So
now that the people of Israel are camped at Sinai, the Tabernacle of Meeting
has been erected, the people are counted, the Levites are set apart, their
duties outlined, now God is going to continue giving them commands about how
they are to act as His people. Things they are to do and things they are to
avoid. The giving of the Law continues. It did not stop at Exodus 20:17
.
It did not stop at Leviticus 27:34. It will in fact continue through the
last verse of Deuteronomy. That is why the Law is said to be the first five
books of the Bible.
This is why we should be so thankful that Jesus came for us as He did. Not only were we Gentiles not considered to be God’s people, but if a Gentile were circumcised and made a covenant member of Israel, then after that they had 613 commandments he had to observe in order to be in right standing with God. A thought struck me, “why did Christ have to come to save people from their sins? Didn’t they have all these sacrifices which put away their sins?” Well, the answer is this: while all those sacrifices covered up their sins, it did not take them away. And that distinction is important. In order to be in right standing before God, we must be perfect. Without a single spot or blemish. So we did not need for our sins to be simply covered up, we needed them to be completely taken away. We needed more than to put our hands, or have a priest put his hands, on the head of a bull or goat and have those sins pronounced forgiven by him. We needed our sins put on a perfect, sinless sacrifice, and have those sins forgiven by God Himself.
Many
times in the Gospels, we see Jesus, our High Priest, tell someone, “Your sins are forgiven”. The episode of the man
brought to Jesus on a stretcher and let down through the roof, Jesus tells him “your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2, Mark
2:5, Luke 5:20). Of course, this got the Jewish fathers in an uproar, since
they had to go through all kinds of rituals just to have their sins covered
over, but here was this man—for they thought Him only a man—who
pronounced sins forgiven! FORGIVEN!
No sprinkling of ashes of bulls or goats. No blood thrown against the Altar of
Burnt Offerings, no incense sprinkled on the fire on the Altar of Incense. Just
a few words. αφεωνται σοι αι αμαρτιαι σου
(apheontai soi ai hamartiai sou). “Your sins are
forgiven you”. Do we need any further proof that Jesus was God in the
flesh? For the Pharisees rightly claimed, “Who can
forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). Jesus IS God! And being
God, Jesus had all the right and authority to forgive our sins. Jesus took our
sins upon us NS TOOK His blood into the Holy of Holies in Heaven, into the very
presence of God the Father—not the blood of imperfect bulls and goats, but His
own perfect blood, as of the blood of a lamb without
spot or blemish (1st Peter 1:19), as an offering to
God for Him to remember our sins no more (Isaiah 43:25).
And
in that verse in Isaiah, why does God forgive sins? So we can be happy and go
on sinning even more? No. So that we can be better people? No, not even that. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for
My own sake; and I will not remember your sins”. Why would blotting
out your transgressions be of benefit to God? For this reason: He has chosen
for Himself a people, a people comprised of both Jew and Gentile. And in order
for those people to be God’s people, they must be perfect. Absolutely perfect.
And in order for them to be perfect, God must make them perfect. And guess
what? He did. How? In the death of Christ. 2nd Corinthians 5:21—He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that we may become the righteousness of God in Him.
Numbers
5:1-4—1 And the
LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2
"Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper,
everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. 3 You
shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that
they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell." 4 And the
children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the LORD spoke to
Moses, so the children of Israel did. The three groups of people they
were to put out is interesting. Lepers, everyone with a discharge, and those
who have touched a corpse. Because all three of these groups are represented
quite prominently in the Gospels. This is one of those times I’m sad there
aren’t more teachings on the Old Testament, because this would be a great place
to have one. This is one of those places that shows the difference between the
Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the OId Covenant, these three conditions
were shown to be either the result of judgment or a reason to be considered
unclean. But in the Gospels, they are shown as a way for God to show forth His
grace and forgiveness.
First,
lepers. We have seen previously in our studies in
Leviticus the proscriptions concerning lepers, their houses, isolation, etc.
Well, after the Books of the Law, the next place we see leprosy mentioned is in
2nd Kings 5:1-14. We know the story about Naaman, that he was
told to wash in the Jordan River 7 times, that he thought the rivers of Syria
were cleaner than the muddy old Jordan. Eventually Naaman relented, washed in
the Jordan 7 times, and came up cleaner than a child. Now, I’d like to note
something in this passage that kinda relates to our last lesson in Numbers 4.
Look in 2nd Kings 5:13—And his
servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, indthe prophet
had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more
then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" We talked last
time about the gifts and calling of God, and how that whatever God calls us to,
we should do it, not for fame or prestige, but for the glory of God. Are you
called to work with the children in the nursery? Then don’t aspire to be a
preacher. Are you called to clean the bathrooms at your church? Then don’t
think yourself a prophet.
But we see that many times, where someone will not be satisfied with what God has called them to do, and they want to be someone with more recognition that being a janitor. Matthew Henry says of the passage in 1st Corinthians 12—
God has so fitted and tempered them together that they are all necessary to one another, and to the whole body; there is no part redundant and unnecessary. Every member serves some good purpose or other: it is useful to its fellow-members, and necessary to the good state of the whole body. Nor is there a member of the body of Christ but may and ought to be useful to his fellow-members, and at some times, and in some cases, is needful to them. None should despise and envy another, seeing God has made the distinction between them as he pleased, yet so as to keep them all in some degree of mutual dependence, and make them valuable to each other, and concerned for each other, because of their mutual usefulness. Those who excel in any gift cannot say that they have no need of those who in that gift are their inferiors, while perhaps, in other gifts, they exceed them. Nay, the lowest members of all have their use, and the highest cannot do well without them. The eye has need of the hand, and the head of the feet.
Naaman did not realize the mercy shown to him by God. First, he was a Gentile, and received instruction from a prophet of Israel. Second, being a leper, he would have been put outside the camp as commanded by God.
Next
we read of King Uzziah in 2nd Chronicles 26, that he became a leper,
then we don’t see another until Matthew 8:2 (also Mark 1:40)—And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him [Christ], saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me
clean." How does Jesus respond? Does He command the leper to go to
the priest, be examined to determine if it truly is leprosy, be isolated for
7-14 days, etc etc? No. Matthew 8:3 (and Mark 1:41)—Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying,
"I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. If you
remember, back when we talked about Leviticus 13, there were all kinds of tests
to determine if a person indeed had leprosy. And the person would have to be
isolated and declared unclean, then bring a specific offering. And this poor
fellow, we don’t know how long he had been living with this condition, but we
do know that however long it had been, he could not have gone into the temple
to make offerings. He would more than likely not have been employable, so he
would have been begging for alms all this time. He would have been declaring
himself unclean, untouched by anyone. But here, Christ touches him. The One
they call Rabbi, the One who taught with authority,
not as the Scribes (Matthew 7:29). He had just finished
delivering the Sermon on the Mount, He has all these people following Him, and
He touches a leper! How curious. Can you imagine being in that multitude and
seeing this Man touch a leper? You’ve been living all your life under the Law
of Moses, knowing what it says in Leviticus and Numbers about commands
concerning lepers, and not only does He touch this leper, He pronounces him clean!
And rightly so, because immediately his leprosy was
cleansed.
Then
you’re watching to see what Jesus will command this now cleansed leper to do.
And you hear Him tell this man, Matthew 8:4 (and Mark 1:44)—And Jesus said to him, "See
that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer
the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." Why the
rush? Wouldn’t it be great for this man to tell folks so that they may believe
on the One who made him clean?
Many think it was so that the priest would not hear that it was Christ who made him whole and, out of spite, refuse to declare him clean. We are guilty of that at times, are we not? A person with a sinful past comes to know Christ, is forgiven of their sins, but we don’t want to accept that. We want to keep them outside the camp, we want them to always be unclean, we want them to be punished for their past. That is why many are atheistic, because God can forgive even the greatest sinner. “This person did all these horrendous things, and God is just gonna let them off the hook? I don’t want to worship a God like that!” As if we are any better. C. S. Lewis rightly said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
The
next group we see in Numbers 5:2 is those who have a discharge. I think you know where I’m going with this. The
woman we see in Matthew 9:20-22 (as well as Mark 5:25-34 and Luke
8:43-48)—20 And suddenly, a woman who had a
flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His
garment. 21 For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I
shall be made well." 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He
said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your
faith has made you well." And the woman
was made well from that hour.
The
woman with the bleeding that had been going on for 12 years, and the physicians
she went to only made it worse. I include all these passages so we get a
clearer picture of her struggle compared to the healing that Jesus brings. She
has this issue of blood, probably from her vaginal area. She had spent every
penny she had in an attempt to be healed, but that healing never came. In fact,
it had only gotten worse. Then one day, she sees Christ walking through the
city. The One who had cleansed a leper with a touch and a word. The One who had
forgiven the sins of the paralytic, against the wishes of the Pharisees. The
One who had cleansed Legion of his many demons. The One who was at this moment
on His way to a man’s house to raise his daughter from the dead. She sees Jesus
walking with the multitudes and she thinks, not only if she touches Christ
Himself—this One who had healed many—but even if she touches the hem of His
garment, that she will be made well. She, like the leper, like Legion, like the
Centurion, was considered unclean and was thus unable to enter the Temple. Notice
here, Jesus does not touch her—she touches Him. She
reaches out and touches the Sun of
Righteousness...with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2).
He
asks “Who touched Me?” Did He know who touched
Him? Of course He did. The reason He asked was not because He didn’t know, but
because He wanted to hear from her, and He wanted the crowd to know, that she
was the one. He wanted her to acknowledge that she was the one who needed healing.
He wants the same from us. He wants us to confess that we are sinners and we
need forgiveness. 1st John 1:8-9—8
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we believe on the Sun of
Righteousness, He will come to us with healing in His wings.
One more thing about this passage. How many people are done more harm than good by these so-called “prosperity preachers”? They preach a “Jesus”, but not the Jesus of the Bible. They preach a “Jesus” that wants nothing more than to give them stuff, a “Jesus” of their own design. They think of Him as an ATM, that they can just say His name and make demands of Him and He will shower material wealth upon them. They never hear the true gospel, that they can have their sins forgiven. So they don’t call upon Him to forgive their sins, only to give them things. And rare is the one who will have their sins forgiven.
Part 2 next week
