I'm already reading Pathway to the Throne of God. So that source won't be necessary.

Thanks in advance.

 

[OntheDL]

Have you seen the sanctuary study thread?

http://www.christianforums.com/t3039271-3/
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03 LAVER AND ITS FOOT

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Placed between the porch and the altar, to the south.
The laver was a large copper water basin located in the court, between the altar of burnt-offering and the veil to the holy place. The Rabbis remember that "the laver stood between the porch and the altar, toward the south" (Middoth 3:6; cf. Ex 30:18; 38:8; 40:30)

This position is true also of Solomon's brazen "sea," the counterpart of the Mosaic laver (1 Kings 7:39). Facing the worshipers gathered to observe the ceremonies, its position was "between the altar and the congregation" (PP 347, 348; 2T 611).

A common misconception is to place the laver in the center of median line. This is a fallacy. It implies that the sanctuary is a picture of cross. As we go on in the study, we will clearly see the cross is important but not the only provision man needs. The cross is the only of beginning of our walk with Christ, but the end.


Opposite the laver, north of the median line, was the place of slaughter (Lev 1:11) where stakes, or in Solomon's temple bronze rings, were fixed in the ground. The victims were tethered to these prior to their slaughter to provide the blood needed in many rituals.

Symbols of Cleansing and Sacrifice
The laver is a symbol of cleansing.
Its name: a wash bowl (1 Kings 7:30),
a cooking pot (1 Sam 2:14)
a fire-pot (Zech 12:6).

It was derived from a root meaning to dig or bore or make round with a hammer as does a tin-smith, which might indicate that it was beaten work. This root meaning is noted by the Psalmist (Ps 22:16) when he predicted Christ's description of the crucifixion: "They pierced [digged, hammered, bored] My hands and feet." On Calvary the hammer and nails made a "laver" of Christ's hands and feet from which the cleansing streams of salvation flowed.

The Mosaic laver was most probably round. The scripture refers it as without ‘sides’. This is supported by the shape of the "brazen sea" of Solomon's Temple, the permanent counterpart of the Mosaic laver (1 Kings 7:23-26, 39). As we have noted, another clue is its Hebrew name which designated a round wash-basin, bowl, pan or utensil, made in a semi-spherical shape by hammering. The word has been used once to describe the round platform, or stage of bronze, on which Solomon stood and knelt while dedicating the temple (2 Chron 6:13).

The Laver and its Foot
The laver is frequently mentioned with its "foot" (Ex 30:17-21, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 40:7,11, 30; Lev 8:11), looked "like a lily flower" (see Unger's Bible Dictionary), or lotus blossom (cf. 2 Chron 4:2-5; 1 Kings 7:23-26).

Nothing was ever washed in the laver or in its "foot." These were strictly reservoirs, from which the ministrants ladled the necessary water.

Every priest who wished to minister at the altar, or in the holy place, was required first to purify himself by the water ritual at the laver (Ex 30:17-21).

The laver rested on the desert sand during the wilderness wanderings. This sings the gospel song of Heaven's condescension in reaching down to where the pilgrims walk to the Promised Land, to provide cleansing water for their needs.

Jesus reminded Nicodemus that the new birth, which consisted of forgiveness, cleansing, justification and regeneration, concerned "earthly things" (John 3:12). His expression is also descriptive of plants which creep along the ground, and points to what takes place in our world. Our Lord thus pictured the need for His disciples to be "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified" (1 Cor 6:11) while still on the earth, and trudging toward Paradise. This is vitally important. As the priest cleans all his filth before entering into the Holy Place in type, we must cleanse all our sins with the ever living water before we can enter into the kingdom of God. This service of spiritual cleansing with water the laver and its foot typically provided in the Tabernacle court.

The Laver Made of Bronze Mirrors
The laver was made out of the polished brass or copper "looking glasses" lovingly donated by the Israelite women worshipers (Ex 38:8; 30:17-21). Many such metallic mirrors have been unearthed by archaeologists in Bible lands. In Scriptural sign language a mirror illustrates one function of the law (James 1:23-25; cf. 2 Cor 3:17, 18), the revealer of sin.

Women gave the gift of mirror to make the laver. The laver was made from hammering, digging and piercing(think of Christ being nailed to the cross). Mary to give the gift of cleansing. Rev 12, woman ‘true church’ gave birth to the gift of cleansing.

The Mirror is a Symbol of God's Law
As the sinner meditates on His Saviour's life, the Spirit helps him to sense his own unworthiness, and he is ready to acknowledge himself "shapen in iniquity" (Ps 51:5). The Scriptures are replete with examples of persons to whom heaven has granted such insights, and who then recognized in themselves "only wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores" (Isa 1:6) extending from the tops of their heads (their thoughts) to the soles of their feet (their daily walk). Through this self-knowledge even "perfect" Job was led to lament, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5, 6), while the innocent Isaiah wailed, "I am a man of unclean lips" (Isa 6:5), and even Daniel, although "greatly beloved" of Heaven, acknowledged, "My comeliness was turned in me into corruption" (Dan 10:8).

After he has looked into the divine mirror and been convicted of sin, the Spirit creates in the heart of the penitent a longing for change and cleansing. Then, as he again gazes into the "mirror" with his changed perspective, what had previously seemed to him a "law of bondage," he discovers to be the perfect "law of liberty" (James 2:12). He longs for cleansing

But the law is impotent to cleanse and release him. Its usefulness lies only in exposing his sinful heart (Rom 3:20; 7:7-13), and his need for forgiveness. Question: can we apply the mirror to our face after we saw the filth on it? No. Therefore can (keeping) the law save us?

The Cleansing Water from the Smitten Rock
The water for the laver came from the riven rock (Ex 17:5, 6). the water from the laver was considered ceremonially clean and set apart for sacred purposes.

The Rock is Christ (1 Cor 10:4; PP 411), broken open by vindictive hands, but in God's providence providing cascades of the "water and blood" desperately needed to remove man's sin and uncleanness (Zech 12:1).

For Israel's ritual in the Temple at Jerusalem, water for the laver was drawn from the Pool of Shiloh. Named "Peace," this spring was a symbol of the Prince of Peace or Emmanuel (Gen 49:10). Siloam was another name applied to this pool, and meant "the Sent of God" (John 9:7).

The Laver's Two-fold Ministry
"In order to gain a knowledge of ourselves, it is necessary to look into the mirror, and there discovering our own defects, avail ourselves of the blood of Christ, the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, in which we may wash our robes of character and remove the stains of sin. But many refuse to see their errors and correct them; they do not want a true knowledge of themselves" (4T 58-59).

At the altar of perpetual atonement the sacrifice procured the forgiveness and justification of the sinner by its bloody sacrifice. This was a one-time act, the work of a moment. Then by continually washing at the laver, the waters of which represent cleansing grace, the born again sinner was enabled to maintain his state of cleanliness.

God Requires Complete Cleansing
See Nicodemus John 3

Twin Streams of Water and Blood
When John saw the water and blood came out of Jesus when the soldier pierced into His side, John 19: 34, 35 Psalm 22:14. He understood and testified the true record.

We see the blood was the cleansing of all our committed sins. This was the justifying cleansing.

The water was the cleansing of our sinful nature. This is the sanctifying cleansing.

The two kinds of cleansing together washed away our sinful acts and purifies our tendency to sin continuously.

The New Covenant Laver Ministry
Paul wrote "His mercy [that] saved us" as individuals. He then reminded Titus that this saving ministry was made effectual "by the washing [laver] of regeneration, and [viz.] the renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:3-7, margin). "regeneration" of sinners, called justification by faith, is brought about in every case through the Spirit's "refreshing." This function was long pictured in the Sanctuary by laver washing.

The apostle explained to the Ephesians, in his second use of laver, that Jesus cleanses His church by "the washing [laver] of water by the word" (Eph 5:26). Sanctification.

By combining these two Pauline insights we discover that the Spirit's regenerating or justifying ministry, as well as His sanctifying power.

The Laver was Dedicated with Blood and Oil
Blood and oil were successively sprinkled upon both (Ex 30:26-29; 40:11; Lev 8:10, 11). The LORD was setting the laver apart for His glory, and alerted His saints against using it for secular ends.

The Septuagint adds to the Masoretic text instructions for the portage of the laver. "And they shall take a purple cloth, and cover the laver and his foot, and they shall put it into a blue-[black cover of skin, and put it on bars" (Num 4:14, LXX), to protect it during its transportation. As with the other parts of the Sanctuary, the Lord was teaching His people that wherever they might travel His provision for their purification went along with them.

The Laver a Type of Christian Baptism
Read Romans 6. It’s the dying and resurrect with Christ that we are born again. The old (sinful) man is dead. This speaks dying to self to rid our sinful nature. And if Jesus lives in us, He will take control of us. Thus the bible says if we are God’s, it’s impossible to sin. And whosoever sins, he’s of the devil. Question: what excuse do we have for sinning?
"If we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend out hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses" (DA 668).
Paul perceived that the billows of the Red Sea formed a protective wall for the escaping "baptized" Israelites (1 Cor 10:1, 2). To the Corinthians the apostle explained further that the shadow of God's cloud comfortably leading His surrendered and obedient people through the parched wilderness also amounted to their "baptism" (1 Cor 10:1, 2).

Laver Cleansing Must be Continually Repeated
The law required every priest to cleanse his hands and feet prior to entering upon any of his duties in the Sanctuary. "Particles of dust might cleave to them, which would desecrate the holy place; wherefore the priests were required to leave their shoes in the court before entering the sanctuary. In the court, beside the door of the Tabernacle, stood a brazen laver, wherein the priests washed their hands and their feet before entering the Tabernacle, that all impurity might be removed. All who officiated in the Sanctuary were required of God to make special preparation before entering the place where His glory was revealed" (4T 159).

The attitudes exhibited by the priests were to serve as examples to Israel, for if they "showed great reverence for God by being very careful and very particular as they came into His presence, it gave the people an exalted idea of God and His requirements. It showed them that God was holy, that His work was sacred, and that everything in connection with His work must be holy; that it must be free from everything like impurity and uncleanness" (2T 612).

Hands and Feet Washed at the Laver
The priests washed their hands and feet each time they carried the blood of the sacrificial victims to the altar or into the holy place (Ex 40:32). The laver's reiterated message from the court as expressed by the gospel prophet, "Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord" (Isa 52:11),

The laver's ministry applied only to those who were born to the Aaronic priesthood. We, as members of Christ's "royal priests," may enter His service through the "new birth."
A note here is that the water was drawn out of the laver. It was prohibited to wash in the laver and its foot to prevent the defilement of the holy water.

 

[OntheDL]

Priestly Consecration Required Laver Water
Laver water was used during the rites connected with the consecration of the high priest. As God's appointed representative (Ex 4:16; 7:1; 18:19) Moses immersed Aaron (Lev 8:6; Ex 29:4) in water drawn from the laver, (where we are not told), to signal his complete cleansing. To call attention to this stage in the experience of our High Priest, Christ once asked James and John, "Are ye able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am being baptized?" (Matt 20:22; cf. Luke 12:50). Question: how does this apply in our lives?

Various other rituals were performed at the laver. Parts of the sacrificial victims were washed prior to being placed on the altar by the priest (Lev 1:9, 13). The rabbis remember that in seeking to identify the suspected adulteress (Num 5:11-31) "the priest used to bring an earthenware bowl and put in it half a log of water from the laver" (Sotah 2:2). With dust from the holy place sprinkled on its surface, this water was then used to wash off the ink lettering from the scroll on which her husband's accusations had been recorded. This potion consisting of water, dust and the ink tracings was drunk by the accused woman. To the innocent this act spelled vindication, she simply absorbed the charges made against her!

Water Ceremonies During the Feast of Tabernacles
Before entering the most holy place on the Day of Atonement, the high priest five times immersed himself, and then during the ceremonies performed during the day often washed his hands and feet, with water dipped in a golden jug from the laver (Yoma 4:5). These lustrations underline our need to remain clean in all the activities we carry out for the Lord by means of the Fountain for sin and uncleanness.

"He that is washed [bathed] needeth not save to wash feet but is clean every whit" (John 13:10). The priests were urged to persevere in their rites of purification, "that they die not" (Ex 30:17-21). With this truth in mind, our Lord's warning, "If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me" (John 13:8),

The Laver and the Sea of Glass
This apocalyptic scene harks back to the dedication of the temple built by Solomon. During the ceremony the king took his position upon a special "sea" or platform, to address the people, and then to pray to Jehovah (2 Chron 6:13; cf. 1 Kings 8:22 ff). This Hebrew word "sea" has also been rendered laver (2 Chron 4:2). For centuries the mirrors forming the laver had revealed Israel's need for purification, and contained the water by which they were made clean. In John's vision the Israel of God, finally gathered from every land and every age, are exhibited standing upon the "sea."

This symbol of baptismal regeneration has finally become the ultimate base upon which the redeemed take their position before God. The law, which the mirrors of the laver represented, and the cleansing waters provided by the Lord, have become the foundation of their lives and characters. "Death" and "burial," condemnation and defilement, no longer have power over them. The laver has become their sign of triumph, and forms the pedestal upon which they stand victorious before the universe. They have overcome the "sea" whose water, which is now aglow with purifying fire, forms their crystal platform. Like Peter, they walk upon this "sea," safe and unafraid, because they have kept their eyes fixed upon the Lamb wherever He has led them.

 

[Stryder06]

For whatever reason I didn't even think to look at that thread. Sorry about that.