2 Chronicles 4 Devotional

Everything Needed to Draw Near

“He also made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them, but the priests used the Sea for washing.”2 Chronicles 4:6 (BSB)

The furnishings in chapter 4 are not decoration. A great bronze altar stands in the courtyard for burnt offerings (4:1). The Sea, a huge basin of cast metal, holds water for the priests to wash, and ten smaller basins are used to rinse the offerings (4:2-6). Inside, gold lampstands burn before the inner sanctuary, and tables hold the bread of the Presence (4:7-8, 4:19-20).

No one simply walks into God's presence on their own terms. There is sacrifice, there is washing, and there is light and bread set out before him. Yet none of this was meant to keep people out. It was the way given for them to come in, and it was made in such abundance that the bronze was never even weighed (4:18). Hebrews uses this same language of cleansing for those who trust Christ: because of him they can draw near to God with hearts sprinkled clean and bodies washed (Hebrews 10:22). You can come near today, not because you have made yourself clean, but because he has.

To think about: What keeps you at a distance from God, and how does the cleansing Jesus offers invite you to come near?