2018 ST Message Five – Prophesying Reference

Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2)

Message Five

The Cleansing Of Leprosy

Reading the verses in each day.

Reading the main points in the outlines.

Pray-reading the verses:

Then the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet strands and hyssop be taken for the one who is to be cleansed. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered in an earthen vessel over running water.—Lev.14:4-5

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?—Heb.9:14

Word of Appetizer

How does leprosy issue from?

As seen in the cases of Miriam (Num. 12:1-10), Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27), and Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:16-21), leprosy issues from rebellion against God’s authority, against God’s deputy authority, against God’s regulation, and against God’s economy. Leprosy signifies the serious sin issuing from within man, such as willful sin, presumptuous sin, and opposing God with determination. Hence, a leper represents the fallen descendants of Adam, all of whom are lepers; as signs of leprosy, a swelling, eruption, or a bright spot on the skin of one’s flesh signifies man’s outward expressions in unruliness, in friction with others, and in pride and self-exaltation.

Spiritual Burden

The cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14 portrays the rich, complete, and extensive salvation God has prepared and accomplished for us in Christ; in this salvation Christ is the all-inclusive One who has passed through a number of processes and is everything we need for our cleansing. The one who had been healed from leprosy (Lev. 14:3) still needed to seek to be cleansed before God, signifying that the one who is sick of the sin of leprosy, although he has been healed by the divine life within, still needs to have his shortcomings and

defilement dealt with before God that he might be cleansed; our seeking to be cleansed is our cooperation with God’s grace and love.

The Revelation of the Truth

Leprosy signifies the serious sin issuing from within man, such as willful sin, presumptuous sin, and opposing God with determination.

In Leviticus 14:33-57, the house typifies the church as our real home, and the leprosy in the house signifies the sins and evils in the church; the priest signifies the Lord or His deputy authority, and the examining of the house is not for condemnation but is a grace for healing.

The Experience of Life

The bird that was killed signifies the crucified Christ, who died for us that our filthiness might be taken away. The second bird, which was let go into the open field, signifies the resurrected Christ, who rose from the dead for us that we might be delivered from our weakness by the power, strength, and energy of His resurrection life—the divine, eternal, uncreated life of God.

When all the aspects of the self are dealt with through the “razor” of the cross, and when we have nothing and are nothing, we shall be clean.

Practice and Application

The leper has to “shave off all his hair…and bathe his flesh in water, and he shall be clean” (v. 9). The hair, which is something grown out from a man’s body, signifies the difficulties within ourselves. Therefore, shaving the hair means dealing with the difficulties of our own self. This is the work of the cross in dealing with our being.

We should utterly reject the self by doing everything through the cross and by the Spirit to dispense Christ into one another for the sake of the Body of Christ.

If we deal with our sin and our sinful self seriously, in a definite, thorough, and absolute way, we shall be clean.

Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline

Key Verses (1)

When a man has a swelling or an eruption or a bright spot on the skin of his body, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. And the priest shall look at the infection in the skin of the body; and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the appearance of the infection is deeper than the skin of his body, it is the infection of leprosy. When the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean.—Lev.13:2-3

I Leprosy signifies the serious sin issuing from within man, such as willful sin, presumptuous sin, and opposing God with determination.

As seen in the cases of Miriam (Num. 12:1-10), Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27), and Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:16-21), leprosy issues from rebellion against God’s authority, against God’s deputy authority, against God’s regulation, and against God’s economy.
In the biblical sense, sin is rebellion; thus, leprosy signifies sin—1John 3:4.
The first case of sin in the Bible was Satan’s rebellion against God; hence, sin as rebellion was invented, inaugurated, by the rebellious archangel Lucifer—Ezek. 28:13-18; Isa. 14:12-15.
Eventually, this sin, this leprosy, entered into mankind through Adam, and having entered into man, it issues from within man as many kinds of sins, that is, many manifestations of rebellion—Rom. 5:12, 19a; 7:20.
Hence, a leper represents the fallen descendants of Adam, all of whom are lepers; as signs of leprosy, a swelling, eruption, or a bright spot on the skin of one’s flesh signifies man’s outward expressions in unruliness, in friction with others, and in pride and self-exaltation—Lev. 13:2.

Key Verses (2)

Then the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet strands and hyssop be taken for the one who is to be cleansed. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet strands and the hyssop, and shall dip them

and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the running water. And he shall sprinkle it on the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times and shall pronounce him clean. Then he shall let the living bird go into the open field.—Lev.14:4-7

The cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14 portrays the rich, complete, and extensive salvation God has prepared and accomplished for us in Christ; in this salvation Christ is the all-inclusive One who has passed through a number of processes and is everything we need for our cleansing:

The two living clean birds are types of Christ. The bird that was killed signifies the crucified Christ, who died for us that our filthiness might be taken away.
The second bird, which was let go into the open field, signifies the resurrected Christ, who rose from the dead for us that we might be delivered from our weakness by the power, strength, and energy of His resurrection life—the divine, eternal, uncreated life of God.
Cedar wood (cf. 1 Kings 4:33) signifies the honorable and uplifted humanity of Jesus, which enables Him to be our Savior; hyssop, being one of the smallest plants, signifies that the Lord Jesus was willing to become lowly in His “becoming in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7) that He might be near to man and become man’s Savior (cf. Matt. 8:2-3); scarlet, a dark red color, signifies the shedding of blood and also implies kingship (27:28-29).
The earthen vessel signifies the humanity of Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7), and the living water signifies the living and eternal Spirit of God (John 7:37-39; Rev. 22:1).
The sprinkling of the blood of the slain bird on the leper who was to be cleansed signifies that the blood shed by Christ was sprinkled on us, the sinners (1 Pet. 1:2), and this sprinkling connects us to Christ, the Redeemer; the sprinkling of the blood seven times signifies the completeness of the cleansing of the Lord’s blood (1 John 1:7, 9).

Key Verses (3)

And the one who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but he shall dwell outside his tent seven days. And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair; he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. Then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.—Lev.14:8-9

And the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to look at the infection, so that everything which is in the house does not become unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to look at the house.—Lev.14:36

And the priest shall return on the seventh day and inspect it. And if the infection has spread in the walls of the house, Then the priest shall command that they take out the stones on which the infection is and throw them away outside the city into an unclean place.—39-40

The shaving of the hair of the leper for his cleansing

The leprosy in the house signifies the sins and evils in the church.

The shaving of the hair of the leper for his cleansing signifies dealing with the difficulties of the self, which is the enemy of the Body; the razor signifies the cross. The hair of the head signifies the glory of man. The beard signifies the honor of man. The eyebrows signify the beauty of man. The hair of the whole body signifies the natural strength of man.
The leprosy in the house signifies the sins and evils in the church; the priest signifies the Lord or His deputy authority, and the examining of the house is not for condemnation but is a grace for healing.
After the observation of a complete period of time, if the problem of the church is still spreading, the believer or believers involved in the problem should be removed from the fellowship of the church and be considered unclean, like the outsiders; this is done to stop the spread of the disease and to eliminate the disease.
The whole church needs to be cleansed with the eternally efficacious blood of Christ and His eternal and living Spirit so that the church is fully clean to be the mutual dwelling of God and man.

Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week

T1 Leprosy signifies the serious sin issuing from within man.(Lev.13:2-3)

(Please illustrate that as seen in the cases of Miriam (Num. 12:1-10), Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27),and Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:16-21), leprosy issues from rebellion against God’s authority.)

T2 In God’s eyes we all became leprous.(Rom.5:12)

(Please illustrate that all of the fallen descendants of Adam are lepers.)

T1 The one who had been healed of leprosy still needed to be cleansed.(Lev.14:4-9)

(Why the one who had been healed from leprosy (Lev. 14:3) still needed to seek to be cleansed before God?)

T2 The two living clean birds are types of Christ.(Lev.14:4)

(Please illustrate the spiritual significance of the two living clean birds)

T1 “The priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet strands and hyssop be taken for the one who is to be cleansed. (Lev.14:6)

(Please illustrate the significance of the cedar wood and scarlet strands and hyssop.)

T2 two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet strands and hyssop.( (Lev.14:6-7)

(Please illustrate the things recorded in Leviticus 14:6-7 signify that the Lord’s perfect redemption .)

T1“He shall let the living bird go into the open field” (Lev. 14:7). This signifies that the living Christ causes us to experience His ascension. (Lev.14:7b)

(Please explain the spiritual significance of that“ He shall let the living bird go into the open field”.)

T2 For our cleansing we need a Christ of many aspects, a Christ who has gone through a number of processes.(Lev.14:4-9;Eph.2:5-6)

(Please explain that in the prototype of the cleansing of the leper how we can see the all inclusive Christ.)

T1 The leper has to “shave off all his hair.(Lev.14:8-9)

(Please explain the meaning of the hair of the head ,the beard, the eyebrows and the hair of the whole body.)

T2 Shaving the hair means the work of the cross in dealing with our being.(Lev.14:8-9)

(Please explain the spiritual significance after seven days“the one who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water, and he shall be clean”.)

T1 The leprosy in the house signifies the sins and evils in the church.(Lev.14:33-48)

(Please explain the significance of that the removing of the infected stones and putting other stones in the place of the removed stones.)

T2 The examining of the house by the priest is not for condemnation but is a grace for healing.(Lev.14:49-52)

(Please explain the whole church needs to be cleansed with the eternally efficacious blood of Christ and His eternal and living Spirit.)