God the creator has the intrinsic right to specify what sort of people will become his children. Thousands of years ago when God decided to create mankind, His purpose was to have a righteous people who desired to be like Him. During man's long history, God has given continual warnings that we must conform to His likeness if we are to live eternally with Him. Still people insist on living their lives to satisfy a lust for pleasure and to exercise their right to do as they please.
When Israel came out of Egypt to the Mountain of the Law, Moses wrote down everything God told him about living a righteous life. We call these books the Law of Moses but they are actually the Law of God. Before the new slave nation entered the Promised Land, Moses gave them a second set of laws that had the potential to make them successful with God. The wilderness generation of Israelites had not obeyed when God asked them to enter the land of giants. As a result, God let them die in the desert along with their unbelief.
The Almighty has always given mankind directions but most people continue to ignore God because they do not love Him with all their heart. The instructions that God gave 3500 years ago established principles that are still good for us today. For this reason we can look at the regulations for the cleansing of a leper contained in Leviticus and see how God cleans up a sinner today.
Rituals from very old cultures normally have little bearing on enlightened people. The surprising fact is that the ceremonial procedures for the cleansing of a leper, as given to Moses, contain every fundamental Christian tenet needed for the salvation of our soul. This symbolic ritual will reveal some rules of God that many of us have forgotten or failed to follow. In the series of The Leper and the Lamb, you will see many hidden truths of the Three Lamb ceremony that was specifically for a leper in Israel. All the meanings are spiritual and apply to both the ancient and contemporary person. The ceremony could not be initiated until a leper was somehow physically healed and then he would request this special ceremony in order to be obedient to God.
May we learn spiritual lessons from Israel's Law, in spite of the fact that it is not usually taught in our churches. One time when Jesus had healed ten lepers only one came back to talk with Him while the other nine just went on their way. (Luke 17:12) Today there are just as many who ignore the Savior and go their own way. Just as it took time and effort for a leper to complete this ritual, a sinner today must follow a similar path to find the Almighty. Unfortunately, it is not only non-believers who are Lepers of Sin, but also believers who are not living in Jesus Christ.
The Creator has seen us as lepers of sin from the time that Satan enticed Adam to fall in disobedience. People who lived long ago were saved by faith and obedience, which is the same for us today. "Saved by faith alone" does not mean we are to be without obedience. Somehow we must learn that obeying God is not works but our whole Christian life. James says, "faith alone is dead." It has never been optional to obey God, but for some reason obedience is confused with works. We must realize that our obedience is not only about our works but is the way God accomplishes His will through us. As we will see in later posts, the commands that were given for the cleansing of the leper will illustrate both faith and obedience.
Realizing that we are Lepers of Sin should cause us to be very sincere in our contemplation of the Almighty.
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