The Leper #3

Thursday, September 29, 2022

“When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them” (Matthew 8:1-4 KJV).

Why is this part of the Holy Scriptures?

Through the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 1, the LORD God issues a remarkable reprimand: “[1] The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. [2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. [3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass [donkey] his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

“[4] Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. [5] Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. [6] From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying [rotting, decaying, necrotic] sores: they have not been closed [healed], neither bound up [bandaged], neither mollified [softened, soothed] with ointment.”

Sin has so thoroughly infected God’s people that the imagery is stunning. The Jews carry evil on their backs and sag under the immense weight. From the bottom of their feet all the way up to their head, “there is no soundness [health] in it.” They are covered with wounds or lesions, a most unsightly or disfiguring condition still untreated! Their horrendous affliction is spiritual leprosy, and it is decomposing them just like physical skin disease destroys fleshly tissue….