Decay or corruption is incompatible with the holiness of the Lord and must be removed.
We looked together at various skin diseases and how they were examined by the priest. We saw certain ones made the Israelite unclean before the Lord and restricted his worship. If the person came down with leprosy, then they were pronounced unclean and were removed from the congregation of Israel, outside the camp until they were healed.
We also saw that leprosy and sin had many things in common and that only God can heal both. When God worked and the person with the leprous disease was healed, the priest went outside the camp and performed the ritual showing that God had healed them and they could then rejoin the worshipping community. Then the person was reinstated into the camp with further atonement sacrifices required.
So, we covered the sickness and then the healing together. That caused us to skip over this section. So, what I’d like to do is go back and cover what took place in Israel when not a person but a garment was made unclean then, Lord willing, next time we’ll look together at the restoration involved.
In this section the subject matter consists of issues regarding holiness and contamination with the body of worshippers. Specifically garments that were marred by certain fungus and mold.
Here, we might be tempted to skip over this section but God has spent so much time on it we must examine the content and as NT worshippers see its meaning and application for us today.
To understand means we must think about the big picture of holiness in the OT and what it meant to be clean.
What is taking place with Leprosy and with the mold and mildew fungus is that sin has effects in our world. We live in a world where sin has attacked everyone. Not only original sin but individual sin also attacks many more than we can imagine.
The curse for sin is contamination, corruption, defilement and eventually death. These were the effects Adam and Eve experienced as they lost paradise and the effects of sin are still on going today.
When someone or something was contaminated or not whole it was considered unholy and incompatible with the holiness and worship of God. For example, the sacrificial animal could not be diseased or maimed. The worshipper had to be healthy and whole. Remember a new mother could not enter into the sanctuary because she was not whole, unclean during certain number of weeks. Those with a skin disease were not whole and were incompatible with God’s holiness. All these issues were the result of sin’s effects in our world.
1. Uncleanness was Shown to the Priest (13:47-49)
47 “When there is a case of leprous disease in a garment, whether a woolen or a linen garment, 48 in warp or woof of linen or wool, or in a skin or in anything made of skin, 49 if the disease is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin or in the warp or the woof or in any article made of skin, it is a case of leprous disease, and it shall be shown to the priest.
Here what we are seeing is the absolute effect of contamination because of the fallen world we live in. For the person with the leprous disease we can rightly conclude that it is possible he contracted the disease because of some sin within him, it was a judgement of God. Here inanimate objects such as woolen, linen or leather garments do not sin. We cannot rightly ask what sin did my leather boots commit in order to be covered with mold? None. But the boots are in the sinful world and sin’s contaminating effects are on them as well.
Sin has contaminated God’s once perfect world. The effects are so deep and engrained that everything has been affected. We sometimes speak of human depravity how it is that all of our person has been impacted by sin. The same thing can be said of our world, it too is totally depraved by sin.
The world did not sin, man did and yet our sin has affected the entire world.
The same word saraat that was translated as Leprosy now refers to the mold or fungus on a garment. It to is translated leprous disease.
These instructions really had nothing to do with preserving the garment. The priest was involved because this issue of contamination would make the worshipper unclean and unable to attend worship in the sanctuary.
2. Uncleanness That Spreads Must Be Eliminated (13:50-58)
50 And the priest shall examine the disease and shut up that which has the disease for seven days. 51 Then he shall examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, the disease is a persistent leprous disease; it is unclean. 52 And he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any article made of skin that is diseased, for it is a persistent leprous disease. It shall be burned in the fire.
53 “And if the priest examines, and if the disease has not spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof or in any article made of skin, 54 then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which is the disease, and he shall shut it up for another seven days. 55 And the priest shall examine the diseased thing after it has been washed. And if the appearance of the diseased area has not changed, though the disease has not spread, it is unclean. You shall burn it in the fire, whether the rot is on the back or on the front.
56 “But if the priest examines, and if the diseased area has faded after it has been washed, he shall tear it out of the garment or the skin or the warp or the woof. 57 Then if it appears again in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in any article made of skin, it is spreading. You shall burn with fire whatever has the disease. 58 But the garment, or the warp or the woof, or any article made of skin from which the disease departs when you have washed it, shall then be washed a second time, and be clean.”
Here we see the tests the priest used to determine the seriousness of the mold and mildew or as the Bible calls it the leprous disease found on a garment.
Test 1- Isolate the garment for a week and see what happens. If the mildew spreads, then the garment was burned. They were to eliminate or purge the contamination so it would not spread.
Test 2- If the mildew did not spread but faded then the garment was washed and isolated another week. If it did not fade it was burned if it faded still more, it was then cut off and repaired.
3. Uncleanness is Unacceptable (13:59)
59 This is the law for a case of leprous disease in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or the woof, or in any article made of skin, to determine whether it is clean or unclean.
This verse is the summary of the entire section. It was the priest’s task to make the determination whether the fabric was clean or unclean. We see this very similar statement concerning the person with Leprosy in…
Leviticus 13:2 (ESV)
2 “When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests,
The priest examined the person with the Leprous disease and he also examined the garment with the Leprous disease and when he saw symptoms of contagion…white skin on the patient or green and red fungus on the garment then he pronounced them incompatible with the standards of holiness with the worshipping community that dwelt in the presence of the Holy God.
The person removed outside the camp and the garment burned outside the camp.
4. We Too are Unclean and Corrupted Because We Live in a Fallen World.
Remember corruption is incompatible with the holiness of God.
What we should seek to keep straight is that this section is not dealing with sin but focuses on sin’s effects. Dealing with the corruption that is here due to the effects of sin.
Here’s what Paul tells us about the effects sin has on creation…
Romans 8:18–23 (ESV)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Here’s the point, this decaying and corrupting world makes worshippers unfit for the presence of God. The contaminating effect of our present world is a continual reminder that we live in a fallen sinful world and sin has deeply affected us.
5. Application…
A. We live in a sin-contaminated world and have also become contaminated and unclean
Before Christ, we are dressed in contaminated moldy garments and have become unclean. We must go to our Priest, Jesus Christ for clean garments.
All who are in Christ have been clothed with His righteousness. While we live in this sinful world, God sees us as being clothed in white robes and spiritually, we are.
Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV)
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Humanity has a great need. We are incompatible with God’s holiness. We have been examined and it’s been determined that there is incompatibility between us and God. We cannot be in God’s presence the way we are. Theologians call this being in our natural condition. We are corrupt and decaying due to the effects of our sinful world.
B. Don’t forget, this world and its corruption is passing away
By God’s wonderful grace, this section teaches us that the things in this current world are decaying and passing away.
If you’ve ever owned a house, car, or even clothing then you are aware of sin’s corruption. Everything is wearing out and needs constant upkeep and maintenance.
Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Praise God, there is a world coming that’s not like this world. One with no sinful effects and no corruption and no decay.
Revelation 21:1–4 (ESV)
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
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