IS JESUS IN YOU?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean. Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:’

'Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.’

'Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.’

'If the man with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, that person must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.’

'Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean, and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.’

'Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.’

'A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water.’

'When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean. On the eighth day, he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest. The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way, he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.’

'When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.’

'When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.’

‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening.’

'If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.’

'When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.’

'When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day, she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way, he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.’

'You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.'”

“These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who lies with a woman who is ceremonially unclean."

Leviticus 15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Starting in Leviticus, chapter 11, we find the Lord issuing a series of regulations that the Israelite people were expected to abide by. This continues as we come to our passage today from the fifteenth chapter as God addressed the matter of bodily discharges with the discussion once again centering on the matter of being clean or unclean, just as we saw prior in regard to food, childbirth, infectious skin diseases, and mildew.

Within this chapter, we see the Lord covering both natural and unnatural discharges, the latter associated with concerns over infectious and/or contagious ailments that could spread to others. This is why an unclean label was placed on anyone with an unnatural discharge for seven days to see whether or not the condition was an anomaly.

Of further interest here, we see where the priest didn’t have a role in assessing a person’s condition when it came to bodily discharge as he did with skin disorders prior. With this, the decision on quarantining was to be made by the individual afflicted in obedience to what God had commanded.

In our passage, we see where the first section of God’s guidance involved bodily discharge from a man. The primary concern here involved diarrhea or any discharge that might be indicative of a venereal disease such as gonorrhea. We read where the Lord even provided instructions for anything or anyone that the man might touch. Essentially, they would be considered unclean as well. No matter who qualified as unclean, the scriptures tell us that washing was prescribed so a person could cleanse themselves from the discharge or contact with someone who was experiencing a discharge. Once again, the concern here was over any further spreading of a contaminant that might be contagious.

You’ll also note that the discharged covered by God required a sacrifice for atonement. After counting off "seven days for his ceremonial cleansing", a man was to "wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water" so he would be clean. Then "on the eighth day", he was to "take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest" who would "sacrifice them”, one “for a sin offering” and the other “for a burnt offering."

We also see where the Lord covers discharges of semen. In these cases, we read that although the semen on a man or woman would make them both temporarily unclean, this state did not last beyond the evening after the affected person had properly bathed. Once again, we see the importance of cleansing stressed by God.

Next came a discussion about natural bleeding caused by menstruation. You’ll note that the woman who was bleeding would be unclean for the duration of the period and, once again, anything that came into contact with her would also be unclean until evening with the exception of a man who lies with a woman during "her monthly flow". In that instance, he would be deemed unclean for seven days if he came in contact with the flow. This was a blessing from God to the woman who was experiencing the hardship of a menstrual cycle because the cramping and weaker physical condition that came along with the period was not a time where they needed to be engaged in sexual activity. So by putting these guidelines in place, a deterrent was created for any man who might want to have sexual relations with the woman during the menstrual period.

Of course, if the bleeding prolonged beyond the seven days allotted for the period or if the woman began to bleed from inside abnormally, she would be deemed unclean until the bleeding stopped with the same basic tenets applied regarding anything that might touch the unclean woman. Anyone who did this would be considered unclean until evening. Finally, we see that the woman’s abnormal discharge problem was treated the same way in regard to the seven day criteria for ceremonial cleansing followed by offering up the prescribed sacrifices on the eighth day.

Well, this problem of discharges, something inside the body coming out and potentially causing problems, is applicable to a lot of other things from a spiritual application standpoint. Consider these passages:

"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." Matthew 15:18-19

"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be." James 3:5-10

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

Truly, we have just as much a problem spiritually with what gets discharged from ourselves as we do physiologically, maybe more so. For the sin within us too often is propagated by the words we speak to others from our tainted hearts and corrupted minds. We have a real problem keeping our mouths and tongues in check, a problem that we see existed in biblical times as well.

Our Lord Jesus said, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him" (Matthew 12:35). The good stored up in a Christian comes through His indwelling within them by way of the Holy Spirit who directs our every thought, word, and deed if we submit ourselves to His leading. This ends up being the same good that was found in Jesus, the Christ within us that produces an overflow of righteous and holy living as we honor Him through serving others as He did.

Friends, let us all strive to ensure the only thing that ever comes out of us spiritually is of Christ, or Christ-like, every second of every minute of every hour of every day. If we do, then all will see without doubt that Jesus is in us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.