Leviticus 14:7
And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field.
Tag: Their is Freedom When We Are Pronounced “Clean”
In the chapters of Leviticus 10-15 we have various laws about being clean. There are a various types of uncleanness mentioned. Any thing from a man’s accidental semen discharge at night to a woman’s menstrual cycle to a leprous person. God is super concerned about teaching the nation about what is clean and what is unclean. You can’t read these chapters without viewing all the teaching via this lens:
Leviticus 15:31
“Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”
God is holy and He lives among them via the glory in the Tabernacle. God’s presence changes the community. As a result, God demands holiness. His people are to stay away from uncleanliness. In the above passage we see that a man, who was leprous, was moved outside the camp (that is where all uncleanliness was to be sent ... away from God). When he is pronounced “clean” by the priest, the priest takes a bird that was previously dipped in holy water from the Tabernacle. This is a preparation BEFORE the priest goes outside the camp. It is in anticipation of the man, outside the camp, possibly being clean. When it is discovered he is clean, the priest sets the bird free. This is the glory of being pronounced clean. The best part is that those still in the city would have visible evidence that the person is pronounced clean. The bird flying to freedom was evidence to the man and the watching world that he was clean. What rejoicing must have been in the man’s heart. He could have been outside the camp permanently, always identifying himself as “unclean.” Instead the man is pronounced “clean” and the bird, held in captivity for just this time, is set free. Freedom of sin; freedom from guilt; freedom from being confined by a disease that was not your fault is a reason to rejoice. This is what we have in Christ. We are free from guilt and shame. We can rejoice ... we are like the bird set free.
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