Leper’s Anointing
Introduction
Matthew 8
1 When he was come down from the mountain, great
multitudes followed him.
2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him,
saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no
man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses
commanded, for a testimony unto them.
1.
All
this was to be done for a testimony to them:
i. To prove that
this leper, who was doubtless well known in the land, had been thoroughly
cleansed
ii. To give full
proof to the priesthood that Jesus was the true Messiah.
2.
The
Jewish people believed that leprosy could not cured by man
3.
So
that sin cannot be cured.
4.
The
Jewish rabbins allowed that curing the lepers should be a characteristic of the
Messiah
Three Anointing
1.
Anointing
with oil, in consecrating a person to any important office, whether civil or
religious
2.
It
was considered as an emblem of the communication of the gifts and graces of the
Holy Spirit.
3.
This
ceremony was used on three occasions:
i.
Prophets
ii.
Priests
iii.
Kings
Why should such an anointing
be deemed necessary?
1.
Because
all good, whether spiritual or secular, must come from God, its origin and
cause. Hence it was taken for granted
i. That no man could
foretell events unless inspired by the Spirit of God. And therefore the prophet
was anointed, to signify the communication of the Spirit of wisdom and
knowledge.
ii. That no person
could offer an acceptable sacrifice to God for the sins of men, or profitably
minister in holy things, unless enlightened, influenced, and directed by the
Spirit of grace and holiness. Hence the priest was anointed, to signify his
being Divinely qualified for the due performance of his sacred functions.
iii. That no man
could enact just and equitable laws, which should have the prosperity of the
community and the welfare of the individual continually in view, or could use
the power confided to him only for the suppression of vice and the
encouragement of virtue, but that man who was ever under the inspiration of the
Almighty.
The Anointing of the Leper
1.
There
is cleansing the leper by the blood of Jesus
2.
There
is also anointing with oil
3.
Leprosy
is a shadow of sin
4.
A
sinner is cleansed by blood and anointed by the Holy Spirit.
1 John 4:15 - Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
1 Corinthians
12:3
- Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God
calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost.
1 John 4:2 - Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God:
Leviticus 14
Leviticus 14:1-3
1 And the LORD
spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be
the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the
priest:
3 And the
priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if
the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
The Priest goes out to
examine and receive the healed leper
Hebrew 13:12 Therefore Jesus
also, so that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
The
Story of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15: 20 And he arose, and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion,
and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
1.
The
son had no right to enter into the house again
2.
He
took away whatever he had in the house
3.
The
son needed permission to enter the house even as a servant
4.
So
the father came out – out of love for him and joy at his repentance and return
Luke 15: 21 - 24
21
And the son said unto him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son.
22
But the father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet:
23
And bring hither the fatted calf, and
kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24
For this my son was dead, and is alive
again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
5.
The
father met him on the way
6.
Gave
him the best robe and put a ring on his hand
7.
The
father called him “this my son”
8.
It
is receiving back to sonship
When any one has
reason to believe that he is delivered from the reigning power of sin, he
should make it known, and seek admission to the fellowship of the church.
Jesus came down to welcome
us to the heavenly abode
Philippians 2: 6 - 8
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
the sacrifices and ceremonies
Leviticus 14:4 - 8
4 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: {birds: or, sparrows}
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, 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:
7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be
cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall
let the living bird loose into the open field.
8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his
clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be
clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out
of his tent seven days.
1.
Two
living birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, to be brought for him who was to
be cleansed.
2.
A
preparation was to be made of blood and water, with which the leper must be
sprinkled.
3.
One
of the birds (and the Jews say, if there was any difference, it must be the
larger and better of the two) was to be killed over an earthen cup of spring
water, so that the blood of the bird might discolour the water.
4.
This
had its accomplishment in the death of Christ, when out of his pierced side
there came water and blood.
5.
Thus
Christ comes into the soul for its cure and cleansing, not by water only, but
by water and blood
1 John 5:6 This
is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but
by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the
Spirit is truth.
6.
The
living bird, with a little scarlet wool, and a bunch of hyssop, must be
fastened to a cedar stick
7.
The
cedar, scarlet wool, and hyssop, must all be dipped in the water and blood.
8.
It
must be so sprinkled upon him that was to be cleansed.
i.
The
cedar-wood signified the restoring of the leper to his strength and soundness.
a)
The
cedar wood stands for the wooden cross of Jesus
b)
The
cedar wood is dipped in the blood
c)
The
wooden cross was covered with the blood of Jesus, the sacrificial lamb.
ii.
The
scarlet wool signified his recovering a florid colour again, for the leprosy
made him white as snow.
iii.
And
the hyssop intimated the removing of the disagreeable scent which commonly
attended the leprosy.
Psalms
51: 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hyssop
(Heb. ezob.)
a)
The
ezob was used for sprinkling in some of the sacrifices and purifications of the
Jews.
b)
In
consequence of its detergent qualities, or from its being associated with the
purificatory Services, the psalmist makes use of the expression, "Purge me
with ezob."
c)
Hyssop
should be a plant common to Egypt, Sinai and Palestine, and capable of
producing a stick three or four feet long since on a stalk of hyssop the sponge
of vinegar was held up to Christ on the cross.
9.
The
living bird was then to be let loose in the open field
10.
This
signify that the leper, being cleansed, was now no longer under restraint and
confinement, but might take his liberty to go where he pleased.
11.
But
this being signified by the flight of a bird towards heaven was an intimation
to him henceforward to seek the things that are above
12.
He
should not to spend this new life to which God had restored him merely in the
pursuit of earthly things.
13.
This
typified that glorious liberty of the children of God to which those are advanced
who through grace are sprinkled free from an evil conscience.
ceremonies
continues ….
Leviticus 14: 7 - 8
7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be
cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall
let the living bird loose into the open field.
8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his
clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be
clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
1.
After
the sprinkling of the blood, he must wash his clothes, shave his head, eye brows,
beard, bathe himself, tarry abroad seven days
2.
On
the eighth day he must bring two he-lambs, one ewe lamb, a tenth deal of flour,
and a log of oil which the priest was to present as a trespass-offering, wave-offering,
and sin-offering before the Lord.
3.
Afterwards
he was to sprinkle both the blood of the lamb and oil on the person to be
cleansed
Leviticus 14:10 - 18
10 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. {of the...: Heb. the daughter of her year}
11 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:
12 And the priest shall take one he lamb, and
offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave
offering before the LORD:
13 And he shall slay the lamb in the place where
he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for
as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most
holy:
14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and
the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be
cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his
right foot:
15 And the
priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own
left hand:
16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in
the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger
seven times before the LORD:
17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand
shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be
cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his
right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:
18 And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour
upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an
atonement for him before the LORD.
Notes
4.
The
putting the blood of the sacrifice on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of
the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, was doubtless intended to
signify that they should dedicate all their faculties and powers to the service
of God
5.
Their
ears to the hearing and study of his law, their hands to diligence in the
sacred ministry and to all acts of obedience, and their feet to walking in the
way of God's precepts.
6.
And
this sprinkling appears to have been used to teach them that they could neither
hear, work, nor walk profitably, uprightly, and well-pleasing in the sight of
God, without this application of the blood of the sacrifice.
7.
And
as the blood of rams, bulls, and goats, could never take away sin - we can do nothing holy and pure
in the sight of a just and holy God, but through the blood of atonement made
once and all by Jesus Christ.
Professor Jacob Abraham
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