Chapter 10. The Leper.
THE leper must have been ones. of the saddest sights, which met the eyes of the Saviour, as He went from town to town, and city to city, preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing the sick. Forbidden by law to enter into the dwellings of men, they lead a life of misery and poverty, shift out from their homes, covered with a most loathsome and painful disease which little by little destroyed every part of their bodies, dirty and half starved, with no possibility of cure from any physician, what hope or comfort was left to the wretched beings upon whom this terrible affliction had fallen? And many, many such were found all through the land of Canaan in the days of our Lord. Do you think He looked upon them unmoved? Far from it, we read over and over again that He was “moved with compassion,” His tender heart was filled with the deepest pity, and every sufferer who came to Him was healed and comforted. We read in each of the first three Gospels, the story of a man full of leprosy. The disease had spread all over his body, and limbs, he was covered with loathsome sores, eating away his flesh, causing him great suffering, and making him unable to support himself in anyway. Shut out from his fellows, shut out, from the worship of God in temple or synagogue, there was nothing to look forward to, but a life of suffering, and a miserable death, despised and neglected by his friends, who believed that leprosy was a direct, judgment of God, and therefore the sufferer was only worthy of contempt. But this poor man heard of One who had, power even to heal the leper. What wonderful news, could it be true? He would go at once and find that Man. Can you not enter into his thoughts as he hurries to the place where Jesus is to be found? Would he not say to himself, “Is it possible that I, a man full of leprosy, can be healed? I have no money to pay for such a cure, I have no one to speak for me, will the Master take notice of such a one? I am sure He is able to heal me, but will He?” And now he is in sight of the mighty healer, his great, need makes him bold, he hurries forward, throws himself at His feet, and utters his piteous entreaty, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.” What love, what power is shown forth here! The power of God, and the love of God appearing in that lowly Man, who instead of driving the unclean leper from Him, put forth His hand and touched him. We know that leprosy is a type of sin. We know that every one, man, woman or child, is tainted with it, and we know too, from God’s own Word that no power on earth can remove that taint. Have we, like-that poor trembling leper, gone with simple faith to the only One who can and will heal us, and cast ourselves before Him, and besought for cleansing, and pardon?
But when the leper was healed, Jesus charged him to go to the priest, and offer for his cleaning as Moses commanded. Shall we look for a moment at what our poor man must offer? Well, first, he must get two little birds—sparrows. They were plentiful enough in the trees around him, and if he could not catch any, why, you know, they could be bought, two for a farthing. Then he must have a little bit of the tall cedar growing near Jerusalem, a handful of the little herb, hyssop, springing out of some old wall, and a bit of scarlet wool or cloth. Now the priest is ready, and one little bird is killed in an earthen vessel over running water, and the other little bird, with the cedar and scarlet and hyssop, is dipped in the blood of the dead bird, and then it is let fly into the open heavens, also some of the blood is sprinkled on the cleansed leper, and the priest pronounced him clean.
I wonder if you can see any meaning ins all this for yourself? Are not the two little birds a type of one Saviour? One is put to death in the earthen vessel —type of Jesus, who being found in fashion as a man became obedient unto death (Phil. 2:88And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8)), and the living bird is let loose to fly with the blood upon him into the open sky—type of Jesus, raised by the power of God, and ascending up into heaven. “Delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification.” (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25).) And now every sinner who comes to Him, will be sprinkled with that precious blood, and, like the leper, pronounced “Clean”.
“How precious and pure is the truth!
How simple and lovely its words!
‘Tis suited for age and for youth,
As shown in this type of the birds.
A bird of the air was to die,
Instead of the leper unclean;
And Jesus, whose home is on high,
Descended to suffer for sin.
The bird must be clean of its kind,
Or else it were unfit to be slain;
And none could in Jesus e’er find
A blemish, a spot, or a stain.
The bird in a vessel of earth
Must yield up its blood and its breath;
And Jesus, of heavenly birth,
In form as a man suffered death.
The blood of the bird that was slain,
The living one bore to the sky;
So Jesus, in rising again,
The worth of His blood took on high.
The leper, with blood seven times
Was sprinkled to render him clean;
So sinners are cleansed from their crimes,
In blood which atoned for their sin.”
ML 11/24/1912