Get Cleaned Up Series

Get Cleaned Up

Exodus 30:17

Every parent has probably said these words and sometime in their life if not thousands of times “Kids come in and get cleaned up for dinner”

There is an old saying that we all know that goes like this “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” we have heard that saying so many times that a lot of people think that its a verse found in the Bible.

That verse isn't found in scripture, but the principle is found throughout Gods word and that's what we are going to look at tonight

The Bible has always taught washing and being clean in a way to help control infections. In The Book of Numbers 19:11, “Whoever touches the dead body of nay person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day and so be clean.”

verse 14, “This is the law when someone dies in a tent everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days.” Verse 20, “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly.”

Today we know the importance of washing our hands. In restaurants and hospitals there are signs everywhere reminding us to wash our hands. Most food borne illness are traced backed to an employee not washing their hands.

Staying clean physically is the best way to prevent sickness and control virus. It was a concept that was taught thousands of years ago in the Old Testament it was a concept that our modern medical community didn't catch on until the mid 1800's.

Jesus though took the concept of staying clean physically and showed that there was a cleanliness even more important than that

Mat 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

Mat 15:2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."

Mat 15:9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

Mat 15:10 And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand:

Mat 15:11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."

The Pharisees had taken the law of God and turned it into our saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

They thought to be Godly they had to go through a ceremonial cleansing and Jesus took the Old Testament principle of washing to show them the spiritual meaning of what God was teaching throughout the scriptures the principle that the cleansing has to take place on the inside in order to have an eternal impact.

-As we look at this bronze basin lets quickly review where we're at

The plans for the Tabernacle have been given

we looked at the bronze altar outside, the ark of the covenant inside hid by the veil of the temple the altar of incense before the veil, the lamp stand and the table of bread

-last week we looked at the census tax which was God's way for the people poor and rich alike to support the work of the ministry

Now we come to the bronze basin

This was a place for the priest to wash their hands and feet it was located on the outside of the tent of meeting

the priest hands and feet would be dirty from doing the work of the ministry. Offering sacrifices and walking in the tent which had a dirt floor

-This is the only item in the tabernacle that we do not have specific information or dimensions, it must have been small enough to transport.

-We do know that after they built the temple the basin the priest washed in was able to hold approx 8,000 gallons water

1Ki 7:26 Its thickness was a handbreadth, [fn] and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. [fn]

a bath was about 4 gallons of water

But there is a very interesting detail about the bronze basin that is going to help us see the spiritual implication of this passage

Exd 38:8 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting

At this time in human history man had not yet figured out how to make glass mirrors so mirrors were polished brass that they would see their reflection in

God told them to make the bronze basin by melting down the mirrors, which means that when the priest came to the basin to wash they would be able to see their reflection from the basin itself. It was washing while looking in a mirror at yourself, something that we are all use to