The word of God compares us to many things, and one of those things is a tabernacle (2 Peter 1:13). It's significance is greater than the generic overview of a person's spiritual dwelling place. Everything associated to the tabernacle carries a spiritual meaning as well, and this includes the brazen laver.
The word describes specific items inside the brazen laver that apply to different parts of our walk. This brazen laver is no different. It is connected to several things in your spirit & body; the attitude you carry toward your outlook on life, your emotions regarding your confidence in your calling in Christ (and willingness to testify), spiritual and physical drunkenness, and the sickness of barrenness in the flesh and spirit.
In this blog we are going to be breaking things down further and will be going into what each part of the laver means!
What is the brazen laver?
The bible describes the brazen laver as a large brass bowl that's seated on a table leg; it's located between the tabernacle and the altar where the sacrifices were made (Exodus 30:18). The word of God makes mention in several places the laver's "foot of brass". Inside this bowl is water Aaron and his son's would wash their hands and feet in (Exodus 30:19). It was supposed to be anointed, along with it's "foot", Exo. 30:28.
Confidence in your calling
There's a reason the bible emphasizes the "foot of the brazen laver", because it's the literal feet of your spirit. The foot of the brazen laver is made of brass, just like the foot of the living creatures Ezekiel saw in Eze. 1:7 "the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass." and just like the feet of Jesus Christ in Rev. 2:18 "...These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;"
Shoes carry a testimony, (Ruth 4:7 "Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel.") and when we carry the testimony of Christ we are putting on shoes of brass which become our strength, (Deuteronomy 33:25 "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be."). It's with these shoes we trample on serpents and scorpions, (Luke 10:19 "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions...") and God's word tells us the significance to brass, in the spirit it's a metal that breaks and stomps things out! (Dan. 7:19 "...which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;" ) So you can see why we've been given these brass shoes, but the word of God doesn't say that Jesus or the foot of the brazen laver are wearing any shoes... So what's going on?
The feet of Jesus are brass because it is His personal testimony, there is no shoe to put on the foot because it's his own testimony! It was the suffering Christ went through, allowing himself to be beat and "trampled" by men which ultimately led to him being crucified for our sins. This suffering is what made his bare feet brass, and although we're called to share in the sufferings of Christ, the brass foot of the brazen laver for us only represents a person's personal testimony. Their specific purpose and calling they are currently walking in.
But there is one thing Satan constantly uses to make people feel ashamed of their testimony in hopes they wouldn't testify... The dust of death! This dust of death is mentioned in only one place in the word of God, Psalm 22:15 "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death." King David is saying the dust of death is absorbing the moisture out of his mouth and is taking away his strength. Remember, the strength of brass is in it's ability to stomp out and trample, this is felt as your literal confidence to share your testimony and feeling of approval. If you take this away, you end up with someone running away in terror, and this is what happened to Elijah!
After Elijah commanded the prophets of Baal be killed, Jezebel responds by sending a messenger to curse him saying 1 Kings 19:2 "...So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time." Elijah responds by running for his life and asking God to kill him saying, " It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers" Elijah's personal motivation was to be better than his fathers, and Jezebel's death threat broke that, but how?
This was a death threat in the spirit, and the dust of death was placed on the foot of his brazen laver. The dust of death makes someone feel ashamed of their testimony by removing their confidence. A spirit of Jezebel does this especially when sending insults against someone's calling, testimony, job, etc. This also happened to Moses when the body he buried in the sand was dug up and the Israelite man brought it back up to shame Moses, Exodus 2:11-25. This is why it's important for us not to bring up someone's past sins. It's a spirit of Jezebel that inspires someone to do this, but most importantly we come against the finished work of Christ!
The end result is a person feels like their life is meaningless, like they aren't good enough for their calling, hopeless to change, fearful to testify, and overall feeling ashamed.
Pray this prayer to end it!
"I loose the dust of death off the foot of my brazen laver"
Your outlook on life
What do you see? Are you hopeful for God's plans in your life? Or are you only ever full of negative thoughts and emotions regarding your future? Jonah had a negative outlook on God's will and it killed everything he complained about!
Jonah fled as soon as God gave him his calling, and later confessed that he fled because he knew God would be merciful to Nineveh (Jonah 4: 2)! Jonah was angry that God spared Ninivah, revealing he wanted them to be destroyed! Even though God made it clear he was going to spare Ninavah, Jonah still hoped to see their destruction (Jonah 4:5). Jonah later prays for God to kill him, Jonah 4:9.
Jonah had a spirit of death, and God used the event of worm killing the plant to reveal this. That spirit of death gave Jonah an outlook through the eyes of death, and Jonah's hate for Ninivah was the legal tie that kept him in that loop.
Remember, the brazen laver has a spherical shape to it, just like our eyes, and it is the rim of the brazen laver that sets our perspective. The spirit of death places the dust of death on the rim of the brazen laver to give an individual an outlook inline with death.
Emotions like negativity, self-hate, feeling worthless, feeling not good enough, and only seeing problems that make you feel overwhelmed are all a result of the rim of the brazen laver having the dust of death.
Pray this prayer to end it!
"I loose the dust of death off the rim of my brazen laver"
Spiritual and Physical Drunkenness
The water inside the brazen laver is a person's literal and spiritual blood. Blood carries the life, Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood..." And the blood of Christ gives us deeper insight to what that literally means. Jesus tells us his whole life's purpose was to do the will of the Father, John 6:38 "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (Die for our sins)
Inside the blood is a few things, sin, curses and blessings, but specifically for this application, inside someone's blood is their will, and for us in Christ we're called to give up our will and receive the will of Christ. This is what it means to receive the blood of Jesus (second to the atonement his blood gives us!).
The brazen laver is where Aaron and his sons would wash their hands and feet, and this was foreshadowing the washing of our hands and feet in the blood of Christ. Signifying the removal of sins from our works (hands) and old testimonies of sin we once carried (feet). Ultimately we see this in John 13:1-17 where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples!
Jesus also tells us his blood is wine in Matthew 26:27-28, and that drinking it will grant someone everlasting life, John 6:53. Ephesians 5:18 tells us , "be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" and when someone is in the Holy Spirit they are void to the lusts of the flesh and alive to the desires of Christ, Gal. 5:17!
So we can see it's a good thing to be drunk on the Holy Spirit, but it's also possible to be drunk off something else... Revelation 17:2, 14:8, 18:3 talks about the great whore of Babylon offering her "wine of fornication" to kings, and them fornicating with her afterwards. In the spirit, drinking something represents receiving a spirit, and just like alcohol, if you have enough of it you'll get drunk off it! When someone is drunk off a spirit they are drinking the wine of spiritual fornication. Their resistance to sin and integrity to God begins to fade, leading into coming under an unclean spirit which is spiritual fornication.
This spiritual wine is offered as a temptation to sin by an unclean spirit, enough "sips" and you'll slip into backsliding.
Pray this prayer!
"I loose the wine of fornication out of the water of my brazen laver in the name of Jesus Christ."
Barrenness in the Flesh and Spirit
The brazen laver is also connected to a person's ability to make disciples in the spirit as well as children in the physical. Num. 5:21, details the process a woman accused of adultery was supposed to complete to reveal her innocence or guilt. The priest took a cup of holy water from the brazen laver, put dust from off the floor of the tabernacle in it, wrote a curse in a book then soaked the curse in the water causing the ink to be added to the cup with the dust.
Then she was told to swear by oath that she has been faithful, and finally drink the cup. If she was faithful to her husband, nothing would happen to her, but if she was lying, her thigh would rot and stomach would swell.
Every step to this procedure carries a deep spiritual significance. The dust in the cup of water was referred to as "bitter water", but what made it bitter? The dust of death, it was death in the springs of Jericho that made the ground barren, 2 Kings 2:21 "...I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land." and it was death in the prophet's pottage in 2 Kings 4:39-41 that gave it "...the bitterness of death..." (1 Samuel 15:32-33).
The curse that was added to the cup also refers to the curse of God's word that she was drinking, and if she was lying, that would activate the curse inside her.
Conclusion
I hope this gives you insight to how your spiritual temple works and understanding of the emotions you might be going through. I pray this teaching is a blessing! My hope is it inspires you to get deeper into the word of God with the Holy Spirit!