“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.”
How many there are in these days who give a general assent to the truths of the gospel, and yet have no certainty as to the state of their souls with God, or whether their sins have been forgiven or not! The eyes of many a reader in this state may rest on these lines.
Here is a sad, but true, picture of sin. “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. 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.” (Lev. 13:4545And 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. (Leviticus 13:45).) The ten lepers that met Jesus took this place. They stood afar of. This is assuredly the first effect ο meeting Jesus. “Depart from me, for am a sinful man, O Lord.” Such was the effect of the presence of Jesus on Peter. Have you ever thus really met Jesus? afar off, guilty, and loathsome. Yes, the loathsome disease of leprosy is a true picture of your condition. If you have never yet felt this awful moral distance from the holy Son of God, you have never yet met Him. Do not be deceived. Have you ever taken your true place, owning your guilty condition—your very sins before Him—meeting Him? When the Holy Spirit opens the eye to see Jesus meeting us, it is no uncommon thing to be so overwhelmed with shame and guilt, as to cause sincere souls to say, “Depart; I am too vile to be saved.”
In God’s picture-book of these great truths there is a wonderful thing bearing on this very point. When the leper was a leper all over, “and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, then the leper shall be pronounced clean.” (Lev. 13:12, 1312And 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; 13Then 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. (Leviticus 13:12‑13).) Is not this very wonderful? The sinner that is a sinner all over, yes, that owns all to Jesus, is the very one to meet Him, and be cleansed.
Is this your case? Are you suited to such a Savior? Is He suited to you?
Perhaps you say, “I thought I had met Jesus, but I feel no better. I see no signs that I am cleansed.” “And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed.” Did they wait until they felt better? Did they say, Nay, before we believe that, we must see some sign that we are cleansed? They believed the bare word of Jesus, the Son of God. “And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”
Still you say, I do not see how I am to know that my sins are forgiven. Well, we will turn to the picture, or type-book again; for God has been pleased to give you a very simple figure, showing how you may know that your sins are forgiven. In Lev. 14 the leper is brought to the priest for his cleansing. “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. 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 pronounce him clean, and he shall let the living bird loose into the open field.” (Vers. 4-7.)
Here, then, are two birds, to typify the one Person of Christ in His death and resurrection. One bird could not foreshadow both the necessity of His death, and resurrection. One bird must be killed. Jesus must needs suffer the agony of the atoning death of the cross. He must be forsaken of God—bruised for our iniquities. Let us look closely at this inspired picture. The bird is killed; its blood is shed. Will this give certainty to the poor leper? Not the least, and if there were not another bird, the type would be incomplete. There is a human and popular picture of a lady clinging to the cross amidst the raging storm—a very true picture of the incomplete gospel of the day. Can a soul in that condition, and remaining there, ever enjoy the certainty that sins are forgiven? Never.
Now see the other bird, dipped in the blood of the bird that was killed, and that blood sprinkled upon the leper; now he is pronounced clean, and, in proof, see the living bird let loose into the open field. Leprosy is a type of sin, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. The blood has been shed, it is sprinkled on the leper, the leper is pronounced clean. The bird is let loose, it is gone.
What can this mean? The leper now is quite sure he is cleansed—he has heard the word, and seen the bird let loose.
These are the shadows; now for the substance; for on this very ground is the believer justified from all things—accounted righteous. “Believing on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses.” This is the first bird that must be killed. Yes, Jesus took our place, He “was delivered for our offenses; but, He “was raised again for our justification.” Here is the living bird let loose. (Rom. 4:24, 2524But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:24‑25).) And, just as in the type, if the bird is only killed, the leper cannot be cleansed, or know it; so, if Jesus has only died, we are not, and cannot know, that we are justified. The scripture declares, “If Christ be not raised, for faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” Thus, if the bird be let loose, the leper is cleansed. If Christ be risen, the believer is justified. Mark, it is God who raised Him from among the dead for this very purpose. Thus, believing God, we are justified, and being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, if we read on further, in Lev. 14, there are three things to be noted in the cleansing of the leper: the water (vers. 8, 9); the blood (vers. 10-14); the oil (15-18). These verses set before us in type the three great needs of the sinner brought to God. It is not that the leprosy of sin is eradicated from the flesh, the old man; but this type points to that great lesson spoken eighteen hundred years after by Jesus to Nicodemus; the absolute need of the new birth, wholly new. Water is used as a figure of the application of the word of God by the Spirit. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,” &c. 1 Pet. 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23).
Then, in its place, comes the blood—the atonement. There is a double action here. The man is presented before the Lord with the value of the offering; and the blood is also put upon him—on his ear, his thumb, and his toe, as a figure of the blood of Christ. How complete the sanctification of the believer to God by the one offering of Christ!
And then, lastly, the oil is put upon the blood, and upon the head of the cleansed leper. The oil was like a seal of witness on the blood. Thus the believer is first quickened by the Spirit, born wholly anew. Then having believed in the all-cleansing value of the blood, he is sealed by the Holy Ghost. What a picture of these foundation-truths!
“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.’
Now, if God has shown you by the Spirit that you are a sinner all over, and as such you have met Jesus, the Savior of sinners; if He is revealed to your soul, delivered for your offenses, raised again from among the dead for your justification; God declares you to be, by that death and resurrection, justified in righteousness everlasting. As surely as the leper knew he was cleansed when the bird was let loose, even so do you not know, on the testimony of God, that your sins are forgiven? for Jesus, the Surety, is risen from the dead.
Where are you going, then? Will you now take your place at the feet of Jesus, giving thanksgiving glory to God, worshipping Him? Or, like the nine, will you refuse Him the glory, and, instead of thanks and worship, will you go back to a doubting ritualism, to a wide-spread, unbelieving Judaism, that has taken the place of Christianity? In the latter, you will find cold disappointment; in the former—yes, in Jesus—you find you have all, all you need. Oh, the fullness, the grace upon grace! God hath made Him “unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.”
Beloved christian reader, one of these places you must have taken; either a thanksgiving worshipper in the presence of Jesus; or a wanderer with the nine, afar from Him, in the darkness and wilderness around.