Monday, March 10 || THE HIGH COST OF FORGIVENESS

8 hours ago2 min read

Read : Leviticus 14: 1-7

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. ...” - Psalm 51: 7

Hyssop was a little shrub which the Jews used for sprinkling blood and water in various purifications. For example, when the leper was cured of his disease, the priest would examine him and declare him clean. Then the healed leper would bring two clean birds, some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop along with a clay pot. (Leviticus 14:4,5) The priest would order the healed leper to put one of the birds in the clay pot and kill it. He would then dip the live bird along with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and hyssop into the blood of the bird that was killed. Seven times, the priest would sprinkle this blood on the one who was cleared of leprosy, and then he would pronounce him clean. Then the priest would release the live bird in the open fields. What was all this about? Bible scholar Warren Wiersbe writes, “It was the picture of the birth, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. One day the Lord Jesus came down from the heaven and as it were, put Himself into a clay pot - He took upon Himself a body. Why? That He might die on the Cross and shed His blood for the sins of the world. But He rose from the dead.” The priest dipped the living bird in the blood and turned it loose. So the Lord Jesus arose from the dead and went to heaven. There in heaven He pleads for us to the Father. His blood has paid the price for sin, and we can be forgiven and cleansed.

Dear friends, let us remember this - forgiveness is free but it is not cheap. Jesus had to die to give us forgiveness and to set us free. He is at the right hand of the Father now representing us and says, “I died for those sins.” That is the high cost of cleaning sin. Let us think of this whenever we are tempted, and refrain from sinning.