Leviticus 14 … Consider His Challenging Call to Cleansing

Originally posted: 05/11/2019

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing…” (14:1).

As we continue through Leviticus, it can overwhelm our underdeveloped understanding of the LORD’s ceremonial laws. We must continually remember the LORD was establishing a new nation, a new people called to worship and serve Him, the One True and Perfectly Holy God.

None before had been given this immense privilege and responsibility. There was nothing easy about His Challenging Call to Cleansing, with its many intricate guidelines demanding adherence. His Challenging Call to Cleansing required much and would continuously remind His people that to enter His Perfect Presence was never to be taken lightly.

Consider His Challenging Call to Cleansing

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required understanding of the gravity of the condition. (Leviticus 14)

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required inspection by the priest. (14:3, 36-39, 44)

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required the priest’s sacrifice to make atonement. (14:13, 18, 20-23, 31)

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required faith in the substitute offering. (14:7)

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required the priest to pronounce one as clean. (14:7, 48)

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required the ones pronounced clean to wash themselves. (14:8-9)

• His Challenging Call to Cleansing required drastic measures for that which remained unclean.
  • “If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has torn out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come in and make an inspection. If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is a malignant mark in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ He shall therefore tear down the house, its stones, and its timbers, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place,” (14:43-45).

How do we respond to His Challenging Call to Cleansing?

We are so blessed to live in this time of His amazing grace through the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ; but because we are no longer under the law, there can be great enticement to dismiss His Challenging Call to Cleansing.

Because of our faith in Christ, we are under grace and not under the law. But as His children being conformed to His image, we must not ignore His Challenging Call to Cleansing; for as His Word instructs, we are to grow in our understanding and likeness of His unmatched and perfect holiness.

• Let us continually seek to understand the gravity of the human condition.
  • The heart is more deceitful than all else
    And is desperately sick;
    Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9).

• Let us submit ourselves daily to His Challenging Call to Cleansing as we submit to His holy inspection through His Word.
  • For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, (Hebrews 4:12-13).

• It is only by His provision for our atonement, through the blood of Jesus His Son, that His Challenging Call to Cleansing will be fulfilled.
  • …but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin, (1 John 1:7).

• Oh, let us place our faith in Jesus, our substitute offering, Who redeemed us and satisfied His Challenging Call to Cleansing by becoming a curse for us.
  • Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— (Galatians 3:13).

• As we place our faith in His sacrifice, His Challenging Call to Cleansing is answered for us by Jesus Christ our Lord, and He then pronounces us clean and justified by faith.
  • Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1).

• It is only faith in Jesus that will cleanse us from all unrighteousness; but we cooperate with His Challenging Call to Cleansing when we confess our sins and seek His washing through time with Him in His Word.
  • If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, (1 John 1:9).
  • … just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶ so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless, (Ephesians 5:25-27).

• As we grow in our understanding of the gravity of the human condition apart from Christ, may we also grow in our deep appreciation of His Challenging Call to Cleansing; that we would also grow an insatiable desire to deal drastically with our sin.
  • “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell,” (Matthew 5:29-30).
  • Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you, (James 4:7-10).

Let’s Grow Together!