Leviticus 14:33-53 - Homiletics

On uncleanness in houses.

There are two metaphors commonly used in Holy Scripture for designating God's covenant people. They are

I. GOD 'S HOUSEHOLD . As the household of God the Father," of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named" ( Ephesians 3:15 ), they are the members of that august brotherhood gathered together in Christ, of which God himself is the spiritual Father, into which all that are adopted in Christ are incorporated, ceasing to be "strangers and foreigners," and becoming "fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God" ( Ephesians 2:19 ).

II. GOD 'S HORSE . The representation that God's people form his house is of a more singular character, and less capable of bring immediately grasped. It is even more commonly employed than the other. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, we read of Christians, that is, the collective body of Christians, being "God's temple" ( 1 Corinthians 3:16 ); "for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" ( 2 Corinthians 6:16 ). In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul dwells at length on the idea of the Christian Church being built up of living stones into a temple for God's Spirit: "Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being himself the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" ( Ephesians 2:20-22 ). And in the Epistle to Timothy, he speaks of "the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" ( 1 Timothy 3:15 ). Similarly, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, having described Christ" as a Son over his own house," continues, "whose house are we" ( Hebrews 3:6 ); and St. Peter writes, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house" ( 1 Peter 2:3 ). Just as God's Spirit dwells within the heart of each individual Christian, so, and in a more special manner, he dwells within the Church, his house not being made by hands, or constituted of wood and stone, but of the spirits of those who form the Church.

III. GOD 'S HOUSE MAY NEVER BE DESTROYED , BUT IT MAY BE DEFILED . "Upon this rock" (that is, upon himself as confessed by St. Peter), "I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" ( Matthew 16:18 ). But though not destructible by the power of evil, it may yet be defiled. "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" ( 1 Corinthians 3:17 ). That which defiles God's house is unrighteousness and falsehood, just as physical and ceremonial uncleanness defiles the camp ( Deuteronomy 23:12 ). If the latter be allowed to continue in the carol, God will symbolically "turn away" from it; "for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee" ( Deuteronomy 23:14 ). If the former be found, "the Holy Spirit of God" will be "grieved" ( Ephesians 4:30 ), and "vexed," so that God is turned into an "enemy" ( Isaiah 63:10 ).

IV. THE CLEANSING OF GOD 'S HOUSE . As soon as there is a prima facie appearance of immorality, or irreligiousness, or superstition in a National Church, a diligent examination should be made by those placed in authority by God. Perhaps it is only an appearance, which will die away of itself. If it does so, no further measures are needed. But "if the plague spread in the walls of the house; then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place." Those whose office it is, must not shrink from removing the stones in which the mischief is found, that is, of casting out those who are incurably affected with irreligion, immorality, or superstition. "And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house." D iscipline must be exercised by substituting sound teachers and members of the flock for those that have become unsound. This is the work of reformation. This is what was done for the Jewish Church by Joash, when he "was minded to repair the house of the Lord So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it" ( 2 Chronicles 24:4-13 ); and by Hezekiah, when he said unto the Levites, "Sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron" ( 2 Chronicles 29:5-16 ); and by Josiah, when "he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem … when he had purged the land and the house he sent … to repair the house Of the Lord his God … and they gave the money to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house: even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed" ( 2 Chronicles 34:3-11 ). And this is what was done for the greater part of the Christian Church in the West in the sixteenth century. But if these measures prove ineffective, "if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house and after it is plaistered; then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place." So it was with the Jewish Church. The reformations of Joash, of Hezekiah, of Josiah, were ineffectual, and the Babylonian captivity followed. And so it will be with the various National Churches of Christendom: any one of them to which the taint of impurity in life or doctrine obstinately adheres, will be destroyed utterly when God's forbearance shall have at length come to an end.

V. WARNING . "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" ( Revelation 2:5 ). "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth" ( Revelation 2:16 ). "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee" ( Revelation 3:3 ). "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" ( Revelation 3:19 , Revelation 3:20 ).