Amazing Prophecies in Leprosy: Glories of Cleansing Grace (Lev. 14)
Over 90% of Leviticus is dictated by God Himself. (Lev. 1:1; 4:1; 5:14; 6:1; etc.). Many consider Leviticus an enigma of strange laws & mysterious ceremonies. What’s it all about? One key to understand is to look for truth about Jesus (Lk. 24:27; John 5:39; Heb. 10:1, 7). One of the infallible concrete proofs of the Divine inspiration of the Bible is Prophesy. “Types” are a unique kind of prophesy. A Type is “a shadow, cast by Divine design, of good things to come” (Heb. 10:1). It can be a person, thing, or event in the O.T. designed to prefigure some person, thing, or event in the New Testament. The resemblance between the types & their fulfillment are so striking as to preclude the possibility of coincidence or chance. Leviticus is a Revelation from God so it contains amazing Prophetic Types which irrefutably prove its Divine Inspiration. Once you learn how to discover Prophetic Types you will never doubt the Inspiration of the Bible. You will have to believe it! And obey it!
In Leviticus 13-14 we have a scientific marvel written in 1445 B.C.: How to diagnose & quarantine contagious diseases. Mankind didn’t figure it out until the 1870’s. But we also have a wonder of prophesy. We learn how great our N.T. salvation experience really is from Leprosy. It was one of the most loathsome and feared diseases of the ancient world (Lev. 13:45-46). It was a death sentence.
I.) LEPROSY is a vivid Type of SIN: (Isa. 1:5-6; Jer. 30:12-14)
- Leprosy reveals how repulsive & loathsome sin really is. It results in
putrid rotting flesh (Rom. 7:18, 24). Like a boil (Lev. 13:18-23)
- Leprosy destroys the nerves of feeling & pain in the body. Sin numbs
us & makes us insensitive to its life threatening dangers & deadly
consequences (Eph. 4:19)
- Leprosy portrays the hopelessness brought on by sin. It slowly
spreads & worsens! (Rom. 7:24). It Leaves scares & deformities.
- Leprosy ultimately terminated in death as there was no cure
(Rom. 6:23). Leprosy was considered a living death (Eph. 2:1).
- Leprosy is a plague of the flesh (Lev. 13:2-6); sin is a plague of the
heart (I Kings 8:38; Matt.15:18-20). Thus one of the tests to prove it was Leprosy was that it went below the surface of the skin (Lev. 13:3, 20, 25, 26, 30). Sin begins in the heart but eventually manifests itself on outwardly on the surface (Matt. 15:18-20). Once it can be seen it can be judged according to the word of God (Matt. 7:16-20).
- Leprosy & sin isolates us from the people of God (Lev 13:45-6)
- Leprosy as a disease is healed (Lev 14:3) but as a type of sin it makes us “unclean” (Lev.13:45; Zech.13:1; Eph.4:19) & must be cleansed (Matt. 8:2-4; 11:5; Mk 1:40-42; Lk. 5:12-14; 17:12-19; Lev. 14:1, 4, 7-8)
- Only the Priest can pronounce a leper clean (Lev.14:1-7; Heb.4:14-6)
- Leprosy, like sin, is incurable by human means. It takes a miracle of God’s grace to cleanse leprosy & sin (2 King 5:6-7; Zech. 13:1; Lk. 4:27; I John 1:7; Act 15:8-9). The Leper must be presented “before the LORD” to be pronounced clean (Lev. 14:11, 16, 18, 23-24,27,29,31)
How does someone find out they are a leper? It is the priest (who is a type of the Christian believer today – Rev. 1:6) who pronounces the leper unclean through comparing his skin problem with The Word of God. However, God warns the Priest to be very careful about pronouncing Judgment because many other skin diseases appear to be like leprosy but aren’t. One of the major tests that proved it was leprosy was if the problem went deeper than just the surface of the skin (13:3,4,20,21,25,26,30)
EVERY ONE OF US IS LIKE A LEPER IN GOD’S SIGHT:
“We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6-7). The leper is a living parable of every one of us, dead in trespasses & sins (Eph. 2:1-5; Rom. 6:23). It is only through the Law of God that we become convinced that we are a leprous sinner in the eyes of a holy God. The Law is like a dentist’s mirror. It reveals the decay but can’t remove it. It takes something else to remove the decay.
“What’s your leprosy that needs cleansing?” (Isa. 1:5-6; Jer. 30:12-5) There are only 2 kinds of people in this world: lepers & cleansed lepers!
- THE LEPERS RECONCILIATION WITH MAN & GOD
IS A BEAUTIFUL TYPE OF SALVATION IN CHRIST
In Leviticus 14:1-9 the Leper is reconciled with his fellowman and restored to a place of fellowship in the camp with the people of God.
In Leviticus 14:10-32 the Leper is restored to fellowship with God as he is brought “before the LORD” at the tabernacle (14:11).
- Notice the Leper has nothing to do with his miraculous cleansing.
This Law is performed for the Leper “in the day of cleansing” (14:2). These Laws & ceremonies had nothing to do with cleansing away the Leprosy. They were performed only on one who had already been miraculously cleansed (14:3; Psalm 30:11). The leper was not saved or cleansed by anything he did. He was simply & gloriously the recipient of God’s saving grace!
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy God saved us, by the washing of regeneration & renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus. 3:5).
- The priest looks for the leper, not the leper for the priest.
“And the priest shall go forth out of the camp and the priest shall look” to see if the plague of leprosy has been healed (Lev. 14:3; Heb. 13:12; Luke 19:10). Who is this Priest? The obvious answer is none other than our LORD Jesus Christ. God says: “The priests that offer gifts according to the law, serve as an example & shadow of heavenly things“ (Heb. 8:4-5). The O.T. priests & ceremonies were a “shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Col.2:16-17). The bible says, “Christ is come a high priest of good things to come” (Heb. 9:11). So God designed the Scripture revelation of Aaron & the O. T. Priesthood, as a prophetic Type to teach us about Jesus, our New Testament Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14).
“For such an high priest became us [was fitting for us], who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Heb. 7:26).
THE PRIEST OFFERS BLOOD SACRIFICE FOR THE LEPER:
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins” (Heb. 9:22). The Priest sacrifices 1 bird & 2 lambs (Lev. 14:5, 10).
“Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive & clean, and cedar wood, & scarlet, & hyssop: (5) and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: (6) As for the living bird, he shall take it & the cedar wood, & the scarlet, & the hyssop, & shall dip them & the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running (living) water: (7) And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, & shall pronounce him clean, & shall let the living bird loose into the open field” (Lev 14:4-7)
In the 2 birds we see both the death & resurrection of Christ. “He was delivered for our offences, & was raised again for our Justification” (Rom.4:25; I Cor. 15:3-4). We see Christ’s humanity symbolized in the earthen vessel (Heb. 2:14-17). The N.T. likens our bodies to earthen vessels (2 Cor.4:7). The bird killed in the earthen vessel over running water (Lev. 14:5) is prophetic of several N. T. truths about Christ’s relationship to the Holy Spirit on the Cross. The running [living] water Typifies the Holy Spirit (Isa. 44:3; John 7:38-39; Acts 1:5). Killing 1 bird in an earthen vessel over running water (14:5) is an amazing prophetic picture of I Peter 3:18: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened [made alive] by the Spirit.”
Jesus “through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14). The live bird which flies away after being dipped in the blood of the dead bird is a picture of the resurrection & ascension of our Lord. “By his own blood he entered in once into the Holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12).
THE AGONY OF SIN & THE ECTASY OF SALVATON:
One Lamb is a sin offering; One is a burnt offering (Lev. 14:13, 19-20). The leper’s special relationship with the blood of the Lamb is found in Lev. 14:7. He is first sprinkled with the Blood 7 times (I Pet. 1:2), then sealed with the blood on his right ear, right thumb, & right toe (14:14). The leper becomes a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1-2). Then the blood is sealed with the oil (Lev. 14:17) and the Leper is anointed with the oil (14:18). Anointing with Oil is a Type of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the Bible (I Sam. 16:13). What a vivid portrayal of our sealing & anointing with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13; 4:30; 2Cor 1:21-2)
THE REDEMPTIVE PROCEDURE CULMINATES IN BAPTISM
“He that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes… and wash himself in water [a mikveh], that he may be clean…” (Lev 14:8). The last thing that needed to be done before the Leper could be pronounced clean was to “wash in water (Lev. 14:9).” [a Jewish Mikveh was by total immersion]. After that he could come into the camp & be restored to full membership in the community of believers [the Church]. So Baptism was a symbolic ordinance giving public testimony to the fact that he had already been miraculously cleansed of his leprosy, by the grace of God, and had been brought back from a living death! Baptism was not a sacrament that actually cleansed the leprosy but a symbolic ordinance that portraying the supernatural cleansing that had already taken place.
THE LEPER, THE LAW & THE CHRIST:
Never in Israel’s history did the Priests have the privilege of performing this ceremony on a cleansed leper: Until Jesus came (Matt. 8:4; Mk. 1:40-44; Lk. 17:12-16)! This ceremonial law for cleansed lepers was given by God to be an infallible prophetic sign that would unmistakably reveal the true Messiah (Gal. 3:24). The fact that Jesus cleansed so many lepers (Matt. 10:8; 11:5; Lk. 4:27; 7:22) was an undeniable proof that Jesus was the promised O.T. Messiah. This Typological Prophesy had been waiting 1500 years for its fulfillment in Jesus! WHAT OTHER RELIGIOUS LEADER HEALED LEPERS LIKE JESUS DID??? The fact that Jesus was accomplishing a miracle that only the LORD God could do was an infallible proof Jesus was God.
Jesus had come to fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17-20) so now he fulfills the Law concerning the leper (Lev. 13-14). Jesus Christ who cleansed leprosy, a Type of sin, can also cleanse us of sin itself!