How to Be Clean Again
In these past few months I’ve been aiming to ‘bulk up’ and get more Scripture in me. One way I'm doing that is through the Bible app—while I’m driving or getting ready in the morning, I listen to long portions and just let it wash over my mind. When I got to the book of Leviticus, the theme of cleanness and uncleanness emerged. According to the Law of Moses, there were many things that could make an Israelite unclean. Some items on the list were connected to health or hygiene (such as finding mold in your home, menstruation, on having a rash on your body), others were related to diet (requiring the Hebrews to stay away from certain types of animals). There was also an uncleanness when it came to matters of death (for instance, if you were involved in burying a deceased loved one, it would lead to seven days of being unclean.) Finally, sexual intercourse would cause uncleanness for any Israelite man and woman—even within marriage—they would need to wash and were considered unclean until the next evening.
In the midst of the time period of being “unclean” a person would not be able to come into the Tabernacle to worship. In fact, the uncleanness could pass on to someone else if they touched you. As I listened to these chapters of Leviticus, I was reminded that, in life there are circumstances that impact every one of us—whether it was our choice or not—and those circumstances can leave us feeling “unclean”.
But in every one of these circumstances, the Law outlined not only the affect of the uncleanness, but also a pathway so that you could be made pure again. Depending on the severity of the infraction, they would still be able to find wholeness again. Sometimes people were given instruction to bathe and just give it a few days. Other times, they had to offer sacrifices, or burn the garments that they had been wearing at the time.
Leviticus 18 also includes a list of moral laws that God gives to His people—laws that forbid adultery, incest, homosexual relations, bestiality, molestation and more. Verse 24 says,
“Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these things the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.”
That word defiled in the original language is tame; it is the same word used throughout Leviticus to describe other forms of “uncleanness”. God was saying, “According to the culture surrounding you, it may be normal to participate in these things, but you, My people, are called to live differently.”
It may be ‘normal’ for your neighbours, but you are called to live differently.
As we have ministered with churches over the last number of years, bringing messages about God’s design for sexuality, we have recognized the way that sexual experiences deeply mark people—they feel unclean. We’ve heard countless confessions about how bypassing God’s moral instructions has caused them to feel defiled. And the shame, left unaddressed, has amplified to the point where they isolate themselves. They keep secrets and draw back.
One young man told us, “I walked up to the front doors of the church, wanting to join in on a Sunday service, but shame told me that I would defile the place, so I turned around and left.” Sometimes, your own choices leave you feeling unclean, but other times, the uncleanness is forced upon you. We spoke with a middle-aged woman who wept as she shared about the sexual abuse she had endured at the hands of a parent throughout childhood. Even though she never wanted it to happen, the defilement and shame was just as real.
That day we shared with her a New Testament story of a woman who had been unclean for twelve years, because of unending menstruation. The gospel of Mark describes the scene:
“A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years…after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, ‘If I just touch His garment, I will get well.’ Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Immediately, Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My garments'?’
And His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched me?’” And He looked around to see the woman who had done this…And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.’” (Mark 5:24-34)
According to the Law, an unclean person would spread their impurity to anyone they touched, but that is not the case with our Saviour, Jesus! His purity, His healing power, His holiness, has such potency, that when it encounters the defilement of any one of us, His virtue wins. What was once unclean, could be made clean again.
I was reading in Isaiah chapter 1 this morning—first the indictment against the people of Israel,
“Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who have acted corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him.” (Isaiah 1:4)
But then…the invitation to be clean again.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.”
If this speaks to you, let this be an encouragement to you—there is a fresh start for you today, available through the healing virtue of Jesus Christ. Even as that woman with the issue of blood, chose to push through the crowd, reaching out to touch the edge of Jesus’ garment, let desperation well up in you—reach out to encounter Jesus. Bow your knees before Him, push past “the crowd” of distractions and discouragement. Though your sins are like scarlet, they can be white as snow.