Cleansing the Leper

Q: What does the Bible say about the cleansing of lepers?

The Bible illustrates the cleansing of lepers as a picture of Christ's redemptive work for sinners. In Leviticus 14, we find the law regarding lepers and their cleansing. The leper must be brought to the priest, symbolizing that just as the leper cannot cleanse himself, sinners can do nothing to save themselves. This ceremonial cleansing involves two birds, representing Christ's atonement—His death and resurrection. One bird is killed, symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, while the living bird, dipped in the blood, is set free, signifying the freedom and healing we receive through Christ. Ultimately, this act serves as a foreshadowing of the complete and perfect cleansing that Jesus accomplishes for His people.

Q: How do we know that Christ died for His people specifically?

Scripture reveals that Christ's atonement was specifically for His elect, ensuring they will be cleansed. The biblical concept of atonement reflects that Christ’s sacrifice was purposeful and directed at His people, not a general offer to all. In Leviticus 14, the priest's examination signifies that not all lepers received cleansing without the priest’s intervention. This mirrors how Christ, as our high priest, actively seeks out His elect, as illustrated in the story of Jesus cleansing a leper in Matthew 8. The terminology used in Scripture, such as Christ dying for His sheep, emphasizes that every individual for whom He died will ultimately be brought to faith and salvation. The efficacy of Christ's death (2 Corinthians 5:21) assures us that those He came to redeem will experience complete cleansing.

Q: Why is the concept of Christ as our High Priest important for Christians?

Christ's role as High Priest highlights His mediating work in our salvation and cleansing from sin. Christ's priestly role is vital to understanding the grace of God in our lives. As detailed in Leviticus 14, the priest must go outside the camp to reach the leper, symbolizing how Christ left His heavenly glory to dwell among sinners. He doesn't merely declare us clean; He actively engages with us in our sinfulness, being the perfect mediator who brings reconciliation between God and humanity. Hebrews 13 points out that Jesus was willing to suffer and be shamed outside the camp, showing His love and commitment to redeem those given to Him. His intercession ensures that we are accepted before God, as He is the one who has atoned for our sins and pronounces us clean.

I'm glad to get around to visit with most of y'all, I think, and get to know you a little better. And I pray to the Lord to give you safe travels when you go home. And thank you, Brother Mike, John, and the church for hosting this. And it's been a wonderful time of fellowship. And we look forward to the next time we're able to be together again. Turn with me, if you would, this morning to Leviticus chapter 14. Leviticus chapter 14, if you would.

One thing the Lord has impressed upon me a few years back, quite a few years back, is when looking into the scriptures and interpreting scriptures. When we look into scriptures, we're always to look and find Jesus there, whether it's him and his person or whether it's him and his work. And I try to do that as I go through the scriptures and study and read, is in every instance, try to find Jesus there. You know, the Bible says that in the volume of the book, it's written of him. That's Genesis to the end, or as the old fundamental Baptist used to say, that I used to live around from Genesis to the back or something.

But even Jesus himself, whenever he met the man on the road to Emmaus, began with Moses and went through the prophets, showing them him there. And so I pray that we see Jesus in what we see this morning. Leviticus chapter 14 started in verse 1 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing.

He shall be brought unto the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look and behold the plague of lepers, and be healed in the leper. Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedarwood and scarlet and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them, and the living bird, dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall set the living bird loose into the open field.

Brother, whenever I look at these passages of scriptures, I can't help but overwhelmingly see the picture of Christ Jesus. And overwhelmingly see his beautiful work of grace and mercy and love and salvation to six centuries. If you look there, starting at the beginning, some of the things that I'll draw out here that jumps off the page to me, the Lord spake unto Moses saying, this shall be the law of the leper. So immediately we're being told this is how the leper is going to be cleansed. So he's fixing to tell us this is how God heals the leper. Now, of course, I'm sure all of y'all in here are well aware and know that whenever the leper or the leprosy is used throughout the scripture, that is speaking of sinners, speaking of us in our sinful state that we are. And so this is telling us how we are going to be cleansed.

Then look what he says there, he says, he shall be brought unto the priest. I believe that shall, just like most of the shalls in the Bible are the hard shall. He shall be brought unto the priest. Every one of Christ's lepers will be brought to him. They're not gonna be missed. They're not gonna be forgotten. They're not gonna be left out. that everyone will be brought to him. But notice also that word also has another meaning, not just that they will be brought, but they have to be brought.

See, if the leper is not brought to him, to the priest, there is no cleansing. And he has to be brought because the leper can't come on their own. If you remember, and we can see here, verse three, it says that the priest shall go forth out of the camp to the lepers. If you remember, whenever a person had leprosy, they was sent outside the camp.

They were unclean. They were pushed out. They had no communication. They had no fellowship. They had no interaction with other people. They were unclean. And it could have been one, it could have been a group of many, however, but the fact is they were completely secluded from everything. In other words, they were dead to the rest of the camp. And the rest of the camp had no fellowship, had no communication, had nothing with them. And the priest had to go out to them.

And what a beautiful picture that is of us, brethren. We who are dead in our trespasses and sin are removed and exiled out from the camp. We are set apart and away from fellowship in our own minds that we are the children of God eternally. But yet in our relationship and in our fellowship and in our experience of that salvation, we were completely excluded. And we are without any kind of holiness, any kind of righteousness. We are as this level, we are unclean. And we are without the fellowship. We are without the communion. We are without anything spiritually to God until the priest comes to us.

See, the priest has to come to us first. And notice if you would here, it says, the priest shall go forth. And again, I think that's our shall as well. The priest shall go forth. If that's one of his lepers, he is going to go out, and he's going to meet that leper where he's at. But notice it says, the priest shall go forth out of the camp.

Not only was the leper outside the camp, but the priest had to go outside the camp. In Hebrews 13, we're told that Jesus was taken outside of the camp. Whenever Jesus went outside of the camp, he went outside of the camp, number one, as our priest, outside of camp.

But he also went as us, outside of the camp. He went in the place of all of his lepers. He took on this humanity so that he might be our substitute on that cross. So he was taken outside of the camp in our place, but he was also taken outside of our camp in the place of the priest who would go out to help us.

Says, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp. Notice next, it says, and the priest shall look and behold if the plague of leprosy be Now, whenever I look at that, you know what I see? I see the particular nature of the healing. The priest is going out to see if the leprosy be healed in the leper.

See, Christ's sacrifice is only for his people. It's not for everybody. Whenever Christ died on the cross to heal our sins, He did that for his people, his people alone. And so as the priest goes out to see here whether or not this leper could be healed, I see that as Christ looking to see is this one right now? I know it's God, he knows who we are. But in the time and the shadow here, the priest is looking to see his child. He's looking at his child. And he's going out to heal those who are abused. The shepherd is going out to find his sheep. The one who has us in an eternal union is coming to redeem us.

And I've heard Mike say this many times before on his YouTube, that redemption always presupposes a previous ownership. So the priest comes out, he sees whether the leper should be healed, and the leper, and of course we know in the Lord Jesus Christ, every leper will be healed. Notice also that the leper will be healed by the priest and what the priest brings. The leper is never given something and said, here, take this. and call me in the morning. Okay. Now, it's something that the priest himself must come and do for the leper. He says in Matthew chapter eight, if you would turn with me there. Look at the verse there, Matthew chapter eight. And in verse two, whenever the priest does come. We learn of a story here in Matthew when Jesus was coming down from the mountain. Says verse one, when he was coming down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him and behold, there came a leopard and worshipped him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Brethren, this is such a great picture. Nobody was supposed to touch the leper or they were to be considered unclean. And here Jesus puts forth his hand and touched him saying, I will be thou clean. What a beautiful picture of love that Jesus reached out and in all that man's filthiness, uncleanness, Touch that man, and can you imagine the thoughts and the feeling of that man and that leopard whenever he finally felt the touch of somebody again? I mean, just think about these leopards, brethren, outside of the camp, away from everybody, especially if you were by yourselves.

I mean, all of us love the touch of somebody. I mean, we all sit here, we shake our hands, we hug our necks. What a comforting thing that is, and an endearing thing that is. And how, as people, we desire fellowship with other people. And the touch of somebody always just saying, you know, I've mentioned it before, you know, me and my wife, we like to hold hands. Whenever I hold hands with my wife, ooh, I get that ooey gooey feeling whenever I touch my wife. Can you imagine these lepers who have never been touched in years, hugged, spoken to, just treated as nothing.

But yet the priest came to them and put his hand on them and said, be thou clean. I think of the time whenever the experience of salvation come to my heart, my mind. And I began to know the filthiness of who I am and how that this God, who is holy and righteous, who deserves only the very best, came to me, the very worst, and put his hand on this leather. And all the pus and all the sores and all the stain and stench, and he touched me and said, be thou clean.

Jesus touched that man and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Brethren, what a beautiful picture we see here. You know, the priest, whenever the priest came out, and here's another good thing about the Lord Jesus Christ. The priest went out and checked to see if there was leprosy.

He involved himself in that humanity and in that sinfulness, and he went to examine that sinfulness, but he was not defiled. In all the places in Scripture where the Bible says that the priest was to go out to deliver, it never did talk or never did say anything about any of those priests becoming unclean because of the association with the sinner. If somebody else touched it, and there's several verses in scripture we're going to get to, there's several places that talk about someone who touched an unclean thing and they themselves became unclean. But yet here we see the priest could go out and examine the leper and not be brought into the filth and the uncleanness of the leper. And I look at that and I see the Lord Jesus, not only was he willing to eat with sinners, walk around with sinners and heal sinners, but yet he took on the form of a sinner.

He became sin for us. He became the leper for us, not that he sinned, but he became sin for us. He took on this flesh. He became like unto his brethren so that he might be our sacrifice. The priest went out and involved himself in that humanity, in that leprosy for his people.

Look if you would at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Verse 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We see that picture back here, brother. The one who was clean went to the one who was unclean, and in all right should have become unclean. But he took on our nature, but didn't become unclean. so that we who were unclean could be as he is, righteousness, even though we're not righteous. What a beautiful picture.

It says, then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean and cedarwood and scarlet and hyssop And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. And for the living bird, he shall take it in a cedar wood and the scarlet and is it shall dip them and the living bird in the blood and the bird that was killed over the living water. I see these two birds as a picture of our Lord, Jesus. The one bird that will be killed in an earthen vessel is our Lord.

He was slain for us. Not that any man took his life, as we heard yesterday. He gave his life willingly. But it leads the father to prison. He set his face like a plant, and he went, and he endured the shame. He was crucified by wicked hands. He was the bird that was killed in an earthen vessel over running water.

You know the word water there or the word running there, it doesn't mean that it was over a brook because the priest would take a bowl and go and get fresh, clean water. uncontaminated water. They weren't to use any kind of stagnant water or old water. They were to use new water for this right here. And so the water here represents cleansing.

He was to be crucified And then the water was to be for our cleansing. The blood was to be for our healing, for this forgiveness of sins. And the water was to be for our cleansing. For our justification, for our sanctification. For forgiveness of sins and for the cleansing of the conscience.

By the word. The priest shall command that one of the birds be killed over in an earthen vessel over running water for the living bird. He shall take it in the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop. Brethren, all these things here speak. The cedar wood was often used in the Old Testament because of the hardness of the wood, because of the fragrance of the wood, because of the resilience of the wood, It is something that will last forever. It is something that is enduring forever. And that, coupled with the cleansing, the hyssop, was always a picture of cleansing.

That was to be dipped in the blood with the bird. I believe that second bird also represents the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ had died, finished his work of atonement, that the Bible says that he took that blood and he went back before the Father. He went back, sat down at the right hand of God. The type here tells us this. and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into the open field to go back to where it was. Jesus prayed to the Father, Father, the hour has come.

Return me to the glory that I had with you before the world began. I came from heaven, I'm going back to. The bird that came from was brought down, dipped in blood, sprinkled, released, back to where it goes. If you would, it's Hebrews chapter 1. I'm just about done, bro. Hebrews chapter 1.

Verse 3 says, who being in the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

But lastly, we're going to look at the result of all this. Verse six, as for the living bird, he shall take it in the cedar wood and scarlet and the gizzard and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood and the bird that was killed over the running water and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from a leprosy seven times. We know that the word seven in the scriptures means perfection. Brother, listen, whenever the Lord cleanses us of our leprosy, we are cleansed.

It is not coming back. The Bible says that our sins are sealed up in a bag. That he has forgiven our sins. Josh mentioned it, I believe yesterday, as far as the east is from the west. to be remembered no more. Now, brethren, we're still sinning. There's still sin in us. It still looks like we've had leprosy. But our standing before our God is as if we've never had leprosy.

I often tell our folks at our church, I said, that we are gonna sin every sin that Christ died for, no more and no less. I'm not going to send any more than Christ died for. I'm definitely not going to send even less than he died for, less than he died in vain. Those sins are numbered. Those sins are sealed. They will be what they will be, and Christ died for all of them.

The lever seat was cleansed seven times, and we were pronounced clean. Think of that, brother. You know you better than anybody else knows you. To be pronounced clean, how could it be? Am I? If I am, praise the Lord. Because this center, oftentimes don't feel clean.

But in our standing, the Bible says we are the righteousness of God in Him. See, it's all about Christ. Christ had to come outside the camp. Christ had to become like us. Christ had to suffer in our stead. And Christ is the one who received the victory. We receive all the benefits and I believe that we'll receive every benefit. That's the efficacy of Christ's atonement. We will be brought to him and we will be pronounced clean. There's an efficacy to God's atonement.

See, that was something that, as an Armenian, I didn't understand that whenever we believe that Jesus died for everybody, Jesus loved everybody, and that, you know, this death is for everybody, but we just have to appropriate it. Well, there's no efficacy in that. It doesn't achieve any result. Did Jesus actually die for anyone particular, or did he die for this ethereal cloud? that would all of a sudden fill up with names whenever they would choose him or decide for him.

But here we see there was a particular lover with a particular issue, a particular name, I would say, and Jesus knew where he was. And he walked down that mountain and he walked right to him and put his hand on him and said, I will be thou clean. The Bible says that our names were written in a book before the foundation of the world. That means that there's an intimate relationship with each one of his children. It isn't just a group of lepers out there that he waves his hand over and says, be clean. No, he comes to each and every one of us because he took on each and every one of us' sins. It wasn't just a conglomerate of sin that went upon him. He took on the sins of each and every child. And how we belittle the work of Jesus Christ whenever we say that Jesus died for everyone, and yet anyone for whom Christ died goes away that Jesus, the great physician, can heal those who he wants to heal.

I always thought that was strange looking back at my life and my preaching before I come to the doctrines of grace. I always thought that was so inconsistent of me to say that God was sovereign over all things and that if I give my life to Jesus, once saved, I was always saved. and there was nothing that could take my salvation away because Jesus wouldn't let me go. Jesus has the right to keep me, but he didn't have the right to get me there. That was inconsistent. And then we say Jesus is the great physician and he can heal and do all these things, but yet here we have many of his children, they say, who are going off into hell. There's no efficacy. Jesus didn't actually die for anybody. He just died and made a plan. You know, I heard some of the men say that. I'm in agreement with you. He just made a plan, and then we have to follow that plan.

God purposed for the foundation of the world that there would be a lamb slain, that would B.S. the, I can't say his name now all of a sudden, but he said, I will go down to Egypt and I will take him with me and if I don't bring him back with me, let his blood be on my hands.

Jesus said, I will go and I will bring them back. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. That word come means believe. That word come means that He will bring His people to trust in Him, to believe upon Him, to hope upon Him, to come to Him. I don't believe that God has eternally predestinated an elect group of people that will be in heaven, but down here on earth, they'll never come to know that Jesus. Everyone will come to know him because he promised that they would.

And all those who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. I'm not going to find one so leprous that I cannot touch him. I'm not gonna find one that's so sick, so nasty, so reviling that I turn him away. He shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from leprosy seven times and pronounce him clean. Brother, my hope, my prayer is that the Lord has pronounced me clean. Thank you.

Cleansing the Leper

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the cleansing of lepers?

How do we know that Christ died for His people specifically?

Why is the concept of Christ as our High Priest important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

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Cleansing the Leper

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the cleansing of lepers?

How do we know that Christ died for His people specifically?

Why is the concept of Christ as our High Priest important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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