THE LIVING BIRD LET LOOSE
A.Hutchinson
Leviticus 14: 1-9; Psalm 84: 1-4
These two clean living birds speak of Jesus. How clean Jesus was! How unclean I am and you are! How different Jesus was, the only Man who has ever been here who was absolutely perfect and spotless, not in the sight of men but in the sight of God. We may appear spotless in the sight of men, but men's judgment is of no avail. Two sparrows in men's world are sold for a farthing (see Matt 10: 29) but this clean living bird was of tremendous value to God, and one such shall not fall to the ground without the Father's knowledge. Oh, how God looked upon Jesus! How God took account of that clean living bird! Jesus here amongst men was entirely different; Himself perfect, spotless, pure, in all His ways every day, very minute of every day – 'No thought of His e’er moved apart from Thine' (Hymn 119). Oh, the cleanness of the life of Jesus! Does it not throw into relief the lives of every other man and woman who has ever been here? In His life, how pleasing He was to God a clean living bird. People think they are alive but they are dead, there is nothing for God in their lives; even if they think they are clean and they are living, they are impure and there is nothing for God in their lives, they are dead while they are living; and here is a clean living bird that has to be killed. You would have thought that this is the very thing that had a chance to remain alive, that had no need to die; and, of course, it had not, that is the point about it, it had no need to die. There was intrinsically no need for Jesus to die either; when here death had no claim on Him because He was clean, because He was living. Death has a claim on every one of us because we have all sinned: "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3: 23); and let us make no mistake about it "the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6: 23) and death has "passed upon all men, for that all have sinned", Rom 5: 12. These scriptures are very clear and very applicable because they apply to you and me, but not to Jesus; "all have sinned", never Jesus; "come short of the glory of God", us, but never He. He was the clean living bird, we are the leper, but the clean living bird had to be slain in order that the leper might be pronounced clean. One of them, it says, shall not fall to the ground without your Father's knowledge. How much do men take account of the fall of sparrows? How much did God take account of this clean, living bird falling to the ground? It says: "one bird be killed in an earthen vessel over running water". Oh, how much knowledge the Father had about the dying of Jesus!
We have been speaking earlier about Abraham and Isaac going on together, Abraham knowing that he had to sacrifice Isaac and here there is this clean living bird not falling to the ground without the Father's knowledge. Oh, how much the Father knew about the movements of Jesus! How much He knew about the end of the life of Jesus! How much He knew that there was no way out for Jesus! There was a way out for Isaac, there was a way out for Abraham, but there was no way out for Jesus; the clean living bird (if I can use that figure) had to be killed and its blood had to be shed. Does it not speak to you of the value and importance and necessity of the blood of Jesus? The blood of that clean living bird had to be shed. The blood of Jesus had to be shed: “without blood-shedding there is no remission, Heb 9: 22. The leper could not be cleansed without the shedding of blood. The priest had to look upon him, and he might even appear to be clean, but in order for him to be rehabilitated into the system it needed this cleansing, and the cleansing process needed the shedding of blood, the blood of a clean living bird. Oh, the blood of Jesus! I wish I could speak of it in a way that would attract and move all our hearts. The One who was perfect and spotless was prepared for His blood to be shed. He was the answer to all the offerings, He was the answer to all the sacrifices; "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin", 1 John 1: 7. Think of all those thousands of animals that had been slain in those preceding centuries effecting nothing; they could not cleanse a person of sin except that they looked ahead in God's mind to the incoming of the sacrifice of Jesus. Here is this clean living bird, its blood was shed; it speaks of the blood of Jesus; it is the only way that that leper could be cleansed and could find his part and place back again in the circle of God's people; a clean living bird must be slain and its blood must be shed. It says: "killed in an earthen vessel over running water; as to the living bird – he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water". Two sparrows sold for a farthing and one does not fall to the ground without the Father's knowledge. What about the other one? What about the second of them? Here he is, the living bird; that too speaks of Jesus of course.
All the Scriptures speak of Jesus. If only we could read the Scriptures in the light of the fact that they all speak of Jesus! As to the living bird it says "the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop"; they all speak of Jesus. Jesus said of the Scriptures: "they it is which bear witness concerning me", John 5: 39. The cedar-wood – think of Jesus in His excellency, what He was amongst men; the One who was the Son of God was absolutely perfect and outstanding amongst men. The scarlet – His excellence , His regal rights, His kingliness, His glory. The hyssop – that smallest of herbs; in man's mind that hyssop was the feature they saw; in God's mind the feature that He saw in Jesus was the cedarwood and the scarlet. What a Man He was amongst men! "My beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight" (Matt 3: 17) – the cedar-wood and the scarlet shining out in the eye of God; but, "When will he die, and his name perish?" (Ps 41: 5) – that is the hyssop; they did not want Him. But these features and he living bird which also speaks of Jesus, go in the blood of the dead bird. The one whose blood was shed for the leper to be cleansed· the One whose blood was shed for your sin to be remitted. I hope you have believed it, I trust you accept it, that that blood was shed for you. It is not just a page out of the Old Testament; of course it is that but it is not just that, it has its application to me and to you tonight, dear friends, because we are all lepers, we all need to be rehabilitated we all need to find our place. So the blood of that one bird covers them all. It covers the living bird and the cedar-wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, all those features are covered by the blood. And the living bird – one does not fall to the ground without the Father's knowledge; the second one – "and shall let the living bird loose into the open field". Jesus, the One who went into death, is the One who has come out glorious; He can ascend up where He was before, like the living bird let loose into the open field, every question settled, nothing remaining. The blood was upon Him of course, but He is there; every matter is dealt with now satisfactorily for God's pleasure; that second bird, the second sparrow, can go into the open field just where he will. When Jesus was here upon earth, of course, He was subject to human limitations in some ways; now He is entirely free from them; He is a Man, of course, but He is entirely free from those limitations that marked Him and that mark us; He is there in the open field, He can soar right up into the very presence of God. He is the One who died, He is the One who has been raised, and the One who has ascended far above all principalities and powers and names named, He is there able to soar in the open field. Oh, how wonderful Jesus is! Have you thought of Him as One who is not dead but alive? Many people around us think of Jesus as the One who has died, but He is not dead now, He is a glorious living Man, He is the second of these living birds in that sense; it needs both to cover the work of Jesus, and a lot more besides, but these two cover the work of Jesus in His being taken, and His being crucified and His blood being shed, and that blood being put with all these other features in order that the leper might be cleansed and find his place among the people, that the living bird might be set free, loose, into the open heavens. I suppose, in a certain sense, that is what was in mind for the leper himself, that he should be set free into the open fields. Think of the restrictions upon the leper – no access to the camp, no communication with persons, no living with anybody, a life of seclusion, a life of difficulty, a life of impoverishment; but now he can go because of the work of Jesus, he himself can go into the open field as well as into the camp. I wonder if we have experienced what this means. Have you ever tried to soar? The living bird would soar, that is what it means – "let the living bird loose into the open field" there is no restriction whatever; it is entirely free, it is entirely clear, it can go exactly where it will. Have you tried to do that? The blood of Jesus Christ cleansing from all sin, that blood put upon you as it was upon the living bird, have you tried to soar? How far can you get? I suppose in a certain sense it means that we need the Holy Spirit too. These are wonderful scriptures, the blood of Jesus cleansing from sin, the Holy Spirit giving power to ascend. "Come up here" was said to one (Rev 4: 1) and he went in the power of the Holy Spirit. Have you tried to soar, may I ask again? And how far can you get in your soaring? Once a man was taken up to the third heaven and he heard unspeakable things (see 2 Cor 12: 2,4); I suppose he was soaring into the open field; he was in the experience of everything having been cleared, himself being entirely clear and able to go up, to soar into realms of glory, because that is where Jesus has gone, and He is worthy of it. But I wonder if you have really appreciated the lowliness of Jesus. Have you really understood that Jesus in His greatness – the One who is the I am, the One who is King of kings and Lord of lords – is prepared, because of your state, because of your lowly condition to come and present Himself to you according to the type of the sparrow so that you can grasp it, so that you can have some sense of what it is? How near He has come to you, how lowly He has come, that you might be cleansed and that you might be set free from all your sin.
There was a man further on in the Old Testament who was a leper – Naaman; he could not grasp the idea of the sparrow at all. The Lord Jesus said: "there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman", Luke 4: 27. I suppose the Israelites did not grasp the idea of the sparrow either; they would not understand the depths to which God Himself in His mercy would come to present such a Man in the Person of Jesus; none of them was cleansed, it says. The lowliness of Jesus is something which man's mind just cannot grasp; man is after something bigger, higher, more majestic, more glorious; if he would only just come down and accept the fact that he is a sinner, a leper, and be prepared to accept the way that God presents Himself to men, he would come into blessing. So Naaman was a leper; and Jesus says: "and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian". What a remarkable statement about Israel, God's people, many lepers, none cleansed but Naaman a Syrian. What a mighty man was Naaman! It took him some time to arrive at the fact that God would speak to him by way of a sparrow. It took that little maid: "Oh, would that my lord were before the prophet in Samaria!" 2 Kings 5: 3. She had a part in it, a little maid with no great thoughts of self, but she just testified. How she knew I do not know, because there were no lepers cleansed, but she says: "would that my lord were before the prophet in Samaria! then he would cure him of his leprosy". That is faith of course, laying hold of faith in God. She perhaps had read this passage about the law, the cleansing of the leper (I do not know), but even then this is to Israel and not to Naaman the Syrian. But still, the little maid would suggest something of the lowliness of the way that God brings His testimony to bear upon us. Then when the prophet says "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times" Naaman says, No, I cannot, that is not my way, and he implies that it cannot be God's way either because it is not his way. But God has somebody who can just draw alongside of him and speak to him: "if the prophet had bidden thee do some great thing" – that is the bullock, that is the heifer idea of things – "how much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash and be clean?" How simple, how sparrow-like it is! There was nothing for Naaman to do actually except just get in that water seven times, and when he went he was cleansed, "And his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean" (v.14). He had accepted in measure the principle that God had come in, God was speaking to him in this way of a sparrow and there was cleansing. Have you? Are you prepared to accept this lowly way of God's cleansing? We might think we have to do our share in the bargain; we have: just accept it and be obedient. Naaman had won many battles, he had been a great warrior but, but, he was a leper; the battles meant nothing in the sight of God, what mattered in the sight of God was the 'but' he was a leper. Whatever you have done does not matter if you are a leper. Naaman was a leper and he accepted it; at last he was prevailed on to go and just get down in that water and be cleansed, and he was cleansed. Can you accept the way that God has appealed to you in Jesus, the lowly, harmless One, despised by men, the stone which the builders rejected? The world has no place for Jesus today as it had not nineteen hundred and eighty years ago, no place for Jesus.
But there is another sparrow; one does not fall to the ground without your Father's knowledge, but the living bird goes off into the open field, it can soar and soar, but where is it going to find a home? Psalm 84 shows that it has found a resting place, it is not just moving on all the time. I notice that this Psalm is of the sons of Korah – a remarkable thing; the judgment had fallen upon their father but the sons of Korah through divine mercy had been saved. I suppose they had themselves appreciated the value of those two sparrows, the one that went into death and whose blood was shed, and the one that went into the open field. So in Psalm 84 these sons of Korah say: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God". I suppose that is really the exercises of this other living sparrow, the crying out in this search for something higher and better in the open field, the living power of the Holy Spirit; they are really searching for something: "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God". It is the living bird crying out for the living God. And then: "Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she layeth her young, thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God". The sparrow has found a resting place. Thine altars: I suppose the living bird in that sense becomes a living sacrifice, like Romans 12, it would be put upon the altar never to be taken off, it is just there as a living sacrifice, and there finding a home. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be constantly praising thee. Selah". This is the living bird.
We speak sometimes about a dawn chorus. I do not know whether we are up early enough to hear it these days; there is not very much dawn chorus in Sheffield because there are too many magpies, but the dawn chorus would be the living birds celebrating. Do you wake up with the dawn chorus? Do you wake up with a song in your heart to God? Or are you drowsy, too tired to open your eyes, too tired to open your mouth? Well, here we are: "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be constantly praising thee"; this is the living bird, the second of these sparrows. If one does not fall to the ground without the Father's knowledge, think of that second one finding its place in the Father's house, the Father's altar, the Father's knowledge, the Father's satisfaction, the Father's pleasure, the living bird that is representative to Him of Jesus. Oh what a work Jesus has done! Is He not worthy of your acceptance? He may appear in lowly guise here; He may have been amongst men, you might say the poorest of the poor. He could, of course, have laid claim to everything, everything was His, but He was here as a lowly Man amongst men, the sparrow amongst the bird kingdom you might say, and He appears to you as that, and He wants you to accept the work He has done. He wants you to come to some appreciation of the place to which He has gone as that living bird, able to ascend up where He was before in the glory of His own Person, and the majesty of His own Person, and yet He wants you also to take some of that character. Are you a living bird, having that blood put upon you, the blood of that dead bird, the first one taken? Can you, in any sense represent Jesus in the sight of the Father? It is a wonderful thing that we may be like sparrows. Thank God for the sparrows; thank God for Jesus· thank God for every one who has any character of Jesus.
I think Saul of Tarsus came to it at some time in his history that he was really only a sparrow; he thought at one time that he was something great, Pharisee of the Pharisees and all that kind of thing in the majesty and glory of his own person, but he came to recognise that he was a sparrow, that Jesus Himself had met him, that the blood had been upon him, and in the virtue of that he was able to move forward; there was something all the time of that living character about him. Sometimes we appear living and sometimes we appear dead; what is wanted is the living bird, the living character of something that is always going on for the pleasure and glory of God. So just let us think of God looking down; He has seen that one sparrow fall to the ground, the Father knew all about it, what it meant to the Father that Jesus died, to hear Jesus go into that garden and speak to Him: "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me", Matt 26: 39. Think of the Father's beloved there, a sparrow falling to the ground, saying three times: Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done. But the Father knew also that second bird; that bird is alive. Jesus said "ye are better than many sparrows", Matt 10: 31. Think of what God would put upon you because of the work of Jesus, because the blood has been put upon you! Think of God just turning round and saying to you, Now, you are of more value than many sparrows! Think of the work of Jesus! God can credit you with having the same character as Jesus and being of value to Him. How wonderful the thoughts of God are! What do you put upon them? How much God thinks about Jesus! How much God thinks about those who believe on Jesus! May you have some sense of living to Him and being known of Him. He looks upon you; He is looking down upon us now; He wants every one of us here, young and old; male and female, He wants us all to have some sense of the greatness of God's thoughts for us because He has given Jesus to die for us. Oh, beloved, what it means to Him to have persons who can go into the open field and soar away from man's world, away from the degradation and the shame and the ignominy of things here, and just rise up into the realm where Jesus is. May we try it. May this word help us to do it; may the Spirit help us to be here more for God's pleasure, for His Name's sake.
GRIMSBY
19 May 1985
(Revised but not by Mr.Hutchinson – with Christ June 1985).