"Just as I am--without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bid"st me come to Thee, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come!"
How do I know that His blood was shed for me? By the Scriptures.
Blessed, solid, eternal ground of knowledge! Christ suffered for sins: I have gotten sins. Christ died, "the just for the unjust:" I am unjust. Wherefore the death of Christ appropriates itself to me as fully, as immediately, and as divinely as though I were the only sinner upon earth. It is not a question of my appropriation, realization, or experience. Many souls hara.s.s themselves about this.
How often has one heard such language as the following: "Oh, I believe that Christ died for sinners, but I cannot _realize_ that my sins are forgiven. I cannot apply, I cannot appropriate, I do not experience the benefit of Christ"s death"! All this is self, and not Christ; it is feeling, and not Scripture. If we search from cover to cover of the blessed volume, we shall not find a syllable about being saved by realization, experience, or appropriation. The gospel applies itself to all who are on the ground of being lost. Christ died for sinners.
That is just what I am; wherefore He died for me. How do I know this?
is it because I feel it? By no means. How then? By the Word of G.o.d.
"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. xv.
3, 4.) Thus it is all "according to the Scriptures." If it were according to our feelings, we should be in a deplorable way, for our feelings are hardly the same for the length of a day, but the Scriptures are ever the same. "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven."--"Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name."
No doubt it is a very happy thing to realize, to feel, and to experience; but if we put these things in the place of Christ, we shall neither have them nor the Christ that yields them. If I am occupied with Christ, I shall realize; but if I put my realization in place of Christ, I shall have neither the one nor the other. This is the sad condition of thousands. Instead of resting on the stable authority of "the Scriptures," they are ever looking into their own hearts, and hence they are always uncertain and, as a consequence, always unhappy. A condition of doubt is a condition of torture; but how can I get rid of my doubt? Simply by relying on the divine authority of "the Scriptures." Of what do the Scriptures testify? Of Christ. (John v.) They declare that Christ died for our sins, and that He was raised again for our justification. (Rom. iv.) This settles every thing. The self-same authority that tells me I am unjust tells me also that Christ died for me. Nothing can be plainer than this. If I were aught else than unjust, the death of Christ would not be for me at all; but being unjust, it is divinely fitted, divinely intended, and divinely applied to me. If I am occupied with any thing in, of, or about myself, it is plain I have not entered into the full spiritual application of Leviticus xiii. 12, 13--I have not come to the Lamb of G.o.d "_just as I am_." It is when the leper is covered from head to foot that he is on the true ground. It is there and there alone that grace can meet him. "Then the priest shall consider; and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall p.r.o.nounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean." Precious truth! "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." So long as I think there is a single spot which is not covered with the direful disease, I have not come to the end of myself. It is when my true condition is fully disclosed to my view that I really understand the meaning of salvation by grace.
The force of all this will be more fully apprehended when we come to consider the ordinances connected with the cleansing of the leper, in chapter xiv. of our book. We shall now briefly enter upon the question of leprosy in a garment, as presented in chapter xiii. 47-59.
II. The garment or skin suggests to the mind the idea of a man"s circ.u.mstances or habits. This is a deeply practical point. We are to watch against the working of evil in our ways just as carefully as against evil in ourselves. The same patient investigation is observable with respect to a garment as in the case of a person. There is no haste, neither is there any indifference.--"The priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days."
There must be no indifference, no indolence, no carelessness. Evil may creep into our habits and circ.u.mstances in numberless ways, and hence the moment we perceive aught of a suspicious nature, it must be submitted to a calm, patient process of priestly investigation. It must be "shut up seven days," in order that it may have full time to develop itself perfectly.
"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." The wrong habit must be given up the moment I discover it. If I find myself in a thoroughly wrong position, I must abandon it. The burning of the garment expresses the act of judgment upon evil, whether in a man"s habits or circ.u.mstances. There must be no trifling with evil. In certain cases the garment was to be "washed," which expresses the action of the Word of G.o.d upon a man"s habits. "Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up _seven days more_." There is to be patient waiting, in order to ascertain the effect of the Word. "And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed; and, behold, if the plague have not changed, ... thou shalt burn it in the fire." When there is any thing radically and irremediably bad in one"s position or habits, the whole thing is to be given up. "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." The Word may produce such an effect as that the wrong features in a man"s character, or the wrong points in his position, shall be given up, and the evil be got rid of; but if the evil continue after all, the whole thing must be condemned and set aside.
There is a rich mine of practical instruction in all this. We must look well to the position which we occupy, the circ.u.mstances in which we stand, the habits we adopt, the character we wear. There is special need of watchfulness. Every suspicious symptom and trait must be sedulously guarded, lest it should prove, in the sequel, to be "a fretting" or "spreading leprosy," whereby we ourselves and many others may be defiled. We may be placed in a position attached to which there are certain wrong things which can be given up without entirely abandoning the position; and on the other hand, we may find ourselves in a situation in which it is impossible to "abide with G.o.d." Where the eye is single, the path will be plain. Where the one desire of the heart is to enjoy the divine presence, we shall easily discover those things which tend to deprive us of that unspeakable blessing.
May our hearts be tender and sensitive; may we cultivate a deeper, closer walk with G.o.d; and may we carefully guard against every form of defilement, whether in person, in habit, or in a.s.sociation.
We shall now proceed to consider the beauteous and significant ordinances connected with the cleansing of the leper, in which we shall find some of the most precious truths of the gospel presented to us.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, "This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest: and the priest shall go forth out of the camp." (Chap. xiv.
1-3.) We have already seen the place which the leper occupied. He was outside the camp, in the place of moral distance from G.o.d--from His sanctuary and His a.s.sembly. Moreover, he dwelt in dreary solitude, in a condition of uncleanness. He was beyond the reach of human aid, and as for himself, he could only communicate defilement to every one and every thing he touched. It was therefore obviously impossible that he could do aught to cleanse himself. If, indeed, he could only defile by his very touch, how could he possibly cleanse himself? how could he contribute towards, or co-operate in, his cleansing? Impossible. As an unclean leper, he could not do so much as a single thing for himself; _all_ had to be done _for_ him. He could not make his way to G.o.d, but G.o.d could make His way to him. He was shut up to G.o.d. There was no help for him either in himself or in his fellow-man. It is clear that one leper could not cleanse another; and it is equally clear that if a leper touched a clean person, he rendered him unclean.
His _only_ resource was in G.o.d. He was to be a debtor to grace for every thing.
Hence, we read, "The priest shall go forth out of the camp." It is not said, The leper shall go. This was wholly out of the question. It was of no use talking to the leper about going or doing. He was consigned to dreary solitude; whither could he go? He was involved in helpless defilement; what could he do? He might long for fellowship and long to be clean, but his longings were those of a lonely helpless leper. He might make efforts after cleansing, but his efforts could but prove him unclean, and tend to spread defilement. Before ever he could be p.r.o.nounced "clean," a work had to be wrought for him--a work which he could neither do nor help to do--a work which had to be wholly accomplished by another. The leper was called to "stand still" and behold the priest doing a work in virtue of which the leprosy could be perfectly cleansed. The priest accomplished _all_: the leper did _nothing_.
"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.
And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water." In the priest going forth from the camp--forth from G.o.d"s dwelling-place--we behold the blessed Lord Jesus coming down from the bosom of the Father, His eternal dwelling-place, into this polluted world of ours, where He beheld us sunk in the polluting leprosy of sin. He, like the good Samaritan, "came where we were." He did not come half-way merely; He did not come nine-tenths of the way; He came all the way. This was indispensable.
He could not consistently with the holy claims of the throne of G.o.d have bidden our leprosy to depart had He remained in the bosom. He could call worlds into existence by the word of His mouth, but when leprous sinners had to be cleansed, something more was needed. "G.o.d so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." When worlds were to be framed, G.o.d had but to speak; when sinners had to be saved, He had to give His Son. "In this was manifested the love of G.o.d towards us, because that G.o.d sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved G.o.d, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John iv. 9, 10.)
But there was far more to be accomplished than the mission and incarnation of the Son. It would have availed the leper but little indeed had the priest merely gone forth from the camp and looked upon his low and forlorn condition. Blood-shedding was essentially necessary ere leprosy could be removed. The death of a spotless victim was needed. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix.
22.) And be it observed that the shedding of blood was the real basis of the leper"s cleansing. It was not a mere circ.u.mstance, which, in conjunction with others, contributed to the leper"s cleansing. By no means. The giving up of the life was the grand and all-important fact.
When this was accomplished, the way was open, every barrier was removed, G.o.d could deal in perfect grace with the leper. This point should be distinctly laid hold of if my reader would fully enter into the glorious doctrine of the blood.
"And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water." Here we have the acknowledged type of the death of Christ, "who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to G.o.d." "He was crucified in weakness." (Heb.
ix.; 2 Cor. xiii.) The greatest, the mightiest, the most glorious, the most momentous work that ever was accomplished, throughout the wide universe of G.o.d, was wrought "in weakness." Oh, my reader, how terrible a thing must sin be in the judgment of G.o.d when His own beloved Son had to come down from heaven and hang upon yonder cursed tree, a spectacle to men, to angels, and to devils, in order that you and I might be forgiven! And what a type of sin have we in leprosy!
Who would have thought that that little "bright spot" appearing on the person of some member of the congregation was a matter of such grave consequence? But, ah! that little "bright spot" was nothing less than the energy of evil in the place of manifestation. It was the index of the dreadful working of sin in the nature; and ere that person could be fitted for a place in the a.s.sembly, or for the enjoyment of communion with a holy G.o.d, the Son of G.o.d had to leave those bright heavens and descend into the lowest parts of the earth, in order to make a full atonement for that which exhibited itself merely in the form of a little "bright spot." Let us remember this. Sin is a dreadful thing in the estimation of G.o.d. He cannot tolerate so much as a single sinful thought. Before one such thought could be forgiven, Christ had to die upon the cross. The most trifling sin (if any sin can be called trifling,) demanded nothing less than G.o.d"s eternal and coequal Son. But, eternal praise be to G.o.d, what sin demanded, redeeming love freely gave; and now G.o.d is infinitely more glorified in the forgiveness of sins than He could have been had Adam maintained his original innocency. G.o.d is more glorified in the salvation, the pardon, the justification, the preservation, and final glorification of guilty man than He could have been in maintaining an innocent man in the enjoyment of creation-blessings. Such is the precious mystery of redemption. May our hearts enter, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into the living and profound depths of this wondrous mystery.
"As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall p.r.o.nounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field." The blood being shed, the priest can enter directly and fully upon his work. Up to this, we read, "The priest shall command;" but now he acts immediately himself. The death of Christ is the basis of His priestly ministration. Having entered with His own blood into the holy place, He acts as our great High-Priest, applying to our souls all the precious results of His atoning work, and maintaining us in the full and divine integrity of the position into which His sacrifice has introduced us. "For every high-priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer. For if He were on earth, He should not be a priest." (Heb. viii. 3, 4.)
We could hardly have a more perfect type of the resurrection of Christ than that presented in "the living bird let loose into the open field." It was not let go until after the death of its companion; for the two birds typify one Christ in two stages of His blessed work, namely, death and resurrection. Ten thousand birds let loose would not have availed for the leper. It was that living bird, mounting upward into the open heavens, bearing upon his wing the significant token of accomplished atonement--it was that which told out the great fact that the work was done, the ground cleared, the foundation laid. Thus is it in reference to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. His resurrection declares the glorious triumph of redemption. "He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." " He was raised again for our justification." It is this that sets the burdened heart free and liberates the struggling conscience. The Scriptures a.s.sure me that Jesus was nailed to the cross under the weight of my sins; but the same Scriptures a.s.sure me that He rose from the grave without one of those sins upon Him. Nor is this all. The same Scriptures a.s.sure me that all who put their trust in Jesus are as free from all charge of guilt as He is; that there is no more wrath or condemnation for them than for Him; that they are in Him, one with Him, accepted in Him, co-quickened, co-raised, co-seated, with Him. Such is the peace-giving testimony of the Scriptures of truth--such the record of G.o.d who cannot lie. (See Rom. vi. 6-11; viii. 1-4; 2 Cor. v. 21; Eph. ii. 5, 6; Col. ii. 10-15; 1 John iv. 17.)
But we have another most important truth set before us in verse 6 of our chapter. We not only see our full deliverance from guilt and condemnation, as beautifully exhibited in the living bird let loose, but we see also our entire deliverance from all the attractions of earth and all the influences of nature. "The scarlet" would be the apt expression of the former, while "the cedar-wood and hyssop" would set forth the latter. The cross is the end of all this world"s glory. G.o.d presents it as such, and the believer recognizes it as such. "G.o.d forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
(Gal. vi. 14.)
Then, as to the "cedar-wood and hyssop," they present to us, as it were, the two extremes of nature"s wide range. Solomon "spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall." (1 Kings iv. 33.) From the lofty cedar which crowns the sides of Lebanon, down to the lowly hyssop--the wide extremes and all that lies between--nature in all its departments is brought under the power of the cross; so that the believer sees in the death of Christ the end of all his guilt, the end of all earth"s glory, and the end of the whole system of nature--the entire old creation. And with what is he to be occupied? With Him who is the Ant.i.type of that living bird, with blood-stained feathers, ascending into the open heavens. Precious, glorious, soul-satisfying object! A risen, ascended, triumphant, glorified Christ, who has pa.s.sed into the heavens, bearing in His sacred Person the marks of an accomplished atonement. It is with Him we have to do: we are shut up to Him. He is G.o.d"s exclusive object; He is the centre of heaven"s joy, the theme of angels" song. We want none of earth"s glory, none of nature"s attractions. We can behold them all, together with our sin and guilt, forever set aside by the death of Christ. We can well afford to dispense with earth and nature, inasmuch as we have gotten, instead thereof, the "unsearchable riches of Christ."
"And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall p.r.o.nounce him clean, and shall let the bird loose into the open field." The more deeply we ponder over the contents of chapter xiii, the more clearly we shall see how utterly impossible it was for the leper to do aught towards his own cleansing.
All he could do was to "put a covering upon his upper lip;" and all he could say was, "Unclean, unclean." It belonged to G.o.d, and to Him alone, to devise and accomplish a work whereby the leprosy could be perfectly cleansed; and further, it belonged to G.o.d, and to Him alone, to p.r.o.nounce the leper "clean." Hence it is written, "The priest shall sprinkle," and "he shall p.r.o.nounce him clean." It is not said, The leper shall sprinkle and p.r.o.nounce or imagine himself clean. This would never do. G.o.d was the Judge--G.o.d was the Healer--G.o.d was the Cleanser. He alone knew what leprosy was, how it could be put away, and when to p.r.o.nounce the leper clean. The leper might have gone on all his days covered with leprosy, and yet be wholly ignorant of what was wrong with him. It was the Word of G.o.d--the Scriptures of truth--the divine Record that declared the full truth as to leprosy; and nothing short of the self-same authority could p.r.o.nounce the leper clean, and that, moreover, only on the solid and indisputable ground of death and resurrection. There is the most precious connection between the three things in verse 7: the blood is sprinkled, the leper p.r.o.nounced clean, and the living bird let loose. There is not so much as a single syllable about what the leper was to do, to say, to think, or to feel. It was enough that he was a leper--a fully revealed, a thoroughly judged leper, covered from head to foot. This sufficed for him; all the rest pertained to G.o.d.
It is of all importance for the anxious inquirer after peace to enter into the truth unfolded in this branch of our subject. So many are tried by the question of _feeling_, _realizing_, and _appropriating_, instead of seeing, as in the leper"s case, that the sprinkling of the blood was as independent and as divine as the shedding of it. It is not said, The leper shall apply, appropriate, or realize, and then he shall be clean. By no means. The plan of deliverance was divine; the provision of the sacrifice was divine; the shedding of the blood was divine; the sprinkling of the blood was divine; the record as to the result was divine: in short, it was all divine.
It is not that we should undervalue realization, or, to speak more correctly, communion, through the Holy Ghost, with all the precious results of Christ"s work for us. Far from it: we shall see presently the place a.s.signed thereto in the divine economy. But then we are no more saved by realization than the leper was cleansed by it. The???ta ?a? ?e?a? gospel, by which we are saved, is that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." There is nothing about realization here. No doubt it is happy to realize. It is a very happy thing for one who was just on the point of being drowned to realize himself in a life-boat; but clearly he is saved by the boat and not by his realization. So it is with the sinner that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is saved by death and resurrection. Is it because he realizes it? No; but because G.o.d says it. It is "_according to the Scriptures_." Christ died and rose again, and on that ground G.o.d p.r.o.nounces him clean.
"No condemnation, O my soul!
_"Tis G.o.d that speaks the word._"
This gives immense peace to the soul. I have to do with G.o.d"s plain record, which nothing can ever shake. That record has reference to G.o.d"s own work. It is He Himself who has wrought all that was needful in order to my being p.r.o.nounced clean in His sight. My pardon no more depends upon my realization than upon any "works of righteousness that I have done;" and it no more depends upon my works of righteousness than it does upon my crimes. In a word, it depends exclusively upon the death and resurrection of Christ. How do I know it? G.o.d tells me.
It is "according to the Scriptures."
There are perhaps few things which disclose the deep-seated legality of our hearts more strikingly than this oft-raised question of realization. We _will_ have in something of self, and thus so sadly mar our peace and liberty in Christ. It is mainly because of this that I dwell at such length upon the beautiful ordinance of the cleansing of the leper, and especially on the truth unfolded in chapter xiv. 7. It was the priest that sprinkled the blood, and it was the priest that p.r.o.nounced the leper clean. Thus it is in the case of the sinner. The moment he is on his true ground, the blood of Christ and the Word of G.o.d apply themselves without any further question or difficulty whatever; but the moment this hara.s.sing question of realization is raised, the peace is disturbed, the heart depressed, and the mind bewildered. The more thoroughly I get done with self, and become occupied with Christ, as presented in "the Scriptures," the more settled my peace will be. If the leper had looked at himself when the priest p.r.o.nounced him clean, would he have found any basis for the declaration? Surely not. The sprinkled blood was the basis of the divine record, and not any thing in or connected with the leper. The leper was not asked how he felt or what he thought; he was not questioned as to whether he had a deep sense of the vileness of his disease. He was an acknowledged leper; that was enough. It was for such an one the blood was shed, and that blood made him clean. How did he know this? was it because he felt it? No; but because the priest, on G.o.d"s behalf and by His authority, told him so. The leper was p.r.o.nounced clean on the very same ground that the living bird was let loose. The same blood which stained the feathers of that living bird was sprinkled upon the leper. This was a perfect settlement of the whole affair, and that, too, in a manner entirely independent of the leper, the leper"s thoughts, his feelings, and his realization. Such is the type. And when we look from the type to the Ant.i.type, we see that our blessed Lord Jesus Christ entered heaven and laid on the throne of G.o.d the eternal record of an accomplished work, in virtue of which the believer enters also. This is a most glorious truth, divinely calculated to dispel from the heart of the anxious inquirer every doubt, every fear, every bewildering thought, and every hara.s.sing question. A risen Christ is G.o.d"s exclusive object, and He sees every believer in Him. May every awakened soul find abiding repose in this emanc.i.p.ating truth.
"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." (Ver. 8.) The leper, being p.r.o.nounced clean, can begin to do what he could not even have attempted to do before, namely, to cleanse himself, cleanse his habits, shave off all his hair; and, having done so, he is privileged to take his place in the camp--the place of ostensible, recognized, public relationship with the G.o.d of Israel, whose presence in that camp it was which rendered the expulsion of the leper needful. The blood having been applied in its expiating virtue, there is the washing of water, which expresses the action of the Word on the character, the habits, the ways, so as to render the person, not only in G.o.d"s view, but also in the view of the congregation, morally and practically fit for a place in the public a.s.sembly.
But, be it observed, the man, though sprinkled with blood and washed with water, and thus ent.i.tled to a position in the public a.s.sembly, was not permitted to enter his own tent. He was not permitted to enter upon the full enjoyment of those private, personal privileges which belonged to his own peculiar place in the camp. In other words, though knowing redemption through the shed and sprinkled blood, and owning the Word as the rule according to which his person and all his habits should be cleansed and regulated, he had yet to be brought, in the power of the Spirit, into full, intelligent communion with his own special place, portion, and privileges in Christ.
I speak according to the doctrine of the type; and I feel it to be of importance to apprehend the truth unfolded therein. It is too often overlooked. There are many who own the blood of Christ as the alone ground of pardon, and the Word of G.o.d as that whereby alone their habits, ways, and a.s.sociations are to be cleansed and ordered, who nevertheless are far from entering, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into communion with the preciousness and excellency of that One whose blood has put away their sins and whose Word is to cleanse their practical habits. They are in the place of ostensible and actual relationship, but not in the power of personal communion. It is perfectly true that all believers are in Christ, and, as such, ent.i.tled to communion with the very highest truths; moreover, they have the Holy Ghost as the power of communion,--all this is divinely true; but then there is not that entire setting aside of all that pertains to nature, which is really essential to the power of communion with Christ in all the aspects of His character and work. In point of fact, this latter will not be fully known to any until "the eighth day"--the day of resurrection-glory, when we shall know even as we are known. Then, indeed, each one for himself, and all together, shall enter into the full, unhindered power of communion with Christ, in all the precious phases of His Person and features of His character unfolded from verse 10 to 20 of our chapter. Such is the hope set before us; but even now, in proportion as we enter, by faith, through the mighty energy of the indwelling Spirit, into the death of nature and all pertaining thereto, we can feed upon and rejoice in Christ as the portion of our souls, in the place of individual communion.
"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." (Ver. 9.) Now, it is clear that the leper was just as clean, in G.o.d"s judgment, on the first day, when the blood was sprinkled upon him in its sevenfold or perfect efficacy, as he was on the seventh day. Wherein, then, was the difference? Not in his actual standing and condition, but in his personal intelligence and communion. On the seventh day he was called to enter into the full and complete abolition of all that pertained to nature. He was called to apprehend that not merely was nature"s leprosy to be put away, but nature"s ornaments--yea, all that was natural--all that belonged to the old condition.
It is one thing to know, as a doctrine, that G.o.d sees my nature to be dead, and it is quite another thing for me to "reckon" myself as dead--to put off, practically, the old man and his deeds--to mortify my members which are on the earth. This, probably, is what many G.o.dly persons mean when they speak of progressive sanctification. They mean a right thing, though they do not put it exactly as the Scriptures do.
The leper was p.r.o.nounced clean the moment the blood was sprinkled upon him, and yet he had to cleanse himself. How was this? In the former case, he was clean in the judgment of G.o.d; in the latter, he was to be clean practically, in his own personal intelligence, and in his manifested character. Thus it is with the believer. He is, as one with Christ, "washed, sanctified, and justified"--"accepted"--"complete."
(1 Cor. vi. 11; Eph. i. 6; Col. ii. 10.) Such is his unalterable standing and condition before G.o.d. He is as perfectly sanctified as he is justified, for Christ is the measure of both the one and the other, according to G.o.d"s judgment and view of the case. But then the believer"s apprehension of all this in his own soul, and his exhibition thereof in his habits and ways, open up quite another line of things. Hence it is we read, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us _cleanse ourselves_ from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of G.o.d." (2 Cor.
vii. 1.) It is because Christ has cleansed us by His precious blood that therefore we are called to "cleanse ourselves" by the application of the Word, through the Spirit. "This is He that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one." (1 John v. 6, 8.) Here we have atonement by the blood, cleansing by the Word, and power by the Spirit--all founded upon the death of Christ, and all vividly foreshadowed in the ordinances connected with the cleansing of the leper.
"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. 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. And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespa.s.s-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave-offering before the Lord." (Ver. 10-12.) The entire range of offerings is here introduced; but it is the trespa.s.s-offering which is first killed, inasmuch as the leper is viewed as an actual trespa.s.ser. This is true in every case. As those who have trespa.s.sed against G.o.d, we need Christ as the One who atoned, on the cross, for those trespa.s.ses. "Himself bare our _sins_ in His own body on the tree." The first view which the sinner gets of Christ is as the Ant.i.type of the trespa.s.s-offering.
"And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespa.s.s-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." "The ear,"--that guilty member which had so frequently proved a channel of communication for vanity, folly, and even uncleanness--that ear must be cleansed by the blood of the trespa.s.s-offering. Thus all the guilt which I have ever contracted by that member is forgiven according to G.o.d"s estimate of the blood of Christ. "_The right hand_," which had so frequently been stretched forth for the execution of deeds of vanity, folly, and even uncleanness, must be cleansed by the blood of the trespa.s.s-offering.
Thus all the guilt which I have ever contracted by that member is forgiven according to G.o.d"s estimate of the blood of Christ. "_The foot_," which had so often run in the way of vanity, folly, and even uncleanness, must now be cleansed by the blood of the trespa.s.s-offering, so that all the guilt which I have ever contracted by that member is forgiven according to G.o.d"s estimate of the blood of Christ. Yes; _all_, _all_, _all_ is forgiven--all is canceled--all forgotten--all sunk as lead in the mighty waters of eternal oblivion.
Who shall bring it up again? Shall angel, man, or devil be able to plunge into those unfathomed and unfathomable waters, to bring up from thence those trespa.s.ses of "foot," "hand," or "ear," which redeeming love has cast thereinto? Oh, no; blessed be G.o.d, they are gone, and gone forever! I am better off, by far, than if Adam had never sinned.
Precious truth! To be washed in the blood is better far than to be clothed in innocency.
But G.o.d could not rest satisfied with the mere blotting out of trespa.s.ses by the atoning blood of Jesus. This in itself is a great thing, but there is something greater still.
"And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand: 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. 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 trespa.s.s-offering; 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." (Ver. 15-18.) Thus, not only are our members cleansed by the blood of Christ, but also consecrated to G.o.d in the power of the Spirit. G.o.d"s work is not only negative, but positive. The ear is no longer to be the vehicle for communicating defilement, but to be "swift to hear" the voice of the Good Shepherd; the hand is no longer to be used as the instrument of unrighteousness, but to be stretched forth in acts of righteousness, grace, and true holiness; the foot is no longer to tread in folly"s paths, but to run in the way of G.o.d"s holy commandments: and, finally, the whole man is to be dedicated to G.o.d in the energy of the Holy Ghost.
It is deeply interesting to see that "the oil" was put "upon the blood of the trespa.s.s-offering." The blood of Christ is the divine basis of the operations of the Holy Ghost. The blood and the oil go together.
As sinners, we could know nothing of the latter save on the ground of the former. The oil could not have been put upon the leper until the blood of the trespa.s.s-offering had first been applied. "In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." The divine accuracy of the type evokes the admiration of the renewed mind. The more closely we scrutinize it--the more of the light of Scripture we concentrate upon it, the more its beauty, force, and precision are perceived and enjoyed. All, as might justly be expected, is in the most lovely harmony with the entire a.n.a.logy of the Word of G.o.d. There is no need for any effort of the mind. Take Christ as the key to unlock the rich treasury of the types; explore the precious contents by the light of Inspiration"s heavenly lamp; let the Holy Ghost be your Interpreter; and you cannot fail to be edified, enlightened, and blessed.
"And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness." Here we have a type of Christ, not only as the Bearer of our trespa.s.ses, but also as the One who made an end of sin, root and branch; the One who destroyed the entire system of sin--"the Lamb of G.o.d, who taketh away the sin of the world"--"the propitiation for the whole world." As the Trespa.s.s-offering, Christ put away all my trespa.s.ses; as the Sin-offering, He met the great root from whence those trespa.s.ses emanated. He met all; but it is as the Trespa.s.s-offering I first know Him, because it is as such I first need Him. It is the "conscience of sins" that first troubles me. This is divinely met by my precious Trespa.s.s-offering. Then, as I get on, I find that all these sins had a root, a parent stem, and that root or stem I find within me. This, likewise, is divinely met by my precious Sin-offering. The order, as presented in the leper"s case, is perfect. It is precisely the order which we can trace in the actual experience of every soul. The trespa.s.s-offering comes first, and then the sin-offering.
"And afterward he shall kill the burnt-offering." This offering presents the highest possible aspect of the death of Christ. It is Christ offering Himself without spot to G.o.d, without special reference to either trespa.s.ses or sin: it is Christ, in voluntary devotedness, walking to the cross, and there offering Himself as a sweet savor to G.o.d.
"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." (Ver. 20.) The meat-offering typifies "the Man Christ Jesus" in His perfect human life. It is intimately a.s.sociated, in the case of the cleansed leper, with the burnt-offering; and so it is in the experience of every saved sinner. It is when we know our _trespa.s.ses_ are forgiven, and the root or principle of _sin_ judged, that we can, according to our measure, by the power of the Spirit, enjoy communion with G.o.d about that blessed One who lived a perfect human life down here and then offered Himself without spot to G.o.d on the cross. Thus the four cla.s.ses of offerings are brought before us in their divine order in the cleansing of the leper, namely, the trespa.s.s-offering, the sin-offering, the burnt-offering, and the meat-offering, each exhibiting its own specific aspect of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.