In the last few lessons, we have been studying about leprosy and its
spiritual meaning {sin}. We will pick up the lesson now in Leviticus 13:35
“But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing;” Leviticus
13:36 “Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be
spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he [is]
unclean.”
We decided, in a previous lesson, that this is a leader of the church
{male or female} under accusation. The spreading in the skin means that
whatever sin this is, it has become a habit. When sin takes a person over to
the extent that the sin becomes a habit, the sinner’s heart gets hardened,
and they soon do not count anything they do sin. This would be pretty bad. I
Timothy 4:2 “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with
a hot iron;” This is the first step to total destruction.
Leviticus 13:37 “But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and [that]
there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he [is] clean:
and the priest shall pronounce him clean.”
This person has really repented and turned away from sin. Just as new
life {black Hair} has come up inside of this sore, new life has been
rekindled in this sinner’s heart. The fact that this sore is not spreading
shows that this person is no longer practicing this sin. The sin is not
spreading. The church leader, in this case would say, He is forgiven. Let us
take him back into the fold.
Leviticus 13:38 “If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their
flesh bright spots, [even] white bright spots;” Leviticus 13:39 “Then the
priest shall look: and, behold, [if] the bright spots in the skin of their
flesh [be] darkish white; it [is] a freckled spot [that] groweth in the
skin; he [is] clean.”
Since the people are more likely to have leprosy, who live in a desert
area, where there is much sunshine, it is not unusual for someone to be
freckled. Again, in this, the person may appear to sin, but on closer
examination, they are not sinning.
Leviticus 13:40 “And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he [is]
bald; [yet is] he clean.” Leviticus 13:41 ” And he that hath his hair
fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he [is] forehead bald:
[yet is] he clean.”
Baldness is not a sign of leprosy. Baldness on a man’s head is
hereditary. If your father was bald, then you will be bald in all
probability. Baldness was not common among the Israelites, and for a man to
be bald, would make himself suspect. II Kings 2:23 “And he went up from
thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth
little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up,
thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” We see from this Scripture in
Kings, that it was certainly not something someone wanted. He was laughed at
for having a bald head. From the spiritual sense, we could say that the
person this symbolizes perhaps, has some superficial habit that is not
pleasing to others, but yet is not sin. Perhaps, this person thinks about
things that are not in his best interest. More than sin, we would call these
blemishes in their character.
Leviticus 13:42 “And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a
white reddish sore; it [is] a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his
bald forehead.” Leviticus 13:43 “Then the priest shall look upon it: and,
behold, [if] the rising of the sore [be] white reddish in his bald head, or
in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh;”
Leviticus 13:44 “He is a leprous man, he [is] unclean: the priest shall
pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague [is] in his head.”
The beginning of sin is in the mind. Evil thoughts bring evil deeds. A
person who looks at pornography, will eventually do some of the things they
fantasize while reading this filthy literature. This pronouncing this man
unclean, it seems, is even more serious. He is pronounced not just unclean,
but utterly unclean. To me, this sin would be some sort of perversion. Our
society is sick in their minds. They have watched X-rated, R-rated, and even
P. G.-rated movies and television, until it has perverted their thinking.
The horrible rock music has planted down deep all sorts of lyrics that
encourage sin. This person can see no wrong in any of these things.
Remember, anything your eyes see, and anything your ears hear, becomes a
part of you. It is recorded in that little thing we call a brain. Look at
the following Scripture that lets us know we are in control of what goes
into our mind. I Peter 1:13 “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ;” My suggestion to all is, to guard your mind
carefully. Turn off any movie or T.V. program that has bad language, or has
explicit sex scenes, or, in fact, any of them that do not teach good moral
character. Read 2nd Timothy chapter 3 to tell what time element we are
living in now. This person with this sickness, is so sick, that they call
good evil and evil good. I really believe Matthew says it the best. Matthew
6:23 “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that
darkness!” This then is a sin that began in the imagination of man, and
became a horrible sin. The following tells how God feels about perverted
minds. Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in [their]
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which
are not convenient;”
Leviticus 13:46 “All the days wherein the plague [shall be] in him he
shall be defiled; he [is] unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp
[shall] his habitation [be].”
It would really be dangerous to associate with a person practicing this
perversion. We become like those we are around and this would be a terrible
thing to catch. Perversion produces perversion. The best thing to do, is to
have nothing to do with that person. Even in our liberal society, perversion
is against the law. You could get arrested and sent to jail. Certainly in
the eternal realm, God will not look the other way at this sort of sin. This
will separate you from God and from true believers who want no part of this
terrible sin.
Leviticus 13:47 “The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in,
[whether it be] a woollen garment, or a linen garment;” Leviticus 13:48
“Whether [it be] in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a
skin, or in any thing made of skin;” Leviticus 13:49 “And if the plague be
greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or
in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it [is] a plague of leprosy, and shall
be shewed unto the priest:”
We know, that when we are free from sin, we wear a robe of linen,
washed in the blood of the Lamb. Jude 1:23 “And others save with fear,
pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the
flesh.” The Scripture in Jude here, shows what soils the garment. It is the
flesh. The flesh of man causes him to sin. In the Scriptures above from
Leviticus, and this one from Jude, we see that it does not matter how fine
and expensive the clothing is, it can be contaminated by the evil person
wearing it. All of the materials mentioned above are materials of some sort
or the other, but the only garment that makes you and me acceptable before
God, is the white linen garment of the righteous. This white linen garment
has been washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ {the Lamb} and has
become whiter than snow.
To sum up this lesson today, we would see the importance of the
cleansing of our thoughts. The mind is evil, before it is cleansed by Jesus.
In fact, the mind is spoken of as the enemy of God. Romans 8:7 “Because the
carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be.” The carnal mind is a mind that is constantly
thinking of things of the earth. To be what Jesus would have us to be, we
must crucify the desires of the flesh and the carnal mind, and let Jesus
come inside of us and live through us. Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The final statement is to have the
mind of Christ. I Corinthians 2:16 ” For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” The we,
that have the mind of Christ, are the Christians.