The Prophetic Tale of the Disobedient Leper - Torah Portion: Tazria-Metzora

Jesus famously healed lepers. But on one occasion, something strange happened. He sternly warned a leper not to tell anyone, but to go straight to the priest. There is a mystery in why he did this, and the answer is found in no other place but the Book of Leviticus, a hidden prophetic revelation that foretells how lepers will one day be cleansed by the coming Messiah. But this leper didn't listen to Jesus, and by this we will learn an important prophetic warning about this state of Christianity today. So who does the leper represent? Why did he not listen to Jesus? And what does this teach us today? We read about this in Mark 1:40, and a leper came to him, imploring him and kneeling, said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. This is where we end. This is where we stop with this story. Typically, we praise God as we should, for this leper was healed. What an incredible moment. But Jesus knew what was about to happen. And that's why I want to submit to you, he sternly warns him. Next we read in Mark 1:43, and Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. But he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places and people were coming to him from every quarter. You know, when we read this, it's easy for us to think, well, oh, man, you know, the leper didn't do what Jesus asked him. But can you really blame the guy? He just got healed from leprosy. This is a huge moment, the biggest moment, perhaps in his entire life. He's healed, he's excited, and he wants to tell everyone and be reunited with everyone. But for two long, believers have glossed over how serious this disobedience was. Even something that is typically a good thing, a thing to be celebrated at the wrong time is a wrong thing. The man who was healed disobeyed Jesus and the law of God, which commands a leper who thinks he is well to present himself to a priest before being reunited with the community. And for us to really understand the prophetic revelation that God ingrained into this story, you have to read with me. Leviticus. Let's take a moment and read about that commandment that is relevant, which Jesus applied to this situation. In Leviticus 14:1 we read, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, this shall be the law of the leprous person. For the day of his cleansing, he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then if the case of leprous disease is indeed healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed to live, clean birds and cedarwood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. And the priest shall command him to kill one of the birds an earthenware vessel over fresh water. He shall take the live bird with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field. So what an incredibly interesting, and if you've never heard about it before, strange sounding situation. But it has incredibly beautiful prophetic significance. For us, the two birds mean the one bird represents Christ, the other bird represents us. Christ is the bird that is to be killed over fresh water. For Christ said, out of him will come living water. And when he was on the cross and he was pierced, water came out of his side, representing the blood and water that is for the remission of our sin and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us. We then have the other bird that is the live bird. And this bird is to be combined with these certain elements. Cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet yarn. The cedar wood represents the cross that he was crucified on. The hyssop represents the hyssop branch that was used to give him this sour wine in the last moments before his death. And the scarlet yarn represents that which they put on him in the form of a scarlet robe during the event of the crucifixion. We see that this live bird is combined with these elements and then dipped in the blood of the bird that was killed. And the living bird is then released into the open field. Now this commandment is given for the cleansing of lepers. This is very relevant to a leper, because a leper is someone whose bondage is truly that they cannot go wherever they wish. They are not allowed to enter the communities of people. They can't mix with People, they are outside of the social circle. And so this bird that is let go into the open field is the picture of the leper that is now been cleansed, cleansed by the blood of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ. We are healed by his stripes, as it is written. And as his leper is healed by his stripes, wrapped with the cedarwood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, to be let go and set free. Now suddenly it becomes a testimony that is so powerful because this commandment in Leviticus actually prophesies in the instruct of the one who will use the scarlet, the hyssop, and the cedar wood event, that is the crucifixion, to cleanse the lepers. And so when a leper shows up clean, it's only because the Messiah has now arrived. But even if the leper in this story who did not go to the priest didn't understand this prophetic revelation, obeying Christ would have still been the greatest witness to Christ. But the leper in question today, he had the faith to come to Yeshua, but he did not have obedience. It's interesting because you'd think that if Yeshua healed you miraculously, you would listen to what he says. But this is exactly what people don't do today. They are often saved, miraculously healed from their infirmities and leprosies, but they don't do what he says. Luke 6:46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you? We must be a people who seek God's will, have faith, and obey him, even and especially when it doesn't make sense, and when every one of our senses wants to just go out and proclaim to everyone what had happened if he told us something else, do what he told you and have true faith. That is true faith when you obey. Jesus didn't need the healed leper to evangelize at the cost of obedience. He needed him to obey and be a witness through obedience. In being healed immediately, the slapper went away to sin, for breaking the law of God is the definition of sin. He should have obeyed the Torah as Yeshua told him to do. And every disobedience of God's law has a negative consequence. And in this case, there were two. Number one, the leper misrepresented Jesus. Israel understands the law of God and can spot that the leper is sinning by not going to the priest before being reunited with the community. Leviticus 14:8. And after that, the leper presenting himself to the priests. He may come into the camp while the Leper proclaims Jesus as a miracle worker. He unintentionally misrepresents Jesus as a lawbreaker by consequence of not following the law after his healing. Even though Jesus actually instructed the leper correctly in how to obey the law, Israel and God's people understand that if God is in something, he will do so according to the law and the prophets. Therefore, skipping obedience to the law hurts the leper's witness. Today, Christianity has the same struggle. We are like a healed leper. We excitedly proclaim by faith the witness of Christ that He has saved us, that he has healed us, and that we want everyone else to know him and be saved and healed by Him. But at times, this has happened at the cost of obedience to certain aspects of the law of God. And Christ is telling us just as he told the when you go out, do not do so at the cost of obeying the law that I have delivered to you. Our Jewish brothers and sisters, they know the law of God, and they understand correctly that their Messiah must uphold the law of God. And so our Jewish brothers and sisters have at times rejected our witness of Yeshua because we have misrepresented Yeshua as a Messiah that doesn't care for the law, just as this leper unintentionally did. While in fact Jesus cares very much and we should portray him correctly that he cares very much. I find it so strange that people continue to question whether Jesus wanted us to obey His Father's law when in his ministry, he even told a healed leper who had nothing to do but to celebrate even him, to go and follow the law going to the priest first. Did Jesus send him to the priest for his own sake? Of course not. It was for the people's sake. Jesus wanted the healed man evaluated so that all may know that the testimony is true, that it is of God, for the commandment is followed, and that they may accept the leper without fear on whether he's truly healed because leprosy is contagious. Jesus cared for the leper. Jesus cared for the people. So therefore, it's not just about whether we are a witness, but how we witness of who yeshua is. Matthew 12:36 I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. And now for the second consequence of the leper's disobedience, it is written that Jesus could no longer openly enter the town he wanted to enter, and it hindered his ministry in that town. Mark 1:45. So that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but but was out in desolate places. This gives us a symbolic picture of God's grace because of this leper's sin in not following the law of God. Jesus actually took the place of the leper, as he took the place of all of us. The leper in his leprosy was in a desolate place outside of Israel, where He was not in community. And now Jesus is outside the town in a desolate place. He has taken the place of the leper. While the leper is among the people in the community. Jesus could not enter the town. And this is what Christ has done for all of us. The sin and the punishment that we deserve, he took upon Himself. He suffered through it, so that we can be set free like that bird. But there was also a real consequence behind this fact. The town could not hear from him themselves. His message, his culture, pant and to believe on him and who he truly is. Rather, now they had to rely on these rumors and scattered reports of him that came from people. And if they wanted to hear themselves, they had to go into a desolate place. And today that's what's happened. Is that not how the world also knows of Him? By scattered reports from disciples who didn't demonstrate the obedience they should have demonstrated. Today, for example, we think things like this. Tell everyone about Jesus far and wide. Let them know about the miracle he has done in our lives, saving us. And hallelujah. That is good. And hallelujah. That has happened to much of the world. They have come to hear about his miracles, even the miracle of this leper. But still, just like this leper, they do not obey God in your witness of who he is. It's not enough to profess faith without having obedience. For then your testimony of who he is will just justify more false converts who do not obey Him. For those who are his disciples obey him. And your testimony, if it is true and real, must lead to your obedience to inspire obedient disciples. Jesus didn't just want converts raising their hands and praying a sinner's pray. He wanted devoted, obedient, faithful disciples. His disciples were men who said they believed in him. Hallelujah. And told others of his miracles and the resurrection and the life. Hallelujah. And they continued in his footsteps through obedience as well. And the west, especially Jesus, is seen as some celebrity. Everyone knows of him, whether they believe in him or not. What religion they are of, it does not matter. They have heard of his name. But even though he is a celebrity to them, he is not their savior. See, he didn't call us to just make him famous. He called us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. In this case, the leper was commanded something, but he did not observe it. When he comes to you and sets you free of your leprosy, do you observe all that he has commanded in the Torah and in the prophets? For that is what he pointed the leper to. That is what he pointed the rich young ruler to when he asked, what is he to do? Keep the commandments. That is what he pointed the lawyer to when he asked, what is the greatest? To love God and your neighbor as yourself, which upholds all of the Torah, the law of God. Yeshua always expected this to be established in his disciples. And he also understood the role of sanctification, giving us all room to grow in obedience, to repent, to be refined over time. Of course, we are not saved by our obedience. We are saved by our faith in him. The leper was cleansed by him before he ever had a chance. But thereafter, he was expected to walk his faith out, and I pray that he did. We do not know what happened later with him, but the leper thought that he was helping the mission of Jesus that day while he was actually hindering it. And even in our good intentions, we can think that our ideas will help God's mission while they may actually hinder it. So when we get excited about some idea for what we think would be good for God's kingdom, him slow down, stop for a moment and pray. Ask the Father, Lord. This seems like the obvious thing to do, but things also seemed obvious to the leper. Is this the time for me? Is this the place for me to do what's on my heart? Lord, what do you want me to do and when do you want me to do it? How can I obey you instead of obeying myself? Just because something seems obvious doesn't mean it's God's will. And so I ask, Lord, that you would be with us and empower us to be a people, an obedient people, that as you have come to us when we were outside in desolate places, while we were in our leprosy and we said, we have the faith to be made clean, we came to you and you saved us. You healed us. We praise you for that, my Lord. But Father, please help us now that in our excitement and in our zeal to evangelize and witness which you have called us to do that help us to be wise in doing that, led by the Spirit in doing that, obeying the law of God and the Spirit of God to worship you in spirit and in truth. Father, I ask that you would come and give us the ability to be a light that shines brightly so all may come to hear. And especially I pray for Israel. I pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters who do not see the Messiah. But Lord, we repent where we have been the cause of that. We repent where we have not been the witness we have called to be because we have inherited lies because of anti Semitism, because of corruptions, of the beauty of your law. That we have seen your law as an evil thing, something that you've given us as a burden as if there is something wrong with what you have given us whilst the only thing that was wrong was our hearts, our breaking of the law, our disobedience, our breaking of your covenants. Yeshua, write your law on our hearts Holy Spirit. Change our nature as you prophesied you would do through Jeremiah 31:31 and when we walk it out, let the world see it. Hear the witness of you being the healer of lepers and the witness of you being the one who calls us to present ourselves to the priest. We pray all of this in the name of Yeshua. Thank you so much for joining me today. 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