Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 16:59:14 +0100
Reply-To: t.benschop@pobox.ruu.nl
Sender: Christian explanation of the Scriptures to Israel
From: Teus Benschop
Subject: The Scriptures opened, 25
Contents
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1. Weekly reading, Lev.14:2
2. Psalm 51:7
3. New Testament, Matthew 6:1, Your alms
1. Weekly reading, Lev.14:2
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This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall
be brought unto the priest.
Here, we have the law of the leper, when he will be cleansed. He will be
brought unto the priest, to be declared clean by him, after he has
brought his offering. The leper will be brought unto the priest, but not
into the camp. For, the priest shall go forth out of the camp, to look at
the former leper. When he sees that the plague of leprosy is healed in
the leper, then he will command to take an offering for him who is to be
cleansed. The offering consisted of two birds, alive and clean, and cedar
wood, scarlet, and hyssop.
When we read this, we are immediately reminded of the behaviour of
Jesus, when He healed lepers. He obeyed Moses' laws, for when He healed a
leper, He sent him to the priest to be declared clean, and to offer the
offering. Let we turn to the New Testament, and read an example.
Matt.8:2-4
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. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man;
but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that
Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Jesus travelled around, doing well, healing the sick, cleansing the
lepers, but above all, preaching the gospel of God's grace and
righteousness. Concerning His cleansing, that was foresaid by the
prophets. Isaiah, for example, has said it: "Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."
(Isa.35:5,6) In our example of the cleansing of the leper, we see several
things therein.
1. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him.
The leper, knowing that Jesus was God, and having belief in Him, came
and worshipped Him. This is a good example. Coming unto Jesus, to worship
Him. The leper had learned this from the Father. Everybody who has
learned the truth of the Father, comes unto Jesus, like this leper did.
He came unto Jesus, according to what the prophet had written. "It is
written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto
me." (John 6:45) We see, that we is taught of God, will come unto Jesus.
2. And, behold, a leper, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean.
The leper had belief in Jesus. He was assured that Jesus could make
him clean. If Jesus but was willing, then He could make the leper clean.
The leper had heard already so much of Jesus, that he became more and
more convinced of the fact, that Jesus was able to cleanse him. Each
time, when the leper heard a story of one who was healed by Jesus, his
belief in Him grew. And than came up in his mind the wish, that Jesus
would heal also him. He made the decision, that when Jesus came close to
him, that he then would go out to Him. And in this way, his belief daily
increased. He looked forward to Jesus' coming, and yes, one day, He was
there. He decided to go unto Jesus, did it, and said: Lord, if Thou wilt,
Thou canst make me clean. This was the result of his belief in Jesus. And
also we, when we are loaded by our sins, let we be assured that Jesus can
take this burden off from our shoulders. Jesus, if Thou wilt, Thou can
forgive my sins. Who comes unto Jesus, with this belief, I assure him
that his sins will be forgiven.
3. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou
clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Jesus put forth his hand, and touched the leper. Normally, who would
do that, would be unclean himself. But with Christ, it was otherwise.
When He touched the unclean, not He Himself became unclean, but the
touched became clean. That was His task, wherefore He came into this
unclean world. He came to make clean all who believed in Him.
Further, He says: "I will, be thou clean". This sentence, "I will",
reminds us of the first days of the world. In the beginning, "God said,
Let there be light: and there was light." (Gen.1:3) Likewise here, Jesus
said: "I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed."
One of the many clear signs that Jesus is God. Let there be light; and
there was light. Be you clean; and he was clean. Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, here again shows His godly power. Everyone, who sees this, let him
believe. But also for this, God's power is needed. We need that Jesus
says to us: I will, believe you; and immediately, you will believe.
4. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew
thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a
testimony unto them.
Jesus was not one of the wonder-doers, for whom Moses warned us. There
are false prophets, about whom Moses says the following: "If there arise
among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto
thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and
let us serve them.; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to
know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul." (Deut.13:1-3) These are the false prophets, given us to proof
us. But Jesus Christ was not one of them. He was a prophet, yes, also He
did a sign or a wonder. Even more, He not only did one sign, or one
wonder, but He gave a multitude of them. So, He is not a common prophet,
but the chief of the prophets. Yet, the people could ask themselves if He
were a true or false prophet. The test was to look, if the prophet
brought the people to the service of the one true God, or to the idols.
Here, Jesus said to the cleansed leper, that he had to go to the priest.
We see that Jesus observed Moses' law; in other words, that He admonished
the people to the service of the one true God. For this reason, Jesus
said that this was a "testimony unto them". Let them know, that I am a
true prophet, send by God.
We know, however, that the most of the Jews of those days did not
believe in Him. Why not? He was not according to the idea, that they had
invented about the Messiah. In the preceding centuries, that had invented
their own, wrong image of the coming Messiah. And when He indeed came, He
was of course not according to that distorted idea, and was therefore
rejected. But, through God's grace, some believed. What will we do now?
Will we still reject Jesus? Will we not believe in the true prophet,
about who was so abundantly prophesied? Reader, will you reject Him to
your eternal damage? Therefore, while you still live; while you still are
in the times of grace, believe in Him. It is still not too late now. This
belief can be given you by God. Yes, He will give it to His elect.
2. Psalm 51:7
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Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.
In this week's reading, we read about the leper, who was cleansed by
several ceremonies, through the priest. Among other things was hyssop
necessary, and a washing, Lev.14:4,7. It is to this ceremony that David
refers. In Leviticus 14, the laws were concerning the real leper. David,
here, makes the spiritual application of it. He knows that he is like a
leper, namely a spiritual leper before God. The causes were his great
sins. He asks God for forgiveness. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean". He does not come to the priest to be cleansed of his sins, but he
goes unto God. He knew that the priest could not give forgiveness, but
only God was able. The priest, through the ceremonies, showed spiritual
things in visible signs. The spiritual cleansing was depicted by the
visible leper being cleansed. The leper himself showed the sinner.
David, being very grieved over his sins, prays to God for forgiveness.
Purge Thou me, O God, for I am utterly unable to purge myself. Like the
leper was unable to put off his leprosy, David was unable to put off the
burden of his sins. He went there, overloaded by that great weight of his
crimes committed. And when the leper was freed from his leprosy, he still
had to go to the priest, to be declared clean. Likewise David goes to
God, asking for cleansing. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean of
my sins. Also, O God, wash me, and I shall be whiter than show. Have you
ever seen something whiter than snow? I have not. Yet, the sinner, who is
cleansed by God, is whiter. Have you ever seen such people, whiter than
snow, cleansed by God? I have seen them. Their sorrowful face was
bettered, and it could be said to them: "thy youth is renewed like the
eagle's." (Ps.103:5) They became whiter than snow, for their heart was
renewed. It is for this, that David prays. When one is washed from his
sins, his spiritual leprosy, all will become new. All the old has passed
away, behold, all has become new. To those people is the promise
fulfilled: "And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley
of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of
her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."
(Hos.2:15)
Have you already experienced this? I ask not if you have experienced
some happy feeling. For, our nature is also delighted through some
worldly goods. But this has nothing to do with the purifying of sins. It
is only a temporal delight, which speedily vanishes away. Many people are
blinded by the splendour of some invented outward rites, but this is not
what I mean. I ask you if your days are renewed like in your youth, not
because of temporal things, but because you feel that your sins are
forgiven. These things are necessary to be righteous before God. We need
to be purged with God's hyssop, and then we shall be clean. We have need
of being washed by God's blood, and we shall be whiter than snow. Pray:
wash me, o LORD, by the blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ, the promised
Messiah, and I shall be whiter than snow. Then my sins will be blotted
out Thy book, and I shall be clean in Thy sight.
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast
broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine
iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.
3. New Testament, Matthew 6:1, Your alms
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Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Take heed that ye do not your alms in the sight of men. The alms are the
works of charity, especially the work done to the poor. When you do those
works, do them not before men, to be seen of them. When you help the
poor, that is a good work in itself. But when you speak thereof, to get
honour in the sight of the people, you turn it into a bad work. The work
itself is not bad, but you make it bad for yourself. When you do so you
have no reward of your Father in heaven. Your reward is the present
honour of the people, so there remains no more future reward of God.
"Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before
thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that
they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their
reward." (Matt.6:2)
So, when we go to help the disable, or the old, or the needy, we will
do it in silence. We will not boast in it before our friends, lest that
is our only reward. By the way, boasting therein is a clear sign of
pride, which is abhorred by God. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace unto the humble." (James 4:6) And also Jesus gave this good example
of being lowly, when He said: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls." (Matt.11:29)
Being proud was the first sin of man, when he wanted to be like God,
as happened in Paradise. Adam and Eve, and we in them, wanted to be like
God, and they ate of the forbidden fruit, and fell in sin. Trying to be
high, they became lower then low. Jesus did it just otherwise. He, being
God's Son, and being high, made Himself low, taking upon Him the human
flesh. He was in the form of God, yes, He was equal with God. "But made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men." (Philip.2:7) Men was on earth, but
wanted to be raised up, and fell in sin. God was in heaven, but
humiliated Himself, in order to save the lost human race. Being a Spirit,
he took upon Him the flesh, to save us.
We see, though we all know Adam's fall, we have nothing learned of it.
Also this day, the warning against pride is necessary. Therefore, Jesus
said "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven."
(Matt.6:1) It is nearly unbelievable, what God has done, and still does,
to save unwilling sinners, like we are. But we, being spiritual blind,
keep doing our alms before the people. Thereby we show that we are the
same as Adam. Also we want to be high. When we had been in Adam's place,
also we would have done the same sin. Our present works show it, that we
have delight therein, that we are seen by the people.
Examples enough. We boast of our deeds, of our work, about what we
have managed. We are proud on our house, car, wife, children, and what
not. The women like it to show their beauty; and they forget that their
body will once be laid under the ground, and will be eaten by the worms.
We are proud on what God has given us, and often abuse it. When will the
time come that the people will learn to worship God in humility and
truth? The people who are busy in that so called worship of God (what is
not more than some empty outward rites) are in fact busy in giving the
honour to themselves. The singer tries to sing as nice as possible, not
to give honour to God, but to be seen and spoken of by the people.
Therefore, when you do something good, do it not before men, lest you
have not another reward than the temporal, vanishing glory of the people.
Try to the everlasting inheritance in heaven.
"But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth
in secret himself shall reward thee openly." (Matt.6:3,4)
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Chr-Exp, a Christian explanation of the Tanach and the New Testament
Editor: Teus Benschop - t.benschop@pobox.ruu.nl
No copyrights on this publication
Institution Practical Bible-education, the Netherlands
End of The Scriptures opened, 25
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