PURIFICATION

^[p. 129] PURIFICATION

2 Kings 5:1 - 3; 2 Kings 5:9 - 14

As following on the observations made this morning in connection with leprosy, I thought that the subject of purification would be useful. We know what importance the book of Revelation attaches to this subject and how the Lamb is praised by those who are washed in His blood. In the first chapter, some of them say, “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen”, (Revelation 1:5 - 6). They appreciate the service rendered to them by our Lord Jesus Christ who had washed them from their sins in His own blood. Then, in chapter 7:9, it speaks of a great crowd which no one could number; all these, too, in the same way are occupied in praising God and the Lamb. “These who are clothed with white robes, who are they, and whence came they?” asked one of the elders, and he replied, “These are they who come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb”, (verses 13,14).

In the first chapter, it is Christ who had done it, who “has washed us from our sins”, He only could do it, as affording the means of purification. In chapter 7, they have the gain of the means of purification; they had themselves washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

In the gospel, Christ is presented as the One who washes sinners; it is from His side that blood and water have flowed. But the person who has need of purification has need, too, of washing himself; we all have need for all are filthy: “We are all become as an unclean thing” (Isaiah 64:6), to put it in one word, we are leprous. If we realise that and make use of what is supplied in the death of Christ, we do what the “great crowd, which no one could number” had done; they had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Most of us here have heard the gospel, that is, that the blood purifies, but have we all come to Jesus with faith to make use of the means of purification? In Luke 4:27, the Lord refers to Naaman and says, “there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian”. There are many lepers today but all are not purified. Are there some here? Most are purified, and they can say that it is the Lord Jesus who has done it, but He would say that we have done it. He would say to us, “Your faith has saved you”. The great crowd of Revelation 7 does not say, “We have washed ourselves”. It is the elder who says so, an elder who knows the thoughts of God, puts that to their credit. When we tell you that the Lord Jesus cleanses, we tell you at the same time that it is necessary for you to get the gain of the means of purification which is within your reach. The day will come when the means of purification will no longer be there; then you will find yourself for ever in a terrible company. In Revelation 22:14,15 it says, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”. Then again we read, “Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loves and makes a lie”. You see in what terrible company you would find yourself as refusing the means of purification or neglecting to make use of them. How much these means of purification have cost the Lord Jesus! Will you not now accept the invitation to wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb? By faith in Christ forgiveness of sins is preached, and all who believe in Him are cleansed. The leper, of whom we spoke this morning, seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought Him, saying, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me”. Jesus stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, “I will; be cleansed”, (Matthew 8:2,3). That is what He says now to every leper who comes to Him.

As I was saying, the Lord speaks of Naaman as a leper who was cleansed, and that helps as to the subject of purification, which becomes very simple to us. While mentioning Naaman, the Lord brings all lepers into the way of purification, and so in that way we are invited to consider the chapter to which the Lord refers. The New Testament supplies keys to the Old Testament; certain matters are suggested in the New Testament, and this suggestion here furnishes a key to open, in the Old Testament, a place where the subject is developed in its entirety. What a marvellous reservoir of instruction is found in the Old Testament! Let us take therefore, the key which is at our disposition and open this room of the Old Testament, (2 Kings 5). We see there a young captive maid, simply, a little servant girl in the house of a great Syrian man. This man was a leper, but a leper with a remarkable history. He had to do with God, or rather, God had had to do with him previously, for God had used him to deliver Syria. God can use a man, and in spite of that, the man can remain a leper, as it was in Naaman’s case. Although God had used him, it does not say that he was great in God’s eyes, though he was great in the eyes of the king of Syria. Having rendered great services to his country does not mean being great in God’s eyes. In God’s eyes he was only a poor leper, as are many men who distinguish themselves by great exploits in the world today, although perhaps having had to do with God at one time or another. However, in God’s eyes, I repeat, it is a question only of poor lepers.

Since we are here to serve and enlighten you, we desire to point out who it is who can purify you. The little captive maid pointed out to Naaman who could ^[p. 132] make him clean. This little girl is very interesting; it is difficult to find her equal in Scripture. She is quite set free from national feeling. An Israelite, in captivity in a foreign land, under the orders of a Syrian, yet she displays no resentment against those who had made her prisoner; on the contrary, she shows sympathy. She speaks with emotion to her mistress, Naaman’s wife, “Oh, would that my lord were before the prophet that is in Samaria! then he would cure him of his leprosy”. She speaks with conviction, as we too. We know the value of the blood of Christ, and we exhort you to turn to Him, so that by faith, faith in Jesus, you may be cleansed. The little captive maid had full assurance in pointing out one man. If Naaman was to allow himself to be directed by her word, he was to let himself be wholly directed. Instead of listening and going to Elisha the prophet, who was pointed out, he goes to his master, the king of Syria; now the king of Syria did not know Elisha. The king could only think of someone of his own rank, the king of Israel. Many who receive a word from God go to a person who cannot bless them. The name of Jesus alone can do you good; there is power in no other name, however distinguished it may be in the political world or in the religious world. “There is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved”, (Acts 4:12). The poor Naaman takes the wrong road, and goes to a man who can do nothing for him. But I must not stay on these details, for the subject is well known to us. At last, we find him at the door of the prophet who could make him clean. The little captive maid had not spoken of this door, that is “the door-way of the house of Elisha”; she had only said, “Oh, would that my lord were before the prophet that is in Samaria! then he would cure him of his leprosy”. You must come to Christ, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, (Matthew 11:28). To stand at the ^[p. 133] door is not to receive the gospel. We see how Naaman came to the prophet’s house — . “with his horses and with his chariot”; the Spirit of God makes mention of that to show what was going on in the heart of Naaman. Although leprous, he was still the great person of Syria, but, in order to be made clean, he had to leave his trappings and all the rest: before God, he was only a leper. His political and military greatness was nothing before God. Indeed, it is often this greatness which hinders us from getting the blessing. Naaman said, “Behold, I thought, He will certainly come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper”. His mind was affected by current religious methods, a certain superstitious way of waving the hand over the place. The Lord Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree”, (1 Peter 2:24). Yes, He who knew not sin God has made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. His sufferings on the cross, dear friends, mean much more than the waving of the hand over the place. There could be no cleansing for the leper unless Jesus had died. Now the prophet did not come out to Naaman, but sent to say, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean”. Just as the little captive was full of assurance, so is the word of the prophet certain. The first thing a soul needs is the word of God; what the little girl said represents the word of God, just as does what Elisha says. It is a question of being submissive, it is not sufficient to listen. To go to the meeting every Sunday and hear what is said is not enough. Naaman had listened, but that did not make him clean; it is essential to go to the Jordan and accept the death of Christ.

Having heard the prophet’s message, he goes away in a rage, on the point of missing the blessing. Even now you can give your ear to all that we are saying ^[p. 134] and not take heed to it. What you have heard renders you more responsible than before, and when you appear before God in the day of judgment, these words will be against you. You have the opportunity of being cleansed and may-be you are going to reject it. The servants of this leper exhorted him to do what the prophet had told him; the best service we can render you is to exhort you to let yourself be guided by the word of God. Whoever proposes to you to wave his hand over the place is deceiving you; the only way of purification is that which the word of God points out. Naaman listened to his servants and went down to the Jordan; then, it says, he ‘plunged’ himself in it seven times. Elisha had spoken to him of washing; Naaman plunges himself. “He went down, and plunged himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God”. That shows that the counsel of his servants had gone into his soul. He says, I am going to do it, and do it completely. He plunged himself into the water; he plunged in a second time, a third, and he plunges seven times. He accepts fully the death of Christ. “And his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”.

That is not all that he got; not only is his flesh changed, but his spirit is changed too. He returns, not to the door-way of the house of the prophet, but to the prophet himself. The Spirit no longer speaks of the horses and chariot; Naaman is no longer a man of this world, he is a leper cleansed by the blood of Christ and he returns to Christ to give Him thanks. He does not go back to the door-way of the house of Elisha, waiting for him to come out, he returns to the man of God. Some here have perhaps never given thanks; have you never given thanks for what Christ has done? It is in giving thanks that you will prove deliverance. In Romans 7:24, you will find a soul in the greatest distress: “Who shall deliver me?” This soul then says, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Have you never given thanks? — I do not know why I should give thanks, you say, — well, for the sun which rises on you every morning, and for a thousand things which you make use of day after day. If you give Him thanks for these things, you will not be slow to give Him thanks for spiritual gain. “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”. God has not spared His own Son, His only Son, but has delivered Him up for us all.

I counsel the young people who are exercised and who have not yet given thanks to God, to start to do it now. Naaman returned to the man of God; he would have liked to have given him a present of money, but the man of God refused. Purification and salvation are obtained without money. All that God can accept is thanksgiving, as is said in Revelation 1:5,6: “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood ... to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen”. That is what He is looking for on our part, the gratitude of our hearts. We who are christians here devote ourselves to prayer and praise because of what has been done for us. The prophet refuses the gifts of Naaman, and Naaman says, ‘I want to be in fellowship’ — I use that expression typically. He says to the prophet, “Let there, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of this earth”, (verse 17). He sees now that, instead of being a great man of this world, he is only dust. Whatever we think of ourselves, God has said, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”, (Genesis 3:19). The Lord Jesus descended into the dust of death, although He had not to return to the dust. He was holy, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens, yet He took our place in the dust of death. Now we stand on that base, to praise God according to the merits of Christ. We have the fellowship of the Son of God, the fellowship of His death. Henceforth I renounce all that which belongs to me in ^[p. 136] the flesh. That is what Naaman had in view, in asking for two mules’ burden of earth; in his heart, he resolved to be identified no longer with this world. That is what should govern the heart of every believer; if you are really purified by the blood of Christ, you must confess Him each day. The Lord’s supper is the expression of the fellowship of Christ’s death: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). If you are in the gain of the death of Christ, why not confess Him? If the Lord has done everything for me, why should I not do what He desires me to do for Him? Since others do so, why should I not do the same? The Lord is addressing Himself to you: “Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house?” (2 Samuel 19:11).

I trust that God may bless His word.