We have already briefly looked at the meaning of the altar. If we want to be built by God into His dwelling place, then all we are, all we have, and all we can do must be judged before God. Thank God that this judgment has already been accomplished on the cross of the Lord. Through His death on the cross the Lord has already judged everything. If we receive His all-inclusive death, we will not only pass through the judgment, but we will also be redeemed. After we are redeemed through His judgment, we must offer our everything to God. We must commit ourselves completely into the Lord’s hand, acknowledging that He has absolute authority over us so that He may gain us completely. This is the first step of our being built. If a person wants to be built by God as material for His dwelling place, the first step he must take is to pass through judgment, redemption, and consecration at the cross.
As we go on from the altar, we come to the laver. The laver was made completely of bronze. Therefore, most Bible readers acknowledge that from a spiritual point of view, the laver comes from the bronze altar. The altar was overlaid with bronze, and the laver was also made of bronze. However, the bronze of the altar was a little different from the bronze of the laver. The altar was covered with the bronze plates beaten out of the censers carried by the two hundred fifty rebels who were judged by fire (Num. 16:38-40). The laver, however, was made of the bronze from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the tabernacle (Exo. 38:8). At that time there was no such thing as glass, so women used polished, shining brass as mirrors. Therefore, the laver does not denote judgment. Instead, it denotes the Holy Spirit’s enlightening of us. According to Titus 3:5, the laver denotes the renewing work of the Holy Spirit upon us.
After we are redeemed by the Lord and consecrate ourselves to Him, the Holy Spirit as light continually shines on us, causing us to sense that we were wrong or defiled in certain matters or that we have sinned against God or are unable to present ourselves before God in other matters. This kind of reproving by the Holy Spirit is based upon what the Lord accomplished on the cross. The Holy Spirit may show us a certain matter and say to us, “Since such a matter, action, and living has already been judged by the Lord on the cross, why is it that it is still in you today?” After we receive this kind of enlightening and reproving and seek for cleansing, then the Holy Spirit does the work of washing and renewing in us, completely purging us of all the filthy and improper situations. This is our experience of the washing at the laver. Our being purified is the second step of our being built.
The result of the work of the two preceding steps is the producing of the hangings of the court. We all know that the hangings formed the boundary of the outer court, which may also be considered the boundary of God’s building. If a person wants to be built by God, to have a part in God’s house, and to serve God together with all the children of God, then he must be within this boundary. In other words, there must be a boundary in his daily living and walk. The hangings were made of fine white linen, and the sockets for the pillars were made of bronze. On the pillars were the silver hooks and the silver connecting rods which joined the pillars together (Exo. 27:10). Now let us look at these items one by one.
The bronze sockets were the bases for the hangings of the court. Hence, they formed the foundation of the boundary. Spiritually speaking, the experience of the bronze sockets is produced through the experience of the bronze altar. The boundary of our being built before God is based on our having been judged before God. If we want to be built in the church, then we and all that we have must sooner or later pass through God’s judgment. Perhaps when we were first saved, we only saw that the Lord had judged our sins on the cross. Gradually, however, the Lord will show us that not only were our sins judged by God on the cross, but even we ourselves, including all that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do, were judged by God on the cross. Once we see this under the shining of the Holy Spirit, our entire living and walk will be spontaneously and severely judged under the light of the cross. It is only after such a judging that we have the foundation for the building, the bronze sockets of the hangings of the court.
If a saved one does not abandon himself to a carefree living but is willing to be built together in the church and to coordinate and serve together with the saints, then he will not escape this kind of judgment. The Holy Spirit will surely work in him to bring his entire being into the light to show him that everything of himself has to be judged and has already been judged on the cross. Then he should follow the Holy Spirit to deal with and condemn these matters one by one before God, based on the judgment that the Lord received on the cross. In this way he will establish the boundary of his service before God.