“The cohen is to order one of the birds slaughtered in a clay pot over running water. As for the live bird, he is to take it with the cedar-wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird slaughtered over running water, and sprinkle the person to be purified from the tzara‘at seven times. Next he is to set the live bird free in an open field. He who is to be purified must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water. Then he will be clean; and after that, he may enter the camp; but he must live outside his tent for seven days.”-Leviticus 14:5-8
The one Torah pattern that is further impressed upon us by the details of the Metsora purification rite is this.
One must first be made CLEAN before being made HOLY.
Scripturally speaking, being CLEAN and being HOLY are not the same things.
We are talking about two different stages here.
One is first made CLEAN via living water and then only after that is one then eligible to offer blood sacrifices to be made HOLY.
Take a look at this passage from the Book of Zechariah.
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”-Zechariah 13:1
Let’s take a look at that phrase “for sin and for uncleanness”.
The original Hebrew says “for HATTA-AT and for NIDDA”.
Now do you recall what HATTA-AT means?
HATTA-AT is the term most Bibles mistakenly translate as a “sin offering” but as I explained before (many times), it is better to call HATTA-AT a “Purification Offering” because that is what it does, it purifies.
If you want to review this, click here.
On the other hand, NIDDA is the Hebrew term for the spiritual state of UNCLEANNESS normally connected with a woman’s period or her condition immediately following childbirth.
But it also refers to a general state of ritual impurity.
Let’s take a closer look at the word “fountain”.
What is a “fountain”?
To put it simply, a fountain is a source of MOVING water, as opposed to a well or a pool, which only holds water.
Hence, by definition, a fountain produces “living water”.
What’s even more interesting is that just a few verses before, we come across the following passage:
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”-Zechariah 12:10
Zechariah is talking about the coming of the Messiah, whom we now know as Yeshua.
This passage is telling us that Yeshua is the fountain of living water for the purification offering.
Yeshua is the one who purifies us from a state of UNCLEANNESS.
Okay, we now know that water purification is first required to make one CLEAN, and we also now know that sacrificial blood is required to bring one from a state of CLEAN to a state of HOLY (remember, they are NOT the same thing!).
And we are also told that Yeshua is considered to be the one who fulfilled all the requirements of the sacrificial system.
If that’s the case, is there a way to make a solid connection between the two (water purification and blood sacrifice) in Yeshua’s work?
I’m talking about a solid Scriptural connection that does NOT require allegorizing.
Again, don’t forget that one has to first go from UNCLEAN to CLEAN, and then after that, one is eligible to go from CLEAN to HOLY.
Or to put it simply, one who is in a state of UNCLEANNESS can never participate in the only means there is to become holy, which is blood sacrifice.
ONLY CLEAN PEOPLE ARE ELIGIBLE TO OFFER BLOOD SACRIFICES.
Living water was the main agent needed to take one from UNCLEAN to CLEAN.
And blood was the required agent, to take one from CLEAN to HOLY.
Is there an NT verse that shows Yeshua fulfilled this process of first making one CLEAN via living water and then HOLY via blood sacrifice?
Yes, there is.
It’s a New Testament passage you’re probably well familiar with but with the enhanced understanding you now have from your Torah studies will now view in a different light.
“but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.”-John 19:34-35
The chronicler of this event goes out of his way to tell us that both “blood and water” poured out of Yeshua.
The chronicler of this event also goes out of his way to tell us that he was an eyewitness and what he is saying is the truth.
Isn’t that interesting?
Here’s the thing.
The water pouring out of the wound from the spear thrust surprised people.
Thrusting a crucified body with a spear was not a normal part of the crucifixion process.
The people had never witnessed something like that before.
The water held great meaning because Yeshua referred to Himself as the source of “living water”, which is the exact type of water the Torah calls for in the purity rituals.
I know don’t about you but as far as I’m concerned this event is another great reason why we really need to take our Torah studies seriously.
If we don’t study the Torah, there is no way to understand that Yeshua would have to provide BOTH blood and water in order to make mankind holy.
Water to take the UNCLEAN and make them CLEAN.
And blood to take the CLEAN and make them HOLY.
Yeshua’s sacrifice was nothing less than the God-ordained pattern and model we find established right here in Leviticus chapter 14.
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