See Christ our Salvation in the Book of Leviticus

Believers, check out something strange in the laws concerning leprosy in Leviticus 13. If a person had just a tiny spot of the disease on his body, he was to be pronounced UNCLEAN upon examination by the priest. If his skin was 99% clean and 1% infected, he was still unclean.

But the one whose body was covered ENTIRELY from head to foot by the disease with no area left untouched was to be pronounced CLEAN upon examination by the priest! See this Leviticus 13:

“And if leprosy breaks out all over the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the one who has the sore, from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks, 13 then the priest shall consider; and indeed if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean who has the sore. It has all turned white. He is clean."

This does not seem right. How can a person who is covered from head to foot in leprosy be clean? Beloved, God's Wisdom is foolishness to human reasoning. Recall that 1 Corinthians 10:11 tells us why the Old Testament was written:

“Now all these things happened to them [as] types, and have been written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.”

Leviticus 13 and the entire Old Testament was written for you and I. In all the Scriptures (Old Testament) are types and shadows of Christ and the reality of our salvation in Him. The Old Testament is Christ hidden. The New Testament is Christ revealed. The leprosy in Leviticus is a picture of sin. God's command for the levitical priest to pronounce as CLEAN the ENTIRELY diseased is a picture of how He has declared as RIGHTEOUS in His sight all who come to our Great High Priest Jesus Christ seeing themselves as sinners through and through. See this reflected in Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Notice our Lord God says "righteous in My sight" and not righteous in man's sight? Imagine that the priest in Leviticus 13 declared as "CLEAN" someone whose entire body was riddled with leprosy with not a millimetre to spare as God commanded in His word. The clean man's neighbours might be tempted to move to another neighbourhood but for their belief in God's word.

For us today, this state of "utter sin" that we acknowledge as our default mode (APART FROM CHRIST IN WHOM WE ARE) is a state of mind. It does not mean that we are committing sins with reckless abandon as antichrist pastors love to imply. It is a state of confessing our sins the same way Paul did in Romans 7:18-

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh;"

Again in another epistle, 1 Timothy 1, Paul described himself as being at the bottom of the rung of all sinners: the worst of them all! -

"15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners."

Paul was not committing sins with reckless abandon when he wrote this. When we, by Grace, come to Christ in this manner, knowing by grace the utter sinfulness (entirely leprous state) of man's humanity and trusting Christ as our all, God forgives us and cleanses us of all of our unrighteousness as it is written in 1 John 1:8-9:

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The word "confess" here is the Greek word "homologōmen" which means "to speak the same, to agree." It is where we get the English word "homologous." You can check it out on your own in any Bible lexicon. Many use the "confess" in this verse to, intentionally or otherwise, keep churchgoers under condemnation- as if a believer's sins remain hanging unpaid somewhere and he is not righteous in God's sight until he does something about them. This brings to mind the question asked by God Himself in Amos 3-

"Can two walk together unless they are agreed?"

One cannot walk with God if he thinks he is "not that bad" or can produce even an iota of good by himself. Here's Paul agreeing with God on the utter sinfulness of man in Romans 7:18:

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says there is no good in man of himself aka human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law, resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power and sheer determination and work hard to be successful.”

Reminds one of Peter telling Jesus that He was wrong when He told him about his upcoming denials:) Like Peter, what we have of our own human effort are good intentions. One popular song says "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." As long as one is seeing himself as "not that bad" because he has just a few spots of sin or is doing some good deeds, like the partially-leprous in Leviticus whom God's word commanded the priest to declare unclean, all who see themselves as "not that bad" in the area of sins and good works are unrighteous in God's sight. Such are not aware that they are not a helpless mass of disappointments and sins only because God has not allowed Satan to sift them like wheat.

When you "confess" your sins, it means you are in agreement with God that you are a sinner through and through and believe His word:

"There is none righteous, no not one."

Being in this entirely helpless state (like the entirely diseased leper) is what qualifies us for God's gift of righteousness and Christ's salvation:

"For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves." Romans 5:6.

Before Christ our High Priest, the status of the one who feels that he is still 99.99% good and just 0.01% "bad" because he is doing his best to keep the law, confessing each sin in order to be forgiven and not committing particular sins is no different from that of the leper with just a spot of leprosy on his skin: UNCLEAN -

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3:20. Also see v.27-28:

"Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

Romans 5:9 tells us how we are made righteous in God's sight:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Nothing to do with our good works and law-keeping prowess. All to do with our Abba Father's Grace. He "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Like the entirely diseased leper whom the priest in Leviticus 13 was to declare "CLEAN" even though his entire body was covered in leprosy from head to toe with not an atom of space on his body spared, in Christ, God sees us as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins." See Romans 5:16 below. Antichrist "pastors" call this truth (God's word!) "blasphemy" and "license to sin." But in His Wisdom which is foolishness to man's reasoning, God's Word says this is the Way to live in triumph over sin and death-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His GIFT of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

Beloved, Righteousness in God's sight is not something that we work or keep the law to earn-

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3:20.

His righteousness is His gift to all who believe in Jesus. The entirely leprous person in Leviticus 13 didn't deserve to be called "clean." He received his "CLEAN" status as a GIFT. The churchgoer who is yet to have that mindset of his utter sinfulness apart from Christ is seen as unclean by God. Beloved, let's not be found here.

God's righteousness is a gift to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ- having Him utterly as our Righteousness and Strength; putting no confidence whatsoever in those "good" things that many think makes God see them as clean or what we can do to help/save ourselves.

Right believing always produces right living.