House

"See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say unto you, you shall see Me no more till you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly I say unto you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mt. 23:38-39, 24:1-2). Jesus had just pronounced a scathing judgment against the religious leaders of Jerusalem, the scribes and the Pharisees, in Mt. 23. He called them "Fools and blind!" (v. 17). He spoke of their religious violence, by that I mean the lack of mercy, the religious burdens they placed upon the people, their standing in the spiritual position of Moses (Mt. 23:2), but without the understanding, and the relationship with God of Moses, along with their complete hypocrisy. He brought against them His indictment concerning their rejection of the prophets. He told them that they clean the outside, but the inside (of themselves) is full of lawlessness. They neglect justice, mercy and faith, and "shut up the kingdom of heaven aginst men". It cannot be stated too strongly, the thorough condemnation spoken by Jesus that day against these religious leaders. As we know, the greatest act of religious violence was still to come: the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Jesus connected all of these things and more, with the desolation of the house, including His prophecy of the future total dismantling of the temple. The temple was the most sacred and important part of Jewish worship and atonement, and a crucial part of their national identity. As Jesus described its coming ruin, it lined up exactly with what the law of Moses required regarding a house plagued by leprosy that cannot be remedied. The Sabbath reading this week is titled in part, M'tzora, which means "Infected one". One reading portion is from Lev. 14:33-45. It begins, "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron saying: "When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous (root- tsawrah: to strike down, scourge, one stricken (by God), one smitten) plague (negah/nawgah: stripes, stricken, wound, a spot, lay a hand upon, punish, destroy, violently, be stricken, beaten, smite, to violate, to injure, to touch heavily) in a house in the land of your possession...the priest shall command that they empty the house...that all that is within the house may not be made unclean; and afterward, the priest shall go in to examine the house." (Lev. 14:33-36). The leprosy being dealt with here was not on a person, but on the actual building. "And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house...and shut up the house for seven days." (v.37-38). After seven days, the priest was to come back and see if the plague had spread. If so, the infected stones, including the mortar, would have to be removed, and taken to the unclean place outside the city. All the rest of the stones of the house were to be scraped, and the dust from the scraping taken outside the city as well. Then they replaced the removed infected stones, mortar and plaster with new. If the plague of leprosy came back to the house after these attempts at remediation, then it is declared a "fretting" (ma'ar: painful malignant leprosy, pricking, be in pain, bitter, sour, a thorn which causes pain) leprosy, and the house is unclean (v. 39-44). "And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place." (v. 45). There are word meanings here that bring to mind Jesus in His suffering. The religious leaders identified Jesus as a type of leprous plague, according to the meanings of the words used in Leviticus, when He was actually their remediation. They did not see that it was their own house that was the "infected one" instead. We see that same language used to describe the suffering of Jesus in Isa. 53:4: "Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." But really, the LORD was laying upon Jesus the iniquity, or the leprous infection, of us all (see Isa. 53:6). Jesus was taken outside the city to be crucified, like the leprous stones of the infected house (see Jn. 19:17-19, Heb. 13:12-14). On the cross, He was offered bitter and sour to drink (Mt. 27:34, Ps. 69:21). The religious leaders would not accept the sabbath rest (seven days mentioned in Lev. 14) Jesus represented for their leprous house. They would not allow the leprous stones of their house to be replaced. They would not accept the scraping of the stones of their own house, so their house was dismantled until there was not one stone left upon another. He was their remedy, but they did not want their house remedied. That is the nature of spiritul leprosy. Once it takes hold, without remediation, it will persist and worsen until the whole house is unclean and requires demolition. Yet, Jesus became the remedy for us all, because the Father wished it. Over the centuries, the rabbis have written that they believe that the second temple was destroyed because of the presence of a type of spiritual leprosy among the people of God, which they call "evil speak" (LaShon Hara), and also because of hatred among or between the brethren. In Rev. 2 and 3, Jesus sends His Word to the seven churches, and warns six of them to deal with a kind of spiritual leprosy in their midst also. He warned them to take the remedy, or pay the penalty. May we in the Church today keep these things in mind, and be open and willing to accept the chastising (scraping) of the Lord, our Priest, when applied, in order to heal our spiritual house, the temples of the Holy Spirit, and the remedy of repentance, and the Sabbath rest personified in Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. Our Father is looking to cleanse the house. If you would like to be cleansed by the Son of God you can pray: "Lord Jesus, I believe that You died for my sins and uncleanness, that You became a curse, a plague, to free me from the curse. I believe that You rose again from the dead so I can have eternal life. Cleanse me, renew me, and make me a holy house fit for Your Holy Spirit. I give You thanks for Your sacrifice for me, and help me to live in Your righteousness. Give me ears to hear, and a heart to receive Your corrections and remedial work in me. I ask and receive these blessings, with thanks, in Your holy name, AMEN."