In the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14, we see a vivid picture of sin and its divine cure through death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
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The Cure for Spiritual Leprosy
Leviticus 14:1-9
The Old Testament is the picture book of New Testament truth. In the Old Testament we find pictures of all the great truths of redemption.
Colossians 2:16-17, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day – things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
A shadow is a rough likeness of the real. Here we are told that in the Old Testament God communicated with rough likenesses to illustrate the reality of spiritual truth. You might say that in the Old Testament, God’s people were in the kindergarten of divine revelation. Kindergartners relate best to picture books of animals – not listening to a university professor’s lecture on microbiology.
Leprosy is a vivid picture of sin. It is interesting that no where in the Bible is leprosy said to be healed. It is always said to be cleansed. It is not treated so much as an illness that needs to be healed, but as an uncleanness that need to be cleansed. It pictures for us what sin does to a person’s life. In Leviticus 14 we read of the ceremony whereby a leper was pronounced clean. The ceremony that the priest performed is a picture for us of what God has done to cure spiritual lepers today.
1. The Condition of the Leper
He Was Unclean.
Leviticus 13:1-3, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ‘When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall look at the mark on the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean.”
Just as leprosy rendered the person unclean, so too, sin renders us unclean in God’s sight.
Ezekiel 36:25, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”
1 John 1:7, “The blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
Sin defiles us. Sin makes us filthy, dirty, and polluted in God’s sight.
He Was Ugly.
What exactly did a leper look like? I need to say at the outset that it appears that there was a wide spectrum of instances of leprosy. There were some instances of leprosy where the skin and hair turned white, but never became contagious or a serious health risk. In other cases, the leprosy spread over the body and became a very serious health risk.
In Numbers 12, God brought leprosy on Mirian as a judgment for speaking against Moses.
Numbers 12:12, “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away.” Now, there we have a pretty graphic description of what some lepers looked like. They looked like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away. That’s pretty gruesome. Sin might look attractive to us, but it is repulsive to God.
1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” We may be handsome or beautiful on the outside, but God sees our hearts, and if we are still in our sins, we are ugly. We tend to focus on the outside, the external. That’s why there are several hundred beauty salons here in Sacramento. That’s why people spend so much time and money on cosmetics, hair products, gymns and health clubs. They are all focusing on the external.
William Barclay: “The whole appearance of the face is changed, till the man loses his human appearance and looks, as the ancients said, ‘like a lion.’ The nodules grow larger and larger. They ulcerate. From them there comes a foul discharge. The eyebrows fall out, the eyes become staring. The voice becomes hoarse and the breath wheezes because of the ulceration of the vocal cords. The hands and the feet always ulcerate. Slowly the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerated growths. The average course of the disease is nine years, and it ends in mental decay, coma, and ultimately death. The sufferer becomes utterly repulsive – both to himself and to others.”
William Thomson (the Land and the Book): “As I was approaching Jerusalem, I was startled by the sudden apparition of a crowd of beggars, w/o eyes, w/o nose, w/o hair, w/o everything… they held up their handless arms, unearthly sounds gurgled through throats w/o palates – in a word, I was horrified.”
2) Ugly: what did leper look like? God brought leprosy on Miriam as judgment for speaking against Moses. Num.12:12 “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away.” Sin made us ugly to God. Looks attractive to us but repulsive to God! God looks not on outward but on heart – 1 Sam.16:7. We focus on outward (beauty salons – 331 in Sacto AT&T YP!, exercise, jogging, spas, gyms, health clubs, weight lifting, new clothes). But God looks & sees mutilated, ugly, repulsive soul! Sin makes person ugly on inside. Nothing about us to attract God’s love! Do you care how God views your soul?
3) Unfeeling: Dr. Paul Brand, world-renowned expert on the treatment of Hansen’s disease: “Hansen’s disease is cruel, but not at all the way other diseases are. It primarily acts as an anesthetic, numbing the pain cells of hands, feet, nose, ears, and eyes. Not so bad, really, one might think. Most diseases are feared because of their pain – what makes a painless disease so horrible? Hansen’s disease’s numbing quality is precisely the reason such fabled destruction and decay of tissue occurs. For thousands of years people thought HD caused the ulcers on hands and feet and face which eventually led to rotting flesh and loss of limbs. Mainly through Dr. Brand’s research, it has been established that in 99 percent of the cases, HD only numbs the extremities. The destruction follows solely because the warning system of pain is gone. How does the decay happen? In villages of Africa and Asia, a person with HD has been known to reach directly into a charcoal fire to retrieve a dropped potato. Nothing in his body told him not to. Patients at Brand’s hospital in India would work all day gripping a shovel with a protruding nail or extinguish a burning wick with their bare hands, or walk on splintered glass. Watching them, Brand began formulating his radical theory that HD was chiefly anesthetic, and only indirectly a destroyer. On one occasion, he tried to open the door of a little storeroom, but a rusty padlock would not yield. A patient – an undersized, malnourished ten year old approached him smiling. “Let me try, doctor,” he offered and reached for the key. With a quick jerk of his hand he turned the key in the lock. Brand was dumbfounded. How could this weak youngster out-exert him? His eyes caught a telltale clue. Was that a drop of blood on the floor? Upon examining the boy’s fingers, Brand discovered the act of turning the key had gashed a finger open to the bone; skin, fat, and joint were all exposed. Yet the boy was completely unaware of it! To him, the sensation of cutting his finger to the bone was no different from picking up a stone or turning a coin in his pocket.”
1 Tim.4:1-2 (seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron); Eph.4:17-19 (the Gentiles – the hardness of their heart; they have become callous, and have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.) Sin hardens hearts toward Christ & sin. First time commit particular sin, took a lot of nerve, felt guilty. But soon committing that sin every day & hardly gave 2nd thought. Eventually addicted, calloused, hardened, unfeeling.
4) Alienated: Lev.13:45-46. Cut off from God’s people & God Himself. Not allowed to appear at tabernacle to worship. Can you imagine the emotional pain of being separated from your family, friends, and fellow Jews? Sin separates. Adam driven out of Eden. Is.59:1-2. (Behold the Lord’s hand is not so short…) If not saved, your sin has separated you from God and will for all eternity unless find cleansing for your soul!
5) Incurable: 2Kings5:7. King of Israel (Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?) Either divine cure or grave. Absolutely nothing could do to heal himself. Only defile others. Diet, exercise, bathing, medicines could do nothing. All must be done for him. / No earthly remedy for sin! Nothing I can do to get rid of it. Absolutely helpless! Sin has made me unclean, ugly, unfeeling, alienated, and if left untreated will separate me for all eternity! When see my condition for what it is, closest to my deliverance! Only then will cry out to God to save. Most go blindly on thinking something they can do to blot out sin – join church, baptized, take communion, reform lives, give up smoking, drinking, drugs, swearing, give money to church. “Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands – Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone, Thou must save, and thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling, Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace, Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior or I die!”
2. The Cure For The Leper: 14:4-7 (ceremony pictures God’s cure for our sin)
1) The Bird Sacrificed: 14:4-5. Clean: contrast to leper. Jesus absolutely holy contrast w/ our sinfulness. Heb.7:26 “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.” Killed: innocent life must be taken, blood must be shed. All OT animal sacrifices picture Jesus in His ultimate sacrifice. Sin demands punishment. Ezek.18:4 (the soul who sins shall die). Innocent animal dies in sinner’s place, takes his punishment. Substitution. 1Pet.3:18. Running Water: to remind of Christ. Jn.19:34 (when pierced His side, immediately blood and water came out). Cure for sin begins w/ Christ crucified!
2) The Blood Sprinkled: 14:6-7. Describe process. Seven: No. of perfection. Pictures the perfect adequacy of Blood to cleanse. Bird could be killed, blood shed, living bird let loose, but couldn’t pronounce clean until blood applied to leper. Blood of Christ never saves until applied to your guilty soul. Priest didn’t’ sprinkle into air. Must make contact w/ leper. 1Pet.1:2. Must approp. By faith. Leper not pronounced clean until blood actually makes contact with him!
3) The Bird Set Free: 2 birds picture 1 Christ in 2 stages – death & resurrection. Live bird not let go till 1st bird dies. Bird flying towards heaven pictures Jesus triumphing from grave, ascending to heaven. When someone saw bird flying up w/ blood splattering off of wing, knew work was finished for leper’s cleansing. Cuz Jesus has risen, we know work is finished for our salvation. God accepted the sacrifice – proved it by raising Son! Note: As bird flew heavenward, bore on self marks of accomplished atonement. So too, Jesus presented Himself in heaven bearing marks of nails in hands & feet. Heb.9:11-12. This is what we’ve come to celebrate! Rev.1:17-18.
3.The Command To The Leper: 14:8-9.
1) Cleanse Himself: must wash his clothes, shave off all hair, and bathe in water. This is first time leper has done anything. Has already been pronounced clean – 7. 2 Cor.7:1 (let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God); Sanctification. The sinner who has been cleansed by the blood of Christ is commanded by Christ to cleanse his hands. Personal holiness. Must cleanse every place where tinge of leprosy might remain. Must take every possible precaution not to bring contagion into camp. Teaches that the defiling effects of sin yet remain even after conversion. The rest of our life like a 7-day period. We will be cleansing ourself rest of life.
Conclusion:
Do you see self as leper? Look away from self to Cure! See: Jesus crucified, blood shed to save. By faith apply that blood to you. See Jesus risen, exalted and living! Jesus crucified cancels penalty of sin. Jesus risen gives power of anew life. He’s alive – will live in you enable to live for God.
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