what cleanses

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 15:16-18

Lev 15:16 “If a man has an emission of semen, he will bathe his whole body in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:17 And all his clothes and every skin on which the semen comes will be washed with water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:18 If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them will bathe themselves in water and be contaminated until the evening.

what cleanses

It is easy in most cases for us to recognise the ritual purity laws and their spiritual significance without becoming Pharisaical. But rules like this — concerning sexual relations — are perhaps the exception. Our society today drives us to view sex as something outside the jurisdiction of anyone else — not even to be controlled by our faith.

These rules can still help us if we want to stay sanctified. We just have to remember that, in the new covenant, it is the word that cleanses us (John 15:3). All our activities and relationships should be governed by that word.

LORD, help us to value your cleansing, and respect your word.

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the wait for restoration

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 15:13-15

Lev 15:13 “And when the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he will count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes. And he will bathe his body in fresh water and will be clean.
Lev 15:14 And on the eighth day he will take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come in Yahveh’s sight to the entrance of the conference tent and give them to the priest.
Lev 15:15 And the priest will use them, one for a mistake offering and the other for an ascending offering. And the priest will provide reconciliation for him in Yahveh’s sight for his discharge.

the wait for restoration

This generation does not understand the purpose of waiting. We are in an instant gratification society, and that attitude tends to creep into our idea of grace as well. The Israelites had learnt to wait on the LORD for their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. And, so that they would not forget that lesson, there were instructions like this. It involved a waiting period between the cleaning with water, and the cleansing with the blood of sacrifice. A full week of waiting was prescribed for a man who had a seminal discharge. In a sense, that full week symbolised a full lifetime. All of us who have been washed by the word and through baptism are now waiting for the glorification that will only come when our Saviour returns. Meanwhile, we have time to consider how we might serve him in purity while we wait for complete restoration.

LORD, we are washed, and we await the complete sanctification that is to come.

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sexual contamination

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 15:1-12

Lev 15:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,
Lev 15:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is contaminated.
Lev 15:3 And this is the law of his contamination for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his contamination.
Lev 15:4 Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies will be contaminated, and every container on which he sits will be contaminated.
Lev 15:5 And anyone who touches his bed will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:6 And whoever sits on any container on which the one with the discharge has sat will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:7 And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:8 And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is pure, then he will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:9 And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides will be contaminated.
Lev 15:10 And whoever touches anything that was under him will be contaminated until the evening. And whoever carries such things will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:11 Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be contaminated until the evening.
Lev 15:12 And a clay pottery container that the one with the discharge touches will be broken, and every container of wood will be rinsed in water.

sexual contamination

Not every disease is catalogued in Leviticus, so when one is mentioned, we need to look for its significance. Male seminal discharge due to disease would be an appropriate condition to highlight if the goal of the instruction is the encourage sexual purity. Laws concerning leprosy were a visual demonstration to the Israelites that God wanted them to avoid public corruption. Laws concerning seminal and menstrual discharge, and circumcision were visual demonstrations that God wanted a people free from sexual contamination.

LORD, keep your people pure by the power of your word.

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the law for leprosy

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:54-57

Lev 14:54 This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch,
Lev 14:55 for leprous disease in clothes or in a house,
Lev 14:56 and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot,
Lev 14:57 to show when it is contaminated and when it is pure. This is the law for leprous disease.

the law for leprosy

Why have a law for leprosy? Our society today is quick to brand all sorts of brokenness as sickness, and then seek treatment without regard to any kind of spiritual need. But God made a point to govern the treatment of leprosy by means of the same laws and ordinances which dealt with apostasy and rebellion. Why? Well, partly because leprosy was such a visual reminder of the pervasiveness of sin. But, also because treating leprosy according to biblical instructions reminded the Israelites that God intends to redeem them from all the aspects of the fallen world around them. One day, the name leprosy (and all other names of ailments, phobias, disorders and diseases will bow to the name of Christ.

LORD, thank you for caring for us as whole persons, and redeeming us from the whole of the bondage creation experiences.

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pure and free

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:48-53

Lev 14:48 “But if the priest comes and looks, and if he notices that the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest will pronounce the house clean, because the disease is healed.
Lev 14:49 And for the cleansing of the house he will take two small birds, with cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop,
Lev 14:50 and will kill one of the birds in a clay pottery container over fresh water
Lev 14:51 and will take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and spritz the house seven times.
Lev 14:52 Thus he will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet yarn.
Lev 14:53 And he will let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. So he will provide reconciliation for the house, and it will be clean.”

pure and free

What is true for an individual is also true for a household and family. There is no freedom without purity. The bird set free speaks of all the potential and power of freedom for the household, whose home is now cleansed of its contamination. The price for this freedom was the death of the other bird. Likewise, God offers deliverance and freedom for your family, and its cost has been paid by the death of Christ on the cross.

Purity without freedom is legalism, freedom without purity leads to bondage again. God’s grace offers us the one chance to get it right. Our Lord wants us to be pure and free.

LORD, thank you for your grace.

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domestic demolition

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:43-47

Lev 14:43 “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it,
Lev 14:44 then the priest will go and look. And if he notices that the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is contaminated.
Lev 14:45 And he will break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he will carry them out of the city to a contaminated place.
Lev 14:46 Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up will be contaminated until the evening,
Lev 14:47 and whoever sleeps in the house will wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house will wash his clothes.

domestic demolition

When the Israelites encountered a house with contamination that resisted all attempts to purge it and restore it, there would be no other recourse but to demolish it and build again. The LORD warned them that there would be such houses.

Likewise, there are some lives that are so ravaged and transformed by sinful lifestyles and addictions that a radical reconstruction will be necessary before knowing God’s peace and purity. If we do not have the courage to tear down our old house, the LORD will have to destroy us — soul and body — in Gehenna.

LORD, sanctify us by the washing of your word. If our sinful habits persist, break down every offending wall. We want to be pure habitations for your Spirit.

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domestic renewal

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:33-42

Lev 14:33 Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,
Lev 14:34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,
Lev 14:35 then he who owns the house will come and tell the priest, and this is what he should say, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’
Lev 14:36 Then the priest will command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, or else all that is in the house be declared contaminated. And afterward the priest will go in to see the house.
Lev 14:37 And he will examine the disease. And if he notices that the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be lower than the wall,
Lev 14:38 then the priest will go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.
Lev 14:39 And the priest will come again on the seventh day, and look. If he notices that the disease has spread in the walls of the house,
Lev 14:40 then the priest will command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into a contaminated place outside the city.
Lev 14:41 And he will have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they will pour out in an contaminated place outside the city.
Lev 14:42 Then they will take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he will take other plaster and plaster the house.

domestic renewal

This instruction had to do with houses, which were not yet a reality for the Israelites, because they lived in tents in the wilderness. But the LORD wanted the Israelites to be protected after they settled, because infestation would still be a problem then.

It is interesting to me that the LORD has no problem taking the credit for the infestations (34). Some seem to recoil at the idea that God could be personally responsible for bringing any negative thing into their lives. While it is true that God desires our happiness, he has eternity in mind, so he is willing to inflict us with temporary harm if it will affect the mature love that will make us happy with him forever.

The lesson in this text is that houses (and households and families) need to be purged of their contamination. God loves us in our state of brokenness, but refuses to allow us to wallow in it. He demands change, and that change is difficult and uncomfortable for us, but it is necessary. To simply defend our own failures by saying that God made us that way is to disobey his will.

LORD, give us the courage to decontaminate and renew and reconstruct.

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in case of poverty

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:21-32

Lev 14:21 “But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he will take one male lamb for a reparation offering to be waved, to provide reconciliation for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a tribute offering, and a log of oil;
Lev 14:22 also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one will be a mistake offering and the other an ascending offering.
Lev 14:23 And on the eighth day he will bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the conference tent, in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:24 And the priest will take the lamb of the reparation offering and the log of oil, and the priest will wave them for a wave offering in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:25 And he will kill the lamb of the reparation offering. And the priest will take some of the blood of the reparation offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
Lev 14:26 And the priest will pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,
Lev 14:27 and will spritz with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:28 And the priest will put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the reparation offering was put.
Lev 14:29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to provide reconciliation for him in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:30 And he will offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford,
Lev 14:31 one for a mistake offering and the other for an ascending offering along with a tribute offering. And the priest will provide reconciliation in Yahveh’s sight for him who is being cleansed.
Lev 14:32 This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”

in case of poverty

This alternative to the former prescribed set of rituals and sacrifices was designed to accomplish the same thing without the high cost. Just like the former rituals, these speak of God’s love for the victim, and Christ’s sacrifice which will provide cleansing and restoration for him and all other victims covered in his atonement.

But this case manifests the fact that God is not so much concerned about his religious ritual as what it signifies. Neither of the sacrifices was a true reflection of the value of Christ’s death on the cross. There is no sacrifice that can truly compare to that. The poor victim was allowed to pay a lesser price for his restoration to the community, but each sacrifice was merely a reflection on the ultimate price — a price no one could afford but God himself.

LORD, thank you for the cross.

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the rest of the healing

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:10-20

Lev 14:10 “And on the eighth day he will take two male perfect lambs, and one perfect ewe lamb a year old, and a tribute offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil.
Lev 14:11 And the priest who cleanses him will set the man who is to be cleansed and these things in Yahveh’s sight, at the entrance of the conference tent.
Lev 14:12 And the priest will take one of the male lambs and offer it for a reparation offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:13 And he will kill the lamb in the place where they kill the mistake offering and the ascending offering in the place of the sanctuary. For the reparation offering, like the mistake offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy.
Lev 14:14 The priest will take some of the blood of the reparation offering, and the priest will put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
Lev 14:15 Then the priest will take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand
Lev 14:16 and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and spritz some oil with his finger seven times in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:17 And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest will put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the reparation offering.
Lev 14:18 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest will provide reconciliation for him in Yahveh’s sight.
Lev 14:19 The priest will offer the mistake offering, to provide reconciliation for him who is to be cleansed from his contamination. And afterward he will kill the ascending offering.
Lev 14:20 And the priest will offer the ascending offering and the tribute offering on the altar. Thus the priest will provide reconciliation for him, and he will be clean.

the rest of the healing

Let’s think this one through. The victim of leprosy has just been found to be healed. His healing has been declared via the sacrifice prescribed, and he has shaved himself, so that all those around him now know that he has been set free from the bondage and shame of the disease. But, now, he must go through a second set of rituals, involving other sacrifices, and a ceremony where the priest anoints him with oil to “provide reconciliation for him in Yahveh’s sight”? This brings up many questions: Why the second set of rituals, if the victim is already free. In fact, why should a victim of a disease have to offer a mistake offering at all, since the disease is not a sin? Why does he need a reparation offering if the damage is already repaired?

Two realities help me to sort this all out. First, all of the sacrifices point to Christ, speaking of what he did for us on the cross. While it is true that the individual worshipper did not catch leprosy intentionally, so there is no culpable sin, it is also true that leprosy and all other diseases and problems are covered by the cross. The leprosy restoration rituals speak to the fact that all sin and shame will be eliminated by virtue of the cross. One day all sin and shame and sickness and sorrow will be eliminated, not because of humanity’s progress, but because of God’s love manifested on the cross, and the power of the resurrected and returning Christ.

The second reality has to do with the former leper. He has been healed, yes. But now he has to return to a society that has shunned him, isolated him because of a disease so repugnant it represented sin itself. The rest of his healing must now take place. He has to be restored to the status of full participant in the covenant community, and this elaborate ritual is designed to help him do that.

Both of these realities are rooted in divine love.

LORD, thank you for loving us so much that you will not only heal us, but you will show us complete and ultimate restoration.

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testimonies to healing

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Jefferson Vann

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Leviticus 14:1-9

Lev 14:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,
Lev 14:2 “This will be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He will be brought to the priest,
Lev 14:3 and the priest will go out of the camp, and the priest will look. Then, if he notices that the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,
Lev 14:4 the priest will command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live pure birds and cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
Lev 14:5 And the priest will command them to kill one of the birds in a clay pottery container over fresh water.
Lev 14:6 He will take the live bird with the cedar wood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.
Lev 14:7 And he will spritz it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he will pronounce him clean and will let the living bird go into the open field.
Lev 14:8 And he who is to be cleansed will wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he will be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but stay outside his tent seven days.
Lev 14:9 And on the seventh day he will shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He will shave off all his hair, and then he will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

testimonies to healing

When the community of Israelites saw the second bird released, or saw clean-shaven and washed former victim of leprosy — then they would know that there was a God among them who cared for those who are outcast and isolated. Those testimonies were built into the system of priestly instruction in order to give former lepers a means of demonstrating that their healing was due to the power of God.

In the church today, we gather regularly to worship God, and that is only one opportunity that we have to testify to what he is doing in our lives. Say it, post it, print it. Tell the world what your Lord is doing for you.

LORD, show us how to pubicise your power.

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