5. The Laver in the Outer Court

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5. The Laver in the Outer Court - for Notes

The bronze laver in the outer court speaks primarily of the Bible, not the Bible itself, per se, but rather the role of the Bible in the life of the believer. The laver speaks of four things throughout its parts: mirror – reflection – judgment – and washing.

Yet because this laver is set before the Door into the Holy Place, it serves as a point of separation, preparing those who will enter and distracting those who will not.

You search diligently the Scriptures, for you imagine to have age-unfolding life in them, and these are bearing witness concerning Me; but you do not want to come to Me, that you might possess life (John 5:40).


For Judgment. The laver was made from the bronze mirrors used by the women in the camp of Israel, mirrors received by them from the Egyptians.

In the still water of the laver, a priest could see his reflection as in a mirror. Bronze speaks of judgment. The priest, seeing his image in the still water, judges himself by how he sees.

The water is for cleansing, for removing that which cannot enter. Nonetheless, the water is disturbed by the washing, and the priest can now judge himself by the dirt and by the confused images in the swirling water. 


Refusing to Enter. Now, in the next lesson, we will seek to know God’s intention for the laver in sending His people through the Door into a personal knowledge of the realms of Spirit.

In God’s intentions, a brief season with this laver is of great importance. Nonetheless, those who refuse to go on, then, to know the Lord in the fullness of the Spirit, find things in the mirror God never intended.

And thus they build for themselves a dwelling place in a false use of the Bible, turning the Bible itself into the tree of knowing good and evil, right and wrong.


Who Is the Judge? This lesson, then, is about what the laver becomes in the outer court as it is separated from the Door into the Holy Place.

The Bible is all about the judgment of the human mind.

But who is the judge? Indeed, the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. – And Jesus said, “For judgment, I came into this world, that those not seeing may see, and those seeing may become blind.” – I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge… (John 5:22; 9:30; & 12:47). – And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was committed to them (Revelation 20:4).


What Do You See? And what judgment do we make? There are two judgments, a judgment to life and a judgment to death. The judgment is found in the seeing. What do you see when you read the Bible and when you look in the mirror on your bathroom wall in the middle of the night?

What do you see?

You have two options only, the same two options God placed in the garden and in the Bible and before the sight of every human in every moment of time. Christ – or – Sin – take your pick.


Control. Possessing therefore these promises, beloved, we should cleanse ourselves from every lack and defilement of flesh and spirit, completing holiness inside of the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

What God means by “completing holiness inside of His fear” must come clear to us through these three Entrances. The laver is in front of the second Entrance.

We saw earlier that the Gate means “I cannot save myself,” the Door means, “I cannot know the truth,” and the Veil means, “I cannot live the Life.” The issue is all about CONTROL.


Those Who Fear God. We do not know that the issue is all about control except by hindsight.

When you put Jesus upon yourself as the Gate, you stopped trying to control God. When you put Jesus upon yourself as the Door, you stopped trying to control what you see in yourself and in the Bible. And when you put Jesus upon yourself as the Veil, you stopped trying to control others.

Those who fear God are not afraid of Him at all, that’s why they live in the Holiest, inside of all that is God, regardless.


What Are You Doing to My Word? But those who do not fear God at all are terrified of Him, that’s why they refuse to enter. To whom, moreover did He swear would not enter into His rest if not to those having refused to be persuaded? And we see that they were not able to enter in through unbelief (Hebrews 3:19 – rough draft JSV).

When we get to the Veil, we will look at the real blasphemy being committed by those who do not fear God at all.

Here, however, we want to look at another real blasphemy, slightly less awful, but nonetheless able to keep people out. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY WORD?


Which Binoculars Do You Use? You see, the issue is slightly larger than seeing Christ versus seeing sin, whether in the Bible or in your own self-story.

The issue includes – which binoculars do you use? You have two binoculars, two images, through which you could look at God, at the Bible, at yourself, and at others.

You could look at all four through the binoculars that are the highest angel of heaven – the serpent, a being who thinks more highly of himself than anyone else. Or you could look at all four through the binoculars that are a Man on His knees to serve – the human Jesus, a being who thinks more highly of others than He does of Himself.


Judging to Life. It’s easy to tell which binoculars you are using by what you see in the Bible and in your own mirror when you are at your worst.

Those who see through Jesus see that God is all about Christ, His all-speaking, fulfilling His Word in all. They see that the Bible is showing them Christ written all through their hearts. They see that Christ is the only life they are and the only fabric of their self-story. And they see others as better than themselves.

These are judging everything to life.


Judging to Death. In complete contrast, those who see through the devil see that God is all about exposing sin.

They see that the Bible is all about not-sinning. They see that sin and disconnection from God rule the fabric of their own self-story, their own human “nature.” And they hold other Christians in contempt, seeing them as always falling short of their own “superiority.”

These are judging everything to death.

Yet here we want to look at the terrible practice of turning the Bible itself into the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, done by those who remain in the outer court.


The Natural Mind. What do you see in the Bible? What are you doing to My word?

The natural man, however, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know them because they are spiritually distinguished (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The natural mind, separate from the Spirit of God, cannot know the things of the Spirit and sees them as foolishness. Those who refuse full immersion into the Holy Spirit are incapable of knowing what the Bible means. Nonetheless, these become the “Bible teachers and translators.”


Using My Intellect. There are three Greek words for “mind” used in the New Testament – nous, dianoia, and phroneo.

Nous is what we typically know of as our mind. Dianoia is “through-nous,” or a mind that allows words and ideas to pass through into the heart. Phroneo is the gut-mind – as a man thinks in his heart.

Here is an example of work I did recently using only my intellect, what I call my “academic brain.” Although this mind is anointed by the Spirit, by my expectation, nonetheless, it takes control of all thought flowing through. “A Microscope in the Garden” Project Guide

Using My Heart-Mind. In complete contrast, this lesson is written entirely out from my heart-mind. It is a different way of thinking. You might imagine that I do “Bible studies” in order to write these lessons. – God forbid!

For years I planted the words of the Bible into my heart without needing to “figure out” what they meant.

Now, as I ponder each next thought, I draw out from my Father arising inside my heart as living water, and with His arising comes Word already planted there. I then place that Word upon God’s clear pattern, and my mind, a willing servant, rejoices in the joy of Christ.


Two Different Purposes. The project guide you looked at represents about twenty hours of hard intellectual labor, during which I “figured out” which ideas and websites to present. If I had attempted to write that guide with my heart-mind, out from the Spirit, it would not have worked. What I might have produced would have been useless.

Nonetheless, because Christ is my only life, the academic mind by which I carefully crafted that intellectual exercise is Christ as me – We have the nous of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

In complete contrast, the idea of treating the Bible and what I share with you in that same way is a HORROR to me. I would never touch such a filthy and wicked practice.


Christ As Me. Because I want students in my classroom to learn academics, I use my academic mind to teach them. This is Christ as me.

Because I want you to know the Father through what I share, I use Christ written upon my heart to share with you.This is Christ as me.

I never get the two minds confused. Yet when I write academics, my heart-mind is a gentle servant in the background, and when I write this Word I share, my academic-mind is a gentle servant in the background. – This is the fear and the wisdom of God.

The Horror of the Outer Court. I have a book on my shelf titled Knowing Scripture by R. C. Sproul. Sproul is a kind Christian teacher who loves the Bible with his intellect. Sproul has no knowledge of any immersion into the Holy Spirit; he does not know life inside the Holy Place.

Everything he writes about the Bible is human intellect only, drawn from much mental study. He expresses an inability to grasp the concept of “life.” His definition of “spirit” is intellectual only.

Yet he is a great “Bible teacher,” and through his efforts, the Bible remains the tree of knowing good and evil for millions of Christians. This is the horror of the outer court.


I See Jesus. When I wrote the project guide, I knew where I was going, and I figured out the way there.

When I wrote this lesson, I knew what I wanted to impart to you from the Father, but I had no idea how I might do that or what I might discover along the way. As I complete this lesson, I am overwhelmed with Joy in knowing that Christ has passed from my heart to yours. Yet that Joy happened quite differently from what my intellect might have supposed when I started.

I see Jesus all through the Bible; I see Jesus written upon your heart and shining from your face. I judge all to LIFE.