Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Bronze Basin

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The Lord spoke to Moses: You shall make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it; with the water Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to make an offering by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die: it shall be a perpetual ordinance for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their generations.


Something about this short passage about the basin for washing resonated with me when I read it a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why, but something about it just jumped out at me.
When Moses was establishing the tabernacle of the Lord, the first such place of worship of the Israelites, before offering any sacrifice on the altar, the priests were required to wash their hands and feet in a basin of water, so that they would not die while offering sacrifices to the Lord. This was one of the rules the Lord gave them when He gave Moses the instructions for designing and building the tabernacle.

Today, when we approach the altar, we do not need to wash in a bronze basin every time, nor do we need to offer sacrifices. Christ himself was offered as the ultimate sacrifice, so that we could enter freely into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:11-21). Jesus is the Living Water. We have been cleansed by the word the He has spoken to us (John 15:3), and by His death, He has washed our hands and feet, offering the sacrifice, that we may not die when we approach the Lord in our worship (Hebrews 1:3), but instead we can boldly approach the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:14-16). Jesus mediated for us a better covenant (Hebrews 8). Hallelujah!

Now, reading about that bronze basin brings to mind how I have been already washed clean by my Savior, who also offered the ultimate sacrifice on my behalf, mediating a new covenant between me and my God. My joy here is two-fold, not needing the outward washing just to enter the presence of the Lord, and not needing to constantly offer animals as sacrifices to atone for my sins.

Be blessed and shine with clean hands and feet!

4 comments:

  1. After reading this,what stood out to me was that the people were not required to wash their entire bodies, but only their hands and feet. Our hands and feet are part of our lifestyle. We used our feet to walk places,and our hands to perform various tasks.They are constantly exposed to the dirt and mess of life. Soap and water are made to clean the mess our hands and feet touch. However, soap and water cannot clean the stains of Sin. Thank God for sending HIS Son,Jesus, whose Blood washes all our bodies whiter than snow. Inspiring work Shanique. Thank you for this blog.

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    1. Thank you for your comment! And I totally agree with you. Washing the hands and feet were symbolic of washing away the dirt of life before coming into the presence of God.

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  2. Just imagine the preparations they had to observe; think of the details given by God & how the laws were obeyed to the letter sometimes at the expense of love to other people. Then consider how much we take for granted after receiving God's grace through the sacrifice of His son. We worship as though we're doing God a favor.If only we loved as He ordered.He still pays us great attention. What do we do for Him?

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    1. Exactly! You are so right! I'm reading through Leviticus now, and the amount of details given for the ordinances for worship and what people had to do to have their sins forgiven is ridiculous! It gives me a whole new appreciation for the grace by which I have been saved.

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