AP

Leviticus 14:49-53   To purify the house he is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop.  He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot.  Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.  He shall purify the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn.  Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town.  In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

As we approach Easter, It is interesting to reflect on this complicated, detailed procedure the LORD instructed Moses to require of the people if they discovered a harmful, infectious fungus or mould spreading in their house.  The situation gives us a graphic picture of what sin does in our lives.  At the core of its ‘cleansing’ is the shedding of blood by killing a bird, the applying of this shed blood to the affected parts of the house and to a live bird, and the releasing of the live bird to liberty in the open fields.

In the unfolding of God’s Eternal Plan of Salvation in human history, this ritual is foreshadowing, and anticipating, what Jesus would do when he offered up his blood to be shed on the cross as the means by which a Holy God would deal with the infection of sin in our lives in order to make us ‘clean’ before him.  The parallels are convincing.  The Jewish leaders, whose influence and ‘control’ were threatened by Jesus’ life and teaching, could have solved their problem by stoning him to death, just as they would later do to one of his faihful followers, Stephen (Acts 7).  But, instead, they pressed the Roman official, Pontius Pilate, to crucify him, thus shedding his blood,  Pilate, in an attempt to resolve the political dilemna in which he found himself, offered them the choice of releasing the clearly innocent Jesus, or a known arch-criminal Barabbas (the name ‘Jesus’ means `’Saviour’, and the name ‘Barabbas’ means ‘son of a father’, a very generic name that could mean ‘anyone’!).  The gathered crowd, motivated by the Jewish leaders, chose Barabbas to go free, and Jesus’  blood was shed as a substitutionary sacrifice.

As a result, anyone who looks to Jesus as his sacrifice is cleansed of his sin, being ‘set free’ from its guilt, power and burden.  Sadly, the whole concept of ‘substitutionary atonement’ so hurts our modern, self-sufficient, proud hearts that it has become very unpopular, and we are inclined to reject its provision in spite of the Mosaic Law, and in fact the whole Old Testament witness, pointing so clearly to it.  May our gracious God soften our hearts and lead us humbly to kneel at the foot of the cross with broken, contrite, thankful hearts. 

– Bruce Christian