It must have been the most amazing moment when an ancient leper found themselves healed from a disease with no known cure.
To hear those words “clean” from the priest must have been music to their ears.
All kinds of regulations had to be carried out in order for the rest of the world to realize that this miracle had taken place. It couldn’t actually happen until the priest decided to go outside the camp to the place where they were living which was totally separated and apart from the rest of God’s people.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the COME AS A CHILD Bible Study that we hold on this blog every Thursday. We are walking through the bible together; and we are happy to have you along with us! If you missed last week’s lesson you can catch up here: FROM UGLY MOLD TO BEAUTIFUL SCARS – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 220. Today’s lesson will be taken from Leviticus, Chapter 14.
HOPE OR DISAPPOINTMENT?
Have you ever had such an amazing healing experience in your own life?
Perhaps you have actually experienced the other side of the healing experience – the feeling that these ancient people got when they realized they had leprosy.
LIFE OUTSIDE THE CAMP
Have you ever had to live “outside the camp” because others were afraid of something that was wrong with you?
It might not have been a terminal disease, or even something that was obvious to everyone in your life. It could have been many different types of personal experiences. Perhaps alcoholics and drug addicts know all too well what this feeling is like. Life can get really lonely.
Even people who are prone to gossip and slander have the opportunity to eventually experience being excluded because people are afraid to stay around them and their vicious tongue.
Some things we bring on ourselves without thinking of others; some things just happen naturally and there is nothing we can do to stop them. Sometimes it is completely our fault and we know it. Sometimes we are totally innocent and we don’t understand why it happened to us.
Maybe the “outsider” experience happened to you accidentally, because of a misunderstanding. Perhaps someone randomly implied to someone else that you did such and such and just like that; you found yourself living “outside the camp” and you didn’t even know why you were being judged or what you actually did to cause this reaction. Perhaps you never learn the truth; you only feel the pain of being excluded.
It happens all the time in our society for really stupid reasons, like the color of your skin, or the way you look or talk or walk. Even the way your opinion might be different from other’s opinions and they begin to push you outside of their circles. The next thing you know you are one of those people living “outside the camp.”
WHO WOULD RISK IT?
The only hope, back in the days of Israel’s wilderness journey, was to have a priest that was willing to come out to where you were living. It had to be a brave and courageous priest that wasn’t afraid of facing the dangers a person might encounter “outside the camp.” He would be a priest of great faith. He would risk taking on the diseases of the people living there.
There had to be an anointed One sent from God and protected by God, or it would only mean that the population of “outside the camp” would continue to grow even more and none of them would ever return to the life of their people.
Who would risk their life this way?
ONLY JESUS
This is what our High Priest named Jesus did for us.
He came outside the camp, far outside the city of Jerusalem where the people did not ever go. They did not go to this place because it was full of death and decay, disease and dying.
Jesus walked out there in order to make you and me clean.
He hung on a cross right in that spot “outside the camp” just for us.
With every stripe and with every wound; He made a way for us to be called “clean.”
It was our day of miracles; but it was a hard and terrible day for Him.
Only a priest who truly loved the people would be willing to take that risk and go outside the camp and lay down His own life for those that He loved.
THIS STORY WASN’T THE ONLY PICTURE OF SALVATION
Later than the times of today’s story, Jesus was walking down the same dusty roads outside of Jerusalem when a leper approached him on the road and said “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me.”
Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper. He said: “I am willing; be cleansed!” And immediately the man was healed.
What physically happened to that leper on the road can happen spiritually with you and me. It can happen because Christ gave of Himself in our place on a cross placed “outside” the city.
AN ECHO FROM THE WILDERNESS
This healing of the leper happened many years after Israel was done wandering through the wilderness; but it was like a big, loud echo of the cry from the people living outside the camp from way back in those days.
The land was full of lepers calling out to be healed.
People were crying out to be healed of their sins as well as their diseases.
Jesus came.
He suffered.
WHO WAS THIS LOVING SAVIOR?
His name was Jesus.
He died so that we can become healed and so that we can stand clean before God.
His horrible suffering resulted in our joy; and actually in the end; His joy too!
WHO CAN KNOW HIM?
Who could ever know such a loving Savior?
You can.
You can today.
Like those lepers of long ago; just cry out to him.
The people outside the camp would call out until the priest finally came out to them. He would then talk with them and examine them. They could explain face to face with him all of the things that they had suffered.
He would listen patiently.
A TIME FOR PRAYERS
I’m sure the brave priest would first pray with them and for them.
Why do I know that?
I know that because of the required sacrifices. You did not bring your sacrifice to God’s altar without first praying and the very first thing you would pray was for forgiveness of your sins.
HEALING AND FORGIVENESS
Perhaps their diseases were actually caused by some sin; or perhaps not.
The forgiveness wasn’t always related to the disease they were carrying around with them; but often when they were forgiven, something else took place; and they were also healed.
REQUIREMENTS FOR CLEANSING AFTER HEALING
They then were told to bring two live clean birds and some cedar wood to the priest. They were also to bring some scarlet yarn and some hyssop.
One bird was put temporarily into a cage. One of the birds was killed and allowed to bleed its blood over into fresh water inside a clay pot.
The priest would then take the live bird and dip it together with the cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.
He would then take the hyssop tied to the cedar wood with the scarlet thread and dip it into the blood of the bird that was killed.
Seven times the priest would use this hyssop dipped in blood to sprinkle the person who had been healed of a defiling disease.
After the seventh time the priest would pronounce the person clean and at that moment the live bird would be let go and released into the open fields.
What a picture of salvation!
THE SIGN OF THE COMING REDEEMER
God was again using these ancient Israelites to teach us the process of salvation and to let us know that One was coming who would bring redemption and cleansing for all of the world.
Did they see it?
I’m not sure.
Do you see it?
I can only hope!
We are all like those lepers, standing before God as unclean and unholy.
We cry out to Him outside the camp; standing in our sin and shame; and the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ comes for us. He never lets ONE little lamb suffer alone. He always comes when He hears their cry.
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE FIRST BIRD
He comes to us outside the camp and He takes on our sin and shame and dies for us.
This is like the first bird; the one that must give his blood into a bowl of clean fresh water. That is the blood that pronounces cleanliness.
The bird that was sacrificed had to be a “clean” bird.
Jesus lived a “clean” life when he walked the earth. He was without sin. This was counted as righteousness before God.
It is the covering and the sprinkling of His blood that makes us righteous too. On the cross He took our sins away and made us clean; then He covered us with the protection of His precious blood.
We studied in our previous study of Genesis how blood contains the element that makes life and that life in the blood calls out to God. In the case of Cain and Abel; Abel’s righteous blood called out from the dust of the ground.
In our case; the protective covering we receive as a believer from the blood of Christ cries out to God of righteousness. Only what is righteous, good and holy can stand before God. Without this blood covering of Christ we are like those lepers in the wilderness crying out in our disease covered bodies; hoping for a major miracle; knowing our own imperfections. Christ loved us enough to change these things. All we have to do is cry out to him and He will come to our rescue; like the good priests from the times of the wilderness tabernacle.
HELP FOR SPIRITUAL LEPERS
We have spoken of spiritual leprosy.
It is much worse than physical leprosy because it lasts forever if it isn’t healed.
Each man on earth experiences some type of spiritual leprosy. He may look clean and holy to the world; but God’s eyes see straight into his soul.
We all need a miracle.
Every time someone hears the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is like that person has arrived at the time of being brought before the priest of old. It is a crucial time; a time that does not happen every day outside the camp.
When the gospel is preached to a person and they listen and respond; it is like being healed from spiritual leprosy.
It is life changing!
THE WILDERNESS OF TODAY
This is the picture God was painting way back then in the days of His people wandering in uncertainty through the desert.
Today the world is the wilderness.
We all wander aimlessly until we encounter our High Priest; Jesus Christ.
The moment a person hears and responds to the message of the Gospel; everything changes.
In the old days the change came when they were sprinkled with the blood from a clean bird. This was done with cedar and hyssop and a scarlet thread that held them together.
Birds fly in the heavens. Christ came to us from the heavens and ascended back to there after the resurrection.
Birds signify the resurrection life in Christ that makes us rise and move upward toward God; toward the heavenly places.
Resurrection power happens when we receive cleansing from Christ. This the resurrection power that helps people to rise from the grave. The once walking dead becomes alive again! We receive the grace, love and mercy of God. It is not deserved; it is a free gift from God.
THE BLOOD THAT COVERS
As we have already stated, the first bird represented Christ’s death. The blood in the bowl of fresh water represents the covering of Christ’s blood after our baptism has taken place.
What was God saying with that scarlet thread? It was what held the hyssop to the cedar; but why? Why was it scarlet?
First of all to be healed is one thing; but to be cleansed is another. If the person was officially declared healed they must also be cleansed before they entered the camp again. This was the deeper healing; this was the spiritual healing. This healing comes only from sacrifice.
Sacrifice requires our cooperation with God’s grace and love. Jesus was the sacrifice represented by the first bird that gives its blood for our healing and cleansing. This bird represents Christ in the crucifixion.
THE SPRINKLING OF THE HYSSOP
1 Kings 4:32-34 will help us to understand the use of hyssop. These verses tell us about the wisdom of King Solomon
It says: “Solomon composed three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles and fish. So men of all nations came to Solomon’s wisdom sent by all the kings of the earth when they heard of his wisdom.”
In our passage from Leviticus 14 God is instructing the priests to use hyssop and cedar to declare cleanliness after leprosy.
This use of hyssop and cedar would indicate that God is in all things; in the large things and in the small things.
CEDAR
The Cedars of Lebanon are symbolic of huge, strong and powerful old trees. Amazing qualities are carried in cedar thus all the people sought after it. Wood that was cedar was one of the main elements used in the building of the Temple in later times after the wilderness journeys were done. Cedar was recognized as very important wood. It was noted for its excellent qualities.
HYSSOP
Hyssop on the other hand was symbolic of the humble, small things.
The hyssop was a small but sturdy and hearty plant. It grew wild in the obscure places that people didn’t notice; like through the cracks in the walls.
Somehow this small little plant managed things that some huge and strong plants could not survive. Yet; like Christ, the hyssop was a humble plant. It did not brag or boast or stand out among the other plants. You would not notice it if you were not seeking to find it.
In this cleansing with cedar and hyssop God was using the strong and noticeable things as well as the small and insignificant things. They all have their place in God’s Kingdom.
Each thing that God created has played a significant role in the unfolding of His plan for mankind.
A THREAD OF SCARLET
But what of the scarlet thread?
The color scarlet signifies the shedding of blood.
The cedar and the hyssop could not hold together and do their job without the scarlet thread.
Nothing; none of the above healing and cleansing would ever be possible without the precious blood of Christ.
The fact that it was a long thread of scarlet also implies honor and respect for those of the lineage of Christ; those faithful ancestors who did the work to pave the way for the Savior to come.
I love how this fact is represented in the song that was made popular by Steve Green called “A Thread of Scarlet.” I’ve provided the link to that song here; in case you want to listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa03LNADUyc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa03LNADUyc
Such a beautiful portrait of our salvation!
THE CLAY POT
Now let’s not forget that clay pot that held the fresh water for the blood of the clean bird to be collected.
It was a vessel made from the earth; from dust that had become clay. This part speaks to us of the fact that Christ was willing to come to us in our own way – in the human body of a man.
He was willing to take on the earthen body of dust and live among us.
The clay pot speaks of the humanity of Christ as He lived and walked among us.
THE FRESH CLEAN WATER
The fresh water that was within the clay pot is symbolic of The Holy Spirit of God that sprang from Christ as a gift to His Bride (God’s Church.) It was a perfect engagement present until He could return for her.
His precious blood was collected and poured into the water bringing us salvation and redemption.
A PICTURE OF OUR SALVATION
What a lovely picture of salvation is shown to us in the cleansing of the hopeless, helpless, outcast lepers found wandering in the wilderness during the days of Moses.
THE BIRD SET FREE
The last part of this procedure is the very best part.
The bird that lived is released out of its cage and out of human hands into the fields.
That bird is free!
It has every opportunity for life in abundance in a wonderful world planned especially for him by his creator.
Until that point of his release the bird had been kept locked inside a cage. Now he flies freely over the luscious land viewing all the hills and valleys and mountains and seas.
TELLING THE STORY TO OTHERS
Can you imagine the song of his heart on that day?
Do you think as he flies in his freedom that he sings of God?
Do you think as he continues in life that he voices his story of how he was redeemed from death and sings it out to the whole world?
I think he does.
I think we should too.
With the instructions for the requirements that God gave to the lepers for the priests of Israel to perform upon their healing; we see a song of salvation and freedom.
We should all join in with a great big hallelujah and continue to sing God’s praises and proclaim His Gospel forevermore.
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