Night of the Living Dead – Day of the Living Living

Lev 14:1 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:

Just reading the 13th and 14th chapters of Leviticus hurts on several levels. The details of the pronouncement of the disease, the instructions and restrictions for the leper, their cleansing and their offerings once they were cleansed, are tedious reading.

The worst hurt though, is for the victims of leprosy. It was a horrible disease that made the sick person one of the living dead. "Tsarim" is what they were called. They were banished from society. They were miserable, they stank, they were ugly, they were hated, oh, they were in the worst imaginable class of people on earth.

Leprosy no longer is the danger it once was, praise the Lord! The last leper colony, in Hawaii, was closed down not too long ago.

But another type of leprosy lingers, and that is the disease of sin. Leprosy, in the Bible, is analogous with the sinner's condition.

Reading the laws of offerings for the cleansed leper here in chapter 14 is interesting, because lepers were never healed. It would take an absolute miracle for that to happen. Elisha was instrumental in the healing of Naaman and Jesus, of course, healed many lepers. Other than that, it is unheard of.

If a leper did receive healing, chapter 14 constrains him to offer 2 birds, 3 sheep, some flour and oil. That may seem like a lot to a poor leper, but, believe me, any leper would love to have the chance to make such an offering.

The Walking Dead: Recalling that leprosy is the type of the sinner's condition, salvation is the sinner's healing. We notice that the actual pronouncement of cleansing comes after the offering. The lambs represent Jesus, the Lamb for sinners, slain. The blood is applied to his ear, thumb and big toe. This represents total cleansing; of the sinful things we hear and think, the things we do and the places we have gone.

Subsequently, the oil, the Holy Spirit, is then applied to the same body parts that he may be filled with Spirit power in his thinking, hearing, doing and going. Additionally, the priest sprinkles the oil 7 times with his finger. This represents the 7 fold ministry of the Holy Spirit. Then, the remaining oil is poured over the head of the person, representing the one baptism and many fillings of the Spirit.

The Walking Living: Oh, thank God for the miraculous that has taken place in our lives. We, the leprous, are washed whiter than snow and filled with the Holy Ghost for power for living.

Now we are the walking living.