Fri.’s Devo -Be Made Clean

Read: Leviticus 15:1-16:28; Mark 7:1-23; Psalm 40:11-17; Proverbs 10:13-14
Leviticus 15 talks in length about the issue of blood and seman which gives us insight into the plight of the woman with the issue of blood that touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. For 12 years she had been unable to go into the sanctuary and no one could get near her, sit where she had sat, slept where she had slept nor could she have married a man. She was isolated from social life. Jesus took away her uncleanness and made her clean. The nation of Israel had been unclean for longer than 12 years and Jesus came to touch their nation and make it clean yet many of them rejected him.
Not only is this a spiritual picture but it was also a lesson on hygiene. God was teaching them how germs spread.
Leviticus 16 teaches us about the Day of Atonement which God proclaimed as the only day the high priest could approach the mercy seat which was inside the Holy of Holies. Aaron had lost his two sons because they entered unlawfully so God was giving them instruction of how to do it right.
First, the priest had to bring sacrifices: two goats for sin and a bull for a burnt offering. He was to dress himself in the clothing God had specified - the priestly garments. Then, he was to take an offering of two goats and one ram from the people for their sins. He was to present the goats to the Lord to choose the scapegoat by lots. The other was to be the offering to the Lord and the scapegoat was to eventually go free.
He offered the bull to cover his own sin then the goat. He lit the incense altar which made a sweet aroma and produced a cloud of smoke which was a picture of God’s glory that followed them through the wilderness. He was to take the blood from the bull and sprinkle the mercy seat seven times to atone for him and his household. Then he was to do the same with the goat which was the sacrifice to atone for the nation.
Next, the priest would lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, transferring their sins to this goat and send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Aaron would then shed his bloody garments, wash and put on fresh priestly garments. He was to offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and burn the fat.
The man who took the scape goat had to wash his clothes also and burn everything left of the sacrifice and take it outside the camp.
This whole ritual was a picture of Jesus. Both goats stood for Jesus. He not only died for us but he told our sins away as far as the east was from the west. After his death, Jesus shed his earthly flesh like a garment and put on the glory. When he got to heaven, he offered himself on the altar of heaven.
The Pharisees rebuked Jesus for not making his disciples go through their ritual of hand washing before they ate. Jesus explained to them that they had left the law of Moses and had made us their own laws that were not God’s laws. Then he explained that it was not eating with unwashed hands that was going to make a person unclean, but it was what came out of wicked hearts that would make a person unclean.
Lord, may your mercy cover us like a cloud and may your love and truth always protect us.