Numbers 19:1-22 The Water of Purification and its Preparation

[Study Aired September 11, 2023]

Num 19:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 19:2  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: 
Num 19:3  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 
Num 19:4  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 
Num 19:5  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 
Num 19:6  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 
Num 19:7  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
Num 19:8  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 
Num 19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. 
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever. 
Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. 
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
Num 19:14  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
Num 19:15  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
Num 19:16  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:17  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Num 19:18  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
Num 19:19  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 
Num 19:20  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
Num 19:21  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
Num 19:22  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

Introduction

In chapter 18, we are shown the service to be rendered and the compensation or the reward given to the Aaronic priesthood, which represents the elect, and how the work of the Levites (our brothers and sisters in Babylon) is to aid the work of the elect. Chapter 19, which is the focus of our study today, follows up with the potential threats to the performance of the priesthood service and the Lord’s provision to sanctify us as we journey in this wilderness of life. As we are aware, there are so many things that can easily defile us to be disqualified in performing our role as priests in this life. During the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, Aaron and his sons (the priests) were prone to being easily defiled, thus preventing them from performing their role as Priests. For example, just touching a grave makes one defiled. Our situation as we see this age gradually coming to an end is very challenging. We can easily be defiled in our heavens through false doctrines of which our Lord Jesus warned us:

Mat 24:3  As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 
Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
Mat 24:5  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

The propensity for the people of Israel to be defiled as they journeyed through the wilderness was extremely high, and so this chapter focuses on the preparation of the water of purification, which is able to cleanse the people to make them clean. Today’s study is to enlighten our understanding on this water of purification, which is cleansing us as His priests so that we can perform our duties as priests of the Lord in this life. 

Num 19:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 19:2  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:

The red heifer here is Christ who redeems us from our sins.  The color red qualifying the heifer, therefore signifies Christ in His humanity. The heifer being without blemish indicates that Christ was without sin. The fact that the heifer was ‘without spot’ means that Jesus Christ was perfect. The heifer was also not under any yoke which implies that Christ was not under any bondage to sin or anyone. Our Lord Jesus Christ was therefore the perfect sacrifice to take away our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 
Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 
Rom 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 
Rom 3:26  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Num 19:3  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 

The fact that Eleazer, the Priest, was the one who led the red heifer, representing Christ, outside the camp to be slaughtered in verse 3 implies that we, His elect, all contributed to the death of Christ. In Acts 4:27-28, the list of all those who murdered Christ was mentioned as follows:

Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Does this list exclude anybody? No. We are all guilty of Christ’s murder. However, this outrageous act did turn out to be for our salvation. This is what our Lord said about us being guilty of the blood of the prophets:

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Num 19:4  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 

Verse 4 shows us that the blood of Christ (red heifer) cleanses our temple (our hearts and mind) from all unrighteousness. Eleazer cleaning the tabernacle seven times with the blood of the red heifer signifies Christ completely cleansing our hearts and mind with His blood.

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 
Heb 9:12  Neither 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. 
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 
Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 
Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 
Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 
Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 
Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 
Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 
Heb 9:25  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 
Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

Num 19:5  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 
Num 19:6  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 

Where there is burning, there is the judgment of God as shown in the following verses:

Deu 32:24  They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 

Job 41:19  Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

Isa 4:4  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Verse 5 and 6 therefore signify the judgment of the Lord in His humanity which resulted in His total obedience to His father, and therefore He became the author of eternal salvation for His elect, the priests, and for the rest of the world.

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 

We need to understand the significance of the cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet which were cast into the midst of the burning of the red heifer. Cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet are essential ingredients in the purification process according to the law of Moses as shown in the following verse:

Lev 14:51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:

Cedar trees are considered to be the first of trees. The Bible describes the cedar tree as strong, durable, graceful and beautiful. It is known for its longevity and resistance to decay. It is a symbol of Christ’s considerable spiritual stature, excellence and perfection in God. In the case of cedar wood, it represents Christ in His humanity.

Isa 9:10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars [Strong and Durable].

Psa 80:10  The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars [Graceful and beautiful].

Eze 17:23  In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

Throwing cedar wood into the burning of the red heifer means that Christ was judged in His humanity as He suffered for our sake.  It also means that Christ’s coming to us is with judgment.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Hyssop is an evergreen plant of the mint family. It was first used in the Bible as a sort of paintbrush to apply a lamb’s blood for cleansing. This usage had been consistent in the law of Moses. 

Exo 12:22  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

As we can see, hyssop is therefore an instrument used for cleansing. In this life, it is we, His elect, whom the Lord uses to cleanse His people and therefore we are represented by the hyssop. Being thrown into the burning of the red heifer means the elect must fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for the body’s sake in this age.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

The next item thrown in the burning of the red heifer is the scarlet. The word “scarlet” properly refers to the insect “coccus ilicit”, the dried body of the female yielding coloring matter from which is made the dye used for cloth to color it scarlet or crimson. The first time this word was used in the Bible was as follows:

Gen 38:28  And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

We, His elect, are the firstfruit of Christ who are the first to know Him in this life (first to come out). We therefore represent the scarlet that is thrown into the burning of the red heifer. Again, this implies that we are to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for the body’s sake in this age. The two items (the scarlet and the hyssop) serve as witnesses to the fact that, as His elect, we must suffer with Him in this life. 

It is also very insightful to note that the throwing of the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet into the burning of the red heifer also symbolizes that the elect together with our Lord Jesus will administer judgment in the lake of fire to all humanity to bring them to Christ, just as the son of God (Jesus) was with the three Hebrew boys (the elect) in the oven during Nebuchadnezzar’s time. In this case, the red heifer represents the beast within all humanity.

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 
Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 

Num 19:7  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
Num 19:8  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 

The priest, or the one responsible for the burning of the red heifer, must wash his clothes or bathe his flesh in water in order to be clean. The washing of clothes and the bathing of the flesh in water all signify how the word of the Lord (water) cleanses us as we are given to know the truth of the word. 

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

The fact that the priest and the one unclean would continue to be unclean until the evening means that it takes a while to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. That is to say that being cleansed or sanctified is a process. It is not a one-time event. 

2Co 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another [a process]. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Num 19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. 
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute forever. 

As we are aware, ashes indicate that burning had taken place. The burning of the heifer shows us the suffering of Christ. Remember that during the burning of the heifer, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were added to the burning. We indicated that the hyssop and the scarlet represent the elect. The ashes of the heifer collected and preserved therefore include the ashes of the hyssop and that of the scarlet. The ashes of the heifer to be collected and preserved for the water of purification therefore is a symbol of the suffering we must endure in order to be cleansed. In other words, it is the fire of the word of the Lord. This implies that there is no cleansing when there are no fiery trials in our lives (fire of the word) since the ashes together with running water constitute the water of purification. 

Mat 13:20  As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 
Mat 13:21  yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word [the fire of the word], immediately he falls away.

The ashes of the heifer, which are a mark of suffering, are the same as the scars on the hands of our Lord Jesus when He appeared before Thomas and asked Thomas to put his finger into His scars as proof that He has resurrected. 

Joh 20:25  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 
Joh 20:26  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 
Joh 20:27  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 
Joh 20:28  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 
Joh 20:29  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In verse 10, we are told that gathering ashes of a heifer makes one unclean. In another perspective, gathering ashes is the same as requiring evidence before believing, which makes us unclean. That was what happened to Thomas, and as a result, the Lord told him it is those who have not seen but yet believe who are blessed.  

The rest of the verses of this chapter focus on the sources of contamination which would require the use of water of purification.

Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
Num 19:14  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

Spiritually, a dead body of any man refers to a person who is spiritually dead. Touching a dead body therefore means accepting the false teachings or doctrines from a spiritually dead person. As stated in verse 11, such a person becomes unclean for a complete period of his or her life until the person has access to the water of purification. In verse 12, purifying himself on the third day means that it is through the process of judgment that such a person will become spiritually mature or clean and shall be regarded as being clean over his complete (7 days) walk with Christ. This also implies that if such a person does not experience the process of judgment, such a person will not be clean or spiritually mature. 

In verse 13, we are told the consequence of touching a dead body of a man, that is, accepting false teachings or doctrines from a spiritually dead person. It defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and in the final analysis, such a person is cut off from the elect if he or she does not accept the judgment, or the fiery trials produced by the fire of the Lord’s words (water of purification). Defiling the tabernacle of the Lord means that our hearts and minds become defiled with false doctrines. Verse 14 says that if a man dies in a tent and we continue to come into the tent of the dead man, we shall be defiled for the rest of our walk with the Lord (complete 7-day period). What this implies is that if a person in our midst (in a tent) becomes spiritually dead and we continue to fellowship with such a person, we end up defiling our hearts and minds for the complete period of our walk when we continue to fellowship with the spiritually dead person. This scenario is what the apostles warned us about as follows:

Jud 1:3  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 
Jud 1:4  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:8  Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 

Jud 1:10  But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Jud 1:11  Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jud 1:12  These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 
Jud 1:13  wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Jud 1:14  It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 
Jud 1:15  to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 
Jud 1:16  These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. (ESV)

Num 19:15  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. 
Num 19:16  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 

Verse 15 talks about the fact that an open vessel, without a cover fastened to it, is prone to being contaminated or unclean. We are the open vessel that must have a cover. Having a cover means we must be able to test the spirit to see if it is of the Lord. If we are not able to test the spirit, then we are just like an open vessel without cover which makes us unclean. 

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Verse 16 deals with being unclean by touching anything associated with a dead person – the dead body, a bone of a man or a grave. This means that we should not share fellowship with anyone who we know is spiritually dead, otherwise we end up becoming spiritually dead for a certain complete period of our walk with Christ (unclean for seven days). During Paul’s time, the church in Corinth was still having fellowship with a man who even slept with his father’s wife, although this deed was known within the church. This was Paul’s advice to the church:

1Co 5:1  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 
1Co 5:4  When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 
1Co 5:5  you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 
1Co 5:6  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 

1Co 5:9  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people 
1Co 5:10  not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 
1Co 5:11  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. (ESV)

Num 19:17  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Num 19:18  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
Num 19:19  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 

It takes running water and the ashes of the burnt heifer for purification for sin. The running water here refers to the living and active word of the Lord.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

As indicated earlier, the ashes of the burnt heifer refer to the fiery trials we endure or the fire of the word, which together with the living word of the Lord, causes us to learn righteousness or become clean. A clean person dipping the hyssop in the water and sprinkling it upon the tent means that it is the elect who, through what every joint supplies, helps those who have been overtaken by a fault to cleanse their hearts and mind with the truth of the word of the Lord. The clean person or the elect sprinkling upon the person who is taken in a fault on the third day means that it is through the process of judgment of our old man that we become clean or spiritually mature. The fact that he shall purify himself on the seventh day after washing his clothes and bathing himself in water signifies that the complete period of his walk with Christ shall be characterized by knowing the truth of the word of the Lord which is able to make one clean.  

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 

Num 19:20  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
Num 19:21  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
Num 19:22  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

These verses show us that if we do not walk by the truth of the word of the Lord (water of purification), we shall be alienated from the people of God or the elect. This means that we must pay heed to what we hear. It is not by our own power that we can walk in the truth of His words, but if we depend on Him, He will drag us to walk in His truth. 

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 
Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 
Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 
Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

May the Lord help us to be doers of His word as we see the day approaching! Amen!!

Jdg 20:25-48 They Set on Fire all the Cities That They Came To

[Study Aired September 20, 2021]

Jdg 20:25  And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
Jdg 20:26  Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
Jdg 20:27  And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
Jdg 20:28  And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.
Jdg 20:29  And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.
Jdg 20:30  And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.
Jdg 20:31  And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
Jdg 20:32  And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.
Jdg 20:33  And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
Jdg 20:34  And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.
Jdg 20:35  And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.
Jdg 20:36  So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.
Jdg 20:37  And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.
Jdg 20:38  Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.
Jdg 20:39  And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
Jdg 20:40  But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.
Jdg 20:41  And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them. 
Jdg 20:42  Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.
Jdg 20:43  Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
Jdg 20:44  And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.
Jdg 20:45  And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
Jdg 20:46  So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. 
Jdg 20:47  But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
Jdg 20:48  And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

The second part of Judges Chapter 20 deals with the continuation of the battle that ensued between the Israelites and the tribe of Benjamin because of the slaying of the concubine of the Levite by the Benjamites in Gibeah. As we walk with Christ in this journey of life to possess our inheritance, our Lord looks for occasions to come and judge us so that we will learn righteousness. In this case, ‘we’ represents the Benjamites who were being judged.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

This conflict between the Israelites and the Benjamites typifies a certain stage in our walk with Christ when we are brought to realize that the enemy of our progress in Christ is within (the old man), not external. We are therefore called to war against our members. This is explained to us as follows:

Jas 4:1  From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Today’s study highlights what happens to us as we engage the old man within in the battle of our lives. Our victory over the flesh is not achieved by doing anything but depending on our Lord. That is what it means for Judah to go up first to engage the enemy. It is when we see our Lord in everything which happens to us that we come to rest from our own strivings, and that is when victory comes to us!!

Jdg 20:25  And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

As we are tried by the word of God through judgment, about eighteen thousand of the enemies within are destroyed on the second day. The second day here refers to when we come to understand the truth of the word of God from all the false doctrines we have imbibed in our heavens. This is shown to us by the creation story when the waters which were above (the truth) were separated by the waters below the firmament (the false doctrines) on the second day.

Gen 1:7  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Gen 1:8  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

To understand the significance of eighteen thousand men dying on the second day, let’s look at the following scriptures:

2Sa 8:13  And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.

1Ch 18:12  Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand.

We can see that on two occasions, eighteen thousand enemies died in the valley of salt. We, the elect, are described as salt, and in the sermon of the Mount, Jesus admonished us not to lose our savor as salt as we then become good for nothing. So what we are being told here is that on the second day, as we are being judged and our eyes begin to appreciate the truth from the lies, our trials destroy all within us that will make us lose our savor as salt on the earth. The statement “all these men drew sword” means that what is destroyed constitutes part of the enemies within us.

Jdg 20:26  Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 

All the people of Israel coming to Bethel, or the house of God, to weep is the same as saying that we are brought to our wits’ end as we are judged.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Jdg 20:27  And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
Jdg 20:28  And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

It is through the trials we face which forces us to seek the face of the Lord through His words. We therefore become as the church in Berea during the time of Paul when they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures to ascertain whether those things that they were thought were in accordance with scriptures.

Act 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

As we search the scriptures, we receive direction of the Lord as to what path we should take in life. In other words, our paths become clearer just as the Israelites became certain that they must continue the fight and that the next day victory would become theirs. We have been assured, just like the Israelites, that we shall be victorious in this fight against the old man. Several scriptures show us that the word of God directs our path in life and so whatever happens to us is not by mistake. God is in action on our behalf!!

Psa 119:104  Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp

Psa 27:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD (the word of God) is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Jdg 20:29  And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.
Jdg 20:30  And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.

The third day refers to the fact that all that happens to us in our fiery trials is part of the process of spiritual completion through judgment just as the Israelites and the Benjamites were being judged as part of their process of spiritual completion.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Jdg 20:31  And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
Jdg 20:32  And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.

What our trials accomplish on the third day is that we put to death thirty enemies of our flesh. The number thirty signifies the age that we are deemed ready to work in God’s house. So the killing of thirty men signifies the destruction of all that prevents us from being effective in our work in the house of God. That is what brings about our spiritual completion.

Num 4:3  From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 4:23  From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 4:30 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 4:35  From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation:

In verse 32, the strategy of this war on the third day was to draw the Benjamites out of the city. As Benjamites (God’s elect), our trials are to take us away from the city or Babylon’s influences as part of our spiritual completion. Thus, God initiates these fiery trails in our lives to bring us out of Babylon completely so that we adhere to His command to leave Babylon.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Jdg 20:33  And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
Jdg 20:34  And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.
Jdg 20:35  And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

The men of Israel came up against the Benjamites at Gibeah with ten thousand chosen men ready for battle. The number ten means the completion or the fullness of the flesh.  So the ten thousand men coming against the Benjamites means that judgment has come upon us because our sins are full or our sins have reached the heavens or God has remembered our iniquities.

Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

The Benjamites thought that it was victory as usual since they had been victorious for the first two days of the war. We must never lower our guard as we deal with the old man or the flesh within. Paul admonished us as follows regarding this war against the flesh:

1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Jdg 20:36  So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.
Jdg 20:37  And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.
Jdg 20:38  Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.

These verses focus on the strategy used by the Israelites to defeat the Benjamites. The Israelites made use of liers who waited at the opportune time to besiege Gibeah and smote the city with the edge of the sword. Remember that the Benjamites represent the elect. The liers in wait are the Israelites who were called but not chosen. They are those who parade themselves as apostles of Christ as indicated by Paul as follows:

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

These false apostles or liers in wait are used by the Lord to make us worse off, and it is through this process of judgment that we realize that we are the chief of sinners just like Paul.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

It is only when we come to this point of knowing that we are the worst sinners that Christ comes to us with His light (the word of God) to destroy all the harm the liars have caused in our lives.  That is, all the false doctrines which have been the source of all the suffering we are going through in our lives are destroyed by the light of God’s word.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The statement “that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city” means that all the false doctrines that have become our fortress as a city (Gibeah) are destroyed by the truth of the fire of the word of God. As our heavens are being cleansed of all these false doctrines, it becomes a sign to us, as shown in verse 38, that victory is around the corner. In other words, what our Lord has started, He is in the process of finishing!

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Jdg 20:39  And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
Jdg 20:40  But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.
Jdg 20:41  And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.

It is when we see the flame (the fire of the word of God) begin to cleanse our heavens (the city) that we (the Benjamites) realize that evil has really overtaken us.  In other words, that is when we realize that we are indeed the worst sinners!

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Jdg 20:42  Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.
Jdg 20:43  Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
Jdg 20:44  And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.

As indicated earlier, the death of eighteen thousand Benjamites means the destruction of all that makes us lose our savor as salt of the earth. The Benjamites turning their backs and being pursued by the enemy is the same as we coming to our wits’ end under God’s judgment.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Jdg 20:45  And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
Jdg 20:46  So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.

In this war, it is not those (the Benjamites) who managed to escape who are saved. Rather it is those who die in the battle (the trials of our lives) who are saved. This is what our Lord Jesus was talking about when He said:</>

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

So all those who died in this war are those who died to the flesh. They are the victors! Not those who survived.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus are all those who died to the old man, represented here by the fact that they have not worshiped the beast.

As our fiery trials rage on in our lives, we naturally turn to preserve our lives. This is indicated by the fleeing of the Benjamites to the rock of Rimmon and to Gidom. According to Strong, Rimmon is the name of a Syrian deity. What this means is that we cling to another Jesus or anything apart from Christ to deliver us from our troubles.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

However, if we are destined to be part of the elect, then no matter what we do, everything in us that mitigates against Christ in us will be cut down (the meaning of Gidom) so that we die to the old man. That is where our victory is – the death of the old man or our flesh!!

Jdg 20:47  But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. 

The six hundred men who fled to the wilderness represent those who start this journey with Christ but cannot turn away from the rock Rimmon, which is another Jesus. In other words, the whole of their life, represented here by four months, is spent believing in this false Christ. Their lives are therefore preserved as they do not die to the old man through the trials of this life. However, they end up losing their crown.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

This other Jesus becomes the idols of the heart of this symbolic six hundred men, and they therefore become deceived thinking that they are the elect.

Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

Jdg 20:48  And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

This verse is the summary of all that took place during the judgment of the Benjamites. God used the Israelites as His tool of judgment to refine the Benjamites who represent God’s elect.

Mal 3:2  But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
Mal 3:3  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.
Mal 3:4  Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

The judgment here identified four items which were destroyed by the edge of the sword and by fire.  They were: the men of the cities, the beasts, all that came to hand and the cities themselves. Let’s look at these items to understand the objective of God’s judgment.

The men of the cities – This refers to all that is in us which makes us act as carnal or like any other human being. This includes envying, strife, divisions, jealousy, etc. In effect, this is the same as the beast within each of us which must be destroyed.

1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

The beasts – We are all beasts. In our lives here on earth, God takes us through an experience of evil so that we become humbled and come to the realization that we are the beast spoken of in the word of God. This is the same as coming to realize that you and I are the chief of sinners.

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

All that came to hand – This means all that they found in the cities. This includes everything in our external environment that mitigates against us knowing Christ. These must be destroyed. It involves relationships which must be destroyed to set us free from their influences, things that engage our attention and takes away our focus from Christ, locations that are not favorable for our growth in Christ, etc. Sometimes through our fiery trials, we lose through death a relationship we treasure so much, and we come to our wits’ end. But this is what our Lord has to say to us:

Isa 43:4  Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.
Isa 43:5  Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.

There are times that God makes it impossible for us to live in a certain location, and it is all part of God’s plan for us so we get closer to Him.

Act 17:26  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
Act 17:27  that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

Cities – This is the last item destroyed by the Israelites when they set the cities on fire. The cities here represent Jerusalem which is and is in bondage with her children.

Gal 4:25  Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Gal 4:26  But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

So all that we have learned from Babylon, which is symbolized here by the cities, must be burnt with fire which is the word of God. As our understanding grows concerning the word of God, tribulation and persecution will arise because of the word to destroy like fire all that we have learned which is contrary to the truth of the word of God. That is what it means to set the cities on fire!!

Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

We need to understand that all the destruction that took place was due to the edge of the word and fire. The word of God is the sword, and it is the also the fire. All of this is to assure us that as long as our eyes are seeing and our ears are hearing, what God has started in each one of us will be completed!!

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous <men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Next week, we will study the last chapter of the Book of Judges.  This will bring our study of the Book of Judges to an end. If our Lord permits, we will look at the Book of Ruth which is just four chapters and is part of the period of the Judges where every man did what was right in his own eyes because there was no king in Israel. After the Book of Ruth we will look at the Book of Daniel, God willing.

Heb 9:6-10 – Part 4  “Until the time of Reformation”

[Study Aired December 17, 2020]

Heb 9:6  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 
Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

This next section of Hebrews 9 we will study concludes with the statement, “until the time of reformation.” The events that unfold in “the sanctuary” and within the “holiest of all” (Heb 9:1-5) are typical (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 1:12) of what is required for the elect to experience a true “time of reformation” that has yet to come to all the world and will manifest in its completion for those who will be blessed to be granted to be in the first resurrection (Rev 20:6-7, 1Jn 4:17, Luk 12:49).

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world [Luk 13:32].

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

Before the event of Gog and Magog being gathered to battle against the camp of the saints of Revelation 20:8-9, Christ shall “send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds” (Mar 13:27-37) which has an inward application at first on pentecost (Act 2:1) and an outward dispensational one as well at the time of the first resurrection (1Co 15:52). In other words, we have to do spiritual battle now against “the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog” within us if we are going to be part of “the camp of the saints…and the beloved city” spoken of in Revelation 20:9.

Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Mar 13:27  And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

The true process of spiritual reformation only happens with the elect at first once the holy spirit is given (Rom 8:9). The church is being gathered over and over since that time of pentecost in order to be prepared (Luk 3:4) for the first resurrection. Today, God’s elect are to keep ourselves ready for when “the master of the house cometh”. “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” (Mat 13:35-37).

The marriage supper has yet to occur but our hearts are to always be ready in anticipation of the bridegroom who is at the door (Mat 25:6-10). If we are granted to endure until the end of our life with that readiness of mind, we will be of those who can say “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev 19:7). If we are physically watching for Christ to return at “at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning“, we are missing the point of the parable of the foolish and wise virgins who all had to be wakened out of sleep. It was only the elect who were granted that extra oil in order to see and be ready at every hour for when the bridegroom comes. That oil is what God grants His people to purchase at an appointed time (Rev 3:18, Eph 1:11) and witnesses to the world that the marriage supper was only meant to be for a specific small remnant whose trials and suffering are all working together for good because of the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts so His purpose can be accomplished within His workmanship which we are (Rom 8:28, Rom 5:5, Luk 12:32, Joh 13:35, Eph 2:10).

Any reformation that has happened to Israel of old, or to the world in general also, during the thousand year rule of the saints is only typical of the true spiritual reformation that will occur in the lake of fire. It will take God’s fiery words that will be accompanied with judgment of the world through God’s elect (1Co 6:3) at the great white throne judgment in order to bring about a time of true spiritual reformation at the second resurrection.

The offering of both “gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience” (of verse 9) represents the self-righteous works of our flesh which, although they were “a figure for the time then present“, that service we performed, like the rich wrong ruler (Mat 19:20-21), could not perfect us “as pertaining to the conscience“.

Mat 19:20  The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mat 19:21  Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect [‘if you will be reformed‘], go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Regardless, the contrast was deemed necessary by our Creator just as the thousand-year period, which is an undetermined amount of time and is necessary for those who remain on the earth when Christ returns, to demonstrate that no matter how idyllic a relationship we may think we have with Christ in our lives, where we even gave gifts and sacrifices and did many wonderful works, at the end of the day the heart of man cannot be changed through those works, and therefore the conscience is not cleansed (Joh 8:31-32, Mat 19:22) resulting in rebellion which was the occasion against the flesh which God had predestined and sought out against the world from the beginning (Gen 3:6).

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Mat 19:22  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions [“gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience”].

During that symbolic thousand-year period of time the elect in type and shadow are represented by the manna that fell in the wilderness back in Moses’ day and was used to show Israel (the world) what God already knows is in their hearts, just like Adam and Eve in the garden (Mat 16:13-15, Exo 16:23-24, Joh 6:51, Rev 21:2). The ultimate time of reformation for which we long, is typified by the last great day of the feast and called the great white throne judgment, lake of fire or second resurrection (Rev 20:8, Deu 8:16-20, Rev 20:10-15).

(Israel of old asks the same question of the manna that was given by Christ [Mat 16:13], the true bread of life of John 6:32-35 and James 1:17)

Deu 8:16  Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
Deu 8:17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth [Php 3:9].
Deu 8:18  But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day [Php 3:9].

The only thing that can perfect us is the gift of being dragged to Christ where we will be saved by grace through faith (Joh 6:44, Eph 2:8-9) and Christ’s life is contrasted in the old covenant with “meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances” that were all imposed on Israel “until the time of reformation” which can only come about at that day (Joh 14:20) when the true reformer within us, Jesus Christ (Rom 8:9), works in us both to will and to do of God’s predestined work which He had purposed for us from the foundation of the world (Php 2:12-13, Eph 1:4).

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast [Mat 7:22].

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Going from those dead works and being cleansed in our conscience by our high priest Jesus Christ (Joh 8:36, 1Jn 2:1-2) is the difference between spiritual life and death, and it is offered to very few in this life (Mat 22:14) as typified by Joseph. The honor is to be in the blessed and holy first resurrection so we can explain to all of humanity, as Joseph did in type and shadow with his brothers, what God’s unwavering purpose has always been for everyone which was intimately connected with clearing the conscience, which Joseph was attempting to do for his brothers with this statement (Gen 45:5):

Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

In type and shadow, Joseph is that advocate for his brothers, of which we read in 1John 2:1-2 and 1John 3:20), just as we will be if we are blessed to endure until the end believing and enduring through the much tribulation of this life (Act 14:22, Php 1:29, 2Ti 2:12, Mat 24:13) so that we can be those saviours who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21). These words of Joseph in Genesis 45:5 did not convert his brothers in type and shadow, but were more representative of the loaves and fishes Christ gave to his disciples in the early going (Joh 6:25-27, Tit 3:8). The manna (physical healings and needs met) that we will provide for the world during the thousand-year reign will likewise not be used to convert but rather set the stage for the lake of fire, which will be the true beginning point for the worlds “time of reformation“.

Heb 9:6  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

When the Jews who believed on Christ met Him in “the temple” (Joh 8:2, Joh 8:31), it is somewhat akin to the works  of the “first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God” (the many good and wonderful works that we do for Christ [Mat 7:22]), in the sense that it is only through continuing in the truth (Joh 8:31-32) that the truth can set us free.  However, what we don’t understand (until such time we do) is that continuing in Christ can only ever be accomplished through Christ, which is why it is written: “But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people“.

Joh 8:2  And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

What Christ said to those Jews who believed on him was reiterated with this same principle of continuing with Christ but said differently in these verses:

Joh 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you (which correlates with “But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people“).
Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Joh 6:58  This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
Joh 6:59  These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
Joh 6:60  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it (Mat 22:14)?
Joh 6:61  When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

[our flesh is offended by these words of Christ if the spirit of God is not in us giving us the power and the boldness to enter into the “holiest of all” places where we drink the blood and eat the body of Christ so we can overcome our corrupt flesh and Adamic blood which is against God’s spirit (Gal 5:17)]

The priest going into “the holiest of all” “alone once every year” “not without blood” “which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people” all symbolize for us what Christ has been doing since Pentecost for those with whom He has been working, cleansing our conscience as we die daily as He gives us the power through His blood [His word that quickens us (Joh 17:17, Joh 6:63)] to be washed with the word (Heb 9:14-23, Eph 5:24-26).

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth [Joh 16:7].
Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission [Joh 12:24, Gal 3:16, Rom 12:5, Col 1:27].
Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us [“holiest of all” (Eph 2:6)]:
Heb 9:25  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world [1Jn 2:16] hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church [Christ’s wife who is neither male or female (Gal 3:28)] is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing [both the church unto her husband Christ and wives unto their husbands as they follow Christ (1Co 11:1)].
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (Men are to lead in this washing process, and we are all to be subject unto Christ in order for it to be effective. (Joh 17:17)],

Christ made a way for us to enter into this “holiest of all” places so we could gain His peace  by putting away sin (Php 4:7), and it was done by the “high priest” “alone once every year” which symbolizes how it is through Christ and Christ “alone” (Joh 16:32-33) that we can overcome this first temple which is still standing (Heb 9:8) even now in this earnest relationship we have (Eph 5:24-26, 1Pe 3:7) where we can boldly come before the throne of grace to find help in time of need (Eph 1:14, Heb 4:16). Christ, or the high priest in type and shadow, goes into this most holy place “not without blood” which is why Christ said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you”. Our dying daily process in the Lord (1Co 15:31) is another way of saying, “not without blood.”

Continuing or abiding with Christ is eating “the flesh of the Son of man” and drinking “his blood”. The new covenant promises are founded on this sacrifice of Christ, and unless this seed had died (Gal 3:16), we would have had no way to be reconciled to God so we can now die daily and be baptized into His death (Rom 6:3). The elect are dying daily for that very reason so that we can be saved and used to reconcile the rest of the world through Christ and His Christ (Heb 9:16, Joh 12:24, Rom 5:10).

Christ’s life was accepted by our Father, and when He offered his life and said “but I lay it down of myself”, He acknowledged whose power it was working in Him that was making this possible: “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (Joh 10:2, Joh 10:11, Joh 10:18, Joh 5:30, Joh 15:5, 1Ch 29:14).

Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep [Mat 10:39].

[“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” We have to conclude therefore that it is through the life of Christ that we partake of that we can be nourished and given the strength to lose “his life for my sake“],

Joh 10:18  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father [Psa 118:27].

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

1Ch 29:14  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee [Joh 5:30, Joh 15:5].

Christ needed to be a spotless sacrifice which was made possible through the Father who gave Him the power to overcome and always do those things that were pleasing in His sight (Joh 8:29, 1Jn 3:22, what was pleasing to God was to always say “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” [Luk 22:42, Mat 20:23, Php 3:9]). This offering of himself by way of the blood represents the obedient life of Christ in His flesh (Eph 5:30) Who was tempted in all diverse manner yet without sin (Heb 4:15). This offering of blood is perfectly tied into the concept of the two goats and the two birds of Leviticus (Lev 16:8, Lev 14:5-7) which symbolize this symbolic moment that reads “But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people“.

Joh 8:29  And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless [Php 3:9] not my will, but thine, be done.

Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

The world cannot eat at the altar to which God has given the body of Christ access (Heb 13:10), and it is only through the “Holy Ghost^G4151” (Rom 8:9, Eph 2:18) that we can gain access to the “holiest of all” places (Heb 9:14).

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit^G4151, if so be that the Spirit^G4151 of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit^G4151 of Christ, he is none of his.

Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^G4151 offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

While we are “yet standing” in the “first tabernacle” as opposed to lying dead “in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Rev 11:8-9), or “while as the first tabernacle was yet standing” meaning we are still being found “having mine own righteousness” (Php 3:9), we are not at those times entering into the “holiest of all” and that is the very reason we must fight a good fight of faith and keep under ourselves and die daily, so we can be reassured in our hearts through those works which we are admonished to be careful to maintain (Tit 3:8), that we are standing in Christ alone (1Ti 6:12, 1Co 9:27, 1Co 15:31, Eph 6:13).

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

[the world is focused on burying their own dead (Luk 9:60, Mat 23:23) and don’t see the need to be partakers of the burial of Christ as these woman who represent the church did did(Mar 16:1, Luk 23:56, Luk 24:1, Joh 19:40, Tit 3:8). Those burials which they perform in their flesh were predestined and meant to be contrasted with those who are blessed in this age to be the first to trust in God and be prepared by the Father through the works He ordained for us from the foundation of the world (Eph 2:10) so that we can rejoice now, and again I say rejoice, because the bride is making herself ready through those works that Christ is doing through us (Php 4:4, Rev 19:8)].

Luk 24:1  Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared [Rev 19:7, Mat 25:34], and certain others with them.

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 

Verse 9 of our study is at the heart and core of this chapter, as it reminds us that the works of man that are typical works, or “Which was a figure for the time then present“, do not make anyone perfect “as pertaining to the conscience“. It is only when we are granted to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in ^G1722 Christ Jesus” that our conscience can truly be cleansed as He shows us what needs to corrected in our thinking so we can fulfill his joy and be of one mind, the mind of Christ (Php 3:14, Act 17:28, Mat 24:13, Php 2:2, 1Jn 1:5-10, Rom 2:4, Heb 10:29).

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in^G1722 Christ Jesus.

Act 17:28  For in^G1722 him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in^G1722 the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? [Eph 2:18]

Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

There are only two types of works in God’s eyes that are unfolding on this earth, the first being “only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation“. These represent the type and shadow reformation that we see happening over and over again in the churches of Babylon that have not been given to have their foundation built on the Lord who alone can reform our hearts and minds (Mat 16:18, Joh 2:19 – It is God’s good pleasure to reform His little flock today  – Luk 12:32).

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up [reformation defined for us by Christ].

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

The other work that God has ordained from the foundation of the world is also “in meats and drinks” which is typified by the body and blood of Christ (Joh 6:53-56, Mat 24:35) whose body (the church Col 1:24) is spoken of as being “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Joh 8:51, Rev 1:3). This is the true “time of reformation” that the first fruits of God are experiencing as the generation that will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled in their lives (Mat 24:34).

Joh 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man [“in meats“], and drink his blood [“and drinks“], ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day [Rev 20:6].
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in^G1722 him [Joh 14:20].

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in^G1722 my Father, and ye in me, and I in^G1722 you.

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Joh 8:51  Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

[Study Aired July 27, 2020]

Luk 17:11-19 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Tonight’s study will focus on the “ten men that were lepers” and “Go shew yourselves unto the priests”. The number ten deals with the “completeness of the flesh”. Here is a link to the spiritual significance of the number ten.

The Spiritual Meaning of the Number Ten

Leprosy is a symbol of sin or lack of understanding of the doctrines of Christ. The flesh of Christ, His body, must be healthy to understand the doctrines of Christ in order to overcome the world and its carnality.

Pro 4:1-2 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

Joh 7:16-18 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

2Jn 1:9-11 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

We need to review Leviticus 13, 14 and part of 22 to understand how leprosy is diagnosed and how it is cleansed.

The leper is sent to the priest or one of the sons of the priest and they will determine if there is a leprosy present.

Lev 13:1-3 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

Aaron and his sons represent the elders of the church. The priests examine the spot in the skin. In spiritual-speak the elders review the suspected lack of understanding that is within the member(s) of the body of Christ.

Lev 13:4-6 If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more: And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.

After determining there is no leprosy, seeing this is just a sore, the priest pronounces him clean, but he must still must wash his clothes. In other words, only part of the body has succumbed to this sin (lack of understanding), and they have their understanding corrected by the “washing of the water”. Notice there are two seven-day periods during which the priest shut up the leper.

Eph 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Now the scab is spread throughout the body and is pronounced unclean. This leprosy (sin of the body) is now spreading throughout the whole congregation.

Lev 13:7-8 But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy.

Lev 13:9-11 When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean.

What is an “old leprosy”? It is mixing the old law with the new not understanding there has been a change in the law.

Heb 7:11-12 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

Mat 9:16-17 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

Next, the “leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and it is all turned white” tells us that the sin or lack of understanding that was in part of the body has been exposed and corrected.

Lev 13:12-13 And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean.

Psa 51:6-7 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

The following section of Leviticus 13 shows us there are many things that can cause us to be unclean and the changes of the skin can show us the leprosy has been cleansed. The unclean person is considered contagious and therefore must be separated from the congregation.

Lev 13:14-15 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy.

As we all know, flesh is corrupted and cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Gen 6:11-12 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Gal 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

If the raw flesh is changed to white, it becomes clean.

Lev 13:16-17 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest; And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean.

Psa 19:12-13 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous (proud) sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

1Jn 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world [in our leperous flesh], the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

Just because there is some healing, does not mean the leper is completely clean.

Lev 13:18-20-22 The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed, And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish, and it be shewed to the priest; And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.

Several times, as part of the process of determining if the leper is clean or unclean, they are shut up for seven days up to fourteen days. This represents a time of maturity or lack thereof.

Lev 13:21-22 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.

Now a new symptom is added to the diagnosis – Burning.

Lev 13:23  But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burning boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean. 

Lev 13:24-25 Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white; Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. 

Lev 13:26-27 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

Lev 13:28  And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation of the burning. 

This burning has a negative and a positive meaning – One causing death (lack of understanding) and the other saving life (understanding).

Num 26:60-61 And unto Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD.

Psa 118:18 The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. 

1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 

There is another part of the body that can be affected – The head.

Lev 13:29-30 If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard; Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. 

Lev 13:31-34 And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days: And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin; He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more: And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.

Lev 13:35-36 But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean.

Lev 13:37-41 But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean. If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean. And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean.

Lev 13:42-45 And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; 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.

The leprosy in the head is a symbol of having “another Jesus…another  spirit” or “another gospel”.

2Co 11:1-4 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Lev 13:46  All 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.

1Co 5:1-6 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

There is another thing that must be checked for leprosy. It is the garments which are worn.

Lev 13:47-57 The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment; Whether it be in the warp, or woof [woven or knitted material]; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin; And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest: And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days: And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more: And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without. And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof: And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire.

Lev 13:58-59 And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean. This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

Garments represent “righteousness”.

Psa 132:9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.

Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

In our next study we will review chapter Leviticus 14 to see how we can cure the disease of leprosy.

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Awesome Hands – Part 118

“Spiritual Leprosy”

July 5, 2017

Spiritual leprosy is a topic that isn’t very complicated to grasp, but it is a topic which has components which are very hard to recognize and counter in our lives. While physical leprosy is easy to detect, it is spiritual leprosy that needs a “trained eye” to discern.

In our study today, we are continuing down the path of discovering the awesome hands of the Lord and how He works in our lives to reveal that we all, in our given time, have been given spiritual leprosy. However, our High Priest is able to recognize it and is also able to provide the steps needed to cleanse ourselves.

Our verses for consideration today are found in the fourteenth chapter of Leviticus.

Cleansing a leper

The first thing to know about leprosy is that it can be healed. Otherwise, the Lord would not have made an entire chapter to be recorded to show us that there is a process for leprosy to be healed. Many people in ancient times believed this disease to be incurable.  Today, even modern medicine can treat physical leprosy, and depending on the severity, it can be cured with antibiotics.

However, spiritual leprosy is a disease that will produce spiritual death in us if we are not careful to examine and exterminate that source of the issue.

Remember, leprosy is a FLESH disease, and as such it is to be viewed as something that is produced by the old man in us. Why am I making this comparison? Just as that old serpent was given “dust” as his nourishment, those who are “of your father the devil” also find that “dust” or “the things of the flesh” are their nourishment.

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Psa 44:25  For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.

We are going to look over most of the chapter in Leviticus 14 in order to know what leprosy is and how to combat it. Specifically, this study will concentrate on how to CLEANSE leprosy once it is recognized for what it is.

Lev 14:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 14:2  This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
Lev 14:3  And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
Lev 14:4  Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Lev 14:5  And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
Lev 14:6  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:
Lev 14:7  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.

Notice that there is a process involved for a priest of God and the infected to go through in order for a leper to be cleansed. In verse 7, the priest pronounces the infected as CLEAN, but that is only the beginning of the work that must be done in order to fully implement the steps needed to fully cleanse the leper.

Notice, “becoming clean” is a process of continuously cleaning yourself in different ways and different levels of cleanliness. That passage of time also requires the application of cleanliness again.

Lev 14:8  And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
Lev 14:9  But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.

Several times now we have read that “that he may be clean” and “he shall be clean” after having read that he is already “pronounced clean”. So, why are the next steps needed?

Notice, there are seven days required so far in order for a leper to “tarry abroad out of his tent” or to have “seven sprinkles of blood” to be pronounced clean, so what can be gather on why we are being given specific periods of time in order for certain steps to be quantified?

Knowing that 7 represents the completion of judgment, we can see that when we consider that leprosy is a fleshly disease, there must be a connection between the offerings being made for the leper, the blood involved in the cleansing and the completion of judgment on the flesh.

The connection is that these animal sacrifices are always done for a “lawless and disobedient people”, but the sacrifice that covers us in blood is only the BEGINNING of our walk, but it is still an absolutely crucial and required one.

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

1Pe 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Now that we can see the connection to judgment of the flesh, and the covering of ourselves by the blood of Christ, what then is needed to continue in this process of cleansing? The first set of cleansing steps allowed the leper back into the camp, but not back into his HOUSE/TENT. Now, we must take care of the house.

Lev 14:10  And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
Lev 14:11  And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
Lev 14:12  And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:
Lev 14:13  And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy:
Lev 14:14  And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:
Lev 14:15  And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand:
Lev 14:16  And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD:
Lev 14:17  And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:
Lev 14:18  And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.
Lev 14:19  And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering:
Lev 14:20  And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

Notice in these sets of verses that all the offerings made are made by the “restored” leper except for the peace offering. Even more revealing is that in the trespass offering is done differently here with lepers.

Namely, the animal in the trespass offering didn’t need to have value that was as high as normally when a sin was committed. The trespass offering is waved by the priest, whereas normally this is not the case since the offeror normally waved it. Also, oil was presented with the trespass offering.

These details might be a bit perplexing if we only see this as a physical leper. However, we know that the physical things we see are representative of spiritual realities. Though the leper doesn’t necessarily commit a trespass in order to need to offer a trespass offering, we know the Lord requires this offering. This should tell us that there is more going on than meets the eye so to speak.

Lev 14:21  And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;
Lev 14:22  And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.
Lev 14:23  And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD.
Lev 14:24  And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:
Lev 14:25  And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:
Lev 14:32  This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing.

What understanding and knowledge then can we take away from this physical plague sent to the flesh of the one who is infected? What can we learn, more than what we’ve already touched on, about leprosy in it’s spiritual form and application?

Mat 8:1  When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
Mat 8:2  And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mat 8:3  And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Mat 8:4  And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Then in Mark we see the story given more details:

Mar 1:40  And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mar 1:41  And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
Mar 1:42  And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
Mar 1:43  And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;
Mar 1:44  And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Mar 1:45  But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

Leprosy is a plague of uncleanness. That is why the leper asked to be cleansed, and out of Jesus’ own mouth we see that He gave the leper cleanness.

In practical application today, we know that we are sent into the world just as Jesus is, because as He is so are we.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2Co 10:7  Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.
1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If loving God is equivalent to showing God the love of God, doesn’t this extend to our brothers?

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

This may sound controversial when you first hear me say it, but whosoever is BORN OF GOD overcomes the WORLD. Who overcomes the WORLD? How do we know who it is that overcomes the WORLD?

Let the scriptures say so:

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, EVEN OUR FAITH.

Therefore, faith is BORN of GOD. It is a GIFT. Therefore, the faith given to us by God, born of God, overcomes the world.

What is in the world? What does the world consist of that needs to be overcome?

2Jn 1:5  And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Act 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

I ask again what is in the world, the world which we are all OF naturally?

1Jn 2:9  He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
1Jn 2:12  I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

"Steven, you’re quoting random scriptures but not answering your own question", you may be saying.

The buildup is intense! I write to you all how it is spiritual leprosy is dealt with and CURED.

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

You might now be asking yourself how spiritual leprosy is connected to these verses at all. After all, leprosy is not mentioned at all here. However, it is indeed buried below the surface when connected with “all that is in the world”.

When we are told the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and that the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as you love yourself, we should take heed on how it is we do this. When we know that the scriptural definition of what the love of God is to keep His commandments, then we can start to connect the spiritual dots with how it is we identify and cure spiritual leprosy.

Leprosy in the flesh is a physical disease that separated the leper from all of society. It was a death sentence which lasted many years most times in isolation. This is the same for spiritual leprosy. Just as with physical lepers, spiritual lepers need a priest.

We are all being raised up as kings and priests in training, and we all have Jesus as our High Priest. Therefore, as He is a priest, so are we priests. As such, when someone comes to us or is made known to us to have something pertaining to the WORLD that needs to be dealt with, there is a weapon at our disposal that allows as to OVERCOME the spirit of leprosy.

Leprosy in the spirit will always be something that pulls on our flesh in some way and all that is in the world pertaining to our carnal mind. As we love God with all we have, we too must love our neighbor by keeping the commandments of God.

We do this by BELIEVING that the Lord is Faithful to heal us. We ask for healing, believing it will happen, and one day in the Lord’s timing, it WILL HAPPEN. Obviously, we yearn for it to happen now in this present aion, but we say nevertheless thy will be done as well.

1Jn 2:29  If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Tit 3:3  For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
Tit 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tit 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Tit 3:6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tit 3:7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Tit 3:9  But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Tit 3:11  Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

This is how we love one another and offer to help minister to the cure of spiritual leprosy.