THE TWO clean birds then set forth Christ dead and risen, the one slain, and the other let loose into the open field. The bird that was to die was killed in an earthen vessel over running or living water. How plainly this points to Him who through the eternal Spirit (the ling water) offered Himself without spot to God, deigning to be crucified in weakness.
And what pains has the Spirit of God taken to identify the living bird with the slain one by dipping it in the blood of the one killed over the running water! So Christ was delivered up for our offenses and raised again for our justification (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)).
The taking of the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop and dipping them in the blood of the slain bird is full of meaning for us. The cedar and the little hyssop that springs out of the wall speak of all that man is in nature, from his lowest to his loftiness; all must come to an end in the death of Christ. “I am crucified with Christ,” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)) means that all that I am as a natural man all must be dipped in the blood all must come under the sentence of death, finally and completely.
The man who was to be cleansed was sprinkled with the blood seven times, and then pronounced clean. As seven speaks of divine perfectness, so the work of Christ has cleansed us perfectly in the eyes of God, and He can pronounce us now “Clean every whit.”
“And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes.” Up to this point the leper had not done anything for himself — all had been done for him by the priest. But as soon as he had been pronounced clean, we hear of his activity. Now he can do something for himself. He must first wash his clothes and this would speak of the application of the Word of God to all his habits and associations of life.
The shedding and sprinkling of the blood is not all. There is and must be a moral cleansing of the word applied to the sinner. After the Lord Jesus died, when the soldier with a spear pierced His side there flowed forth not only blood but water also. And of this we read in 1 John 5: “This is He that came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood.” As sinners in order to be blessed we need not only the blood to expiate our sins, but purifying by the Word as well.
As soon as one is really saved there is an immediate exercise as to what he is doing. There is a dire to please the Lord, and the newborn soul is willing to give up that which the Word of God condemns. How sad it is, however, to find those who have confessed Christ going on with the same old habits and associations and seemingly unwilling to “wash their clothes.” But after one has been cleansed before God through the death and resurrection of Christ, it only makes it the more necessary to cleanse oneself from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:11Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)).
ML-03/12/1972