Man is always living in three layers of coverings: first, his body; second, his clothing; and third, his house. All three have the possibility of becoming leprous. For believers, our house is our home, signifying the church. Leprosy in the body typifies sin that invades our flesh, leprosy in a garment typifies the sins that invade our outward conduct, and leprosy in a house typifies the sins that invade the church life as the main part of our spiritual life. Hence, leprosy in a house is leprosy that invades the church life, that is, the sins and evils that occur in the church life.
Leviticus 14:49-53 covers the cleansing of the leprous house, the cleansing of the church.
Leviticus 14:49-51 reveals that the leprosy in a house is cleansed in the same way as the cleansing of the leprosy in a man. This signifies that the whole church experiences once again the suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and entering into glory with Christ. In order for a church to be cleansed, the church needs to experience the processes through which the Lord Jesus passed.
After the infected house has been rid of its infection, it has to be purged with the blood of the bird and the living water and then with the living bird, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet strands (v. 52). This signifies that the whole church needs to be cleansed with the eternally efficacious blood of Christ and His eternal and living Spirit. In typology, the blood of the bird signifies the blood of Christ, water signifies the cleansing Spirit, and oil signifies the anointing Spirit. When a church becomes sick, it needs two elements in order to be recovered—the blood of Christ and the Spirit.
“He shall let the living bird go, outside the city into the open field” (v. 53a). This signifies that the church enters with Christ into the realm and experience of His resurrection and ascension. When an infected church is healed, surely this church will not remain on an earthly level but will rise to the heavens and soar in the heavens. Nothing will be able to hinder, restrict, restrain, or bind such a church. When the church enjoys Christ’s resurrection and ascension, the church is above the earth, enjoying freedom in the heavens.
“He shall make expiation for the house, and it shall be clean” (v. 53b). The house being clean signifies that the church is fully clean to be the mutual dwelling of God and man (John 14:2).
Chapters 13 and 14 of Leviticus cover the matter of sin in more detail than any other chapters in the Bible. These chapters show a threefold dealing with sin, not only sin in our being and in our conduct but also sin in our dwelling. A person may be unclean in his body, clothing, and house. We need to be cleansed from sin, from leprosy, in a threefold way. If we want to deal with these three kinds of leprosy, we need to repent again and again. We were born in uncleanness, and our very being is unclean. For us, it is impossible to be pure. Therefore, day by day we need to repent of our failures, confess our sins, and deal with our failures and sins, seeking even to eliminate them. In our living we need to deal with and eliminate all our sins by the cross of Christ. Then we can live a holy life.
The cleansing of the leper typifies that a person invaded by sin is cleansed entirely through the redemption accomplished through Christ’s death and the salvation carried out by His resurrection. The cleansing of the leper also typifies a person’s thorough dealing with what he does and what he is according to the redemption through Christ’s death and the salvation by His resurrection.
Leprosy in a garment signifies the sins expressed in one’s outward living and conduct. To deal with the sins signified by leprosy, we daily need to repent, confess, and deal with any sinful thing in us that is becoming worse and worse, eliminating it by applying the cross of Christ. Furthermore, we should deal with the suspected weaknesses in our living and conduct by the cleansing Spirit of God and eliminate these weaknesses from our conduct.
Leprosy in a house typifies the sins that invade the church life as the main part of our spiritual life. In order for a church to be cleansed, the church needs to experience the suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and entering into glory with Christ, that is, to experience the processes through which the Lord Jesus passed. Therefore, when an infected church is healed, the church enjoys Christ’s resurrection and ascension, being above the earth and enjoying freedom in the heavens. When the church is fully clean, she becomes the mutual dwelling of God and man.
This lesson shows a threefold dealing with sin, not only sin in our being and in our conduct but also sin in our dwelling. Hence, we need to be cleansed from sin in a threefold way. We were born in uncleanness, and our very being is unclean. Therefore, day by day we need to repent of our failures, confess our sins, and deal with and eliminate our failures and sins by the cross of Christ. Then we can live a holy life.