Now, at His descending from the mountain, vast throngs follow Him. And lo! a leper, coming to Him, worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if Thou shouldst be willing, Thou canst cleanse me!” And, stretching out His hand, He touches him, saying, “I am willing! Be cleansed!” And immediately, cleansed is his leprosy. And Jesus is saying to him, “See that you may tell it to no one, but go away; show yourself to the priest and bring the (approach) present which Moses bids, for a testimony to them.”…yet the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness. There will be lamentation and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:1-4, 12 Concordant Version
See this familiar story with new eyes, and consider its prophetic implications. We have used the Concordant Literal New Testament to purposefully take the text out of the past tense used by most other translators. The Lord Spirit wants us to understand there is much more here than merely the story of one man’s healing; that is, another wonderful prophecy of the restoration of all things when the Lord Jesus takes up His throne in His kingdom.
Before we launch into the prophecy, a word or two about leprosy is in order. First, it is entirely likely that the disease known to modernity as leprosy is not the disease referred to in Torah, or referred to by the Savior. Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) has to say about it:
In the Septuagint “ẓara’at” is translated by “lepra.” It is reasonable to assume that the Hebrews attached the same meaning to “ẓara’at” that the Greeks did to “lepra,” which is derived from “lepros” (= “rough” or “scaly”). According to the medical writings of Ægineta, Ætius, Actuarius, Oribasus, and others, lepra was uniformly regarded as a circular, superficial, scaly eruption of the skin; in other words, their lepra was the psoriasis of modern times. There is absolutely nothing in the Greek description of lepra that suggests even in a remote manner the modern leprosy…The confusion and obscurity that have enveloped this subject for centuries have resulted from the use of different terms in successive ages to designate the same disease, and from the total change in the meaning and application of the word “lepra.”
We make this point because the law given to Moses dealt with a prophetic sacrifice to be made after the afflicted person was cured, and modern leprosy is incurable. If a person were never cured of the skin disease referred to in Hebrew as “zara’at”, there would be no physical or prophetic purpose to the wonderful offering Moses commanded. That leads us to the second point: what is translated “leprosy” is symbolic of a condition that is very curable! That is the whole point of the offering Moses commanded! And, as we shall see, the point of the healing of the leprous man in Matthew 8. “Leprosy” is symbolic of sin, that condition in man that causes him to miss the mark, fall short of the ethical and lawful ideal, and to commit offenses against God. (This word for “sin” in Greek is hamartano, and is to be distinguished from hamartia, which refers to legal offence.)
We apologize if this post has become technical–hang in there, dear reader, it will be worth it!
YHWH spoke to Moses, saying: This is to be the Instruction for the one-with-zara’at, on the day of his being-purified: he is to be brought to the priest. The priest is to go outside the camp; when the priest looks, and here: the affliction of zara’at has healed on the one-with-zara’at, the priest is to command that they take for the one-to-be-purified two birds, live, pure, and wood of cedar and scarlet of the worm and hyssop. Then the priest is to command that they slay the one bird in an earthen vessel, (held) above living water, and the live bird–he is to take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet of the worm and the hyssop, and is to dip them and the live bird in the blood of the slain bird, (held) above living water. Then he is to sprinkle (it) over the one-to-be-purified of zara’at seven times, declaring-him-pure, and is to send-out the live bird into the open field. Leviticus 14:1-7 Schocken Bible
Notice here the person with leprosy/sin is the “one-to-be-purified”. One may note initially that the purification follows after the “healing”; which we may equate to realizing one’s condition without Christ. How is the “purification” accomplished? By taking one live bird, slaying the bird (not as in other ritual slayings of birds elsewhere in Leviticus, but by a different and unique method) in an earthen vessel, as Christ Jesus took on himself an earthen vessel (see 2 Corinthians 4:7) and was slain by a different and unique method. Notice also the Hebrew expression for running water: “living water”. Do you not recall how the Lord said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you: Give me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (John 4:10) and “He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)? Living water is always synonymous with purification; both point to the saving work of Jesus the Christ!
We are indebted to Dr. Stephen Jones, who has taught with much clarity on these two birds. The first bird is a picture of Jesus, who was slain “in an earthen vessel”; the second bird is also a picture of Jesus, who in His second work is released alive “into the open field”, which we now know is the world. (See Matthew 13:38) In His second coming, He will be “clothed with a robe dipped in blood.” (Revelation 19:13; see also Exodus 37:31, relating to His second work as a “son” of Joseph.) On an individual level, the one-being-purified is now free from the law of sin and death represented by the leprosy/sin, and is now free to serve the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. On the worldwide level, the “release” of the “second bird” will bring with Himself freedom from sin and purification for the entire world!
At His descending from the mountain (of the Lord, in heaven) vast throngs follow Him, says our text. Dear reader, have you not heard the slanderous accusation, usually uttered by one exasperated over what is perceived to be the excessive immorality of unbelievers in the world, that Jesus will return in anger and judgment, slaying those who do not receive Him with a sword coming out of His mouth? (See Revelation 19:15) Suppose, however, that the sword coming out of His mouth brings repentance, instead of physical death. This is the true meaning of the verse, as can easily be seen by Hosea 6:5-6. The true purpose of the sword? To bring about mercy, which the Lord delights in–if physical death were intended, the Lord would have said: “I delight in sacrifice, not mercy.” Because mercy is preferred over sacrifice, we may be certain that the purpose of the sword in the mouth of the Lord Jesus is not to kill. Mercy always triumphs over judgment.
The leper in Matthew 8, representative of these vast throngs following Jesus, comes in worship to Him, having heard the slanderous accusation to which we refer, and says, “If You are willing…” God never has been willing, is not now willing, and never will be willing that any should perish, “but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Accordingly, Jesus does what He sees Father doing, and says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And once again we see that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved, for his leprosy/sin is immediately cured.
In that day, great throngs of people will follow Jesus, aware of their leprosy/sin and will realize that only He has the words of life. In humble repentance they will understand, as all eventually do, that they deserve the judgment that the Church for centuries has been threatening them with. But in worship they will exclaim that He can heal them if He is willing–and He will, because He is willing.
The purpose of the offering of the two doves was to illustrate the marvelous truth that Jesus the Christ will not only satisfy the penalty for the legal offence (hamartia), He will also remove the sin condition to which we have been referring (hamartano). However, because the Church as a whole has neither heard the voice of Father, nor understood His mind, nor cared for His Instructions, it has accused Father and Son of false attitudes and actions. As sons of the Kingdom of God, the followers of Jesus should have told the world that He would at all times be willing to cleanse them, and that in fact one day cleansing would come to all. But instead it promoted fear, lawlessness, denominationalism, and exclusion. Because of unbelief, they will have no part in the first resurrection, and when the Church comes to realize this, there will be great lamentation and gnashing of teeth: precisely the exact measure of judgment that the Church measured to others.
Do not judge, lest you may be judged, for with what judgment you are judging, shall you be judged, and with what measure you are measuring, shall it be measured to you. Matthew 7:1
The “outer darkness” spoken of by the Lord, we believe, is the earthly realm and not the spiritual realm where the attainers of the first resurrection will minister to the Lord Jesus in the “linen garments” spoken of by Ezekiel 44:15-19, referring to the glorified body. In the earthly realm, those who attain to the first resurrection will put on “woolen garments”, meaning a physical body when ministering. There will be great sadness when the Church realizes what was available to it, and what was lost because of unbelief. We do not say that such a person’s salvation will be lost; just that they will have to await the second resurrection to receive their glorified body. Much more could be said about these resurrections, but the point for now is that once again, the Lord’s words are justified.
Blessed are You, O Lord. Come, thou fount of every blessing, give us this Living Water, and purify us from the sin condition by filling us with Yourself.
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