CLICK HERE to read the article in full.
♦
The Scarlet Beast of Sin Defeated
by The Scarlet Blood of Christ
—- The Law of the Leper—-
We have followed the word scarlet through the Law of First Mention, through the use of time and numbers, and through placement of the word in scripture. Now let us venture to the Law of the Leper. The Law of the Leper begins in the 13th Chapter of the book of Leviticus, the third book of the Pentateuch.
Note that it begins in the 13th Chapter . . . ya’ jesst can’t make this stuff up . . . God the Holy Spirit has more than one string on His violin . . . He uses words to form His message, then through numerical headings of chapters and verse locations He then employs an unseen message strengthening and enforcing the thoughts within the words. The Bible can be compared to a great symphony with many underlying themes played behind the main melody where sometimes the violins take the lead while the woodwinds sound in the background, and sometimes the brass and percussion become the primary sound instruments, but all have their time and their place to lead and to sound. In like manner, the Bible has words, numbers, location, placement, the Law of First Mention, the unseen and seen, past and fulfilled prophecy and prophecy in waiting.
The scarlet thread of SIN is the main thread that holds the book of Leviticus together. How God looks on SIN and what God thinks of SIN and how God overcomes SIN is the focus of the book of Leviticus. As the Tabernacle in the wilderness represented CHRIST in His glory and beauty in the heavens, the book of Leviticus can be seen as the ministry of CHRIST as Melchisedec, the High Priest of the most high God in the sanctuary of God in His heavenly realm. As we continue on it would be helpful to always have this thought in mind that Leviticus is the earthly side of the heavenly ministry of Melchisedec. Remember that the scarlet beast of sin, Lucifer, first contaminated the heavens through SIN. What we see in Leviticus takes in much more than an earthly perspective of SIN in the SEEN, but it is based on the UNSEEN perspective of SIN in the supernatural spiritual realm of God’s throne room, the Holy of Holies. SIN is not a light thing to be quickly set aside and forgotten and the book of Leviticus is given to bring SIN to the forefront in how sin contaminates and to understand how SIN is at the heart of God’s actions both in the heavenlies and in the earth. And God the Holy Spirit through the word scarlet discloses the very essence of SIN.
Leviticus is a book of priestly laws and legislation. Within this book we have, the Law of the Burnt Offering, the Law of the Meat Offering, the Law of the Sin Offering, the Law of the Trespass Offering, and the Law of the sacrifice of peace offerings. Besides the law of these offerings and sacrifices, we also have the Law of the Beasts and of the Fowl in Chapter 11, and the Law of the Plague of leprosy, and the last law mentioned is the Law of the Leper. Leviticus begins with the ways in which the earthly priest of Israel was to define sin, recognize sin, treat sin, judge sin, and remove sin because it was the duty of the priest of Israel, as it was the duty of the High Priest Melchisedec, to cleanse the realm from SIN.
Although the 13th Chapter of the book of Leviticus begins the Law of the Plague of leprosy, it is, however, the 14th Chapter through the Law of the Leper that our study word scarlet is found five times: Leviticus 14:4, 6, 49, 51 and 52. God sets up the theme of Chapter 14 in the first three verses: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (Leviticus 14:1) This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: (Leviticus 14:2) And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper. (Leviticus 14:3)
The method that the priest was instructed to use to recognize and to announce a leper healed is exactly the same method that God uses to heal a sinner from the leprosy of sin. The dreadful disease of leprosy is taught in scripture as representing SIN, and the end of sin is death as the end of leprosy is death. The body of the leper is overtaken and consumed by his sickness, as the body of the sinner is overtaken and consumed by sin. This is not a treatise on the disease of leprosy, but hopefully, the Holy Spirit of God will guide us through the use of the word scarlet to see that it is the blood of Christ that removes sin and cleanses the sinner. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5)
When reading through the verses with the word scarlet and how it connects to SIN we have numerous connections for example, birds, cedar wood, hyssop, blood, running water, and the house.
1. The First Mention of scarlet in Leviticus – 14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive [and] clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: (Leviticus 14:4) Verse 5 adds more information concerning the bird that is to be killed. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: (Leviticus 14:5) This bird sets before us Christ dying for us (in an earthen vessel, a body of clay) His body made in the likeness of sinful flesh. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2:7) Christ was manifested in an earthen vessel, made in the likeness of man (without sin) for man was formed from the dust of the earth. As the bird that was slain, Christ died for us, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty.
2. The Second Mention of scarlet in Leviticus – 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: (Leviticus 14:6) This living bird sets forth Christ in resurrection power for our justification. Also, we see cedar wood representing the cross, and the hyssop representing a sweet, scented plant with a bitter taste that was also mentioned in the gospel of John 19:29 describing the scene at Calvary, Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put [it] upon hyssop, and put [it] to his mouth.
And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. (Leviticus 14:7) One bird forfeits its life while the other bird is let loose into an open field; thus we have Christ giving His life through His blood, and in resurrection power He ascends into the air, the open field. The one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy is sprinkled seven times and then he is pronounced clean. Does this not describe what transpired at the cross of Christ? It was His blood that He shed at Calvary that has cleansed us and set us free from sin.
As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird [that was] killed over the running water: (Leviticus 14:6) There is also another interesting phrase in this verse. Three times in Leviticus Chapter 14 the words running water is recorded: 14:6, 51 and 51. This was no accident when God the Holy Spirit dictated these exact words to Moses. Remember the comment about the comparison of a symphony with the Bible, well, I hear a three-note melody in the words running water. This phrase is used six times in Leviticus, and once in Numbers 19:17, and that is for a total of SEVEN times in the Old Testament. This phrase is NOT found in the New Testament, however, the phrase living water is recorded THREE times in the New Testament. Running water is moving, active living water, is it not?
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10) The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? (John 4:11)
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) (1st Corinthians 10:4; Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11; Psalm 78:15-16)
Through the seven-note melody of running water, God the Holy Spirit connects us to the three-note melody of living water. The fullness of the Godhead is spiritually heard in these seven notes sounding in the background of the Old Testament as the three-note melody plays in the foreground of the New Testament. This all comes together through the climatic finale of God’s great symphony written by the Author and Finisher of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of God profoundly proclaims to the world that HE is a well of living waters, that He is the fountain of living waters, that He is the hope of Israel as the LORD of the fountain of living waters, and that in THAT DAY [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem that the LORD shall be king over the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9) Christ will rule over a world washed cleaned by His living waters at the inauguration of His millennial reign. Yet, the greater blessing will be at the end of time, when God defeats Satan at the final battle, and a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. (Song of Songs 4:15)
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, [and] they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)
And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. (Zechariah 14:8)
3. The Third Mention of scarlet in Leviticus – 14:49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. It is no longer the individual sinner, or a leper, who God deals with, but now it is THE HOUSE. Here we see the collective, the corporate sin within Israel as a nation, and we also have a secondary application as in the collective gathering of the Church of the New Testament. The scarlet beast of SIN contaminates THE HOUSE.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1st Peter 4:17) And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (1st Peter 4:18) Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. (1st Peter 4:19)
4. The Fourth Mention of scarlet in Leviticus – 14:51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: (Leviticus 14:51) God adds the connection of seven times to the word scarlet because it is ONLY through His divine perfection (the number seven) that SIN is cleansed and removed. It is the BLOOD, the scarlet blood of the crucified Christ that cleanses and removes the scarlet beast called SIN.
5. The Fifth Mention of scarlet in Leviticus – 14:52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: (Leviticus 14:52) In this last mention of scarlet, God adds another thought to verse 51, that in order for THE HOUSE to be cleansed from SIN the work of cleansing is accomplished WITH the blood of Christ, WITH the running water of the Spirit of God, WITH the resurrected Christ at the right hand of God, WITH the death on the cross, WITH the sweet smelling savour of God’s acceptance of the bitterness of His judgment of SIN as it was placed on His Christ, the living bird. The last documentation of the word scarlet in the book of Leviticus typifies the SINFUL WORLD as A HOUSE, and Israel in particular as THE HOUSE. (In the New Testament through 2nd Timothy 2:19 and 20, there is A GREAT HOUSE speaking of all who profess to be a child of God. But the Lord knoweth them that are his. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.)
Israel is ‘the house’ in Leviticus 52, The GODHEAD through the ministry of the FULLNESS of the GODHEAD bodily has overcome THE SCARLET BEAST OF SIN: SIN ITSELF. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1st John 2:2)
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. (Hosea 13:14)
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1st Corinthians 15:54) O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1st Corinthians 15:55) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (1st Corinthians 15:56) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1st Corinthians 15:57)
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14) And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)
This article only connects the Law of the Leper to the word scarlet, and Oh, yes, there is much more about SIN in the book of Leviticus; however, God the Holy Spirit, neatly draws it all together as a summation in the following verses.
But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean. (Leviticus 14:53) This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, (Leviticus 14:54) And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, (Leviticus 14:55) And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: (Leviticus 14:56) To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. (Leviticus 14:57)
No matter how small SIN first appears, or where it is seen, it contaminates. SIN is as leprosy, first it remains dormant maybe for years, then it first reveals itself as a minor inconvenience, then as it spreads it affects everything that it touches. SIN rises as a slight disturbance, then it becomes an obvious bright spot that overtakes its environment; consequently, the Law of Leprosy is to teach man how to define sin, recognize sin, treat sin, judge sin and to understand that the SCARLET BEAST OF SIN is only defeated by the SCARLET blood of the crucified CHRIST.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (James 1:14) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15)
CLICK HERE to read the article in full.