Leper's Anointing



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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