Healing the Leper

Jesus Healing TOUCH

Luk 5:12-16 And it came to pass, when he [Jesus] was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

When God heals friend it's immediate! No slapping one's forehead, no talking in tongues first, not fervent prayer, the healing even of leprosy was instantaneous without any fanfare. That is the way God heals! The exact opposite of today's phony Charismatic churches who perform "dog and pony shows" for the people. Satan is a master at deception and in being so, he masquerades as a "minister of light" through these false "feel something or utter jibberish preachers and church members before you can believe" congregations and rakes in millions of souls to his cause through the likes of people like Jessie Duplantis, T.D. Jakes, Kenneth & Gloria Copeland and many more. Have you ever wondered why Joel Osteen never has a phony "faith healing" television production? It's because of two reasons, 1. It would detract from his "do it yourself religious" sermons, and 2. He knows that the phony healings services are just that phony.

Keep QUITE about this OR?

And he [Jesus] charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

NOTICE: The apparent "oxymoron" in the command of Jesus to the man healed from leprosy. He was to (tell no man) yet he was also told to shew himself to the (priest who was a man) of the time which means for a witness as he offered his (offering) to the same priest in accordance to the law of Moses. What was the law of leprosy? The law of leprosy contained many facets that involved material, houses, people, birds, lambs, wood, scarlet, hyssop, running water and specific acts by both the priest and the one leper who is being cleansed from leprosy. The entire chapter of Leviticus chapter 14 contains these laws as commanded by God.

When you study this out, you will realize that just because Jesus instantly healed the leper, doesn't mean that the healed man has nothing to do, there is still an atonement to be made through the actions of both the priest and the leper. This tells us that the instant physical healing of the leprosy was "a healing that took place in his flesh", but the required "spiritual atonement" still had to be performed by the priest in the most holy place of the courtyard of the Tabernacle. For Jesus to say to the man "And he [Jesus] charged him to tell no man" was NOT that Jesus was saying "keep quite" about all of this, but that Jesus was saying "do not deviate from your travels to the priest" and your own responsibility to complete your healing in the spiritual aspect of this healing. Your spiritual "atonement" is still a requirement as leprosy to the Jew represented SIN, and it was only after the cleansing that took place by both the priest and the leper, that the man could be pronounced "wholly clean." This ritual i.e. law of leprosy represented the "spiritual rebirth" or what we would call repentance or conversion in the healed leper.

Leprosy in the Bible

Leprosy is a vivid and graphic physical picture of the spiritual defilement of sin. Sin is ugly, loathsome, incurable, and contaminating; it separates men from God and makes them outcasts. The instructions given to the priests in Leviticus 13 help us understand the nature of sin: Sin is inside us, deeper than the skin (Leviticus 13:3); sin also spreads (Leviticus 13:8); sin always defiles and isolates (Leviticus 13:45-46); and just as leprous garments are fit only for the fire (Leviticus 13:52-57), so those who die clothed in sin will burn (to ashes) in the Lake of Fire forever separated from the presence of God. Mal 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. NO SUCH THING AS ANY ETERNAL FIREY PUNISHMENT OF THE "SINFUL" WICKED.

Mal 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. I didn't say it, folks, God said It!

As you study through Chapter 14, you will notice that the requirement was different from the prosperous individual than that of the (poor) yet it was similar in the rituals, it was different in the "individual offerings" brought for the cleansing. The cleansing offerings for those considered prosperous is from verses 4-20, verse 21 onwards to verse 32 contains the requirements for the (poor). Since we are talking about a single man here we will only consider those verses and leave the cleansing of the buildings out of this essay. Please feel free to read them for yourself.

Laws for Cleansing Lepers

(the Prosperous)

Lev 14:1-57 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Lev 14:2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

Lev 14:3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;

Lev 14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

Lev 14:5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

Lev 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

Lev 14:7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

Lev 14:8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.

Lev 14:9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.

Lev 14:10 And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

Lev 14:11 And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

Lev 14:12 And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:

Lev 14:13 And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy:

Lev 14:14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

Lev 14:15 And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand:

Lev 14:16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD:

Lev 14:17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:

Lev 14:18 And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.

Lev 14:19 And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering:

Lev 14:20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

(The Poor)

• Lev 14:21 And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;

Lev 14:22 And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.

Lev 14:23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD.

Lev 14:24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:

Lev 14:25 And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

Lev 14:26 And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand:

Lev 14:27 And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD:

Lev 14:28 And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering:

Lev 14:29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make an atonement for him before the LORD.

Lev 14:30 And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get;

Lev 14:31 Even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD.

Lev 14:32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing.

There was no way the man Jesus instantly healed to keep his healing QUITE and Jesus didn't mean for him to either. The statement Jesus made "And he [Jesus] charged him to tell no man" was NOT telling him to be silent about his healing, rather it was a command that called for personal obedience and "faith" from the man. It was also to keep him from coming into contact with others before the law of leprosy could be performed. QUESTION: Was he not healed? Yes, in the flesh but not in his spirit (the inner man) and Jesus is a COMPLETE healer both in body and in spirit. It is because this man was sent to the priest to offer his "offering" that the fame of this event spread abroad. Jesus knew that this event could not be kept silent. He was NOT telling the man to be quiet about this event, He [Jesus] was testing the man's faith and commitment towards his healing.

But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

Jesus can see the future and He knew what would be the result of this healing of the leper, that many would come to Him for healing which would (in part) be the fulfillment of the verse in Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

The WATCHMAN!