Title: The Laver and Purification

Topic: Salvation

Summary: Before we are reborn, our outer self is a liability and a cause of problems. Afterwards it is an asset because it functions as a filter for purifying our spirit. This explains why we find so much junk in it sometimes!

Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.

References:
Exodus 30:17-21; 38:8
James 1:19-24
Exodus 40:6-8, 11-12, 30-32
Job 9:29-31; 15:14-16
Psalms 51:1-3, 7, 9-10, 17
Isaiah 1:16-18
Jeremiah 2:20-22
Ezekiel 36:24-26, 29, 31
Malachi 3:1-3
Mark 7:1-8, 14-23
2 Corinthians 7:1
Ephesians 5:25-27, 32
2 Timothy 2:20-22
James 4:7-8

2811. 'And Abraham built the altar there' means preparation of the Lord's Divine human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the altar' and of 'building the altar'. Altars used to mean all worship in general because they were the chief feature of the worship of the representative Church, 921. And because they meant all worship in general they meant the Lord's Divine Human, for the Lord's Divine Human is essentially present in all worship and all doctrine, so much so that it is the very essence of worship itself and doctrine itself. This becomes clear also from the Holy Supper which superseded altars, that is, burnt offerings and sacrifices, 2165, 2187, 2343, 2359. The Holy Supper is the chief feature of external worship because it is the Lord's Divine Human that is bestowed there. From all this it may become clear, and so without further explanation, that 'building an altar' means preparing the Divine human. The final preparation of the Lord's Divine human for undergoing the last degrees of temptation is the subject in the present verse and is described by the statement that Abraham laid the pieces of wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the pieces of wood.