“…just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5.25b-27 (NIV)
The other day some friends & I were discussing the seemingly mundane tasks of life. Inevitably, the subject of laundry came up. The dirtying, the loading, the unloading, the wearing, the dirtying … a never-ending spin cycle, if you will. I often wonder if my nine-year-old son and I are in some sort of contest to see who can do his part faster. He usually wins, and I find myself lagging behind as I carry yet another basket of his jeans to the washer. He doesn’t intentionally get his clothes …well, filthy… he’s just being a boy.
The biblical Old Testament system of worship included a bronze laver used by the priests to wash themselves. The placement of the laver provides great spiritual insight, even for believers today. (The Tabernacle/Temple is so rich in its symbolism that we cannot possibly discuss every aspect in one blog any more than we can fit the buffet line at The Golden Corral into one to-go box! It just ain’t happenin’!) The laver was a giant bronze bowl filled with water placed in between the brazen altar (where animal sacrifices were made) and the Holy Place (where priests would meet with God). In my mind the significance of the placement of the laver is profound. It lay … on the journey, so to speak … in between forgiveness and utter holiness. It was a place of reflection for those who were washing, those who already had been forgiven (via the sacrifice) and were on their way toward wholeness. It represented a daily cleansing, an on-going purification for the Old Testament chosen people- Israel. For those of us chosen under the New Testament, our “laver” is the Word, the Bible. It is by being “washed through the Word” that we experience daily cleansing and purification on our journey toward ultimate perfected holiness. Just like I wash the dirt (and who knows what else!) from my son’s jeans, the Word washes away the grime of the day – both on and in me. As I daily spend time in the “water” of God’s Word, His Spirit scrubs my thoughts, my actions, my words until they meet His standard of clean… now or eventually. (Sometimes He uses the gentle cycle, or He just lets me soak for a while. At other times, it would seem He uses my granny’s lye soap; harsh and abrasive, it gets out even the most stubborn of stains.) The end goal is for me to be radiantly clean as I stand before Him, without any “stain or wrinkle” … something I may never be able to say about Sam’s jeans.
2 comments:
One thing that I found amazing was that the water in the Temple was considered *living* so it had to be emptied and refilled every day. This wasn't easy in the desert. The living water washed us clean...
Hi Shannon, just stopping by to say hi! Hope you're well.
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