The Leper

The disease of leprosy is a marked and impressive type of sin in the flesh. Of all diseases, it is the most loathsome; and is utterly incurable by man’s art or device. The leper, too, was perfectly helpless in himself to remove his disease. He was in so sad a condition, that contact with him only partook of his defilement. Whosoever touched him, or whatsoever he touched, partook of his uncleanness. The unhappy state is described in Lev. 13:44-4644He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. 45And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. 46All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. (Leviticus 13:44‑46), “He is a leprous man; he is unclean; the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation he.” Nothing can be more sad and pitiable than the. state of the poor leper.
Reader, does it not fitly typify your case, if you are a sinner, unreconciled to God? Divest yourself of the garb of “profession” for a moment, and look upon your sad condition in God’s sight. Behold in yourself a sinner from your heart’s core, helpless to do anything for your cleansing; and in such a state that you can only pronounce those words of the leper of old, “Unclean, unclean.”
In the Scripture before us, we find a precious figure of the work of the Saviour Jesus for the poor unclean sinner. We read, “And the priest shall go forth out of the camp,” (vs. 3) How our poor legal hearts reverse this order. Our thought is that the sinner must first come to God; and if he does his best, God will meet him and help him to do the remainder; all the while forgetting that all this “doing” on the sinner’s part for salvation, is but the servile toil of a sinner; and that he is not yet in the position to be a “doer,” but is still a sinner who needs to be cleansed from his sins, ere he can “do” anything aright. No, the leper was outside the camp-the sinner is unreconciled to God. He is not yet in the place for the exercise of these “doings,” all good and right in their place. The question for the sinner is not, what he is to occupy himself with outside of God’s presence? but, How is he to, get in? His proper occupation outside is to confess his true state as “unclean.” Now, God’s most blessed answer to this is revealed here, “The priest shall go forth out of the camp.” Hearken, dear sinner, to this precious revelation of God’s grace, in sending His Son to seek and to save that which was lost— “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John, 4:9, 10). Wondrous love of God! wondrous journey of His Son, from the bosom of the Father to a sin-stained world! Nothing was here to draw forth His love but need; and with all this, He came to the place where the sinner was!
We read in verse 4, etc., “Then shall the priest command to take from him that is to be cleansed, two birds alive, and clean, and cedar wood, 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 cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall 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 let the living bird loose into the open field.” This is very precious. The little clean birds tell us of the cleanness and spotlessness of God’s spotless Lamb. The death of one of them, of Christ’s offering Himself through the eternal Spirit, without spot tb God, (Heb. in. 14): and the other soaring aloft into the heavens, of Jesus risen from the dead, bearing the tokens of his blood-shedding up into the heavenly sanctuary—entering into the Holiest by His own blood. (Heb. 9:1212Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)). All this was done by Him who acted for God, in the poor leper’s view. What had he been doing all the while’? He had been “standing still, to see the salvation of God;” gazing in silence at all this wonderful ceremony being performed for him; further than this he could not do. Till the work was complete, and his person sprinkled with the blood, and his eye bad followed the little bird as it ascended towards the heavens, bearing on its wings the blood that had been shed and sprinkled upon him, he had but to stand still and behold! But what a tale it told his poor heart, as he saw the vanishing form of the little live bird! A tale of joy and peace—of days of solitude and banishment from the camp being over—of communion with the Lord’s people within about to begin. How his heart must have rejoiced to hear the priest who spake for God declare that he was clean, through, the seven-fold sprinkled blood!
My reader, are you one of the moral lepers, the sinners of the world who wants to be cleansed; one who is conscious that your sins shut you out from the presence of God? Look then, I beseech you, on the spotless substitute whom God has provided, working out on His cross, that which cleanses your soul before God. Remember that He who did this work for you, has risen again—has passed from the earth, where he suffered “outside the camp” into the presence of the living God, bearing in His body the marks of His perfect work, which cleanses your soul, and gives you a title to be there with Him; and that He who has thus wrought for you has Himself, as speaking for God “pronounced you clean,” with a cleanness which befits the presence of God! The leper of old had but to behold the work for him, to hear his sentence pronounced, to believe it, and at once to enter upon all his blessedness. What more is demanded of you? Just to “stand still, and behold the salvation of the Lord.” It is “to him that worketh, not, but believeth on Him, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)). Such, then, is somewhat of what we learn here. The leper was sought outside the camp-the work was done by him who acted for God. The blood was sprinkled by him on the leper. He who spake for God pronounced upon the value and efficacy of the work; and there stood the cleansed man at the conclusion of the ceremony, “clean every whit,” and fit for the camp of God! He had not raised a finger in the work; he was not called upon to “feel,” or “hope,” or “realize,” or any of those things which often stumble the poor anxious soul, before he believed. These were all quite right in their place, but he had to do none of these things. And the sinner who gazes upon the cross of Christ has to do none of these things before he believes. What he wants is cleansing—a cleansing in the sight of God —such a cleansing as is worthy of Him; and his satisfaction of heart surely would depend upon the satisfaction of God to the work which had cleansed his soul. God himself sent His Son to seek you, dear sinner; God Himself provided a sacrifice to put away your sins. His own word has pronounced upon its efficacy and your consequent cleanness; and surely your heart may rest in the satisfaction of God in this, and never raise a question, when God has pronounced you clean!
May the Lord bless this little word to your soul, my reader. If He guides to it, we may make another visit to this chapter, where we find the cleansed man becoming an active worker himself, finding out the responsibilities and duties of his new place, within the camp of God, and learning to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus.”
“Clean every whit,” thou saidst it, Lord; Shall one suspicion lurk?
Thine, surely, is a faithful word,
And thine a finished work.”