The Washbasin Series

TABERNACLE – THE WASHBASIN

A young American engineer was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant. It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned. They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being faithful to her since he was constantly surrounded by pretty Irish ladies. The young man wrote back saying that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. "I admit," he wrote, "that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it. I’m keeping myself for you." In the next mail, he received a package. It contained a harmonica and a note from his girl, "I’m sending this to you," she wrote, "so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls." The engineer replied, "Thanks for the harmonica. I’m practicing on it every night and thinking of you." At the end of his two-year stint, the engineer was transferred back home. As soon as he arrived he rushed to his girlfriend’s home. Her whole family was with her, but as he moved forward to embrace her, she held up her hand and said sternly, "Just wait a minute. Before we get to any hugging and kissing, let me hear you play that harmonica" This young lady had faith in her boyfriend but she wanted the evidence of his faith, in other words she wanted to see the results of her faith.

The second piece of furniture in the tabernacle was the Laver. It was located just before entering the tent in the outer court. It was a bronze bowl of water that was used for washing hands and feet before entering the tent.

Ex. 30:18 "Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. 20 Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die.

Salvation takes a moment, but sanctification a lifetime. The washing with water represented the importance of coming into God’s presence cleansed and pure. Even after we give our lives to Christ and are covered by the righteousness of Christ, sin still stands in the way of us entering into God’s presence. We need to deal with sin in our lives.

1Pe 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

Why does God want us to live holy lives? Let me give you four results of holiness:

1. It CONNECTS us with our SAVIOUR

Sin always separates us from God. Confessing and repenting our sins draws us back to him. God does not require a perfect, sinless life to have fellowship with Him, but He does require that we be serious about holiness. He wants us to take sin serious. We are to grieve over our sin instead of trying to justify it. We are to earnestly pursue holiness in our life.

Fellowship happens when two are in agreement. God hates sin and we should as well. It was our sin that put Jesus on the cross. He was willing to suffer and die for us. Sin is serious and has serious consequences.

God hates sin. We need to hate it as well. If we want to have true fellowship with God we need to be as serious about sin as He is.

Psa 15:1-2 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? 2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart

Psa 24:3-5 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour.

The story is told that when Leonardo Da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, he had an intense and bitter argument with a fellow painter. Da Vinci was thinking of a way to get this guy back. He came up with a devious plan. He decided to paint the face of his enemy onto the face of Judas Iscariot so it would be captured for time immemorial. And that is exactly what he did. When people came to look at his work in progress, the immediately knew who ‘Judas’ was. Da Vinci thought, “This is pretty good. I showed him” As he continued his work on the great painting of Christ and his disciples, he finally came to the face he had saved for the very end—the face of Jesus. But he could not bring himself to paint it. He was greatly troubled knowing that he had painted the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot. He realized that his hatred and bitterness were keeping him from being able to face the face of Christ. So he went back to the image of Judas and painted some nebulous face instead. Then he was able to paint the face of Christ.