JARS OF CLAY

Welcome to Bible Study online! It has been a long time since I was able to post and I have really been missing it. A few weeks ago, our pastor preached a sermon on the wedding at Cana, and a thought occurred to me that I had never considered before. I wanted to get it written down before I lost track of it, so I am presenting it here. I am hoping to pick back up with the life of Abraham in the next few weeks. As usual, there are lots of scriptures to follow along.



JARS OF CLAY

II Corinthians 4:6-7 says, “For God Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

The more I travel on with the Lord, the more He shows me that every physical thing and circumstance has its spiritual counterpoint. Likewise, the Old Testament is filled with physical typology and symbolism pointing to the spiritual reality. One such fascinating type is found in the cleansing ritual for leprosy as described in Leviticus 13 and 14. Let’s take a look.

Leviticus 13:1-17

“The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests, and the priest shall examine the diseased area on the skin of his body. And if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean. But if the spot is white in the skin of his body and appears no deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall shut up the diseased person for seven days. And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the disease is checked and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up for another seven days. And the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the diseased area has faded and the disease has not spread to the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean. But if the eruption spreads in the skin, after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again before the priest. And the priest shall look, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease.

When a man is afflicted with a leprous disease, he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall look. And if there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling, it is a chronic leprous disease in the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. He shall not shut him up, for he is unclean. And if the leprous disease breaks out in the skin, so that the leprous disease covers all the skin of the diseased person from head to foot, so far as the priest can see, then the priest shall look, and if the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; it has all turned white, and he is clean. But when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean. Raw flesh is unclean, for it is a leprous disease. But if the raw flesh recovers and turns white again, then he shall come to the priest, and the priest shall examine him, and if the disease has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce the diseased person clean; he is clean.”

First of all, these conditions referred to as leprosy were not what came to be known as Hansen’s Disease—modern day leprosy. It was actually a variety of skin ailments. Why did God single out this one ailment among all the diseases of man to address specifically in the Law? I think He selected this because it was to be a type and symbol of sin. The book of Leviticus emphasizes two things throughout—the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. So, this disease was selected to teach us about sin. To cross reference this idea, let’s look at Psalm 38:3, 5, & 7.

“There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness.

For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.”

Also check out Isaiah 1:6.

“From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.”

The context for the verse from Isaiah is the sinfulness and evil of the nation of Israel and their resulting punishment.

Hopefully, this establishes the idea that leprosy was used by God in Leviticus as a type for sin. With that in mind, let’s observe the characteristics of leprosy and look for spiritual counterpoints. First, it might begin with a swelling, eruption, or a spot. These are universally common, for who doesn’t have a spot of some sort on his skin? They are also small to begin with. Isn’t sin exactly like this? It is universal and it generally starts out small. But you know, in order to follow the Law as commanded, a person couldn’t just “blow off” these small spots. He had to keep a watch over them in case they developed into leprosy. The spiritual message here is that we have to vigilantly watch over our lives. There are innumerable “innocent” things in this life that can quickly grow into something that crowds out the Spirit of God and these have to be constantly kept under surveillance.

The next thing about leprosy that Leviticus tells us in verse 2 is that if it appears to be spreading, the person must go to the priest for inspection. The priest was God’s representative and he had been anointed with oil, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. The priest examined the skin and determined if the case was indeed leprosy. Spiritually speaking, we have to be willing to carry our personal spots to God and let the Holy Spirit scrutinize them to determine if there is any harm in them or not. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way!” Notice also that the priest didn’t get in a big hurry with his diagnosis. He could quarantine the person for up to fourteen days if necessary. Now, the Holy Spirit doesn’t need fourteen days or even fourteen seconds to see what is going on with us, but I think the message here is that sin will eventually manifest itself. Often, however, it takes time for us to see it. It has to get pretty obvious, and it seems that the less virulent the sin, the harder it is to acknowledge. How long it takes to begin to understand that our righteousness really is filthy in His sight. We may have an abundance of deeds that appear good, but are done in the strength of our flesh and consequently are rooted in pride. And so the Holy Spirit will seek to quarantine a person—get him away from all the world’s distractions—so that He can begin to convict him of sin and spiritual need.

The next thing we see about leprosy in Leviticus is that Aaron, as a representative of the Law, could not heal it. He could only pass judgment. It must have been an awful thing to have to appear before him to receive a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” judgment. Aaron was impartial in his examination. If the spot wasn’t getting worse, the person was pronounced clean. But if the problem was obviously spreading into the lower flesh, he was pronounced unclean. There was nothing more that Aaron could do. He did not have the power to heal. The spiritual counterpoint of this can be found in Romans 3:20-26.

“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

These verses make it plain that the Law had no power to save anyone, only to pass judgment regarding sin.

Verses 9-17 of the Leviticus passage describe a chronic or recurring condition of leprosy. These leprous conditions were treatable—they were not altogether hopeless, and we will soon see the priest’s role when a person was healed. However, the spiritual counterpoint we see in verses 9-17 is that even after a person has experienced genuine salvation, he may have a besetting sin to deal with. There may be lapses. However, it stands to reason that if the former leper found a cure before, the same cure will again heal his problem. Likewise, if a believer falls into a particular sin, the cross is always the cure. One thing I have noted about this, however, is that some things take longer than others to be cured and re-infection must be guarded against constantly.

Leviticus 13:18-28 reveal that leprosy might develop out of an injury. Very often sin in us is manifested by the way we respond to injuries received from others. Jesus responded by forgiving those who crucified Him, revealing to the last moments of His life that, indeed, there was no sin in Him. We, however, have a tough time forgiving those who injure us and this makes underlying sin manifest.

What was the consequence of leprosy? If the priest pronounced the person unclean, what then? J. Vernon McGee’s commentary on Leviticus describes it as follows on page 151:

“Leprosy is a living death. A leper was treated as a dead man. . . Like leprosy, sin destroys the whole man. Both are corrosive in their effect, working slowly and surely, until finally they break out in an angry display that eventuates in death. No man ever went wrong overnight. Leprosy did not kill in a day—it is not like a heart attack. The leper’s life was a walking death. Just so, the sinner is also dead even while he lives…Leprosy does not produce sharp and unbearable pain as some other diseases. Leprosy keeps the man sad and restless. Likewise, sin produces a restlessness and sadness in man that is evident in our culture. Folks want to be amused, want to be made to laugh because they are sad. Crowds flock to places of amusement, to the night clubs, to be entertained. Take a look at the sad faces with vacant stares. Watch the cars filled with restless folk going nowhere fast.”

Leviticus 13:45-46 describes the life of one pronounced a leper. “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.” So what does all this mean? Torn clothes, disheveled hair and covering facial hair all indicated mourning due to death. This can be cross-referenced with Leviticus 10:6 and Ezekiel 24:17. As Dr. McGee said, leprosy was a living death. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that even though we were born alive physically, it was a living death—dead in sin.

Why did they have to cry, “Unclean!” First, I think this is a confession. From a physical standpoint, the leper was not allowed to hide his condition. He had to confess his situation after the priest had pronounced him unclean. Let’s look at Isaiah’s reaction upon discovering his own sinfulness in Isaiah 6:1-5.

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him Who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

When Isaiah saw the glory of God, he was overwhelmed with the realization of his own sin. Now, I don’t think Isaiah had any obvious sin problems like adultery, murder, lying, etc. But when he saw the holiness of God he recognized his own sin and immediately confessed it. The leper, likewise, after he is scrutinized and pronounced unclean by Aaron must recognize his situation and make a public confession. Spiritually speaking, no one will seek salvation until he is confronted with the judgment of God. He may have thought those little spots were nothing to worry about, but once he faced up to what God saw when He looked at the spots, there was nothing to do but confess.

Finally, the leper is forced to leave the camp and live apart from the people of God. The spiritual counterpoint is obvious. Sin cannot live in the presence of a holy God. The camp held the tabernacle—the earthly throne room of God. Not only was the leper unable to enter the tabernacle, he couldn’t even live in the camp. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” Also, because sin is highly contagious, affecting all it contacts, the leper had to get away from healthy people. I Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.” The church would do well to wake up and realize this. While we certainly will have earthly associations with the lost, indeed, we must if we are to win them, these associations must be carefully guarded so that the believer will not be corrupted and dragged into sin again. Jude 23b says, “to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” Leviticus 13 also revealed that clothing could become infected and show signs of leprosy, as could houses. All believers begin their journey of faith as spiritual babes and need to make steady progress in their growth. An immature Christian who has not learned to hate the garment stained by the flesh needs the steadying influence of Christian mentors.

So what does this have to do with Jars of Clay? Leviticus 14:1-9 describes the cleansing ritual for a leper who has been healed. Let’s take a look.

“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘This shall be law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop. And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water. He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field. And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days. And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.”

Notice that this is a cleansing ritual, not a healing ritual. When it became apparent that the leper was healed, he was brought back to camp, but could not yet come inside. The priest had to leave the camp and go out to the leper to examine him. Likewise, Jesus as our High Priest, had to leave heaven and come to us. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Hebrews 2:14-18 says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” And finally, Hebrews 13:12 says, “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.” In going out to the leper, Aaron had to risk personal contagion. When we looked at Hebrews 2:18 we saw that Jesus Himself suffered temptation when He left heaven and came to earth. He took a great personal risk; yet He endured, and did not succumb to sin.

Now at this point the Old Testament type differs from the New Testament reality in one important aspect. Aaron could not heal the lepers—in fact, they could make him sick too! But let’s look at Matthew 8:1-4.

“When He came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, ‘Lord if You will, You can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

Notice that Jesus did not back off and say, “Be healed!” He actually reached out and touched him while he was still diseased.

After the priest examined the leper and determined that he had been healed, a cleansing ritual took place involving two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, hyssop, a clay jar, and running water. Let’s look at the significance of these things. The clean birds symbolized, I believe, the Holy Spirit. At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and rested on Jesus. Cedarwood represents the life of faith in that it is a slow-growing, aromatic, evergreen tree that is long-lived and impervious to decay. The scarlet thread represents the blood of Christ and can be traced from Genesis to Revelation throughout the Bible. Hyssop was a plant known for its cleansing properties and represents cleansing from sin (Psalm 51:7). The clay jar symbolizes the human body (II Corinthians 4:7). Running water is living water and represents Christ, as He offered to give Living Water to the woman at the well in John 4.

Now, let’s look at the ritual. One live bird is placed in the jar and the jar is smashed over living water, killing the bird. This is a picture of the death of Jesus. As a man, He was a Jar of Clay, yet He carried inside Himself the Holy Spirit of God. When Moses was leading the Israelites in the wilderness and there was no water, God instructed him to strike the Rock and water would flow out, and it did. This Rock was a symbol of Jesus, Who when He was struck, provided Living Water. And so this cleansing ritual associates Living Water with the breaking of the pot as Jesus died physically and also offered His Spirit to God in payment of sin. John 19:31-35 records the breaking of the Holy Jar of Clay as follows:

“Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs,. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.”

After the breaking of the jar, most likely the yarn connected a cedar stick to a clump of hyssop and this hyssop was dipped in the bird’s blood and sprinkled seven times on the healed leper. Seven is the number of completion and the sprinkling of blood shows the application of Christ’s blood for the complete cleansing of sin. Next, the live bird was dipped into the blood of the dead bird and released. This served to identify the live bird with the dead bird and demonstrates the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His ascension. It also points to our great hope that if we identify with Christ in His death, having His blood sprinkled on our hearts, we too will enjoy His resurrection.

POINT TO PONDER:

After we are healed of sin, we too are jars of clay, filled with the Spirit of God, sprinkled with the blood of Christ and baptized in His Living Water.

Now, just looking at this Old Testament type and its fulfillment in Christ is really amazing, but Jesus during His ministry added some “frosting on the cake” and I want to look at that. Let’s look at John 2:1-11.

“On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to the, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.’ So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.”

In this story, Jesus is confronted with a problem here and the problem is that there is no wine. In the Jewish culture, wine was generally a symbol of joy (Psalm 104:15; Proverbs 3:10; Matthew 26:29). In the New Testament, wine came to symbolize the blood of Christ. Jesus also identified wine with the covenants of God, both old and new, by saying that His new wine could not go in the old wine skin of the Law, but would have to have a new wine skin. So this wedding party running out of wine seems to symbolize the insufficiency of the Law. Without blood, symbolized by the wine, the people were dead (John 1:17; Romans 8:3)

When confronted with the problem, Jesus uses six very large stone pots that are normally used for ritual cleansing. Now we see here in spiritual counterpoint, a picture of confession and repentance. No one washes unless he believes he is dirty, so the people washed in these stone pots. Notice that, unlike the leper cleansing ceremony, these pots are stone, not clay. I think the stone leads directly to Christ Who is the Cornerstone of our faith and Who served the Israelites in the wilderness as the Rock from which water flowed. And so Jesus is pictured in the stone jars. Also note that there were six jars and six is the number of man. So in this miracle we see Jesus as God—our Rock and also as man. The pots were filled with water, just as the Rock in the wilderness gushed fresh water and Jesus Himself is our Living Water. And then what happened? Suddenly the water had become wine. The Living Water has also become the Blood of the Covenant that would provide our entrance into Life. So we have water and blood together in the same stone jar, just as we had water and blood associated together in the clay jar in Leviticus.

Let’s try to pull this all together in one final passage—I John 5:6-12:

“This is He Who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one Who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

There are different ideas as to the interpretation of these verses concerning water and blood. Many believe that the water refers to Jesus’ baptism at which the Father verbally acknowledged Him and the Holy Spirit lighted on Him. It was at His baptism that He formally accepted the vocation of sin-bearer because John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Although Jesus was sinless and did not need to repent, He identified Himself with sinful man at His baptism so that He could carry away our sin at His death. The blood represents the climax of His mission as it was completed and He shouted triumphantly, “It is finished!” The Holy Spirit is the third witness spoken of by Jesus in John 15:26. So from the leper’s cleansing ceremony, to the wedding at Cana, to the cross, and in the church, God tells of His Jar of Clay, filled with Living Water and the blood to redeem our lives along with His gift of the Holy Spirit. And when we enter His covenant of grace, we become jars of clay, partaking of His living Water, sprinkled with His blood, and carrying His Spirit.



Thanks for following along! I hope to pick up with Abraham again soon! Blessings to you!