Leprosy-Two Birds and The Christ of Holy Scripture
Leviticus 14:4
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:
Our Lord Jesus Christ said these words to His enemies: “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:44-47) Moses wrote of our Lord Jesus in type and shadow. Jesus Christ is the antitype which has fulfilled the types of the law and Christ is the substance which cast the shadows of the Old Testament. Under the New Testament we worship in Spirit and in truth. We do not worship through ceremonial types and shadows, nor do we worship pictures, images, statues or any other elements of the world; “because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” (I John 2:8; Galatians 4:3). Christ Jesus has come into this world and fulfilled the law of God both in its precept and in its penalty for the children of the covenant of God. We now look into the law for loves sake. The Children of God know that Christ Jesus is the key which unlocks the mysteries of the law of God. And for love of Christ, and longing for views of Christ in those Old Testament types and shadows, we search the law of God for types, shadows and pictures of Christ. As it is written: “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44).
With these truths in mind let us consider what the Holy Ghost has taught the church in its infancy through this law concerning leprosy. First, in what manner is the disease of leprosy to be understood? Leprosy is a physical ailment of the body, but in the doctrine of the gospel the “body is dead because of sin” (Romans 8:10). In these things we are dealing in the spiritual realm not the physical. So that in the scriptures leprosy stands for a disease that is incurable by human means, and it is destructive of the life of the infected person. Since physical means are insufficient, the infected Israelite was to turn to the priest for the cure of his malady. Leprosy therefore represents a spiritual condition or disease that is incurable by men and will ultimately destroy the life of the infected person. Leprosy is a type of sin because sin is incurable by the works of men, and the only one who is capable of curing the disease is the Great High Priest of the everlasting covenant our Lord Jesus Christ. Biblically speaking, leprosy is a type of sin and the only cure is in the word of Jesus Christ, as it is written: “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matthew 8:2-3).
Second, why were two birds required in the cleansing of the leper? These two birds were ceremonially clean birds. They were both types of our Lord Jesus. One was a type of Christ in His death and the other was a type of Christ in His resurrection. The bird which was a type of Christ in His death was to be killed in an earthen vessel over running water, as it is written: “And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water” (Leviticus 4:5). That is (in the apprehension of the writer) the bird was to be killed by wringing off His head, and the blood was to be wrung out of the bird’s body and caught in the earthen vessel and mixed with running water (living water). In all these things concerning the cure of the leper it must be understood that the leper did nothing, because salvation is “not of works”, as it is written: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).
This is a picture of the death of Christ. The blood of the bird that was killed was the life of the bird, as it is written: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). The forfeiture of the blood of the bird was the forfeiture of the life of the bird, and the satisfaction of the law of God concerning sin and death, as it is written: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4) And again: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
The violent wringing off of the head of the living bird that was appointed to death (as our Lord Jesus was appointed to death in the everlasting covenant) and the wringing out of the blood from the body of the bird signify the bloody and violent death of our Lord Jesus. It was with fury poured out against sin that our Lord Jesus was forsaken and slain (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46). His blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant of grace. And that precious blood must be sprinkled on the conscience of guilty sinners to purge them from dead works, as it is written: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14) The blood of Christ must be applied by the Spirit of God through the preaching of the Word and when that is done it always brings eternal life and the evidence of that life which is faith. As it is written: “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (I Corinthians 12:3); and since true faith is the infallible evidence of everlasting life, our Lord Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).
It was by virtue of the merit, value and worth of the blood of the everlasting covenant in the sight of God that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, as it is written: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20). The sins of all the children of God of all ages were laid on our Lord Jesus Christ by God the Father, as it is written: “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6) and Christ Jesus bore our sins in His own body of the tree, as it is written: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24). Christ Jesus put away those sins by the sacrifice of Himself, as it is written: “now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). He Himself was justified by God the Father, as it is written: “For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up” (Isaiah 50:7-9). Christ Jesus being justified by God the Father through the blood of the everlasting covenant from the sins of all the elect of all ages that had been made to meet on Him, arose from the dead with all the elect in Himself as covenant Head and it was in demonstration of their justification that He arose, as it is written: “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for (because of our justification: writer) our justification” (Romans 4:25). Our Lord Jesus said: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
Blood and water were involved in the cleansing of the leper. It is noteworthy that: “one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). Justification of believers is accomplished by the blood of Christ, as it is written “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9). Sanctification is accomplished in the believer by the Spirit of God by the application of the blood through the washing of water by the word, as it is written: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26). And the Holy Ghost has promised the spiritual seed of Abraham that: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26).
“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: 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” (Leviticus 6-7). The living bird represents Christ in His resurrection with all His members in Him and all His members justified by Him. The living bird was first dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed. That bird’s blood represented the blood of Christ which is blood of the New Testament and the same as the blood of the everlasting Covenant. The blood of the bird that was killed was then to be sprinkled seven times upon the leper and the leper was then to be pronounced clean. This is a picture of justification by the merit, worth and value of the blood of Jesus Christ (the Son of God) in the estimation of the Father. Believers are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law, as it is written: “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39).
The living bird being dipped in the blood of the bird that was killed was then let loose in the open field. This loosing of the living bird pictures Christ Jesus in His resurrection from the dead with all His members in Him, as it is written: “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Acts 2:24). Christ Jesus passed through death and resurrection from the dead having lost none of His members who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, as it is written: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).
The cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop were all dipped in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. Christ Jesus is the only sacrifice of sufficient worth in the eyes of God to purchase the covenant gifts of the New Testament for the children of the covenant. The Christ of God was to be made a curse and He was appointed to endure the curse as the Surety of the New Testament (Hebrews 7:22). The cursedness that He bore was made manifest by His hanging on a tree. The tree was represented by the cedar wood, as it is written: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). The blood of the everlasting covenant has purchased all the blessings of the New Testament for the heirs of God, that is “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).
Scarlet is the color of blood, and it is the color of guilt, as it is written: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Guilty sinners washed in the blood of Christ are thereby rendered absolutely clean and as white as the snow, as it is written: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5). Moses used hyssop and scarlet wool to sprinkle the blood of the covenant under the law. “For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9: 18-22).
After the living bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop were all dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed in the earthen vessel over running water and after the leper had been sprinkled with that blood seven times, the living bird was set free in the open field, and the leper was pronounced clean. The antitype here is clear and simple. Sinners thoroughly cleansed by the blood of Christ are perfectly free from the law of sin and death, as it is written: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:1-3). The freedom of the living bird was brought about by the blood of the bird that was killed. Christ Jesus and all His members were freed from the condemnation of sins committed by the children of the covenant which were made to meet on Jesus Christ by the Father (Isaiah 53:6) Who made His Son to be sin for the people of God, as it is written: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21). The resurrection of Jesus Christ is typified by the living bird being let loose in the open field. And the Resurrection of Christ is the antitype. The resurrection of Christ from the dead proves both that He and all His members are free from the sins of His people which were laid on Christ Jesus the Surety of the covenant (Matthew 1:21; Isaiah 53:6; Hebrews 7:22). This is the cause of the rejoicing of the people of God. And this is all their salvation as David declared: “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow” (II Samuel 23:5). The leper was pronounced clean by the priest upon the release of the living bird. The children of God are declared just (not guilty but righteous in the sight of God) by God Himself by the Resurrection Jesus Christ who is the Head of the body the church.
AJ Ison
See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.
