Revelations 22:12-21

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Read Revelations 22:12-21 Verses for meditation: Revelations 22:12-13, 16, 20-21 ESV: 12 "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Reflect How does it feel to be reading the very last few verses of the bible? What do the proclamations, the last few of them, say about Christ? Come, Lord Jesus! Does this really express our desire? How does the greatest book end, and on what note? But is this really the end? Relate With mixed feelings, I'm writing this last devotion based on the final ten verses of the greatest book, the bible. What a journe...
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LEVITICUS 13 AND 14; PSALM 65

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 READ

Verse for Meditation: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests, [and if] the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean and the priest shall shut up the diseased person for seven days. And the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the diseased area has faded and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. But if the eruption spreads in the skin, after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again before the priest. And the priest shall look, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease.

Leviticus 13:1-9

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, 4 the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop. And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days. 9 And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

Leviticus 14:1-9

REFLECT

These were harsh measures for life in a harsh wilderness. If a person had a skin disease, the best the community could do was to carefully ascertain whether the eruption was a serious and contagious form of leprosy, or just a transient rash. The process was meticulous. The priest would examine the patient, and then place him in quarantine. If after seven days, there was improvement, the patient would perform a cleansing ritual, after which, the patient would be declared healed. The cleansing ritual was elaborate and involved the killing of a bird and the sprinkling of its blood. This act was probably to declare to all in the community that the person had a skin lesion but was now healed.

But if the skin condition worsened, or remained unhealed, the patient would be cast out of the community, be made to wear torn clothes and required to shout "unclean" whenever anyone approached them.

All of this seems cruel and inhumane in our day. I cannot imagine how a leper would have felt, separated from family and friends, forced to live outside the community and treated as a horror to all. I can only imagine his despair, shame, and abandonment by God.

But these measures were necessary in those days. Leprosy was highly contagious and debilitating. It was imperative that the illness not spread to others in the community. Hence all the precautions. But these rules concerning leprosy made the disease even more terrifying. The prospect of being cast out of the community, ostracized by all and treated as unclean, conveyed the sense that the patient had been rejected by God.

However it wasn't just about keeping the community free from sickness. The Holiness of God demanded that His people were without blemish. The rituals regarding cleansing of lepers were not so much concerned over the medical aspects of their condition, than about the ritual cleansing of the persons. The price for holiness was beyond what any human could bear.

RELATE

In this context, it is remarkable that Jesus chose to touch lepers. He did not heal them from a distance, but instead touched them.      Mark1 :40-41 records, "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.”" It was at that instant that Jesus showed that God had not rejected the leper, nor was God distancing Himself from the leper. The leper was immediately healed.

God who dwells in the Holy of Holies chose to cross over to embrace the unclean. It is one thing for one who is unclean to embrace another unclean person. But for God, who is absolutely without blemish to embrace an unclean person, that was the ultimate sacrifice. Either God dies, or the unclean human dies. God chose to die. Such is His love for us.

It is easy, too easy, to think that when one has fallen short of God's Holy standards, that that person is unclean, and rejected by God. And indeed we are unclean and deserve only to be rejected by God. Yet God chose to be cursed, to be made unclean, that we may be considered worthy to be embraced by Him.

When I look at sinners, the ones who live flawed lives, I see our heavenly Father braving our filth and uncleanness, to embrace each of us and draw us to Him. He is indeed the friend of sinners.

REST

Father, we are failed and flawed persons. Unclean and to be cast out. Thank you that you call us to come to you and fall into your arms (Isaiah 46:4). Amen.


 Chiu Ming Li


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