December 11th, 2008 by admin

I was reading the other day about the law of the leper and saw something that I had never seen before. We pick this up in Leviticus 14:1-5. It says when a leper that had been healed (leprosy was incurable by the way) he is to be brought to the priest, and the priest will examine him and declare/confirm that he has been healed by the Lord. Once he has been declared healed the priest will need to perform an atonement ceremony over him for the final cleansing. This is the same for leprous houses also found in Leviticus 14 and for bodily issues in Leviticus 15.

Here is what is so interesting. Atonement could not be done unless “first” the priest declares the person healed or clean. They must be healed “first” before an atonement could be performed. If the leprosy had spread or they were not healed yet, they could not have an atonement. Jesus being our high priest has examined us and declared us healed (I Peter 2:24). He said that by His stripes we were healed. His “stripes” was different than His death. We were not healed by His death but by His stripes, which was His beating, which happened “first”. Then He died for us which finalized the cleansing of our sin. Just as the leper or others that had bodily issues, Jesus has healed us by His stripes and then performed an atonement for us. We could not have an atonement done for us if He had not healed or cleansed us first. To say that we are not healed in our bodies is to say that we don’t have atonement either. We must be careful not to nullify the work of the cross by our lack of faith in His stripes. He who the Son sets free, is free indeed.

Blessing to you on your journey,

Lee