I was looking for some coaching classes for my daughter. I heard about one coaching institute that teaches difficult and invisible concepts to children with visible 3D models. Some good schools even have a 3D laboratory. They have carefully designed visible working models so children can understand difficult invisible concepts of Earth’s gravitation force, centrifugal force, and Newton’s laws by seeing them. To teach the human skeletal system, which is internal, they have a motorized human skeleton that walks and moves, so children can see how each bone works.
Our greatest teacher, the living God, foreseeing the fall of man, with great foresight, designed this whole world as his laboratory, prearranging its elements to teach fallen, blind sinners invisible spiritual realities. When men in old times understood and believed these truths, they were able to save their souls. I again welcome you to God’s practical laboratory class; it is called Leviticus. In chapter 11, we learned invisible principles of how to live holy through clean and unclean animals. In chapter 12, we’ve learned invisible truths of original sin, depravity, and the need for regeneration, by the visible model of childbirth. In Leviticus 13, God gathers his students in the wilderness lab and uses the most horrible human skin disease to teach invisible soul leprosy of sin.
Leviticus 13 and 14 are a big challenge to any preacher. Why? First, they are long, tiresomely long. Chapter 13 has 59 verses, and chapter 14 has 57 verses, for a total of 116 verses altogether. The three chapters of the prophecy of Joel have only 73 verses; the four chapters of Malachi have only 55. But this is 116. Not only are they long, but someone said they are the most boring chapters of the Bible. We understand why they can say that; you read about skin diseases, white hair, spots, priests testing, quarantine, and different scenarios. It is also complex and confusing, with some of the skin diseases. Initially, I read these chapters and sat with my hand on my head. “Lord, what do I do?”
Why did the Holy Spirit write such a long, complex, boring chapter about an old skin disease? Most of us have never met a leprosy patient. I realized that for a man or woman suffering from these skin diseases in those days, this would be the most interesting chapter. Isn’t it? A disease is not boring when one suffers from it. All lessons about cancer are so boring to people, but when I realize I have cancer, it suddenly becomes a very, very interesting subject. In the same way, if we realize the Holy Spirit has written this long chapter about the great soul disease you and I suffer, this chapter will become very interesting.
It is true. God, by this visible physical disease of leprosy, is showing the horror of the leprosy of our soul. The Bible clearly reveals leprosy is a type and a visible symbol of sin. Just like Christ said, “Who among you has not sinned?” I should ask you, “Who among us doesn’t have soul leprosy?” You want to understand the nature and horror of the sin inside you; how it starts, lifts its ugly head, spreads, defiles, and isolates, and if allowed, how it can destroy you completely. Prayerfully read this chapter as a soul leprosy patient. Whatever leprosy does to the human body, whether you realize it or not, sin does the exact same to your soul. Leprosy is a visible and awful parable of the nature and working of sin in us. Just as vicious leprosy destroys every part of the body in the most loathsome and agonizing way and ends in death, in the same way, vicious sin will destroy every part of our soul and end in eternal death. So our great teacher, the living God, with wise foresight, prepared this most loathsome of all diseases as a visual aid to display the invisible ravages of sin. Just as He taught us to hate sin using ugly lizards and cockroaches outside us, now He teaches us to dread sin by showing how it works inside us. So let us, as good little children who cannot understand invisible forces, learn from our wise teacher in his Leviticus lab.
This will not only make the chapter interesting, but all our ingratitude, all our dullness and laziness in spiritual progress, our lack of zeal, and our lack of love for Christ are because we have never realized what a horrible soul leprosy is. We will see it is thousands of times worse than physical leprosy. We could have been gloriously healed from that leprosy and still be like those nine ungrateful lepers. If we properly understand the horror of soul leprosy, the depth of its diseases, and realize that Christ has cleansed us from it, we will be like the sinful woman, melting our heart with tears of gratitude and washing Christ’s feet. Grasping this chapter will make us realize the colossal value of our Jesus Christ, our High Priest, and how often we have to run to Him.
So, let us dive in. Chapter 13, all 59 verses, is about the horror of this disease, as if the Holy Spirit is saying, “First, realize the horror of leprosy.” Once you realize the horror, in chapter 14, we will appreciate the colossal value of the High Priest’s ministry and the joyful cleansing from leprosy. So today, we will focus on the horror. We cannot go verse by verse, so we will focus on important highlights. After hours of struggling, I have grouped all this chapter into three headings: 1. Soul leprosy and its imperceptible beginnings. 2. The inevitable spread, impacting the whole person and others. 3. Its horrific, sad ending. BSE: beginning, spread, and end.
1. Consider its Imperceptible Small Beginnings
Verse 2 says leprosy may start with a small swelling, a scab, or a bright spot. In our whole body, sometimes we get a small swelling, a scab, or dry skin. Who takes it seriously? None of us, right? Maybe something bit us, or it’s some allergy. We think in two days it will be alright. In those days, however, verse 3 says, “Don’t take it lightly; go to the priest immediately.” Verse 3: “The priest shall examine the place/sore on the skin of the body.” He will do a diagnosis. He will look for two signs: one, if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body. “Then it is a leprous sore. Then the priest shall examine him and pronounce him unclean.” Verse 4: “But if there be any doubt,” there were to be seven days of quarantine. See, we have known about quarantine for only a couple of years because of COVID; God taught that 3,000 years ago. Then, after the seven days of quarantine, if there was no spread, the priest would not say, “Oh, no.” Seven more days of isolation would take place. If, in those 14 days, it had faded and not spread, then he would be declared clean. “He shall wash his clothes and be clean.” But if the same scab reappears and starts spreading after seeing the priest, the priest shall see him again, and if he sees it spreading, the man would be declared unclean. This is leprosy. Oh, do you see how just a small swelling became a leprosy?
You’ll notice not only a scab, dry skin, or swelling, but starting from verse 18: “If the body develops a boil in the skin, and it is healed, and in the place of the boil there comes a white swelling or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be shown to the priest; and if, when the priest sees it, it indeed appears deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore which has broken out of the boil. But if the priest examines it, and indeed there are no white hairs in it, and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days,” and then the verdict is to be given. If the white hairs appear, he is to be unclean. If not, he is clean.
Interestingly, in verses 12 and 13, it says that if the individual has leprous breaks that spread from his head to his feet and cover his body, the individual is to be declared clean. Wow! What is this? This is one of the most theologically debated sections, but it could simply be a lesser skin problem, like vitiligo today, psoriasis, or a vitamin deficiency—not dangerous at all. Leprosy does not cover the whole body in its early stages; it gradually spreads. So if a white patch spreads, it could be something else.
Not only a scab or healed boils, but thirdly, head blemishes in verse 29: “If a man or woman has a sore on the head or the beard.” It actually talks about a blemish or an itch. We see here there are scaly sores on the head or beard accompanied by yellowish hairs. The priest will examine whether it is deeper in the skin or not. The person is to be put under quarantine for various periods, and then the verdict is to be given based on how deep it is and whether it is spreading or not.
Verse 40 interestingly talks about bald heads. How happy am I! Verse 40: “As for the man whose hair has fallen from his head, he is bald, but he is clean.” Even more happy to see verse 41: “He whose hair has fallen from his forehead, he is bald on the forehead, but he is clean.” See how clean I am. Now, with baldness in normal places, the person is considered to be clean. Verse 42: “And if there is on the bald head or bald forehead a reddish-white sore, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead.” Baldness is a process of aging. Even in old age, in weak places, a person can be impacted by leprosy.
What does all this process teach? The soul’s leprosy starts with small, imperceptible beginnings. Whether original or actual sins, all start small. Take original sin: we are born with the disease of spiritual leprosy, with depravity and all the seeds for leprosy. But we cannot find out its beginnings; they are so imperceptible. Initially, it’s just a small childish selfishness, a small swelling of pride or anger, almost nothing. Our children think they are decent, better than many. Some children born in a Christian family think, “I am fine,” and they think they are saints and never even imagine they are leprosy patients. Every man has some weakness. “I also have that.” We are so decent, we grow, study well, get a job, and achieve so many things in life. Who can say he has leprosy? “I don’t feel the leprosy. I am enjoying life and have achieved so many things.” But men don’t realize each of us is like Naaman, who was a leper from a young age, but he was still able to be a very successful general. But you see, he still had within him the seeds of agony, though he was able to go about his duties very successfully.
Oh, small children and big people, you are born with leprosy. The sooner you realize it, the sooner you will run to the Great High Priest. In the Old Testament, the priest could only detect it, but we have a greater priest. He can heal not one, not ten, but 10,000 lepers, even the worst lepers. If you don’t run to him in faith and repentance, we will see how this leprosy will take you to an unimaginably loathsome condition, so wretched, you will one day horrify yourself with your agony.
Yes, believers, we have been cleansed by the High Priest and declared clean once. But you see, we have been so deeply impacted by this disease that seeds of it remain as remaining sin. How beautifully it shows us how to deal with actual sins in our life! There are four steps to deal with soul leprosy: constant watchfulness and self-examination, running to the priest, the priest’s precise examination, and the priest’s quarantine and cleansing.
Constant Watchfulness and Self-Examination
We have to watch, as verse 7 says, even after the priest has declared us clean. A swelling or dry skin can again start; we can again become unclean. Even with remaining sin, how does it start? Imperceptibly. Sin always starts small, innocently. Even a look that seems harmless at first. That small bitter feeling, burning hate, feelings of anger, and grumbling—we carry and allow them to impact our soul for days. Do we realize how they can defile our spirit and impact our relationship with God?
As cleansed lepers, we have a holy obligation to examine our soul’s hands, feet, and conscience for any signs of leprosy again—the rising of a besetting sin, a lust, anger, bitterness, or covetousness. If you see something, don’t say it is only an ordinary boil or swelling, that it’s natural and will pass away, that it’s nothing serious. You don’t know where a small swelling can lead, as in leprosy. Beware of the consequences of sin. You will see displeasure from God, no graces or comforts, a numbing of the conscience that can take place, and a hardening of the heart. You don’t even feel it anymore; lust and covetousness become normal. You’re anesthetized to it. We see in verse 24, “you will even burn your hands/legs, never ending the sense of dying, not knowing.” It is a sign of leprosy, the hardening effect of sin. Sin, in its initial stages, often hides its true ugliness.
What do the different parts indicate? The dynamic nature of sin. We don’t know where and in what form it will come. Even from boils that have healed, leprosy can arise. This indicates that past sins, though repented, leave a scar, and now, healed, past wounds can again become specific vulnerabilities, precise points for sin to gain entry and take root in the human soul. The horror lies in sin’s opportunistic nature, exploiting our weaknesses, leading to deeper spiritual contamination. A craving after a period of abstinence, or a vulnerability exploited by temptation. It’s the “scar” of a past experience that now potentially harbors something more sinister.
What does the head’s reddish-white leprosy in a bald head indicate? Even old age is not safe. They can become a fertile ground for sin to break out, leading to spiritual defilement. The horror is in sin’s ability to corrupt our inner being and exploit our natural vulnerabilities.
If we realize our birth with soul leprosy, we will be like David, disciplining our eyes and praying, “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. Renew me according to your word.” He is a man who realized our soul leprosy. That is why he prays. Because my leprosy can spread even by looking at the wrong things. It might start as a thought, a desire, a subtle inclination. What do you do if a small swelling of pride, anger, lust, or covetousness starts again? If you don’t want it to spread, “Renew me according to your word.” See, we can examine it only with the Word of God. When the Word reveals some leprosy in us, you see, we are all blind to ourselves. In my own eyes, I am a very genial, gracious, inoffensive person. I cannot see my weakness. Only when we regularly expose ourselves to the Word are our scabs and boils revealed.
Hebrews 4:12-13 explains Leviticus, saying, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
Running to the High Priest
Run to the High Priest at the beginning, at the first stirrings of sin, at the first hint of sin in the soul. At the first swelling beginning, deal with it radically now, lest the nodules of it spread and finally you wail and scream, cursed by God.
One commentator says, “it is it, leprosy and sin as well. It gradually takes more and more possession of the soul until it becomes unconquerable by any internal or human power.” Oh, how often we will run to the priest if we realize our danger!
The Priest’s Precise Examination
Why should we run to the priest? Only he can examine it properly. He looks for two signs. None of us can see our soul leprosy properly. We are all blinded to it. Others may even see it, but I cannot see it. The best person who can assess is the priest. He sees two things: if the hair turns white and the sore appears “deeper than the skin,” it’s confirmed, and the person is pronounced “unclean.”
In our leprosy, “hair turned white” always a sign of imminent and approaching death—relatively speaking. It indicates that the death process has started in the soul. This could represent the moral decay or spiritual weakening that occurs when sin takes root. What was once a vibrant and healthy spirit begins to wither spiritually. Spiritual death is starting. Is your prayer becoming dull and dead? Is your desire for the Word dead? For worship? All these are signs of white hair that soul leprosy is causing.
Second, “Deeper than the skin.” This signifies that the sin is not superficial but has penetrated the inner being of the soul, affecting one’s character, thoughts, and motivations. It’s no longer just an outward act but an inward corruption. It is more than just the manifestation of a passing mood, a minor irritation of spirit. It is something that is more permanent, more characteristic of the individual—a prolonged attitude of irritability, of temper, impatience, bitterness, or resentment. These kinds of spots in the spiritual life are serious illnesses; they are leprous. It is this leprosy that can make you unclean, separated from the presence of God, the fellowship of God, and enjoying the people of God.
That priest could only announce a person unclean, but could not cleanse them. But our priest, as 1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
The Priest’s Quarantine and Cleansing Process
What is our priest’s cleansing process? He quarantines us with him. It is a time of self-examination, introspection, reflection, and spiritual “quarantine” from anything that might feed the nascent beginning of sin. It is a time of praying Psalm 51, repenting of your sins, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, Create in me a clean heart.” Oh, if you see the beginning of leprosy, it is quarantine time to be alone with God. Just seven days is not enough. “Another seven days.” One prayer is not enough. Pray again until, as verse 6 says, the sore will fade by his cleansing grace, and he will again pronounce you clean. He will give you the joy of salvation back. When we read the Word of God and examine ourselves with the Word of God, we regularly face a scab, a wound, or some weakness. How do we deal with it? It regularly keeps infecting our soul. Oh, do you see the colossal value of the High Priest for us? What a wonderful blessing is our High Priest! The book of Hebrews, explaining many Leviticus things, says they are all fulfilled in Christ. Just after it says the Word is a two-edged sword, Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Oh, do you see what lessons of soul leprosy and how to deal with it there are?
2. The Inevitable Spread, Impacting the Whole Person
The second nature of soul leprosy is its inevitable spread. Leviticus 13:9-17 shows the inevitable spread and its impact on the whole person. We see a reference to raw flesh in verses 9 through 17, probably speaking of a more advanced stage. This person doesn’t come early, but let us see what happens. It is just a small boil. If he had come early, it would not have gotten to this stage. It probably spread to his family and community, but at least now he has come before it becomes worse. Verse 9: “When the leprous sore is on a person, then he shall be brought to the priest.” Verse 10: “And the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the swelling on the skin is white, and it has turned the hair white, and there is a spot of raw flesh in the swelling,” Verse 11: “it is an old leprosy on the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not isolate him, for he is unclean.” It’s clear the person has leprosy. Interesting, because it is “old leprosy” on the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall not isolate him, for he is unclean. There is no quarantine process of private confession or examination here. This is an advanced stage.
Why isolate? Because it is contagious. It spreads from one person to another. It is 100 times worse than coronavirus.
Unstoppable Spreading
This teaches the spreading nature of leprosy to a worse stage, to visible expressions. You cannot hide leprosy and imagine it will go away. Once it starts, it will spread, destroy the skin, and start eating flesh and become open, smelling pus wounds where raw flesh will become visible. This is true about our soul leprosy. Be sure your sin will find you out. You cannot say, “I will sin in secret, and no one will know.” Yes, initially it may just be a skin-level swelling, a change in color. It may be just lust or covetousness, but it will grow to become a habit, and that habit will become an addiction. After a stage, it will become an unstoppable force that will result in open, scandalous sin. Then you come to the priest. The priest will diagnose and say it is not a sudden occurrence. That is what verse 11 means when the priest says, “it is an old leprosy on the skin.” This points to sin allowed in the heart in secrecy for so long that it has become an ingrained pattern, a deeply rooted vice, or a long-standing rebellion against God. It’s no longer a new temptation but a long, old secret leprosy that has grown now. It results in open, scandalous sin. When someone is caught in adultery, violence, robbery, financial fraud, or some other open sin, it is not a sudden act but old leprosy that has grown to become open, raw flesh now.
Raw flesh is clear and reminds us of Galatians 5:19 where Paul says, “Now the works of the flesh are plain.” Here they are: “If immorality is present it is obviously of the flesh, it is leprous, or impurity, or licentiousness (all of these have to do with sexual sin), idolatry (the worship of something other than God), sorcery (or witchcraft), enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit (breaking up into little factions and warring cliques), envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. These,” Paul says, “are raw flesh—flesh in its obvious form—it is leprous, and, therefore, very dangerous.” The signs are clear: white hair shows advanced decay; spiritual death may come to an end stage. And just like a “raw flesh” state of soul is painful, the conscience is constantly wounded by sin. It’s the open wound of a persistent spiritual sickness. The priest does not need to isolate them or ask them to examine themselves and introspect if they have gone to this level. Strict church discipline is needed. They are to be announced as unclean. They have gone on in sin to this extent, so possibly they must be unbelievers, or even as believers, they are a danger to the church. Based on the sin, we excommunicate them from the church. This is a profound and horrifying parallel. It means the sin has become so pervasive and deeply integrated into the soul that there’s no longer any doubt about its defilement. The initial stages of doubt and potential are gone; now there is a certainty of spiritual disease. The damage is extensive, affecting the core of the being, leading to a state of being “already unclean.” There’s no longer a need for quarantine; the disease is fully manifested. This is like the person in Corinthian sin committing incest, and Paul saying, “I will deliver him to Satan,” and throwing him out of the church.
In verse 16, there is only one hope: “Or if the raw flesh changes and turns white again, he shall come to the priest. And the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the sore has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean who has the sore. He is clean.” This offers a glimmer of hope and speaks to the rare possibility of repentance and cleansing even after falling into a terrible open sin. A thorough repentance and confession, turning away from a specific sin like the man in 1 Corinthians—that is repentance that is clearly visible to everyone and the priest. “Raw flesh changes and turns white again.” The man is living holy and pure now. Then the priest will pronounce him clean and welcome him into the camp of God’s people. Leprosy is a terrible affliction. It will wreck and ruin your own relationship with God and with one another, so God is very concerned about this.
3. Its Horrific Sad Ending
All this—small scab wounds, healed boils, and head sores—will not only lead to open, raw flesh but will lead to some terrible, even indescribable, leprous condition. The priest has to make a decision. The isolation of the leper is described in verses 44 and 45. “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” Tear clothes, shave head, go away from society and the people of God. If anyone comes near, cry “unclean, unclean.” You cannot touch your children, wife, husband, or anyone with human contact. Go into the forest, a leper colony. Experience pain alone, suffer and die. You dwell alone, a social outcast, wanting to get close to people but unable to do so, longing for human companionship and love, reaching out but finding yourself turned off and rejected. That is the inevitable, relentless result of the failure to judge leprosy. This is a vivid picture of what happens in the case of unjudged soul-leprosy.
He must be separate from the camp of Israel. Not only, and most importantly, separate from the people of God but separate from the house of God, the tabernacle of God, and the presence of God, as God will not, as it’s pictured here, dwell with chronic defilement. Clearly, because of his having to live outside, away from contact with the people of God, the contagious nature of this disease is being declared. The segregation is to prevent others from being defiled and even dying. And as I said, the ritual the person goes through in disheveling his hair, in tearing his garments, in calling people away and shouting that he is unclean, this is very closely related to mourning for death. In fact, in the Middle Ages, we find that people who had been declared to be leprous had to walk around with bells around their necks. So, if anyone heard the bells, they would know they needed to stay a distance from this contagious individual. Isn’t that a pitiable existence? Isn’t that a very difficult way to live? Think about it, children. To be kept away, to be driven away from your home. Never to be in your bed again. Never to be hugged by your mommy or your daddy again. Husbands, never to be hugged by your wife again. Never to be held by your husband again. Away from the people of God. Away from the festivals of God. From the worship of God. From the fellowship of God. From the bounty of God’s table.
Why should they do this? Why should these people be so careful about this disease? The horror of this disease is its sad ending. But have any of you seen a case of leprosy? Let me show you the sad ending. Let me tell you where this small scab-wound leprosy will take a person. A doctor says, “Leprosy begins with a very slow onset. It is a bacillus viral infection. It begins with patches of discoloration and ulcers. Very frequently, even for years before the actual outbreak of the disease itself, white, yellowish spots are seen lying deep in the skin, particularly on the inside parts, in the joints, not very visible.” These become anesthetized by numbness. These spots afterward pierce through the cellular tissue and reach the muscles and bones. The hair becomes white and woolly, and that length falls off. The skin gets hard and rough, and large scabs start growing and they grow and break off, resulting in offensive, running sores. A very bad smell starts. The sight is horrible. The skin, especially around the eyes and ears, begins to bunch with deep furrows between the swelling, so that the face of the afflicted individual begins to resemble that of a lion.
“The disease-producing agent attacks the larynx. The leper’s voice acquires a grating quality, his throat becomes hoarse. You can now not only see, feel, and smell the leper, you can hear his rasping voice.” It primarily acts like an anesthetic, numbing the pain cells of the hands, feet, nose, eyes, and ears. It removes pain in any parts. “The destruction follows slowly because the warning system of pain is gone.” People literally wear out their limbs. They rub their hands until they bleed, with no sense of feeling. “The nails then swell, curl up, and fall off. Bleeding gums occur. The nose is stopped up, and a considerable flow of saliva occurs. The senses become dull. The patient gets thin and weak. Collicative diarrhea sets in. An incessant thirst and burning fever often terminate his sufferings.” The disease would last from ten to thirty years. Transmission occurs when the bacillus is inhaled, so it was communicable, or by bodily contact, or by contact with the clothes of a leper. This disease is so horrible that even the breath of a person can infect others around him, so he covers his own mustache. It was incurable at that time; even today some stages cannot be cured.
Oh, I hope you can see the horrible end of this disease. One man called Thompson says this: “As I was approaching Jerusalem, I was startled to see beggars, without eyes, without a nose, without hair, without everything. They held up their handless arms, unearthly sounds gurgled through their own throat, which had no palates. In a word, I was horrified.”
“Behold, brethren, the shocking scourge of leprosy, which was a very common sight to the ancients.” All we see here are the very early stages. Later on, no one had to make any close examination as to whether or not someone had leprosy. You can see, smell, hear, and feel a leper in the surrounding. It was so dreaded. There was a strong predisposition in physiology toward leprosy. And hence, all cutaneous blemishes, that means all skin blemishes or blames, especially such as had a tendency to terminate in leprosy, were watched with an eagle’s eye. Even a swelling pimple or a bright spot was to be watched like a hawk. This is the reason why they had to be so careful, and once they found it, this is why they had to take such extreme measures. You see, so gruesome was this disease, so feared it was, therefore, so cautious they were to make sure it did not spread among them. This account clearly tells us that if they were to err, they would err on the side of caution and not on the side of liberality, giving a man free reign to walk among the people of God with a suspicious sore.
Worldly doctors can explain the disease of leprosy. But who can explain the sad ending of soul leprosy? The worst historical cases of leprosy are just a mild foretaste or a mosquito bite compared to what a sinner will suffer in eternal hell, away from God, away from the presence of God, and any common grace of God. Scripture says in Isaiah 66, “…where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Those who have been thrown into this fiery place, it says, “shall be an abhorrence to all mankind.” Kellogg says this, “…the Holy Spirit chose this disease, leprosy, the most fatal of all, to symbolize to us the true nature of our spiritual disease of sin and its sad ending.”
Now, children, I am very well aware of the fact that it’s possible, having heard these graphic descriptions, you may have nightmares. It’s very possible that you might wake up at about twelve o’clock at night, sweating and crying, and say to your parents, “I’m afraid. I’m afraid that I’m going to get leprosy. I don’t want that.”
I am not explaining the horror for that reason. But I want and desire that the day comes when you wake up scared from sleep and tell your parents, “I’m afraid. I’m afraid my soul has leprosy, and I’m afraid it’s not only fifty years of horrible agony that I would experience. I’m afraid of eternal suffering because of this leprosy.” We saw this morning the vengeance of the Lord away from his presence. Hell is a leper colony for all souls, far away from the Lord’s presence, everything good, and everlasting destruction—eternity. Leprosy’s sad life is a dim picture of hell for you: separated, chased, living alone in terrible pain and weeping and gnashing your teeth, losing your hands and feet, wounds upon wounds. At least a person with leprosy will die, but a man with soul leprosy in hell will never die. We could probably suffer leprosy 10,000 times in this life and never suffer from soul leprosy.
And what will happen to my soul? Because I have this soul leprosy of sin, I sin regularly. Oh, may God give you such dreams and fears, so you would understand the outcome of your sin, and therefore consider your great need.
Brothers, why should we take church discipline seriously? When we see open, raw flesh in open sins, they’re put out of the camp. They live among dark shadows. It’s from those dark shadows that they longingly view God’s people and their joy within the camp, and their communion with God. Isn’t this a depiction of excommunication, brethren? When someone is excommunicated from the church because of sin, it is for the great good of the church, because this leprosy is contagious. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
But it’s also good for the offender. For it is far better that they would sob now, and far better they would run to a priest now and get cleansed, so the open wound heals, than to sob and weep and wail and gnash outside of the camp of God’s people for eternity.
Let me warn everyone here: Today is the day you can deal with this soul leprosy in humility, repentance, by running to a Priest. Now is the day to seek cleansing. If you don’t seek it, in the end, once you are declared unclean, God will, in permanent disgust, turn his face away from you for all eternity outside God’s camp, screaming, “Unclean!” Revelation 21:27, depicting the eternal state and Jerusalem as being the camp of God, says, “nothing defiled can enter into the city.” When the eternal state comes, the gates shall be shut, and those who are outside of the camp will shout “unclean,” and it will echo through the darkness of eternity, and there will be no access to the city.
And I would ask you now, are you so preoccupied with worldly things that you don’t have time to examine yourself today? Live carefully about this soul leprosy. Keep running to the Priest. You who know that you have these immoral lesions and nodules and patches of moral leprosy on you, do you think you’ll get through the gates undetected? Do you think you’ll slip through because you have fooled your parents or your brother or your spouse or your pastor? I tell you, there’s a Priest at the gate. There’s a Priest at the gate who’s going to watch for each and every one, and I assure you, zero percent of those lepers who haven’t been cleansed will get through. Zero percent.
I know my subject has been gruesome and ugly, but let me end with good news. We cannot do anything about our leprosy; we can only hide and suffer in the leper colony of hell. But we will see in chapter 14 that our Almighty Priest can not only diagnose accurately but even heal every leper. We have such a High Priest.
Bonar pleads, “O leprous soul, a High Priest passes through your country now. You sit there. You see the boils on yourself and you’re concerned even about the white hair that may be growing. O leprous soul, a High Priest passes through your country now who could deliver you from your diseases. Come, come. Though you have sat alone under your tree apart from men these many, many days, come. Though in vain you have hitherto looked for any improvement of your disease. Perhaps no man ever cared for your soul. Perhaps you have looked on the right hand and there was no man who would know you. Perhaps every refuge has turned you away. But I say to you now, a High Priest is in the land, a High Priest who can deliver you. He takes you as you are.”
He knows your leprosy. He alone will touch and he pronounces you as you really are, “unclean, unclean.” That High Priest is the Lord Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus is here, among the lepers, this very hour. He pronounces you unclean and maybe he already has in the preaching of the Word of God. And you’ve heard the verdict that you are indeed unclean. Plead like the old leper, “Lord, if you will, I can be clean.” It is he who talks with you through the preaching of the Word of God. He has blood that cleanses all from sin. His touch is healing.
Before you are thrown into hell, outside the camp, fall at his feet and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me.”
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 