We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:11)
Thank God that He who spilled His blood for us, lives to plead it, lives to make intercession for every soul who receives Him. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. . . .We need to keep ever before us the efficacy of the blood of Jesus. That life-cleansing, life-sustaining blood, appropriated by living faith, is our hope. We need to grow in appreciation of its inestimable value, for it speaks for us only as e by faith claim its virtue, keeping the conscience clean and at peace with God. This is represented as the pardoning blood, inseparably connected with the resurrection and life of our Redeemer, illustrated by the ever-flowing stream that proceeds from the throne of God, the water of the river of life.
The wonderful symbol of the living bird dipped in the blood of the bird slain and then set free to its joyous life [Leviticus 14:4-8], is to us the symbol of the atonement. There were death and life bended, presenting to the searcher for truth and hidden treasure, the union of the pardoning blood with the resurrection and life of our Redeemer. The bird slain over the living water; that flowing stream was a symbol of the ever flowing, ever cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. . . .
We are to have free access to the atoning blood of Christ. This we must regard as the most precious privilege, the greatest blessing, ever granted to sinful man. . . .How deep, how side and continuous in this stream! To every soul thirsting after holiness there is repose, there is rest, there is the quickening influence of the Holy Spirit, and then the holy, happy, peaceful walk and precious communion with Christ.
ELLEN WHITE QUOTE: comments by connie
The bird used in the ceremony to purify a leper, needed to two wild birds. A tame bird would not flay away as required by the symbolism.
The purification of a leper is given in more detail than that of the purification for any other defilement. As the leper was excluded not only from the sanctuary but from the camp, there were two ceremonies included in the restoration. The first entitled him to reenter the camp and associate with with his brethren. The second, a week later, was performed in the court of the tabernacle and restored him to full fellowship and to all the privileges of the covenant relationship.
The first ceremony, which restored the leper to the camp, took place outside the camp.
The birds were probably sparrows. Some commentators compare the two birds to the two goats used in the Day of Atonement service, the one the Lord’s goat, the other the goat for Azazel, Lucifer. The birds were not used for cleansing. The man had already been pronounced clean. In the case of the birds there was no blood sprinkled on the them. The sparrows had no symbolic atoning properties, or healing power, they were not sacrifices at all.
The ceremony constituted a beautiful picture of what God had done and would do for the leper. From death to life, to fly away, to the heavens is the gift of being perfectly healed, when the real sacrifice would come, Jesus would provide the bridge between earth and heaven. Our Messiah will come back to take us home with Him to the mansions he has made for us in Heaven.
Someday we too will fly away….off this earth….like the healing that comes….when we obey rather than sacrifice, Our Lord. And try to nail our sins, on Him. Blaming God is a sin! When we obey, there is no need to nail Jesus to the cross again!
Symbols forgotten by the Jews, had misplaced the meaning of the endless slaughter of sacrifices, without a heart for the beasts. Love for Jesus, expands to love for our fellow man, and love for our pets, and we do not want to destroy relationships. When we lose friends, a part of us dies within our hearts. Enemies? Smile, and they will become your friends. You have the power to restore, to atone, for a relationship, to be healed, to be blessed, to return when you sacrifice yourself, to be a friend.
Recently my prayers for my enemy was restored after some ten years of an unusual broken relationship. It was worth it! It took time, but in time, he came to understand my actions were all about, pointing us back to Jesus, the standard of truth. When we compare ourselves to the suffering of Jesus, we have no room to complain about our mental, social, physical or spiritual journey.
The road to peace, is not within our hands, it is within our hearts. I need to pray for my enemies who also are finding this relationship with God, is very humbling! Amen?
Humble ain’t so bad. It’s easier for poor folks with no where to turn but to the Lord.
The Red Horse War Against Gods Government understood by the parables of Jesus 