“After that the priest shall go in to examine the house” (v. 36b). This signifies that the Lord or the apostle comes to examine. This kind of examination is not a matter of condemnation; rather, it is a kind of grace for healing.
“He shall examine the disease, and if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish depressions, and it appears to be beneath the surface of the wall, then the priest shall come out of the house, to the entrance of the house, and shut up the house for seven days” (vv. 37-38). This signifies that the problem of the church is not only on the surface, but it is deeper, beneath the surface. The communication and fellowship of the church should be kept under observation for a complete course of time. When there is such a sickness in the church life, the elders, the responsible ones, should do their best to watch over the communication between the saints and the fellowship among them for a complete course of time. The more of this kind of observation there is, the better.
“And the priest shall return on the seventh day and examine it; and if the disease has spread in the walls of the house, the priest shall order that they remove the stones in which the disease is, and throw them into an unclean place outside the city” (vv. 39-40). This signifies that after the observation of a complete period of time, if the problem of the church is still spreading, the believer or believers involved in the problem should be removed from the fellowship of the church and be considered unclean, like the outsiders (cf. 1 Cor. 5). This means that when the church is sick of a certain disease, the elders should first observe the situation. If the problem is becoming worse, the source of the problem-the believer or believers who have become involved in the disease-should be removed from the fellowship, the communication, of the church in order to stop the spread of the disease and to eliminate the disease. Actually, the problem may need to be dealt with from many directions. How we handle the situation depends on our observation and on the wisdom we receive from God.
“And he shall have the house scraped all around inside, and they shall pour out the mortar which they scraped off into an unclean place outside the city” (v. 41). This signifies that because of a few believers, the whole church should be dealt with, and whatever is dealt with should be put out of the church as unclean.
“Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones” (v. 42a). Putting other stones in the place of the removed stones signifies the using of other believers to fill up the gap. When the church becomes sick with leprosy, it often becomes necessary to remove from the fellowship of the church the saints who are involved in the problem. This will create a gap, and we should seek to fill this gap with other believers.
“And he shall take other mortar and plaster the house” (v. 42b). This is important, for it signifies the renewing of the church with new experiences of the Lord’s gracious works.
In dealing with the leprosy in a house, it is not adequate to remove certain believers and then fill the gap with other believers. We need to have a new start in the church life, that is, to renew the church with new experiences of the Lord’s gracious works. This is typified by taking other mortar and plastering the house. This is not a matter of simply dealing with a problem but of bringing in the riches of Christ in a new way. If we are unable to do this but simply do something in a legal way to remove certain persons and replace them with others, this will make the church empty, and in this emptiness the church will suffer even more. Therefore, the leading ones need to pray, perhaps with fasting, that the church will receive something new in the experiences of Christ’s gracious works. Then the church life will be renewed, replastered with new mortar, and all the members will be happy about the renewed church life.
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