Getting Clean for God

Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come this evening to look at yet another piece of furniture found in the tabernacle. This piece was not found in the tabernacle proper, but rather in the courtyard outside the tabernacle. It stood between the altar of burnt offering and the tabernacle door. This piece of furniture was a large tub or tank for holding water; its name is typically translated "basin" or "laver," though the NLT has the inimitable "washbasin." What did this piece of furniture do, and what did it mean? We will see that it shows God's rule over the sea, that it echoes some of our own society's purity codes, and that it shows that a true priest must be washed with pure water.