THE MEANS OF CLEANSING

THE MEANS OF CLEANSING

Leviticus 14:1-7, Leviticus 14:48-53; Numbers 19:1-6

One desires, beloved brethren, to say a few words that might help us to see afresh something that is carried over from the Lord’s sojourn here. Scripture distinguishes in some ways between the thought of what the Lord was and what He is. The word is that “we shall see him as he is.” We have not known Him here in flesh and blood, and if we had, it is, “henceforth know we him no more.” One desired, with the Lord’s help, to speak particularly of what is carried over from the scene of His suffering — what abides in that way.

I would like to dwell upon this scripture in Leviticus. The prime bearing, of course, relates to what is provided for cleansing, whether it be for individuals or for a house. I had no thought of referring to the literal connection, but to speak of the Lord as presented in these two birds and also to refer to the cedar and the scarlet and the hyssop, which I understand in Leviticus 14 to be typical of that which is carried over. In Leviticus the cedar-wood and the scarlet and the hyssop are not burnt as in Numbers 19; they are dipped in the blood of the slain bird. Indeed, too, the second bird is dipped in the blood of the slain bird, whereas in Numbers the red heifer is burnt; all that remains is the ashes. There the cedar-wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet are all burnt, the fire consumes them, and all that is left is the ashes. The ashes have a great value, but that is all that is left in Numbers. In Leviticus the second bird is dipped in the blood of the slain bird and is let loose into the open field — liberated. The cedar is dipped in the blood, the scarlet is dipped in the blood, and the hyssop is dipped in the blood. The Spirit of God comments particularly as to the house, that the cleansing of the house is with the blood of the slain bird, and with the running water, and with the cedar, and with the scarlet and with the hyssop. All these elements are used to cleanse the house, and I have no doubt to cleanse the individual too, though it is more stressed in relation to the house.

It is primarily an apprehension of the meaning of the death of Christ suggested in the blood of the slain bird. What wonderful thoughts surround what is typified by the bird! Though literally so much smaller than a lamb or a bullock, in this connection it is not to introduce a smaller thought, but to bring before our hearts that the One who died, the One whose blood was shed, was heavenly. He was out of heaven; He was the Second Man, out of heaven. When the dove came down upon the Lord, it was not to bring a small thought to us, it was to bring before us the Holy Spirit as coming from heaven in all His purity, in all that marks Him, but as come from heaven, and the Lord Jesus as typified in the slain bird is to speak to us of Himself as come from heaven — come into small conditions outwardly, but come from heaven. O what a theme for our hearts to delight in, that while the Lord Jesus took part in flesh and blood, while He was here on earth He is the Heavenly One. Not that He is that only Now, but it was so as here, for the Lord said, “I am come down from heaven.” He is the Second Man, out of heaven. We are, as to our bodies, and as to our moral beings, except what is formed in us by the Spirit, of the earth. The first man is of the earth, earthy, but the second Man is out of heaven, yet this heavenly One is slain, it says, in an earthen vessel. That is why He became flesh. What thoughts of Christ fill our hearts as we think of Him coming into flesh and blood to die! It says, “as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” The first bird is slain in an earthen vessel, and the blood of the slain bird is part of the wondrous process of the cleansing of the leper and of the house. Then it says it is slain over running water. I do not know anything more wonderful, more interesting, more delightful than running water. To sit by a stream of running water is one of the delights of earth, to see it moving on and on in ever constant freshness. The Spirit of God is represented in the figure carrying livingly first of all into the leprous heart, but into all our hearts, the living wondrous meaning of the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanseth from all sin. The living water is flowing to carry livingly, freshly, and blessedly the meaning of the death of Christ to our hearts.

Then it says the living bird is to be dipped in the blood of the slain bird. Because of the limitation of figures you must have two birds, but the meaning is clear. The living bird that is dipped in the blood of the slain bird is the blessed Lord Jesus Christ out of death. The heavenly One cannot remain in death, it was not possible that He should be holden of death, He must be released. The bands of death must be loosed and He is freed, like the living bird He is set loose in the open field with liberty to soar where He will. Such is our blessed Lord, as having come out of death He is loosed as it were in the open field, without restraint to move where He will. How we love to think of Peter’s words, “Who is gone into heaven,” loosed from the power of death, death having no more dominion over Him. He has gone into heaven indeed, beyond all limits, far above all the heavens that He might fill all things. It says before the living bird is loosed it is dipped in the blood of the slain bird. The living bird loosed in the open field carries the witness of death upon it. It is dipped in the blood of the slain bird, to bear the witness of death. Think of our blessed Lord loosed from the power of death,

free to go into heaven, but carrying with Him the witness of His death. What an influence it will have when He is seen like that! In Revelation 5 it says, there stood in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the elders and in the midst of the living creatures, a Lamb “as slain.” Not “as it had been,” but the New Translation says, “as slain,” that is with the present evidence of death. Not that it is literally present, but the evidence is there as present, “as slain.” The acclamations of a redeemed universe are not to be silenced when they see Him. The influence of the One who bears the marks of having died awakens the responses of the universe. So the Lord Jesus has been loosed from death, carrying in His blessed Person as Man the witness to our hearts of His death. He has “gone into heaven,” Peter says. In the Acts it says, “they beholding him.” They watched Him ascend, “and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

Then it says that the cedar is to be dipped in the blood. One loves to think of that. You know the cedar here represents the kingly greatness of Christ as a Man. I think trees in Scripture always refer to what grows here on earth, and there grew up before God in the Person of Jesus in manhood the true cedar, that kingly stately tree in which greatness is expressed. The angel announced at His birth that, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.”

Think of a cedar that towered up like that, the Son of the Highest growing up here, the supreme greatness of Christ towering up majestically above every other! We think of Him in His hour of temptation, how He stands out as a mighty cedar, towering above everything in His glory; we think of Him on the mount and the kingly features that are there; we think of Him in Gethsemane — what true majesty is there, superior to, greater than all! If we think of Him at Calvary, even the dying robber could see the true cedar, the kingly glory and majesty of Christ, all that is so supremely great in Him in manhood. I am not thinking for the moment of His inscrutable greatness in the Deity, I am speaking of His greatness in manhood, for that is what a tree represents. The cedar is dipped in the blood, all went into death. The greatness of Christ as Man all went into death, but it all comes out of death; all true greatness in manhood is carried over through His death and abides for ever. What an influence for cleansing a human heart or a house, to realise that the heavenly One died. His precious blood has been shed; for the living effect of that to come into a heart, to realise that the One who died has gone into heaven carrying the witness of His death with Him, to realise that all true greatness resides in Christ still — what a cleansing effect that has upon us!

Then the scarlet. The scarlet, as I understand it, is what makes one conspicuous. The Lord Jesus, we are told, went away and hid Himself. He never sought to be conspicuous. They said to Him, Show Thyself to the world, but He says, “My time is not yet come,” nevertheless it also says He could not be hid. He did not seek to be conspicuous, to show the scarlet, but it was always there, and for those who had eyes to see it, it could not be hid. He could not be hid. How many and many a one discerns it! “I also am a man set under authority,” says one; “say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.” The centurion had seen who wore the scarlet. Even the blind beggar saw it. “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” The dying robber saw it as he looked upon the King; he also saw the One who was supremely great, who was conspicuous according to heaven; to whom the kingdom must come — Thy kingdom. It was all covered up as far as man’s sight was concerned, but it was there. The scarlet is dipped in the blood, the blessed One who is notable in heaven has been into death, but all that makes Him stand out blessedly great and notable to our hearts abides still. None of it is burnt, none of it is destroyed, it passes over. The scarlet is dipped in the blood, as we look upon Him in His greatness we still remember He died. As we see the King in His beauty, that mighty cedar, we shall ever remember that He died.

What a range of thoughts God presents to us in these figures, and how wonderful they are! The Psalmist says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.” Solomon speaks of it. He spoke of all the trees from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. The cedar tree does not spring out of the wall; it is stately and majestic and immense in its stature. It must have the forest and the mountain for room for it, so great is the cedar. But the hyssop will grow wherever it can get a corner. It will fit in anywhere, it is so small. Think of our blessed Lord like that! Was not He like that here? Who could look at Bethlehem’s manger without thinking of the hyssop! Did anyone ever have such a place in which to be laid? They laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Look at Him at Nazareth, such a place that I have no doubt none of us would care to live in. He went down to Nazareth and was called Jesus of Nazareth. Look at Him in His public life in the house of Simon the leper. If there is room for Him in the house of Simon the leper, then the hyssop will be there. If there is room for Him in the heart of a Mary Magdalene once possessed of seven demons, He will fit in there. If a dying robber could find a corner for Him He will fit in there. It is the lowliness of Jesus. He says, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” It is true in all His lowliness and meekness He did go into death, the hyssop was dipped in the blood of the slain bird but it was not destroyed. It has not disappeared; it could not disappear. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” “Who art thou, Lord?” says Saul. He says, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” Not, I was, but I am. I am in heaven on the throne of the greatness of the majesty in the heavens, but I am Jesus of Nazareth. He is still the same lowly, blessed, humble, accessible One, prepared to come into our hearts and live there; tiny little spots as they are, but all that He is as suggested by the hyssop is preserved, and for cleansing.

In Leviticus 14 it says that the priest would cleanse the house with the blood, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar and with the scarlet and with the hyssop. All these things would have a bearing in the process of cleansing: first upon the heart of an individual that has come under the defiling influence of sin, and secondly upon a house, upon a gathering, where the opposite to these things have been working. That is what causes leprosy in a house, the opposite to what is suggested in what I have been saying has been operative, but the priest comes in, and with the blood of the slain bird, the running water, the living bird, the cedar, the scarlet and the hyssop cleanses the house and the person. If we would open our hearts and the gatherings of the saints to these blessed influences, what a cleansing effect it would have upon us, and does have, thank God. Now I want to say a word or two about the opposite. In Numbers 19 we have one of the most touching scenes of Scripture. Again it is a matter of cleansing; the water of purification being prepared. The priest is to take a red heifer without spot, without a single defect, upon whom never yoke came. Where could you find her? It is not often feminine figures are used of Christ, but this is one of the few occasions, and is intended to call attention to what He was inwardly — in secret. The man refers to what is public — what is responsible; the woman refers to what is hidden and secret, and I believe the Lord is referred to under this figure. Conspicuous again is the red colour — conspicuous in secret purity and devotedness to God. Conspicuous outwardly too, but inwardly also. The inward extent and perfection of His devotedness is seen in the red heifer — not a spot inwardly, and there is not one outwardly. The dying robber says “this man hath done nothing amiss,” there is no spot; but he could not look into the inward parts of Jesus. As God looks into it, His eyes discerning between soul and spirit, between thoughts and intents, there is not a spot inwardly, not a blemish, not an imperfection. How often things may pass outwardly with us as to our conduct and our words and so on, but what is there inside? Inwardly,

“full of dead men’s bones,” the Lord says of some. What awful corruption is often inside, smothered from expression maybe, in every man, but inwardly in Jesus there was not an imperfection, not one. He never bore any yoke outwardly. Man could never see the Lord yoked up with anything that was wrong. Holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; inwardly also no yoke ever came upon Him. Nevertheless if there is to be purification for sin, the red heifer is to be taken, slain, and burnt. The Lord Jesus Christ must go into the fire of the holy judgment of God, if there is to be a means for purification for God’s people. These ashes are to be kept. Never again will He see the fire, but the ashes are stored up; all that is left of that scene is the ashes. They have not gone. The evidence that He has been into the fire remains in the ashes. Then the priest is to take the cedar and cast it into the burning, all goes into those ashes for purification.

What is the meaning of the casting into the fire of the cedar? It is the growing up here of all the outward greatness and glory of man in the flesh which we all love naturally, and which has such a tremendous place in the world — that kind of cedar is burnt in the cross of Christ, the place of the fire. Cleansing from the defilement of human greatness and pride comes by the cedar going into the fire. That is one part of the process of the cleansing. The hyssop; probably in some respects there is more hyssop amongst us that needs burning than there is cedar. Scripture speaks of voluntary humility. How much there is in christendom of outward lowliness and humility that has no real foundation, and we have to face it, for we know it is in our hearts often. How much that is also small and petty in our conversations together, in our outlook, little insignificant things that are really of no value, they all go into the fire if there is to be cleansing. How much sorrow is caused in the gatherings of the saints at times by petty things, little things that seem to fit in any corner and produce their unhappy growth. In the burning goes the hyssop, also the scarlet — the innate desire to be conspicuous, natural to every human heart. How we naturally love it, how unholy it is. Men and women, too, alas, more than ever in these days will do anything to call attention to themselves. In the world much that is done has the object of making persons conspicuous. What is worn and what is not worn often governed by the desire to have more scarlet, but into the burning goes the cedar and the hyssop and the scarlet, all that is left is ashes, and the ashes remain for purification.

One trusts the Lord may help us to see something of what remains on these lines for us to experience individually, and in the companies of the saints, in order that there may be cleansing. On one side the blessed Lord remains, the One out of heaven that came to die. He has now gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him, yet bearing the evidence of His suffering and death, and all the greatness that came out in Him as Man, and all that which will make Him eternally conspicuous before the universe, and all that lowliness and meekness of heart that was His. They all abide; they have been dipped in the blood, but they remain. Whereas the fire of divine judgment into which Jesus went consumes the pride and greatness of man, it consumes the voluntary humility, the pettiness of the human heart, and also the scarlet. One loves to see amongst the saints, thank God, a refusal of the kind of scarlet that the people of the world are using. One would urge that it be hated, that it be cast more than ever into the fire; the inordinate desire to make oneself conspicuous. That kind of thing goes into the fire, into which Jesus went in infinite grace that there might be ashes and the water of purification from sin available to us.

May the Lord help us in these great things.