Mirror, Mirror
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
How do you achieve the separation of soul from spirit? Is it even possible? Is it possible to become so transformed by the Word of God that your spirit man dominates your soul man? If our hearts (or souls) are deceitful and wicked, how can we know that the Christian practices that we are involved in are strengthening our spirits and not our souls?
The Bronze Laver was the next furnishing a priest would encounter in the outer court of the Tabernacle. The Laver contained water from which the priests could wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place. This Laver was made from the mirrors of the women who would minister to the Lord at the Tent of Meeting. This may sound confusing at first. When reading the Scriptures a distinction is made between Moses Tent of Meeting set up far outside the Camp, and the Tent of Meeting which was the Priestly Tabernacle. Yet Moses had established a Tent of Meeting for those Israelites who desired to seek the Lord before the Priestly Tabernacle had been constructed. Exodus 33:7-11 records the details regarding the Tent of Moses: Now Moses used to take [his own] tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting [of God with His own people]. And everyone who sought the Lord went out to [that temporary] tent of meeting which was outside the camp. When Moses went out to the tent of meeting, all the people rose and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would talk with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the tent door, and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man at his tent door. And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned to the camp, but his minister Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the [temporary prayer] tent.
Later on in chapter 38 a reference is made to some women who chose to minister to the Lord at this tent. It states in Exodus 38:8 that: He made the laver and its base of bronze from the mirrors of the women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
It may be assumed that these women so loved the Lord that they were willing to surrender the thing they treasured and valued the most – their mirrors. Instead of valuing an object for how it assisted them in appearing to others they chose to sacrifice their self-centeredness in order to appear lovely before their Beloved. It’s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for “minister” is “tsaba.” Which means to mass (an army or servants):—assemble, fight, perform, muster, wait upon, war. This is where we get the idea of someone being in the service, or military. They serve, and minster to our country as soldiers – defenders of our freedom. “Tsaba” is also used to describe God: 1 Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Lord of Hosts (Yahveh-Tsaba) is translated as Lord of Angelic Armies. In summary we can say that to minister to the Lord was a call to warfare; a call to be His soldier. From this understanding you could draw the conclusion that all prayer and worship is warfare.
But what are the parallels for those of us who seek to minister to the Lord and become His Bronze Laver? There’s an interesting passage in James 1:21-25 So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls. But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).
When the priest went to wash his hands and feet in the mirrors of the Bronze Laver he would see his reflection in its polished bronze. Thus James is drawing the parallel between the two. Paul also makes an allusion to the bronze laver in Ephesians 5:25-27 when he writes: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].
The Book of John paints a beautiful picture of the Bronze Laver when Jesus stood at the Temple cried in a loud voice, If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! John 7:37. A Messianic – Jewish Scholar, by the name of Alfred Edersheim, gives us some historical background on what was actually occurring when this event occurred: The Feast of Tabernacles was the great feast of harvest, held at the time when the people of Israel had gathered in the fruits of the land (note Leviticus 23:34,39). The unique feature of this feast was the fact that the people were instructed to take leafy branches from the trees, and from these branches they were to construct thatched huts (or, booths) to dwell in during the week of celebration. On the last day of the feast a procession of worshipers would accompany a priest down to the Pool of Siloam (located within the city of Jerusalem). There the priest would fill a golden goblet with water drawn from the pool. The procession would then make its way back to the temple where the priest would be joined by a second priest carrying a cup of wine. The two priests then ascended the steps of the altar and poured out the water and the wine at the base of the altar; symbolizing God’s gracious provisions in the wilderness and praying for His continued provisions in the future. Jesus uses this occasion—the great day of this great feast—to issue His great invitation: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
What was Jesus referring too? In John 7:38-39 Jesus states: He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water. But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).
We become Jesus “Bronze Laver” when we look deeply into the Waters of His Spirit and Word seeking to be filled with the Living Waters of His Spirit, washing in the waters of His Word to become One with Him through sacrificial obedience. Do you wash daily in His Word? Do you seek to see Jesus through the Sword of His Spirit, the Word of God? Do you allow it to separate the Spirit Man from the Soulish Man?
