3. A laver. (Ephesians 5:26.)
A large silver bowl can be used here and placed in line with the lamp and mirror. The Bible not only shows us our sins as in a mirror, but shows us the way the remedy can be secured. In the old wilderness tabernacle, a laver was provided at the entrance of the tabernacle to give a means of cleansing from the defilement which would oftentimes render the worshiper unfit for God's presence; so a cleansing stream, seen only by the eye of faith, flows through this book. It broke forth from the first promise of the woman's seed (Gen. 3:15) and flowed all the way through the Bible until it broke into the trumpet-song of the redeemed in glory. "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5). As water cleanses by separating the body from the outward stains, so the Word of God applied by the Holy Spirit causes the heart to abhor the defilement of sin which would stain and defile the inward life. "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee" (Ps. 119:11); and Jesus said, "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3).
4. Milk. (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12,13.)
Here place by the side of the laver a glass or bottle of milk.
This is to teach us that the Bible is so plain and simple that little children can feed on it as they do on milk. Some people declare that the Bible is too profound for children, and that they should seek and read some other simpler book on religion first. But where is the child that can understand human words that does not grasp the stories of many of the Bible records? Noah and the Ark; Daniel in the Lions' Den; The Hebrew Children in the Furnace; the story of the Finding of Moses; Joseph and His Brethren, and the parables and the miracles of Jesus, etc. We are all babes in Christ when first converted, and are exhorted to drink the pure milk of the pure word of God.
5. Bread. (Deuteronomy 8:3; Isaiah 55:10.)
Here secure a few small cakes, and explain the bread of the Bible was not like our loaf of bread, but like our cakes. Place them on a plate and put them in line with the other objects. Here we are taught the Bible is food for the soul. Without it we will all perish.
"I have esteemed thy word more than my necessary food" is the confession of the heart that finds the Bible the real bread for the soul.
The prophet said, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? harken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." This is free bread; it is without money and without price. Come to the gospel Free Market and live.
6. Honey. (Psalm 119:10.)