“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." (vss. 10-11).
That long-looked-for day has dawned at last. The seven days are past and gone, and now the eighth day has come. Now he may return home to the happy family circle, where all is peace and joy and love. The reproach is a thing of the past. His days of witnessing are done; and home, sweet home, is before him.
“The eighth day" in Scripture seems to have a special significance. Seven days completed the week, ending with the Sabbath on the seventh day. The following day was "the morrow after the Sabbath" or the first day of a new week. But here it is not called the first day, or "the morrow after the Sabbath," but "the eighth day." If we turn on to Lev. 23 we may notice the difference. In verses 11, 15 and 16, we read of "the morrow after the Sabbath." These verses tell in type of the resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. But when we go on to verses 36 and 39, we do not get "the morrow after the Sabbath," but "the eighth day." In these verses we have typically an entirely new beginning. Christ has reigned on this earth for a thousand years, all sin is put down, the devil is banished forever and an eternity of joy and peace begins. It is truly a new beginning for all: as the Lord says, "Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21:55And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:5).
And surely that eighth day was a new beginning for that poor leper. The days of wandering alone outside the camp are gone forever. Now no more need for shaving and washing. No longer absent from home and loved ones, but a life of love, joy, peace and worship has begun. Now with every offering (but the peace offering) in his hand (telling out all the various aspects and excellencies of the mighty sacrifice of Christ Himself), that man who so recently was an outcast leper, comes to be presented before the Lord. The trespass offering, meat offering, sin offering and burnt offering are all included, as well as the log of oil, telling of the Holy Spirit, through whom Christ offered Himself. (Heb. 9:1414How 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? (Hebrews 9:14).) In virtue of these offerings the man once so far off, approaches so near, so very near to God. I do not recall any other Israelite (except the priests and Levites) who came so near the Lord, or who had this wondrous privilege of being presented before the Lord, in this way.
I love to stand and gaze on that scene. That man only eight days before had been a vile leper, outside the camp, his head bare, his clothes rent, his lip covered, while he himself cried, "Unclean! Unclean!" Now he is brought, not only inside the camp, but to the house of God, and there presented before the Lord. Happy, wondrous, blessed place! Yet that place is ours. "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight." Col. 1:21-2221And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (Colossians 1:21‑22). "Alienated and enemies in your mind" just describes the leper outside the camp. "Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death" tells of the leper cleansed and brought back into the camp by the death of that clean bird. And to what does it all lead? "To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight.”
You know how certain favored individuals are presented at court to the king—but you and I, dear fellow-Christian, have the wondrous and blessed prospect of being presented to the King of kings!
And I love that expression, "the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man." It is no Stranger who will take me, stranger I in courts above, stranger to all those glories and wonders of that bright home: No, it is the Priest who made me clean; the Priest whom I have known and loved so long down here, He Himself, and no other, it is He who takes me and presents me to the Lord. Will I fear as He takes my hand and leads me up those courts of glory to present me before the Lord? It is His hand, that same blessed, pierced hand, that has led me all these years through the wilderness, that now takes me, and presents me before the Lord.
We were reading in 1 Peter 2:1111Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (1 Peter 2:11), and someone turned to a dear old Chinese saint, and asked, "Mr. Chang, how is it that Peter says, 'I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,' and Paul says, 'Ye are no more strangers and foreigners'?" Eph. 2:1919Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19). Mr. Chang was puzzled for a moment, and the question was put, "Are you a stranger down here?" "Yes, even my own family hardly knows me." "When you meet the Lord Jesus, will He be a stranger?" A bright smile lit up his whole face, as he replied warmly, "Oh, no, He is my best Friend; I have known Him for over forty years." We may truly sing,
“There no stranger God shall meet thee,
Stranger thou in courts above,
He who to His dwelling greets thee,
Greets thee with a well-known love.”
And the more we have been strangers down here, the more carefully we have kept ourselves shaved and washed, the less we have been conformed to the world, the less we will find ourselves strangers up there. Another could sing,
“'Tis the treasure I've found in His love
That has made me a stranger below.”
We think of the joy and honor and privilege of that moment, but, beloved friends, what is our joy to His? As He takes us and presents us before the Lord, does He not see of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied? Here is another poor sinner, cleansed by His own most precious blood, and now brought into the very presence of God. Nothing short of this would satisfy the heart of Christ, even though you and I would have been perfectly satisfied to be saved from the punishment of our sins, and get the least place inside the door of heaven. But this would not satisfy Him. Such is our Savior!
And what is our joy to His? Do we not get a little glimpse of His joy at this time in Jude 2424Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (Jude 24)? "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Once He could say, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful." Matt. 26:3838Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. (Matthew 26:38). Now that "exceeding sorrow" is turned into "exceeding joy." When He had found the lost sheep, He laid it on His shoulders rejoicing: but now having brought it home, He presents it before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. All the journey to that home on high He has guided it with the skilfulness of His hands (Psa. 78:7272So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. (Psalm 78:72)), He has upheld it and kept it from stumbling, and now the end of the journey has come, and with exceeding joy He presents the trophy of His grace and power.
But how can He present "faultless" one so faulty as I? It is in virtue of those three lambs that the leper holds in his hand, as the priest presents him. You will note that as each of those lambs is offered the Word records, "the priest shall make an atonement for him" (vss. 18- 20). Atonement means "covering." Covered by the blood of the trespass offering; covered by the blood of the sin offering; and, covered by the blood of the burnt offering: not only not a fault or flaw or spot or stain can ever be found in that man so lately an outcast leper, unfit for the company of even his fellow-men, but God sees him in all the excellencies, beauty and righteousness of the One those lambs represented. That threefold covering tells of the one offering of the body of Jesus Christ in its threefold character, nor could those offerings be separated from the meat offering which told of His spotless life on earth, nor from the oil. If the man had tried to come into the presence of God to be presented before Him without those offerings, God never could have accepted him, but with them, the man who was unfit for company with his fellow-men, is fitted for the presence of God. It was not the washing and not the shaving that fitted him for that wondrous Presence, though those were right and needful, but the blood, and the blood alone. So we, too, who sometimes were far off, are brought nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)), and we, too, are "accepted in the Beloved." Eph. 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6). In Him alone, and in virtue of His blood alone, can we ever be accepted.
In 1 John 3:2-32Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2‑3) we read, "We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." We do not purify ourselves in order to see Him and be like Him, but we purify ourselves, because we have the sure and certain hope of seeing Him, and being like Him, by the sacrifice of Himself, and through His own most precious blood. We purify ourselves, not by blood, but by the water of the Word.
THE EIGHTH DAY
“Behold! the sons of Aaron fail:
But, lo! the leper now
Doth find the precious blood avail—
The unction on his brow.
“Beneath the ceremonial law
Who wore this holy crown?
The leper and high priest it saw
Anointed thus alone.
“Abounding grace! Amazing love!
The sinner, cleared by blood,
Rejoices with the priest alone,
A saint—brought nigh to God.
“Thrice blessed truth! Our God to know,
His Christ in fullness see,
And then to seek our tent below
In power of life set free.
“And thus upon our head we find
The gladdening oil descend;
First, leave the things of old behind,
And then—among them blend.
“The longed-for eighth-day morn arose,
The door the outcast nears,
Where glory's light in blessing flows,
And God Himself appears.
“How many toil to find the path
For pilgrimage on earth,
Ere yet they know the joy of faith
Above the scene of dearth.
“They pitch the tent before they pass
Beyond time's days—the seven;
And thus they wander on, alas!
Without a view of heaven.
“Through grace the circumcision, we
Our joyful altar raise:
Then here, as buried, Lord, with Thee,
Our tent must hear Thy praise.
“To walk—a new creation band,
Its perfect 'rule' to own,
Once lepers in the Adam-land,
Now here for Christ alone.”
(Author unknown)