Between the altar and the Tabernacle is the Bronze Laver.
Ex 30:17-21 Then יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to יהוה, they shall wash with water, lest they die. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”
Not only were the priests washed (baptised) at their consecration, they had to wash their hands (what they do), and their feet (where they go) whenever they went into the holy place or were about to minister an offering on the altar. It is an ongoing process. Likewise we need to keep cleaning ourselves by the washing of the word (Torah).
1 Cor 6:9-11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Tit 3:4-5 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (the Torah).
‘Hearts sprinkled’ is the blood sacrifice at the altar; ‘bodies washed’ is the pure water in the laver as we cleanse ourselves so we can enter the tabernacle.
We are washed so we can be priests to God
Rev 1:5-6 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:14-15 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.”
Here’s our ticket to being priests in the throne room of God, His temple, we are to wash our robes and make them white!
Eph 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word (the Torah), that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Are we clean? Do we eat clean? Are our lips clean? Are our hands clean? Are our feet clean?
Ps 119:9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word (the Torah).
Ps 19:9 The fear of יהוה is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of יהוה are true and righteous altogether.
We wash in the water of the word (the Torah) with the fear of יהוה so we are clean and can enter His tabernacle
As we feed on the Torah (showbread) we take what we learn from the Spirit’s illumination (the lamps) and wash ourselves, making ourselves clean, set apart (holy) and without blemish.
For example we get baptised, we observe God’s feasts and His Sabbaths, we stop worshiping Him with pagan worship customs, we call on His name, we stop eating unclean things, we wear tzitzit, we purify our thought life, we present the three annual offerings, we look after widows, orphans and strangers, etc, etc.
This is how we love God and love our neighbour. God’s teaching on how to love Him and our neighbour is all laid out in His Torah (Torah means teaching). It’s His Way, it’s His Truth and it teaches us how to have abundant Life in Him.
Deut 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of יהוה.
Matt 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ ”
God had the priests wash their hands and feet because He is very interested in what we do and where we’ve been and that we wash off all uncleanliness. We need to be walking in His cleanliness before we can enter His tabernacle.
Lev 26:11-12 I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
2 Cor 6:16-18 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM (Yeshua among the lampstands Rev 1:13). I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE (holy – set apart), SAYS יהוה. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU. I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS יהוה ALMIGHTY.”
Acts 15:14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
We are to come out of our Gentile ways and learn to walk in His Ways. We are to be separate (set apart – holy) to Him, following His pattern of cleanliness as loyal subjects of our King, living out the Kingdom of God according to kingdom principles and law as detailed in His teaching (Torah).
Matt 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Matt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing (consecrating them as priests) them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching (Torahing – washing with the word) them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”