back to indexWed Bible Study - Lesson 14
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Alright, so last week was a bleak presentation of what sin looks like, at least from God's 00:00:14.980 |
And all of that obviously was a shadow to kind of teach us about the depth of why His 00:00:26.860 |
So chapter 13 was a bleak reminder of the devastating effects of leprosy, again ultimately 00:00:33.780 |
pointing to sin, and for the individual and his friends. 00:00:37.720 |
Leviticus 14 is going to be filled with reminders of hope, talking about restoration, how the 00:00:43.940 |
healed individual is restored back into the community. 00:00:47.700 |
So these two chapters, chapter 13 and 14, gives us a greater revelation of God's holiness 00:00:55.260 |
So you can kind of, in a nutshell, you can see chapter 13 as the law and chapter 14 as 00:01:00.700 |
the grace, even though they're both talking about Mosaic law and how to deal with leprosy. 00:01:05.420 |
But ultimately chapter 13 is about identifying and to see this disease and how hideous it 00:01:12.480 |
is and how to identify it to make this sin utterly sinful, chapter 13. 00:01:17.980 |
And so chapter 14 is bringing us to how to restore once you identify that possibly that 00:01:25.500 |
there is, God has healed them and that He's able to be restored back into the community. 00:01:31.140 |
And so these are all instructions on what procedures to take to bring them back into 00:01:38.660 |
You know what's interesting was this week, as I was doing devotions through various passages, 00:01:44.420 |
you know, one of the things that really stood out to me is in 2 Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy, 00:01:48.940 |
he starts a letter by saying, "Grace, mercy, and peace." 00:01:52.700 |
John used that same introduction, "Grace, mercy, and peace." 00:01:56.180 |
In other parts, Paul introduces the letters by saying, "Grace and peace to you." 00:02:00.620 |
But in those three particular letters, it says, "Grace, mercy, and peace." 00:02:04.900 |
And even this morning I was meditating on that, you know, like grace and peace is typically 00:02:12.220 |
So Jews spent, you know, hundreds of years like introducing themselves and seeking the 00:02:19.940 |
And then Christ comes and He brings this peace, not by the law, but by grace. 00:02:24.820 |
But the addition of the word mercy, you know, I think it's crucial that if we're never at 00:02:31.780 |
a point where we require God's mercy, we won't really understand His grace. 00:02:38.860 |
Meaning, if we've never been desperate to overcome our sin, if we've never been desperate 00:02:44.380 |
because you see the depth of our sin and it's completely beyond our help, if we've never 00:02:51.260 |
come to that point, grace is just going to feel like a Christmas gift. 00:02:57.860 |
You didn't deserve it, you didn't earn it, but somebody gave it to you. 00:03:04.460 |
Somebody is gracious to us and they give us something we didn't deserve. 00:03:07.620 |
But the grace that Christ points to is much deeper than just a Christmas gift. 00:03:14.260 |
Just He gave you a gift that you didn't deserve. 00:03:16.300 |
It was the whole point of the Mosaic Law was to bring us to a point where we were desperate 00:03:26.980 |
Imagine if you or somebody you knew was diagnosed with this skin disease, how devastating the 00:03:34.380 |
And if that person was sent out of the gate and he couldn't even be around you, because 00:03:40.140 |
if you were around him, you would become unclean. 00:03:42.960 |
So as soon as he was diagnosed, it was no different than being diagnosed for death. 00:03:46.780 |
In fact, if you consider what chapter 13 says, it would have been easier to just die than 00:03:52.940 |
to go outside of the camp and live the way a leopard would have had to live. 00:03:56.900 |
So chapter 14 brings us, once the devastating news has been given, chapter 14 brings us 00:04:05.420 |
And again, it's a clear presentation of where the Mosaic Law brings us to recognize the 00:04:13.500 |
And then when the gospel comes, when we say that Christ saved us by His grace, that this 00:04:18.380 |
mercy, again, not just simply a Christmas gift, something that we didn't deserve, but 00:04:24.500 |
how does somebody live when you are a recipient of mercy? 00:04:30.180 |
And we're going to be talking about that later. 00:04:32.960 |
And I think, again, the challenge that we have in living our Christian lives, and especially 00:04:38.540 |
if you've been a Christian for a while, that we know it's grace mentally, but maybe we 00:04:45.980 |
have a tendency to drift from what it is that we've really been saved from. 00:04:50.780 |
And so therefore, the response that we give to God becomes just a routine thing that we 00:05:05.140 |
So again, chapter 13 and 14, again, is a clear message of what God had embedded into the 00:05:11.780 |
gospel message about the condemnation of sin and what it looks like to be delivered from 00:05:19.900 |
God prescribed no treatment for the cure of leprosy here. 00:05:23.700 |
So He's not describing in chapter 14, this is how to cure this man or a woman. 00:05:29.200 |
So what we see in chapter 14 is how to recognize when God healed this person. 00:05:38.620 |
He doesn't say to wash and make sure he's isolated and put certain kind of medicine 00:05:43.780 |
The priest is sent out simply to identify if a healing took place. 00:05:48.920 |
So the affected individual was at the mercy of God to heal him. 00:05:52.620 |
The chapter explains how the priests and the Israelites could recognize healed skin so 00:05:57.060 |
that the formerly afflicted individuals could resume worship in the community. 00:06:02.100 |
So in other words, there was no cure for this, at least not prescribed in the Mosaic law. 00:06:09.220 |
He's not saying like, if this happens, make sure you follow these procedures and this 00:06:16.140 |
When somebody had leprosy, all they could do is wait to die. 00:06:22.140 |
So they were probably, I'm guessing if you were a leper in the Jewish community, that 00:06:27.940 |
I would think from morning to evening that you were praying. 00:06:32.940 |
That's all you could do because you can't even evangelize. 00:06:35.820 |
You can't tell other people about God because you can't even get near them. 00:06:38.300 |
So I would think that all they thought about from morning till night is that God would 00:06:42.540 |
have mercy and answer their prayer and bring healing. 00:06:46.380 |
So chapter 14 is the answer to this desperate person's prayer that if they believe that 00:06:51.900 |
God cured them from this disease, then they would call the priest. 00:06:58.220 |
So again, Jeremiah 13, 23 says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or leopard his spots? 00:07:03.680 |
Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil." 00:07:08.120 |
So again, this is a clear picture to us that a sinner cannot will himself to stop sinning. 00:07:16.440 |
Because if sin is originating from our heart, if murder is hatred, if adultery is the lust 00:07:27.280 |
How do you just say, "I'm not going to be bitter anymore," and just disappear? 00:07:31.080 |
So when we recognize the sin that is embedded in us, the only remedy to that is God himself. 00:07:38.000 |
He's the only one who can actually change it. 00:07:39.600 |
So we were talking about that this morning, or actually I was having a conversation with 00:07:47.480 |
And if we're not careful, we think that if we apply certain type of discipleship to everybody 00:07:53.080 |
that there's going to be the same result from so many people. 00:07:57.240 |
The way to raise leaders is to put them through this program. 00:08:00.560 |
And if they're exposed to a certain type of material, that certain number of leaders are 00:08:14.880 |
The scripture clearly says that we can plant, you can water, but only God's the one who 00:08:21.020 |
So number two, there is no treatment for sin outside of Christ. 00:08:35.760 |
And that's what this disease ultimately shows us. 00:08:42.360 |
It says, "If the one who has declared to have leprosy believes that he had been healed of 00:08:46.080 |
the disease, the priest could be summoned to go outside the camp." 00:08:50.440 |
He doesn't walk into the camp because he's not allowed until he is declared to be clean. 00:08:55.880 |
So the priest would go outside where he is to meet him. 00:08:59.320 |
So the diseased person had to stay not to contaminate those inside the camp, to carefully 00:09:09.000 |
So again, we see a clear picture of the gospel in Hebrews 13, 11 says, "For the bodies of 00:09:14.640 |
those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice 00:09:21.240 |
And then he calls us that Jesus Christ was crucified outside the camp, that we ought 00:09:27.560 |
So it's a picture of Christ coming for those who have been shunned outside the camp to 00:09:34.040 |
And that's the picture of the priest here in chapter 14, right? 00:09:38.400 |
Somebody who is condemned by this disease, again, ultimately pointing to sin, that the 00:09:44.400 |
priest representing Christ would come to get us outside the camp. 00:09:51.360 |
So again, every part of this obviously is a clear presentation of the gospel. 00:09:57.120 |
But Leviticus is such a detailed, meticulous, pointing... 00:10:05.440 |
I mean, you can see so clearly how it points to Christ and what he has done for us. 00:10:10.680 |
He doesn't just say he loved us, he describes it. 00:10:12.840 |
He doesn't just say we've sinned, he describes these sins. 00:10:15.600 |
He doesn't just say he's atoned for our sins, he describes how he atoned for it, what he 00:10:22.100 |
He doesn't just say, you know, sin is missing the mark, he describes the ugliness of sin, 00:10:29.120 |
Effects on ourselves, effect on our houses, it affects on our children, our neighbors. 00:10:42.080 |
And that's one of the discussion questions I'm already telling you. 00:10:45.080 |
One of the discussion questions that I have for today, if everything that he has done 00:10:52.280 |
in the Old Testament, so everything that we're talking about and we're going to talk about 00:10:59.120 |
He described the shadow in such detail, right? 00:11:03.080 |
Every part of this so that an Israelite who, like, it was in their food, it was in their 00:11:09.920 |
annual ceremony, it was in the daily sacrifices, it was in their religion, it was in their 00:11:13.880 |
worship, it was even described in their clothing, where they lived, their housing, how they 00:11:22.560 |
So every part of Israel's life, there was embedding of a certain part of the gospel 00:11:36.320 |
Obviously it points to the cross, we know that. 00:11:39.360 |
But he could have easily just said, you have sin and Christ is going to come to deliver 00:11:53.440 |
He is concerned about every single detailed aspect of what is taking place in the cross. 00:12:06.200 |
The ultimate goal of it is when the cross comes, one, that you can understand the depth 00:12:10.680 |
of what it is, and second, it's to have a proper response, right? 00:12:18.760 |
That because he was so meticulous in preparation for the coming of Christ, that our response 00:12:24.680 |
to the cross should not be, Christ loves me and died for me and has a wonderful plan for 00:12:33.800 |
The whole purpose of it is everything pointed to Christ and everything points back to Christ. 00:12:39.200 |
So every single detail, the things that you understand, the things that you don't understand, 00:12:44.000 |
every part of this is to soften your hearts to prepare you for Christ, right? 00:12:50.160 |
And the reason why I'm sharing this now is chapter 13 and 14 in particular, in chapter 00:12:55.080 |
15, you can easily get lost in all the details and think like, oh, just skim over this. 00:13:01.840 |
But you know that there's a meaning, there's meaning behind it. 00:13:04.920 |
You know there's reasons why this is here, right? 00:13:08.520 |
God didn't give you all these clear pictures of the cross and then he went to these passages 00:13:12.840 |
and he's kind of like, you know, these things are just details you don't really need to 00:13:19.120 |
So you could understand the cross, but the effects of why he put this here, you're going 00:13:25.240 |
to completely miss if you just skim over it, right? 00:13:29.600 |
Because the intent of why chapter 13, chapter 14, chapter 15 is in the Bible, if ultimately 00:13:36.360 |
is to prepare us to come to the cross and see an aspect of the cross that you would 00:13:40.920 |
not have understood if you didn't have this are going to be missed. 00:13:46.200 |
And so a superficial preparation for the cross is going to lead to a superficial understanding, 00:13:51.680 |
a superficial understanding leads to superficial application. 00:13:56.420 |
So again, all of this is to encourage you to do your best to pay attention to the details. 00:14:02.320 |
What you understand, what you don't understand, but there's a purpose behind all of it. 00:14:10.800 |
If the priest determines that the person was healed of the leprosy, then he would take 00:14:15.480 |
two live clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop to prepare the man to reenter 00:14:22.680 |
So he has this ritual that he needs to perform for that person or that person needs to go 00:14:30.680 |
And so the outline I have here, A, one bird is killed over the fresh water in an earthen 00:14:38.560 |
vessel, B, a spring of hyssop and a branch of cedar were tied to a live bird and scarlet 00:14:46.560 |
wool yarn, C, the priest dipped the hyssop, cedar, in the tail of the bird in the blood 00:14:53.760 |
Then he used a brush to sprinkle the blood on the person's or house seven times and declared 00:15:00.260 |
Then the living bird was released in an open field. 00:15:02.840 |
This is basically a summary of what was commanded for them to do. 00:15:08.440 |
And I think I'm just going to show you a real quick picture so that you can get an idea 00:15:20.640 |
So everything, I'll turn it back if you haven't filled out the space. 00:15:27.800 |
But this is just to kind of give you a visual picture to help you understand what was taking 00:15:31.880 |
He took two birds, one was killed, the other one was tied to hyssop and with a red yarn 00:15:37.820 |
and then the scarlet on the bottom, which was the red dye, which I'm going to be explaining 00:15:43.720 |
later, but this is basically, and this is what they took and dipped it into the blood 00:15:51.040 |
And then they would take this and basically wipe it on the individual and sprinkle it 00:15:57.280 |
If you haven't filled it out, you can fill that out. 00:16:00.480 |
But that gives you a visual picture of what it is exactly that God told them to do. 00:16:13.080 |
So hyssop was also used in the first Passover to paint the door. 00:16:25.120 |
So this is not the first time that this is used. 00:16:30.360 |
In Jewish ceremonies, it represented cleansing. 00:16:32.960 |
Whenever you see the word hyssop, it was used to describe some types of cleansing. 00:16:42.440 |
The word used for scarlet literally means the scarlet stuff that comes out of a worm. 00:16:47.800 |
And that's how they would get the scarlet dye. 00:16:53.520 |
And the dye was commonly used in ceremonial items, most likely referencing blood. 00:16:57.920 |
But it also brings to mind sin, which like blood, draws attention to itself in a cry 00:17:02.760 |
So it symbolized sin, and not just any kind of sin, but it kind of visually pictured the 00:17:11.600 |
disgusting nature of sin, considering where scarlet came from. 00:17:16.880 |
In Isaiah 118, we see that verse, it says, "Come now, let us reason together." 00:17:21.400 |
Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. 00:17:24.920 |
Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." 00:17:29.240 |
So again, so the Bible uses the idea of this scarlet dye, this red dye, that came from 00:17:36.080 |
basically the blood of a worm, and he's describing that as sin. 00:17:40.280 |
Kind of like in the New Testament, it says, you know, a man who repents and goes back 00:17:44.360 |
to his sin, he says it's like a dog returning back to what? 00:17:50.080 |
So the Bible is giving a visual picture of how disgusting sin is. 00:17:54.800 |
It seems so attractive when we're tempted, but in God's eyes, it's basically like scarlet, 00:18:01.800 |
And so that's the picture that is given to us in the Scripture. 00:18:07.720 |
Cedar is a branch of juniper bush, which is known for its medicinal properties. 00:18:12.020 |
In the Jewish tradition, it symbolizes human pride. 00:18:15.420 |
So other parts of Scripture, when it talks about cedar, oftentimes it's referencing human 00:18:20.760 |
So God is using all these different symbols that he's used all throughout different parts 00:18:25.740 |
of Scripture to describe this, again, all of this ceremony ultimately pointing to the 00:18:36.600 |
While the meaning of the birds aren't directly explained, their symbolism seems pretty clear, 00:18:41.540 |
because if you've read it, you know, it says that you have two birds, and you kill one, 00:18:46.800 |
and the other one ultimately after it dips its blood and sprinkle, and then it is released. 00:18:55.480 |
So that's exactly, when we get to chapter 16, we'll talk about that more in detail. 00:19:00.000 |
And there's a lot of details in the Day of Atonement that most people don't understand, 00:19:04.040 |
that we're going to be talking about by the time we get there, but it seems like a very 00:19:10.540 |
So sacrifice of one bird and the release of the other one represented the largest sacrifice 00:19:15.720 |
given at the Day of Atonement with two goats. 00:19:22.920 |
One goat, you bring two goats at the Day of Atonement, you lay your hand on one, representing 00:19:28.020 |
the sin of Israel, and then the one that symbolizes the sin of Israel is slaughtered. 00:19:35.640 |
And then the other one, which is called what kind of goat? 00:19:39.120 |
Scapegoat, that's where we get the word scapegoat. 00:19:41.640 |
So the scapegoat is released into the wilderness, representing the sin being cast out or being 00:19:47.880 |
And so that's what it seems like that this is symbolizing, even though it doesn't describe 00:19:54.120 |
But one is sacrificed on behalf of the leper, and the other one is released because his 00:20:00.920 |
Again, pointing and preparing for the Day of Atonement, right? 00:20:05.680 |
Remember the chiastic form we talked about, that all of it, ultimately, it's going to 00:20:11.460 |
So all of this is going to help us to understand the Day of Atonement, okay? 00:20:17.560 |
So all of these little details is going to help us understand the main thesis of the 00:20:29.680 |
So it's kind of similar to how the whole Bible is organized, right? 00:20:35.880 |
Genesis to Matthew, ultimately culminates to the cross, and then the rest of the New 00:20:41.660 |
Testament is pointing back to the cross, right? 00:20:46.260 |
Chapter 15 chapters, ultimately all preparing for the cross, and then chapter 17, 18, all 00:20:52.820 |
the way to chapter 27, pointing back to the atonement, right? 00:21:00.180 |
So in 2 Corinthians 5.21, it says, "For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin, 00:21:04.500 |
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 00:21:08.540 |
And that's the ceremony that is portrayed here for us. 00:21:13.220 |
One bird is released because of the sacrifice of the other, which again, clearly points 00:21:23.140 |
And then after the ritual cleansing, the person will be required to shave all of his hair 00:21:37.540 |
It doesn't spell it out for us for two reasons. 00:21:44.580 |
You want to make sure that the skin disease is clean. 00:21:47.220 |
I think the other part of it was, and He made him do it twice. 00:21:51.260 |
He made him do it initially, and then after seven, eight days, he needed to shave again, 00:21:57.980 |
I think the point of it was, one, is to make sure that the skin disease, that you didn't 00:22:01.500 |
miss any part of it, that even though the skin that you can see was clean, maybe the 00:22:06.780 |
other parts of it, even the eyebrows had to be shaved off, right? 00:22:10.420 |
Was to make sure that the skin disease was completely clean. 00:22:13.180 |
I think the other part of it was to show the rest of the community that he was clean, right? 00:22:20.140 |
Because remember, you probably don't remember, but a long time ago when AIDS was going around 00:22:25.780 |
and people didn't know anything about AIDS, people were afraid to even sit where the people 00:22:33.660 |
So again, you know, most of you probably don't remember when Magic Johnson, you know, had 00:22:38.860 |
this, the HIV, there was a big controversy in the NBA that whether he should be playing 00:22:44.620 |
So can you imagine something like HIV that they didn't know, and it wasn't visual, it 00:22:49.180 |
was just internal, but somebody who had leprosy coming back into town, even though he was 00:22:54.580 |
declared to be clean, how people would have treated him, right? 00:22:59.420 |
I think they would have been afraid, even though he might have been ceremonially clean, 00:23:03.900 |
I think so part of the reason why was to show everybody that he's been cleaned, right? 00:23:17.460 |
So once the sacrifices were made for the leprous individual, he would be able to reenter the 00:23:22.340 |
camp, but he had to wait seven days to be fully cleared and had to sleep outside the 00:23:30.980 |
From the moment he's declared to be unclean, they go through the ceremony, making sure, 00:23:35.740 |
giving seven, eight days to see if this thing comes back, he has to shave it all off. 00:23:39.340 |
But once he's declared unclean, he's outside of the camp, and majority of them probably 00:23:48.260 |
The few of them who happen to be healed is this elaborate process of reentering back 00:23:57.300 |
So again, I'm not going to say it, but I want you to think about what all of this points 00:24:11.700 |
So every part of this, even if we're not clear, like why did God make them do this? 00:24:22.420 |
So he wasn't allowed to go directly into the tent. 00:24:24.700 |
He had to, even after he entered the camp, he had to stay outside to make sure. 00:24:31.800 |
On the eighth day, if during the seven days that he entered back into the camp, that the 00:24:37.900 |
disease did not come back, and after he went through the ceremony, then the final ceremony 00:24:44.220 |
is for him to offer up a male lamb without blemish, make two male lambs without blemish, 00:24:50.020 |
and one ewe lamb to give as a sacrifice to atone for his sins. 00:24:54.860 |
So if you read the passage, you'll see that what are the five sacrifices that we talked 00:25:04.140 |
about in the beginning of the Book of Leviticus? 00:25:20.580 |
Which offerings were commanded for this person to reenter? 00:25:35.700 |
I didn't hear the full part of what you said. 00:25:40.900 |
So, every offering except for the peace offering, right? 00:25:44.060 |
So every offering had to be given in order to be reinstated. 00:25:49.740 |
Burnt offering was the general atonement, right? 00:25:57.120 |
In what occasion did they give the grain offering? 00:26:07.220 |
Yeah, burnt offering was given before the grain offering, but what was the occasion 00:26:14.340 |
First fruits, and what did the first fruit represent? 00:26:20.580 |
It was either you were taking some kind of a vow, or it was an act of dedicating, like 00:26:35.260 |
I'm giving a portion of it to represent all that I have. 00:26:50.340 |
Maybe, you know, there was a leper, and you ran into them by accident, and as a result, 00:26:59.740 |
Or you touched something holy that you shouldn't have touched, and so you had to give an offering 00:27:16.260 |
You've taken someone else's animal, and you've made it unholy, and as a result of that, they 00:27:23.340 |
So you have to give a fifth of whatever damage you did, and you have to give the offering, 00:27:31.620 |
Peace offering was an offering that you gave as a, what? 00:27:44.640 |
And so that offering was given a free will offering, meaning it was not mandated. 00:27:50.500 |
God wanted you to bring it when you were filled with abundance of joy. 00:27:57.680 |
So you would think that of all the offerings, that peace offering would be at the core of 00:28:02.020 |
this offering, but peace is the only one that's not mentioned here. 00:28:06.300 |
All the other offerings are given except for the peace offering. 00:28:17.220 |
If you understand what is taking place, it would only make sense because the Thanksgiving 00:28:24.300 |
Thanksgiving offering was a free will offering, meaning that God wanted the individual, it 00:28:39.900 |
So after he gave all of these sacrifices, my guess is peace offering was probably given. 00:28:49.540 |
If you were basically condemned to die, and then pretty much you came back to life because 00:28:56.180 |
God healed you, if there was any occasion to give a peace offering, it would have been 00:29:02.780 |
If there was any occasion for the families to get together and celebrate, it was probably 00:29:13.540 |
A very significant thing that we do in the church that Christ mandated, what does the 00:29:19.020 |
peace offering point to in the New Testament? 00:29:32.300 |
So it's to celebrate what Christ has done, and it was meant to be done in the context 00:29:42.380 |
So in order for this individual who was, again, lost in this disease, again, spiritually in 00:29:48.940 |
his sin, to be restored back, all the other sacrifices needed to be made, except for the 00:29:57.580 |
The priest then applied the blood from the sacrifice to the right ear, thumb, right hand, 00:30:02.180 |
and the toe, and the right foot of the former leper, symbolizing sanctification of his hearing, 00:30:17.940 |
What other part of the sacrifice did you see the specifics of the right ear, the toe? 00:30:32.940 |
When they were being ordained to serve at the temple or at the tabernacle, they did 00:30:40.180 |
That each part, right, of them being blessed was to prepare them for service. 00:30:47.220 |
So in order for this individual's cleanse, he doesn't just, the burnt offering obviously 00:30:50.860 |
atones for his sins, but the specific dabbing of the blood symbolized that they're able 00:30:58.740 |
Maybe not as a priest, right, but as he comes back into the society, that now he can function. 00:31:20.540 |
Oil was also applied to the cleansed leopard. 00:31:22.500 |
It was both the sprinkling on his blood, on the body in general, and then applied to the 00:31:30.340 |
Each of these places on the body was meant to be anointed with oil. 00:31:34.180 |
So the blood, the cleansing from the blood basically signified atoning, covering his 00:31:41.940 |
sin with the blood, and oil oftentimes symbolized anointing, dedication. 00:31:49.260 |
So this individual who's entering back into the community, not only is his sins covered, 00:31:54.660 |
but he's anointed now to serve God in the community. 00:31:58.180 |
Again, I want you to keep asking yourself, what does this point to in the new covenant? 00:32:14.860 |
So diagnosis of leprosy in a house and cleansing in the house infested with leprosy. 00:32:19.300 |
So not only did the cleansing have to take place in the individual, he said the second 00:32:25.920 |
So I'm not going to go through all the details of the cleansing of the home, but basically 00:32:29.340 |
if they see a molding or discoloration and they think that that may have been some kind 00:32:33.940 |
of infection that was spreading in the home, that the first stage is to identify it, second 00:32:38.980 |
is to scrape it off, give it some time, and then if that doesn't work and they go through 00:32:43.620 |
another stage and they scrape more of it off, and if that doesn't work, what were they to 00:32:52.820 |
Where before, remember chapter 13, if an individual had that, what did they do with the clothes? 00:33:01.040 |
If the home that he was to enter back into was infected and then they can't get rid of 00:33:06.900 |
it, the end result was they had to tear it down. 00:33:12.420 |
So the fact that the certain abnormal conditions afflicted houses as well as persons reminded 00:33:16.900 |
Israelites that their dwelling places as well as their bodies needed to be holy. 00:33:24.300 |
So in other words, every part of where God's people dwelt also needed to be holy. 00:33:34.420 |
So that's why when God's presence came in to the community where the core of his presence 00:33:42.280 |
was obviously at the tabernacle, and in the tabernacle you had the holy of holies, right, 00:33:47.100 |
where it was concentrated, but anywhere where God dwelt, there had to be wholeness, holiness. 00:33:55.760 |
It was the animals, the articles, and even the houses and the clothing. 00:34:01.780 |
So if there was any infection or any kind of disease or any sign of some kind of disease 00:34:08.360 |
in the home, even though the home had to be torn down. 00:34:14.300 |
And God presided the same right of purification using two birds, cedars, scarlet strings, 00:34:21.440 |
Again, so the same kind of cleansing ritual had to go through even for the house once 00:34:30.080 |
Obviously he did not require sacrifice for the home because the sacrifices was ultimately 00:34:45.300 |
So that part, everything else looks the same except for the sacrifice part. 00:34:51.680 |
And then finally, chapter 14, 54 to 57 is just a summary of what he says. 00:35:07.900 |
So again, I want you to emotionally and mentally consider what this individual has gone through 00:35:19.940 |
I mean, in all practical purposes, he died and came back to life. 00:35:28.920 |
If the moment they said you had leprosy, kind of like today, if you have stage four cancer, 00:35:38.420 |
But for the most part, stage four cancer, at the late part of stage four cancer, you 00:35:41.660 |
knew that there's not a lot of hope, at least not medically. 00:35:46.380 |
And so you can have all these experiments done. 00:35:51.700 |
It wasn't just internal rotting and you're going to have a hard time and you're going 00:35:57.060 |
So all the rotting took place and it was seen visually. 00:36:00.780 |
They said they could actually smell a leper before he was coming into town. 00:36:06.780 |
He had to constantly scream, "Unclean, unclean," everywhere he went. 00:36:11.460 |
And if he even by accident came too close to somebody, by Mosaic law, he could be stoned 00:36:19.340 |
So you can see why these 10 lepers, when they saw Jesus coming into town, they ran to him 00:36:30.900 |
And then when Jesus says to go show yourself to the priest, right, he was following the 00:36:36.460 |
Mosaic law because the only way that they can get restored back is to be confirmed by 00:36:46.340 |
So the only person that gave thanksgiving is that one. 00:36:51.380 |
The other nine were so eager to be restored, right, they completely forget about like who 00:36:56.580 |
it is and they forget to thank Jesus and only one comes back. 00:37:06.180 |
Even though all 10 were healed with leprosy, Jesus says only to that one person, you've 00:37:11.820 |
Because ultimately, all of this ultimately points to sin and atonement in the blood of 00:37:22.700 |
So again, just the depth that God goes through to make what he has done and what he has done 00:37:33.820 |
for us so crystal clear, right, that we do not just have some superficial elementary 00:37:44.140 |
And all of this is to point us, it's like, yes, when you read chapter 13, if you read 00:37:48.540 |
it with the lens of the New Testament, New Covenant, what Jesus says and what Hebrew 00:37:53.020 |
says, we should read chapter 13 like this is me, right? 00:37:59.100 |
Go back and read chapter 13 and understand this as your sin. 00:38:06.320 |
This is the state that we were in and then go back and read chapter 14 and understand 00:38:09.800 |
this as Christ's atonement for our sins and restoration, right? 00:38:14.420 |
Because that's what it ultimately is and all of this are like kind of a preview of the 00:38:21.060 |
big picture coming in the day of atonement, right? 00:38:24.300 |
So far, he's given us bits and pieces and then it's going to lead us to chapter 16, 00:38:28.540 |
who's going to use the clearest picture of Christ crucified is coming up in chapter 16. 00:38:36.620 |
So that we may respond in genuine worship, right? 00:38:41.540 |
So again, as we wrap up and I'm going to, you know, ask you guys to take some time to 00:38:47.100 |
have discussion in your small group, even the things that I didn't mention, just kind 00:38:53.460 |
of think to yourself, like, what do you think this ultimately points to? 00:38:56.180 |
What are the details here that you might have just skimmed through? 00:38:59.980 |
Like, what do you think it ultimately points to, right? 00:39:03.940 |
Because if you're a doctor, we would automatically assume that if we had any medical questions 00:39:12.740 |
But if we come to you and say, like, what medicine should I take? 00:39:21.580 |
I wasn't paying attention when that class was taught, right? 00:39:24.760 |
So if that was the case, after a while, you're going to say, what kind of doctor are you? 00:39:31.740 |
If you're a lawyer and we have a question about the law and we come to you and say, 00:39:46.660 |
So if a Christian isn't an expert of the gospel, then who is? 00:39:52.080 |
If we don't have the answers to the detailed questions that a non-Christian would ask, 00:39:58.060 |
So every single Christian should be an expert of why Christ had to come. 00:40:17.940 |
What is this whole process of sanctification for? 00:40:34.500 |
So even some of this, a lot of stuff you may not understand, but I hope that you study 00:40:38.340 |
it as if you're a lawyer studying the law, because in essence we are to the world. 00:40:48.020 |
Ephesians 2, 1-7 says, "And you are dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once 00:40:53.780 |
walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, 00:40:57.340 |
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived 00:41:02.580 |
in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and 00:41:06.340 |
were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:41:09.180 |
But God, being rich in mercy because of great love with which he loved us, even when we 00:41:14.100 |
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been 00:41:18.660 |
saved and raises us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ 00:41:24.060 |
Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace 00:41:32.020 |
I think chapter 13 and 14 clearly points to this. 00:41:35.700 |
So the three questions that I have, how do you think these cleansed lepers felt once 00:41:40.940 |
they were completely cleared to enter back into community and live a normal life? 00:41:44.940 |
Do you think your salvation felt anything remotely close to what they might have felt? 00:41:54.060 |
Now I'm not asking in question one, did you have some charismatic experience? 00:42:01.900 |
But somebody who was dead and raised to life, you would think that there will be some difference, 00:42:09.820 |
You would think that there would be an obvious difference between dead and being alive, right? 00:42:16.020 |
So the question is, how did you see the difference, right? 00:42:22.140 |
Maybe you didn't fully understand what happened. 00:42:28.020 |
But at one point the understanding that you were dead and then because of Christ you were 00:42:36.380 |
Number two, have you ever been punished for something you did not do? 00:42:42.700 |
What do you think was the state of mind and heart when Jesus took on himself the punishment 00:42:48.060 |
So again, the question is, if the whole point of the atonement is somebody who did not deserve 00:42:52.820 |
it absorbing the sin for those who deserved it, right? 00:42:57.300 |
And of course we look at that and say, man, that's awesome. 00:43:01.520 |
When was the last time you were punished for something you didn't do? 00:43:04.580 |
I mean, me being the middle child of three boys, it was a regular thing in my life. 00:43:12.380 |
Anything happened in our home, it was my fault. 00:43:16.000 |
So I can, I think very vividly, I have memories of times when it was like, that wasn't me. 00:43:25.020 |
And I remember saying that often to my parents, especially to my mom. 00:43:36.620 |
No matter how much I loved him, I took it for Philip, you know, or I, you know, I took 00:43:44.140 |
I didn't deserve, but he deserved it, but I feel good about it, right? 00:43:48.920 |
How do you think Jesus felt as he was being punished for being righteous and he volunteered, 00:43:58.020 |
So the whole point of our atonement is the innocent, the complete, right, without blemish, 00:44:05.980 |
without sin, being punished for those who are with defect, with leprosy, with sin, who 00:44:13.820 |
cheated, the murderers, the tax collectors, the adulterers, the prostitutes, right? 00:44:20.100 |
They go free and the righteous is punished because that's what the gospel ultimately 00:44:26.020 |
That's what the atonement points to, and that's what this sacrifice ultimately points 00:44:31.620 |
You grew up in the church all your life and we didn't really calculate it in thinking, 00:44:35.100 |
and we weren't emotionally attached to things that we profess to believe. 00:44:39.660 |
Because I think if we did, we would wrestle more with the meaning of the gospel, right? 00:44:46.980 |
Instead of asking, why does God allow, you know, bad things to happen to good people, 00:44:51.780 |
I don't think that's the question that you'd be asking. 00:44:53.780 |
It's like, why would a good, righteous, holy, perfect God take upon himself sin for the 00:45:08.100 |
I know why bad things happen to people, because we make dumb choices, because we're sinners, 00:45:14.320 |
So I know why there's evil in the world, because I can see the decisions that led us to get 00:45:20.300 |
So even though we think they're innocent, but nobody, I've never really met anybody 00:45:26.460 |
The degree is different, but I've never met anybody who wasn't sinful. 00:45:30.060 |
I've never met anybody who wasn't prideful, not even my youngest children. 00:45:35.960 |
So I understand why there's punishment and disasters in the world. 00:45:43.060 |
So why would a perfect God, without blemish, completely holy, take upon the sins of the 00:45:53.300 |
tax collector, of the proud, of the murderer? 00:46:02.500 |
So ultimately, everything that we're studying really ultimately points to this, the righteous 00:46:07.140 |
for the unrighteous, the righteous for the unrighteous, the righteous for the unrighteous. 00:46:12.220 |
Number three, why do you think God went through so much trouble in implanting the gospel message 00:46:15.860 |
so deeply, intricately into every fabric of Israel's daily life? 00:46:20.660 |
Have you ever prepared anything in your life to this degree? 00:46:26.700 |
So again, the point of why I ask this is to get you to think deeply about, he went through 00:46:35.420 |
all this trouble, sending his prophets, setting up the tabernacle, all the animals, all the 00:46:41.620 |
sacrifices, the priesthood, the festivals, all of it, ultimately to give a clear picture 00:46:52.100 |
So the question behind this is, have you ever prepared anything to that detail? 00:47:01.700 |
I remember, and I'm just going to give you an example of it so you can know what to discuss. 00:47:07.620 |
I remember years ago, not at this church, but another church when I was the EM pastor, 00:47:12.600 |
we decided to have a sisters appreciation retreat. 00:47:16.060 |
And so I got a bunch of the guys to come up, and the sisters were having their retreat, 00:47:19.820 |
and we were in the background cooking for them. 00:47:21.900 |
So for a two-day retreat, we cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we thought that we're 00:47:28.780 |
And so about seven, eight guys stayed up literally all night. 00:47:34.420 |
So we stayed up from 12 to 5 in the morning, and we just blew up balloons, like hundreds 00:47:43.580 |
And we didn't sleep till about 5 in the morning, and they all started waking up about 6.30. 00:47:48.860 |
We all, after five hours of blowing balloons, and the room was maybe knee-deep with balloons 00:47:56.400 |
And so our big surprise was the finale was when they opened the door, they're going to 00:48:01.020 |
Oh my gosh, I can't believe you guys stayed up all night and blew these balloons. 00:48:05.660 |
So they wake up at 6.30 in the morning, and we're all eager, and they open the door, and 00:48:11.860 |
they look at all the balloons, and they're like, ah, balloons. 00:48:20.420 |
And I remember every single one of us was like, oh my gosh, we did this all night for 00:48:30.180 |
They didn't realize how much time and effort. 00:48:36.340 |
But their response was like, oh, thanks, thanks. 00:48:46.820 |
That made such a-- again, when I think about underappreciating, I always think about that. 00:48:57.020 |
If you put that much time and effort to prepare as a gift to give to somebody, and the recipient 00:49:04.060 |
of that gift is, thank you, and that's the response that we give, it'd be an understatement 00:49:16.580 |
That's why in chapter 12, it says, in view of this mercy to offer your body as a living 00:49:25.540 |
Reasonable act of response to what God has given. 00:49:28.860 |
So everything that we've been studying up to this point is an explanation of how he's 00:49:35.340 |
preparing mankind to meet Christ on the cross. 00:49:43.660 |
We shouldn't just look at this kind of nonchalantly. 00:49:45.740 |
This is something that we should dig and question. 00:49:47.940 |
And even if you don't have the answers for it, at least contemplate and think and meditate. 00:49:55.380 |
Let me pray for us and I'll get you guys into your small groups. 00:50:01.100 |
Gracious Father, we thank you for this evening. 00:50:03.860 |
And I pray, Father God, that during our small group time that you would bless our discussion, 00:50:08.900 |
that it would lead to greater understanding of the cross and what you've done. 00:50:13.820 |
Lord, as we examine the skin disease, Lord God, that was so devastating, and how it ultimately 00:50:20.380 |
points to sin and the ugliness and the damage that it does. 00:50:25.820 |
Help us to recognize ourselves in this law and also to recognize what it is that we have 00:50:34.500 |
I pray that you would help us to be fruitful in our discussion.