Now you may recall, I hope you
do, that last week we studied the brazen altar, how that was
a picture of Christ. And you know you never finish.
You cannot exhaust the pictures of Christ. You can't exhaust
all the glory of Christ in the scriptures. But at the dinner
table last Sunday, my daughter pointed out to me that I left
out something in this study of the altar that she had really
enjoyed when we went over this in Bible school with the children.
And I thought, well, I can't leave that out. I've got to talk
about it this morning. So before we move on, I'm going
to talk about what Holly reminded me of last Sunday at dinner.
Now, the Jews had a custom that if a person had accidentally
harmed someone or even killed them or something like that,
that they would have refuge if they could get to this altar
and lay hold, remember we talked about the four horns being a
picture, they're on the corners of the altar being a picture
of the power of Christ to save. And I'll show you where they
got that tradition in Exodus chapter 21. In Exodus 21 verse 12. He that smiteth a man, so that
he die, shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in
wait, but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint
thee a place where that he shall flee." And I believe what he's
talking about there is that he's going to appoint this place in
the future, which will be the cities of refuge. But verse 14,
if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor. to slay him
with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die."
And that's where they got this tradition that thou shalt take
him from my altar that he may die. That he'd have refuge if
he got a hold of the horns of this altar and laid hold on the
horns of this altar. And a person grabbing hold of
the horns on this altar, what they're saying is, I don't want
a trial. I don't want justice. I'm seeking
mercy. I'm seeking mercy based on the
blood of the sacrifice that's offered on this altar. That's
why I'm grabbing ahold of the horns, the picture of the power
of the sacrifice that's offered here. And every believer has
laid hold on the Lord Jesus Christ. They've laid hold on His horns,
on His power to save. We've not come to lay hold on
Him because He'll save me if I let Him. We've come and laid
hold on the horns, His power. He shall save His people from
their sins. And when we lay hold on Christ
by faith in that manner, what we're saying is, I don't want
a trial. I don't want justice. I don't
want to go stand before the judge in myself. I'm seeking mercy. My only plea is mercy based on
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want justice.
I don't want murder. I want mercy. found in a substitute. That's what I say when I lay
hold on Christ, just like the person laying hold on the horns
of this altar. That's what that represented.
I should have done that last week, so you get that for free. Now the next piece of furniture
here in the courtyard is this brazen altar. If you'll turn
to Exodus 30, we'll read the instructions given Moses for
the brazen labor. And Exodus 30 verse 17, And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, 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. For Aaron and his sons shall
wash their hands and their feet thereat. 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. So shall they
wash their hands and their feet, that they die not. And it shall
be a statute for them, forever to them, even to him and to his
seed throughout their generations." Now this labor was made of solid
brass. You know, other things were made
of the incorruptible wood covered with brass. This labor was made
of pure brass, through and through. And that gives us a picture of
God's inflexible requirement for holiness, for clean hands
and a pure heart. Scripture tells us without holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. If we're going to be in the Lord's
presence, we must be cleansed. And the requirement by a holy
God for cleansing is seen in the solid brass of this laver.
It's inflexible. You can't bend it. You can't
alter it. It's inflexible. And we see that by where it was
placed. It was placed right outside the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation. Before you could go in, this
is where the presence of God dwelt, before you could go into
the presence of God, you had to be washed. You cannot come
into the presence of God unless you're washed clean from every
sin. And if a priest tried to do it, maybe he was running late
or he was trying to save time, if he went into that tabernacle,
the congregation, without washing his hands and his feet, He'd
have been struck dead. God's holiness is serious business. We don't get that impression
from hearing people talk about God, people in religion, or people
you see on TV. But now I'm telling you, God's
holiness is serious business. And no man, not the priest, not
anyone, is going to be allowed to defile God's holiness. He's
not going to allow it. And you notice when we read here
about the labor, just like the the badger skin and the ram skin
that's dyed red. There are no measurements given
for this laver. We really don't know what it
looked like. You know, this is kind of what we, the model, you
know, the people make that they typically make. A lot of people
think that there may have been spouts in this thing that they
let water come through so the priest could wash his feet. We
don't know what it looked like. We don't know how big it was.
We don't have any idea. There are no measurements given
for it. I don't know what it looked like. But I do know what
that is a picture of, no measurements given for it, is a picture of
Christ. He's capable of washing every
sinner that comes to Him clean. I don't care how many of them
there is, it's a number that no man can number. The Lord Jesus
Christ, that one man, by His one offering, is able to wash
clean every one of them. Wash them clean without spot.
There are no restrictions. on who can come to Christ, just
that you be a sinner. And the water, his ability to
wash clean is immeasurable. That's why there are no measurements
given for this labor. The water that flowed from the
side of our Lord, from his pure side is a fountain, a never ending
fountain of water to cleanse every guilty sinner that will
come to him. And the water of God's Word, just like I said
a minute ago, you cannot exhaust Scripture. The water of God's
Word is inexhaustible. Come wash. If you're thirsty,
come drink. The water is inexhaustible, immeasurable. But now the priests used this
labor, the water in it, to wash their hands and their feet. And
you know what that's showing. That's what Scripture teaches.
Sinners must be washed throughly. Look over in Titus chapter 3.
Now scripture's got a lot to say about washing. In Titus chapter 3 we see where
it is that we're washed. We're washed in Christ in regeneration. In Titus 3 verse
5. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy he saved us. by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now
when we're born again, you are washed. Eternally clean. Washed. Well then why does Scripture
tell believers that we've got to wash our feet? That you've
got to wash daily? Now you know that washing your
feet is figurative. Your feet's a good idea for hygiene. Your feet don't stink. But that's
a figurative thing. It's speaking figuratively. But
even though it's speaking figuratively, you do have to wash. Daily, the
believers, is to wash. And you have to wash because
when you walk through this dusty world, your feet are going to
get dirty. What comes in contact with this
world is going to get dirty. Just like the priests, when they
began their daily work, now they've been washed. But they still had
to wash their hands because they'd handled the sacrifice. They had
to wash their feet because this was just dirt floor. They didn't
put down any floor. Wherever they stopped, they built
the tabernacle and the dirt was there. That's the floor, that
sandy desert floor. And they walked around and their
feet got dirty. Well, they had to wash their feet. Well, look
over in John chapter 13. In John 13 verse 8. Here's where our Lord gave His
teaching about washing your feet. And the Lord God united washed
the disciples' feet. And He gets to Peter in verse
8. And Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with
me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is
washed, needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every
whit, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore said he, ye are not all clean. Now you know what
our Lord is teaching here, and He says, you're clean, save your
feet. The people then, they didn't
have baths and so forth in their homes, they had public baths.
Well they'd go there and wash. They'd be all clean, they'd dry
off, they'd get dressed, and they'd walk home. in open coat
sandals, well, their feet would get dirty again. So when they
got home, they'd wash their feet again. Now they're clean. And
what this is teaching the believer is our need for daily washing.
You don't have to have your soul washed again. You don't have
to be born again over and over and over again. You're clean
every which way, the Lord said. But we are walking through a
sinful world. And we get our hands and our
feet dirty. What comes in contact with this world, we need to wash
the filth of it off and we need to wash the influence of this
world off. Well, how on earth do you do
that? How on earth am I supposed to
wash my hands and my feet? Well, it's in Christ and it's
by the Word of God. It's by reading the Word of God.
Now, the world influences us. 24 hours a day. I mean, you go
out and you work in it, you watch TV, you live in it, you go to
sleep, you dream about it. I mean, it just influences us
24 hours a day. And the old man is easily affected
by that, easily drawn to it, because that's what the old man
loves, is the things of this world. But the new man finds
no joy in those things. The new man's not fed by the
things of the world. The new man doesn't enjoy the
things of the flesh. The new man is fed by the Word
of God. He's washed in the Word of God. And I know this is true of me,
and it probably is of you, because we're all like, most of our problems
are self-inflicted. That's true. And our attitude
and our conduct would be better if we were cleansed daily by
reading the Word of God, spending time in the Word of God. And
I'm going to show you that in three scriptures. The first one is
Psalm 119. This labor so clearly given to
us is a picture of the Word of God. I will make good on that.
Psalm 119, verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way. Just like I said a minute ago,
how are we supposed to wash our hands and our feet? How is a
young man to cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy
word. That's how a young man or old
man, anyone cleanses his way by taking heed according to the
Word of God. Now look over at John 15. John 15 verse 3. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. It's through by washing
in the word. And one more scripture, Ephesians
5. Ephesians 5 verse 25 Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word. And when you are washed in the
word, 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." That's a description of the believer
washed by Christ in the Word. We're washed in the Word. And
this laver is a picture of the Word of God. I want to show you
this. Look over at Exodus 38. You remember all the tabernacles and all the materials
that were used to construct it was donated. But now they didn't
build this labor out of just any brass that somebody donated.
It was specific brass. In Exodus 38 verse 8, And he made the labor of brass,
and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the
women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. They made this labor from brass
that had been refined and polished so well that women used it as
a mirror. They didn't have glass mirrors,
so they polished brass. They refined it and they polished
it to a high shine so they could use it as a mirror. And mirrors
are used as a picture of the Word of God in the New Testament.
In James 1 verse 22, But be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any man
be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is likened to
a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was." He looked into a mirror, didn't get an accurate
reflection of himself, and just went away and forgot what he
looked like. But, verse 25, Whoso looketh
into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he be
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed." If you look into the law of liberty,
the word of God, look in it, you'll get an accurate reflection
of who you are by nature, and you'll get an accurate reflection
of who you are by God's grace. And the only way you'll find
that is looking in the mirror of God's word, the perfect law
of liberty. And that's what this laver represents. But this laver
also, it represents Christ, the incarnate word, Christ, the written
word that washes us. But it also represents Christ,
the pure one, not just as a picture of the written word, but this
is also a picture of Christ, the incarnate word. Psalm 24. This is a picture of Christ,
the pure one. In Psalm 24 verse 3. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. Now that must be describing the
Savior. If the Savior is going to save
his people from their sins, he must be pure, right? If he's
got any sins of his own, he can't save us. If he's got any filth
of his own, he can't cleanse us. And he didn't. He had no sin of his own. So
he could ascend into the holy place, into heaven itself, because
he did have clean hands and a pure heart. And he secured the salvation
of his people. And we are made clean in him. Now, we just read there a description
of the Savior. There can be no doubt that this
man with clean hands and a pure heart has not lifted up his soul
into vanity nor sworn deceitfully. That must be Christ, right? Well,
you're made complete in Him. You're washed in Him. Look at
verse 6. This is the generation, this
is the description of them that seek Him, that seek thy face,
O God of Jacob. That's a description of Christ,
but it's also a description of you. in Christ, made pure and
clean in Him. And that's what we see in the
labor that was just outside the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. Now you notice everything we've
looked at so far outside of the tabernacle of the congregation
is all brass, isn't it? Other than the gate and so forth,
it's all made of brass. Everything we see outside the
tabernacle of the congregation speaks of judgment, speaks of
Christ bearing our sin. That's what that brass is a picture
of. But if you look underneath the covering, all these different
coverings, now you start to see gold. And the gold is a picture
of the glory of Christ, the riches, the untold riches of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what this gold represents.
And holding up all these, coverings were these boards. We won't take
the time to read it this morning, but if you look in Exodus 26,
beginning of verse 15, you can read about these boards. And
what you'll find out is these boards that went around here
and held this, constructed the walls of the building, was made
of incorruptible wood covered with gold. That's the reoccurring
theme that you see all through here. The God-man. The gold and
the incorruptible wood is the God-man. That wood is a picture
of the humanity of Christ. It's incorruptible. Our Lord
Jesus was a man. He didn't come and inhabit the
body of a man, you know, like invasion of the body statues
or something. He became a man. He had a human soul, a human
body. He grew tired. He grew hungry. He grew thirsty. He had emotions. He got angry. He wept. He was
a real man without sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. Even though he was a man, he
was still the Holy One of Israel. Incorruptible wood, covered with
gold. Now gold is valuable. And it's glorious. Everybody
wants it. I mean, everybody wants gold
because it's so valuable. And if you could just look at
it. I mean, a human being just would feel good if they could
just look at gold. You know, they keep that gold
so secure in Fort Knox that everybody would love to look at it. You
know, if anybody's seen it, they'll talk about it. I mean, because
it's a rare person that's seen it and they just stare at it. I mean, just all that gold. Wasn't
that a picture of Christ? Unfortunately, everybody doesn't
want Him. But anyone that has any sense of the value of the
Lord Jesus Christ, oh, they want Him. And they'll just sit and
stare at Him all day long, somehow preaching. Just, oh, they'll
listen, they'll watch, because He's so glorious. And this man
was God. He was equal with the Father.
He raised the dead to life. He made the lame walk. He made
the blind to see. This man had the power to forgive
sin. He said, what's harder, to forgive
sin or tell a man to take up his bed and walk? He did both.
He could forgive sin. He's God. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
The gold covered the wood, but it never became wood, did it?
The wood was covered by the gold, but it never became gold. The
wood Didn't change the gold at all. It was always gold. And
the gold didn't change the wood. It was always wood. Christ is
the God-man. His humanity was humanity. It never became deity. And his
deity was never affected by his humanity. Two separate materials,
gold and wood, made of one board. Two distinct separate natures,
God and man, but one Savior. One man. Great is the mystery
of godliness. That God was manifest in the
flesh. And you notice these boards are standing up. You know, a
lot of times we have, we don't have board siding now. We use different materials, but
typically it all runs horizontally, doesn't it? These boards don't
run horizontally, stacked on top of each other. They stand
upright. And that's a clear picture of
Christ. Now, the first Adam, if you're going to make a picture
of the first Adam, it had to be falling down, and it had to be
rotting and decaying. The second Adam is standing.
He's upright in all of his ways. And those boards remain standing. Those boards held up all the
coverings and all the veils. They held it up. Without the
boards, there would be no tabernacle of the congregation. You'd just
have a heap of cloth. But the boards held it all up.
Now, when Adam fell, everybody in him fell to their death. Adam allowed that because he
fell. Christ never fell. He holds everything up. Everything
that was laid on Him, He held it up. What was laid on Him? Everything. His elect were put
in Him, dependent on Him not to let them fall, and He didn't.
Redemption. was dependent on Him. The glory
of the name of God hung on the Lord Jesus Christ and depended
on Him not to fall. God's holiness, His grace, His
mercy and truth all hung on the Lord Jesus Christ and He never
let it fall. The future resurrection and future
glory all depended on the Lord Jesus Christ not to let them
fall. Everything was dependent on Him. In Isaiah 9, verse 6,
there's a prophecy of the coming Messiah. And God said the government
shall be on His shoulder. Everything is going to be dependent
on Him, and He'll never let it fall. He held up the white, sinless
humanity. He held up God's holiness. In
Him we see God's holiness, the holiness of God. He held up the
badger skin, that humanity. He held up the goat's hair coverings. He held up being the sin sacrifice
for his people. He held up the ram skin dyed
red. He held up substitution and satisfaction
in his blood. He held all that up and never
let it fall. And then the bars. You'll notice
that there are bars running across here. And they ran through rains. And those bars held those boards
together, kept them from flopping all over the place and held those
walls together. And you can read about them in
Exodus 26, beginning in verse 26. And what you'll find is they're
made of the incorruptible wood, covered with gold, over and over
and over again. The God-man is coming. He's the
God-man. And those bars held the boards
together. They gave this building, tabernacle,
the walls, that gave it structure and unity. And that can be no
one else but Christ. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. Look in Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1 verse 16. For by Him were all things created,
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist. And that word consist
means held together or framed together. And that's what these
boards do. Frame everything together. Hold
those walls together so that they remain upright walls. By
Him all things consist. That applies to creation. Everything
in this God's universe, all is held together, spins together,
just works together so perfectly. It's beyond my imagination how,
but I know who holds it together. It's Christ. By Him all things
consist. And that applies to redemption.
By Him, all things consist, from Alpha to Omega. Christ is all. He holds it all together. He
makes it all work. And I'm telling you, if you start
pulling these bars out from those rings, you start chipping away
at those bars, saying, well, you know, we don't need this
bar. You know, God gave exact measurements for how long each
of those bars were to be. Well, if you start saying, well,
you know, I don't like the length of this bar. I don't see why it needs
to be... I'm going to cut it off a little
bit. Or I'm going to make this bar a little longer. Or I'm going
to just start hacking away at it. Put a dent in it here and
start pulling it away here. You start doing that, you know
what's going to happen eventually? I'm no building genius, but I
know this. The walls are going to fall down. Because those bars
are there to hold that thing together. You start taking them
out, the building is going to fall down. Well, you start taking
away. any of the attributes of Christ.
Pretty soon, you will not have a Savior at all to preach. That's
so. You take away His sovereignty.
Pretty soon, you don't have a Savior at all. You've got someone begging
people, let Him save them. And you make man sovereign. You
take away the power of His blood to save. Pretty soon, you've
got man ratifying the covenant, not God. And you don't have any
Savior at all to preach. You start suddenly Taking away
from those bars, from the glory of Christ. And pretty soon, by
Him, all things do not consist anymore. Pretty soon, by you
and me, all things consist. And if you do that, what happens?
Adam's already shown us what will happen. The walls are going
to come down. By Him, all things consist. I'm out of time. I'm going to
give you a commercial for next week. Next week, We're going
to start on these silver sockets. And this may be, I hate to pick
a favorite, but this may be my very favorite feature, picture
in this tabernacle, the silver foundation. We'll get to that
next week, Lord willing.