by Tim Bauer, Capstone Ministries
There is a popular expression amongst counseling groups today that says, “Hurt people hurt people.” As a result of their own hurts in life, some will turn around and hurt others. Their own inner strife and pain spills over into their relationships with others. With the help of compassionate people, in particular a Christian with the Spirit of counsel (Isaiah 11:2), and a desire to get help, they can be set free. In fact, this is God’s desire for them. He suffered and died to make this possible.
Another expression has come to my mind lately that is just as powerful, if not more. It is this: “Clean people clean people.” What I mean is that only a person cleansed by the blood of Jesus will possess what is necessary to cleanse others. We cannot give in the spiritual realm what we do not possess in the Spirit. This is why there is so much bondage within the church in America today. “Unclean” people are trying to clean people. The results are a church, and therefore a nation, bound up tight with little to show for its efforts. More times than not it’s the blind leading the blind.
In Leviticus 14 the Lord gave Moses the law for cleansing a leper. It required the blood of a sacrificial bird in an “earthen vessel” over “running” or “living” water. The Hebrew word for running is “chay.” It’s defined as “alive, fresh, strong, flowing.” The priest was to take another bird, a “live bird,” which is also interpreted from “chay,” together with cedar wood, scarlet string, and hyssop, all symbols of God’s redemption, and dip it in the blood of the bird that was slain. Afterward, he was to sprinkle the person with leprosy seven times in order to cleanse him, pronouncing him clean. Then he was to let the live bird go free.
The Hebrew for dip is “tabal.” It means “to dip, to plunge, to immerse.” This is also the definition for Christian baptism. When the blood of the slain sacrifice, Jesus Christ, is applied to us through our identification, our immersion in Him through a repentant heart, we become like the “live bird,” the “living creature,” that was set free. John 8:36 says “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,” no longer a slave to the power of sin and death.
In Revelation 1:5, John speaks of “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood.” The Greek for released is “luo.” It is defined as “to loose one bound, to let go, to set free.” Like the live bird in Leviticus 14, after being dipped in the blood of Jesus Christ through repentance we are set free from the bondage of sin, able to soar up into higher realms over the “open field” (Leviticus 14:7).
In this lofty position, we are safe from the demonic, wild beasts that roam about below. From our new vantage point we have eyes to see that which was previously unseen, discerning by the Spirit of God the movements of the kingdom of darkness. This makes us a great threat to the devil. At that height we freely soar out of range of the devil’s flaming missiles with a much better view of the battlefield below. Greater visibility in the Spirit makes life extremely difficult for the demons. This is why Satan desires to bring us down through deceptive tactics to a place where he can overpower us, once again taking us captive to do his will instead of God’s (2 Timothy 2:26). May we all rise through a repentant heart, placing us in a cleansed position where we can be used to cleanse others. Amen.
