Part X5.1 - The Running Issue

CHAPTER XV. THE RUNNING ISSUE. THIS " law " is given to " Moses and Aaron," to be communicated to " the children of Israel." It is not a case in which the discernment of the priest is called into exercise; but certain indications are given, which should enable all men to detect the uncleanness.

Leviticus 15:2. Under the figure of another disease, the deepseated intrinsic character of sin, as well as its actively contaminating nature, is still more fully set forth. Circumstances have been before mentioned in which the judgment of the priest would be needed to distinguish whether the disease were there or not, and he would be guided in his discernment by the directions given him of God. Here, however, is no doubtful case, but one of positive uncleanness, of which the signs are unmistakably indicative. The symptoms of leprosy might be the marks of a deeper-seated disease, and indeed were; but the running issue exhibits far more definitely the active principle of the corruption working within, of which every manifestation is corruption. To this the Lord distinctly alludes in Mark 7:20-23, where, in speaking of the secret cause and character of all man’s defilement, He says: " Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts .... these defile the man."

Leviticus 15:3. They may indeed be checked as to outward manifestation in actual commission ; but there they are, a " running issue in the flesh," and a foul uncleanness. And of this every man is able to judge for himself: there is no need to go to the priest, that he should point out the existence of the evil; nor does it avail to come to him with offerings, or for any other purpose, until the evil is put away, and the man cleansed.

Leviticus 14:4. The contaminating power of the evil is here most vividly exhibited. The diseased person not only communicates uncleanness to everything which he habitually uses, but whosoever touches any of those things shall also be unclean until the even, and must wash himself and his clothes in water. This shows how everything around us, which man has contrived for his own use and convenience, bears the stamp of sin ; for it originates in sin, and partakes of and communicates its pollution.

Leviticus 15:7. The slightest communion with the corrupted nature causes contamination. And even a clean person, upon whom the unclean shall spit, shall be unclean until the even. There seems to be a reference in these instances to the imputed uncleanness of the only clean One in our nature, Who, though He knew no sin, was made sin for us.

Every circumstance of contact with that which the unclean hath used is declared to be contamination, and every way of contact with the unclean himself produces the same effect. Not merely whosoever shall touch, but whomsoever shall be touched by him, if he have not rinsed his hands in water, he shall be unclean.

Leviticus 15:12. As before the vessel of earth that has been touched shall be broken, and the vessel of wood rinsed in water. Our nature must be destroyed, and all other things undergo the purifying process of resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:14-17). Resurrection purity and the power of it are only noticed as being required in such cases as these, and then by imputation. The Lord Jesus entered into the glorious kingdom, which is denied to flesh and blood, in resurrection. And so is it with regard to those who are cleansed. That uncleanness which was His by imputation, is ours by imputation, impartation, and intrinsic nature. The first Adam was liable to sin; the second Adam was not. But both were partakers of the same nature : the one had sin, and had sinned ; the Other had not sinned, but was made sin. Both are partakers of the resurrection, and there all sin is put away, in Christ.

Leviticus 15:13. The unseen hand is here, as ever, the power of healing. When the unclean is healed, "he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean." He must, as he is able, thus judge of his state during the time of his continuance in nature, and must know that for the present the power of resurrection, and, at the close of the seven days, actual resurrection, are his cleansing. The running water sets forth the living power of the Holy Ghost and union with Christ. In this cleansed condition the man comes with the necessary offering to the priest, with two doves or pigeons, the one for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering. There is no question of trespass in this case. It is the intrinsic disease, and so the cleansed person understands it. He knows that it is the corruption rankling deeply within that needs to be destroyed; he wants the knowledge of sin put away, and perfect acceptance with God. This he finds in Christ; for He is both the Priest to offer and the Sacrifice to be offered. The cleansed one knows the value of both, and thus the Priest is able to make " atonement for him before the Lord for his issue."

Leviticus 15:16-18. There are not any circumstances in which that which proceeds from nature, or that which is connected with it, do not contract defilement. This case leads us back to that of chap. xii., and marks the condition by nature of all that have ever borne the image of man, save One. He was the sole exception, and it is only as being brought into His circumstances that there can be hope for any. We must be " begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," by the incorruptible seed which is the Word of God.

Leviticus 15:19. The like circumstances of universal unclean- ness and contamination are attached to the issue of blood. The blood is the life. This uncleanness typifies that of the Church, the child-bearing woman, during her seven days’ period of nature. She is the mother of all living, but is as yet in unclean circumstances. And she has continued so, far beyond the prescribed period, and all these days have been her days of uncleanness. This period is marked as twelve years in the instance of the woman who was so situated in the Gospel (Luke 8:43). In the present instance, as before when she is cleansed, " she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean."

Leviticus 15:29. The offering is the same as in the former instance.

Leviticus 15:31. This is the prescribed means of separating the children of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in defiling the tabernacle of God’s presence. Let us beware how we approach Him.

Leviticus 15:32. This is the law providing a remedy for the intrinsic, inborn, sin of man, in all the circumstances in which he is placed; it is the only deliverance from the evil, and the universal unavoidable contamination.