2007 picture of Ray Sparre

Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67


February 4, 2013

Good morning, dear people.

Becki and I plan to do our walk/jog routine in a few minutes. It’s looking like a nice morning for such an effort. Overhead, I notice some high clouds being painted with magenta as they begin to reflect the early sunrise light. Wish you could come with us. Following that, both of us face pretty big lists.

Have a good day processing your list.

Love, Dad/Ray.

4 February
Passage: Leviticus 13-15
Focus: “You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.” Leviticus 15:31.

I can understand how a cynical reader of these rules and regulations could pass them off as a bunch of detailed instructions for performing magic-like ceremonial nonsense. But for the reader bearing a HEART AFTER GOD, there are hidden treasures waiting for discovery. (See 2 Peter 3:14-18)

Rarely do I consult the discoveries of others before some digging on my own, but I decided to have a look in the treasure collection of Warren Wiersbe. I want to insert a quote from him here as it relates to the ceremony of 14:1-7, which, without connecting symbolic dots, could appear rather strange.

"This ceremony is a beautiful picture of the work of Christ. The priest took one of the birds and placed it in an earthen vessel (clay jar), and then he killed it. Of course, the birds were not created to live in jars, but to fly in the heavens. Christ willingly left heaven and took upon Himself a body, put Himself, as it were, in an earthen vessel, that He might die for us. Note that the bird was killed over fresh water, a picture of the Holy Spirit. The priest then took the living bird, dipped it in the blood of the dead bird, and set it free. Here is a vivid illustration of Christ's resurrection. Christ died for our sins and was raised again, and He took the blood (spiritually speaking) back to heaven that we might be cleansed from sin. The priest finally sprinkled some of the blood on the leper, for "without shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb 9:22, NKJV).
(from Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament © 1993 by Victor Books/SP Publications. All rights reserved.)

Profound personal and practical meaning can be richly extracted from the FOCUS VERSE when we understand that the New Testament counterpart to the Old Testament tabernacle/temple (“my dwelling place”) is actually our own “earthen vessels” (our bodies) where Christ reigns as Savior and Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).


“Life is a grindstone. But whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.” - L. Thomas Holdcroft