THE LEPER’S ANOINTING

Leprosy was the most dreaded disease in ancient Palestine. This horrible condition slowly consumed the flesh of its helpless victim.

Eventually the fingers, toes and other extremities would die, rot and fall off. The unfortunate leper was banned from his community. To prevent others from coming too close, the leper was required to cry out wherever he went, “Unclean Unclean!” the victim of this disease could only expect a slow, painful and premature death .

Leprosy is a picture of sin, a graphic object lesson, by which the Holy Spirit dramatically portrays the consuming, horrible effect of sin on a person’s life. Leprosy reveals sin and Satan’s true nature

Leprosy, like Satan and sin will:

* steal our life,
* eventually kill us and
* destroy our Ministry.

LAW OF CLEANSING

One wonders why Moses laid down such elaborate rules for the cleansing of the lepers, and his restoration. After these rules were made, there is not one case of an Israelite being healed of leprosy in all the Old Testament. Why would God have Moses laid down the rules then?
It can only be for the reason that God placed a “hidden or Spiritual” lesson in these rules He wanted us to learn. Let us examine the details in [Leviticus 14].
The rules which were prescribed by Moses to declare the leper clean and cured are an Old Testament picture of the New Testament cleansing from sin through Jesus Christ. All the elements of our salvation experience are there:

1. Shedding of blood; the shedding and application of blood [which portrays Jesus shedding his blood to bear away and pay the penalty for our sin]
2. Repentance and confession:[which portrays what we must do to be justified or be declared righteous, when we are born again]3. Running water: [picturing water baptism].
4. Anointing with oil: The leper’s anointing with oil which typifies [Kind] the work of the holy spirit in our salvation experience]

LAW OF CLEANSING APPLIED TO OUR LIVES

Therefore, as portrayed in the rules for cleansing the lepers, when we believe in Jesus, we would:

i. Repent of sins: turn away from our sin and rebellion and turn toward God and obey His word.
ii. Confess sins: Confess our sins to God and received His forgiveness . If we do this sincerely from our hearts, we are saved [healed] from sin.
iii. Be baptized: Then we are to obey Jesus by being baptized in water.
iv. Receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit: We experience the anointing of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are God’s children [Rom 8:16]

ANOINTING WITH OIL

To anoint means to put oil on or consecrate by applying oil after the leper had been saved and had obeyed the rules for cleansing, he presented himself to the Levite priest to be anointed with oil.

Oil is an Old Testament symbol of the Holy Spirit! Anointing a person with oil pictures the Holy Spirit coming upon him for a specific, designated purpose.

The leper, once defiled by the dreaded leprosy, when delivered and cleansed from its effects was then anointed with oil to show he has been fully restored to resume his place as a member of the family of Israel.

Every sinner experiences the leper’s anointing when he is born again of the spirit [John 3:5-6]

All who believe in Jesus and submit to his way, live to His Lordship, experience a measure of the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. [Romans 8:9].

This scripture confirms that no one can be truly born again without experiencing some measure of the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a fuller anointing when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, which we will discuss in more details later under subtitle “kings anointing” This anointing is distinct from the primary work of salvation. Both, however, involve the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

1. THREE AREAS OF LIFE AFFECTED

[Lev 14:14-18]

It is important to note that the blood of sacrifice and the anointing oil were placed on the

* ear,
* hand and
* Foot.

This shows us that our salvation and anointing experience [our healing from leprosy of sin] affects three important areas of our life:

I. hearing –our hearing the Lords voice [our ears]
II. service-our service for our savior [our hands]
III. walk-our walk with him [our feet]

If we do not hear His voice our service will not be fulfilling. We need the blood to cleanse

* our hearing,
* ours service and
* Our walk.

We need the Holy Spirits anointing to hear, to serve and walk as we should. Both the blood of Jesus and the anointing of the Holy Spirit are necessary parts of our “great salvation”

SACRIFICE OF SPOTLESS LAMB

Aaron and his sons entered the door of Moses tabernacle and stood at the brazen altar. Here they shed the blood of a spotless blemish free lamb as a sin offering. By this they experienced forgiveness from the penalty of sin which is death [Romans 6:23]. This corresponds to being born again, or justification

ANOINTING TO HOLINESS

Concerning the use of the holy, anointing oil, [Exodus 30:29] “you shall also consecrate the tabernacle and its utensils of worship, that they may be most holy, whatever touches them shall be holy”. It is clear from these verses that whatever the holy anointing oil touched was holy. When Moses poured oil on the head of Aaron and his sons, they were holy to the Lord.

This was an anointing to holiness that is being set apart to God for his service by right living and right behavior . Thus, the priestly anointing teaches us commitment to righteous and holy living after we’ve been born again.

From that time on, all priests were anointed unto holiness in the same way.Set apart to the Lord. [Rev 1:6, 1 Peter 2:9]

PURITY AND POWER.

We must be saved not only from sin’s penalty and guilt but from sin’s defilement and force and habit in our lives. [Matt 1:21], some preachers say, “we are saved in sin”. The bible says we are saved from sin. We are saved NOT TO SIN! We are not saved to make a practice of sinning [1 John 3:8]

Oh, how we need this priestly anointing to holiness! “God, we plead for you to pour it out on us in a limitless measure “if we are not to be destroyed by His power at work in us, we must have his purity expressed through us.

[John 3:5-6]

All who believe in Jesus and submit to his way, they live to His Lordship, experience a measure of the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. [Romans 8:9]These scripture confirm that no one can be truly born again without experiencing some measure of the work of the Holy Spirit.

We must be saved not only from sin’s penalty and guilt but from sin’s defilement and force and habit in our lives.