Daily Devotion | Leviticus 13:29–46 | 2026 February 10  

Title: Daily Devotion | Leviticus 13:29–46 | 2026 February 10  
Scripture: Leviticus 13:29–46 (ESV, reference only)  
Date: 2026 February 10  
Speaker: Rev. John Chen  
Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Dear brothers and sisters, peace to you. We thank God for His grace in bringing us to a new day to study the Daily Devotion. Today our passage is Leviticus 13:29–46. Let us pray. O God, we thank You. Lord, You are so willing that we would live a clean life. Lord, and in cleansing, Lord, You desire to bless us. Lord, have mercy on us. We truly love and crave the filth of this world. We do not cleanse ourselves; we also become stained with all kinds of uncleanness. Have mercy on us. Let us enjoy Your good blessing in Your commandments. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.

Today we continue to look at the cleansing regulations regarding skin diseases. Because these regulations are so far removed from our own time, and because many people have not carefully read them, some brothers and sisters may have questions. Yesterday some brothers and sisters asked me about the regulations of cleanness, so here I will make a few more points of explanation. In fact, there is nothing new; it is essentially what we said yesterday, but we will repeat some of it.

First, we should tell everyone the overall structure of Leviticus. After Israel came out of Egypt, God gave the law, right? Up to Exodus chapter 24. Then chapter 25 begins the building of the tabernacle—how God commanded it. Then in chapter 32–33 they fell, and later Bezalel and the others built the tabernacle, and Exodus ends. Then Leviticus begins. First, it is sacrifices. After sacrifices, we come to the regulations concerning cleanness—clean and unclean food, right? That is chapter 11. Then the cleansing of a woman after childbirth. Then the cleansing regarding skin diseases.

When people read these things, they may feel they are dull and do not know what they are talking about. They seem very distant from us. But if you pull back and look at the whole picture, it is actually very clear: God is calling Israel to live a clean life. Through distinguishing clean foods, through the cleansing of a woman after childbirth, through the cleansing of skin diseases—what is all this telling us? It tells us to pay attention to living a clean life. In that era, it was very concrete—cleanness in food, cleanness in childbirth, cleanness in skin disease.

But today, the spiritual meaning is this: a Christian is called by God, regenerated by the Holy Spirit. After we are baptized and joined to the church, we are to live a clean life. This is not hard to understand. So why is Leviticus placed in the Pentateuch? It is to remind us that we must live a clean life. And for us, this is actually a precious reminder, because we New Testament Christians, when we emphasize justification by faith—especially we Reformed Christians—when we talk about the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, many times it can create a false impression.

It is not what the doctrine itself is saying, but in our fallen sin nature and corruption, we think that the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is telling us that it does not matter whether we keep the law or not, that it is fine, because God will preserve us to the end. We ignore God’s holiness. This is our sin. We misinterpret the doctrine. The perseverance of the saints means that even if we are weak and fall, God will still come to help us. It is a doctrine that encourages us, in our falling and weakness, to rely tightly on God. But many times people easily turn it into a license to indulge the flesh, as if God has issued a permit for me to sin.

This is our corruption, not a problem with the doctrine itself. The doctrine is not wrong; we understand it wrongly. So as we study Leviticus, it tells us we must live a holy life. And the cleansing regulations about skin disease tell us, in our life, not to be stained by worldly filth.

So what is this worldly filth? What does it include specifically? Let me give you examples. Worldly filth includes our craving for the world, our being satisfied with the world, our being satisfied with our work, our income, our position in the system, yet being unwilling to worship the one true God. Someone might say, “Pastor Chen, I’m not like that. Look, I also worship in church. I do not make those things idols.” But you can test yourself. For the sake of faith, can I let go of money? Can I let go of the social status I have? Can I let go of everything I possess? You can test yourself. If you do not even dare to think about losing it, then I think you may be worshiping idols.

Some people make their child’s grades an idol. If the grades go up, they are happy. If the grades drop, it is as if the sky is falling. That very clearly shows that in their hearts they have made the child’s grades an idol. They want the child to struggle through grades to reach a certain social height and fulfill a dream that they themselves once had but never achieved: “I wanted to reach this level and did not; now I want my son to reach it.” This is clearly being stained with filth—God is not the center. The person is not satisfied with living a holy, clean life, not satisfied with Jesus Christ. You do not care about the child’s spiritual condition, but you care so much about his grades. This shows that in our hearts we actually love the world. I am only giving this example to remind you. This is being stained with filth. This is uncleanness. What is uncleanness in the modern sense? This is uncleanness—you are sinning, offending God, not God-centered.

And I also want to adjust an important concept for everyone. This concept is very important. When we say we are to live a holy life, there will always be mockers who rise up and say, “You cannot be completely clean anyway, right? You still have sin. Isn’t what you are doing legalism?” We firmly reject that view—the view that uses “I can’t do it” as an excuse not to strive to obey. Scripture tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And we candidly admit: we cannot do it perfectly. We will not do it perfectly until death. But not being able to do it perfectly until death does not mean we should not strive today. Rather, we must firmly oppose those who mock and say, “This is legalism.” We say it is not legalism. Legalism means, “I can be saved through my good behavior.” We absolutely do not have that idea. We believe we are saved by Jesus Christ. Our good works are simply the good works we should have after trusting in Jesus.

Alright, I think I have made this clear. We do not need to waste more time on this. So this is the regulation of clean and unclean.

Now we understand, right? What is clean? What is unclean? In the Old Testament era, this cleanness and uncleanness was reflected in the form of skin disease. This is something we must notice when reading the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, how did God judge whether a person was clean or unclean? Indeed, in that historical period, God used this: the unclean person would have leprosy; the clean person would not. In that time, God did it this way.

So I hope to remind you: why do these regulations seem to have no practical use today? Why do we still study them? Because in that era God operated in this way. For example, if someone was stained with filth and loved the world—just as an example—he might truly develop leprosy, that is, the skin disease would manifest outwardly. Then such a person could no longer remain in the camp; he would be driven outside the camp—he would be removed.

So here is the reminder for us: in the church, holiness must be proclaimed again and again. Of course, today it is difficult for us to do something like this: for example, if a brother cares extremely about his child’s grades and completely ignores the child’s spiritual life, we cannot simply drive him out of the church. In our time, it is hard to do that; church discipline has not reached that point. We cannot treat everything as an obvious outward sin; we can only exhort and encourage. But in our hearts we should know that this love of the world—being world-centered, being satisfied with the world, thinking that everything you have comes from the world—this is indeed sin; it is uncleanness. We need to exhort. We need to remind him by preaching, saying, “You cannot do this. How can you love the world like this? Is Jesus Christ not enough?”

And also, within ourselves, sometimes the old self rises up. In relationships, we always feel we have been hurt. We feel our place has been taken away. We feel others have not affirmed us. This is also uncleanness, and it must be repented of. How do we repent? The same way: return to Christ, believe that Jesus Christ has already affirmed me, Jesus Christ has already loved me—then why do I still care so much about other people’s affirmation? This is being stained with filth, so we must repent. This uncleanness must be removed from within.

Think about it: if in a church everyone is like this, always competing, the old self is strong, always wanting others to satisfy them—how can the church serve one another? To serve one another means to lay down oneself, does it not? To lay down my feelings, lay down my face, lay down my position, and simply serve others—this is cleanness. By contrast, being self-centered, letting no one speak, letting no one touch my interests—that is uncleanness. This is how cleanness and uncleanness are applied today.

Now let us look at the text. It speaks about a disease on the head. The meaning is the same as yesterday. Any kind of erupting, active skin disease is to be judged unclean. We have already said this. And there are some “points” here—what points? If the disease is healing or almost healed, as we said yesterday, there is a seven-day quarantine, and then another seven days—two seven-day periods, fourteen days of observation. If it has healed, the person returns to the community. This is an important point in the cleansing regulations. If it is actively spreading, there is nothing you can do—you are declared unclean. But if it is close to healing, what do you do? After it is almost healed, you observe two periods of seven days. If there is no problem, then it is clean.

So how does an unclean person become clean? How does a sinner become clean? When he is healed, the priest examines him, and he is clean. He washes his clothes, and he becomes clean. This is the regulation for a person’s cleansing. Likewise, the white swelling—if the spot is healing, it is also clean. And baldness is not uncleanness; verse 40 especially mentions this. If a person loses hair, that is not unclean. But if, on the bald head, a leprous disease breaks out, then it is unclean.

So let us summarize: from Leviticus 13:1 to around verses 40–44, cleanness and uncleanness concerns various kinds of skin diseases—boils, diseases on the face, on the body, and also on the head and in the beard—various locations where the disease appears. The general principle we mentioned yesterday is: what is erupting and spreading is unclean. If it is nearly healed, you quarantine for two seven-day periods; if it does not spread, it is clean; if it still spreads, it is unclean.

Now, how should an unclean person be treated? Verses 45–46, though only two verses, tell us what happens when a person is unclean with leprosy. His clothes must be torn, his hair let hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip—like covering part of the face—and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” Why must he cry out that he is unclean? Because if an unclean person touches a clean thing, that thing becomes unclean. Therefore he must cry out that he is unclean, so that others can avoid him. All the days that he has the disease, he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

So today we are mainly speaking from verses 45 and 46 about how the unclean person is handled. In the Old Testament era, being unclean was disastrous. You lived alone outside the camp. You could not work. Your family could not care for you. You were cast off by society. So for those with leprosy—those considered unclean—their days were extremely painful. They were a group completely cut off from the world. They could only wait slowly for their body to be healed, then be examined by the priest, and only then could they return to community life.

You know the Jews lived as a community. If you left the community, you might only be able to beg. For example, someone might place something somewhere and then leave, and then you could come and eat. And after they took the thing away, they might even have to wash and declare themselves clean. These people had no way to care well for themselves. You are outside the camp. You might try to farm, but that would be very hard and perhaps impossible, because wherever you go you are unclean. So religiously they were despised; in daily life they suffered; inwardly the pressure was enormous. These are some observations about their condition.

Against this background, when you look at the New Testament, you see that the Lord Jesus Christ intentionally drew near to lepers. That shows God’s mercy. These were people treated as completely cut off from society, yet Jesus was willing to draw near to them. Jesus cleansed them so that they could return to the Jewish community. This is God’s mercy.

So here again it points to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is perfectly clean. Yet He was willing—was He willing to be stained by our uncleanness? We are unclean. When Jesus comes to us, He takes our uncleanness upon Himself. Then He must die outside the camp—outside Jerusalem. This is what Jesus Christ accomplished.

True cleansing is only in Jesus Christ. We who are unclean, we who are stained with worldly filth, only in Him—by faith in Jesus Christ—can be cleansed. This faith is like our laying hands on the sacrifice. We are unclean. We lay hands on the sin offering; then it becomes unclean; it becomes “sin.” Therefore the sin offering must die—it must be killed by the altar. This is what Jesus has accomplished for us. So when we read this, we truly offer thanks and praise for what Jesus Christ has done for us.

If Jesus Christ had not borne all this for us, we would have no way to be reconciled with God. The most holy God, the infinitely holy God, cannot dwell with sinners, with unclean people, unless there is a mediator. He must offer the true sacrifice to cleanse us, so that we sinners may come before God. This is something for which we should be deeply thankful.

So what do we see in the New Testament? We see that Jesus Christ is constantly reconciling. He reconciles lepers with normal people. He is the Lord of the woman with the discharge of blood, because that discharge is also an uncleanness. All uncleanness is cleansed in Him. Jesus comes. He heals lepers. He heals all these diseases.

But we must remember: Jesus once healed ten lepers, yet only one came back. This is a warning to us. These people came to Jesus only wanting bodily cleansing, but they did not understand that through bodily cleansing they should trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus they lost such a precious salvation. Their bodies were cleansed, but their hearts were not cleansed. Jesus wants us, through bodily cleansing, to examine ourselves and realize that He is the true Lamb who atones for sin.

This story is recorded in Luke 17:11–18, 19. Jesus healed ten lepers. The ten cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” After Jesus cleansed them, only one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. This man was a Samaritan—Luke especially records that he was a Samaritan. He was the one who truly gave thanks to Jesus. Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

So this Samaritan worshiped the Lord Jesus through his bodily cleansing. He understood: if Jesus can heal me, if a single word can heal me, then He is God. This Samaritan acknowledged Jesus Christ as the only treasure—the only mediator between God and man—therefore he was saved. But the other nine whose bodies were cleansed did not obtain this precious salvation.

So when we place this passage in the light of the New Testament, we see Jesus Christ’s love for us. All our uncleanness finally becomes cleanness in Jesus Christ. At the same time, as we have said, in the love of Jesus Christ, in the mercy of Jesus Christ, we should also strive with all our strength to live a clean life. This is what we have said earlier: we cling tightly to His redemption and live a Christ-centered life rather than a self-centered life.

In fact, brothers and sisters, in daily life we often become stained with uncleanness, and sometimes we do not pay attention or remind ourselves. When we are especially stirred up, when the old self is strongly triggered, when we especially crave the world and find satisfaction in the world, often we are being stained with uncleanness. At such times we must be especially careful. We must confess and repent before God. We must once again believe in Christ’s blood and meditate on Jesus Christ’s salvation—think of how God has loved us, how unclean we are, and yet God has loved us. Therefore we must strive to remove our love for the world, our fascination with the old self, our fascination with power and position, and rely only on Jesus Christ, so that we may truly live a clean life.

We know this process is indeed difficult. The world is present, and the old self is within us. Satan is also there, and Satan’s attacks often make it hard for our life to remain clean. This is only possible in Christ. Therefore in all things we should often examine ourselves. If there is sin within, we come before God to confess and repent. We truly deal with the sin within, dealing with ourselves in every small matter, striving with all our heart to live a holy life, clinging tightly to our Lord Jesus Christ. Because apart from Him there is no source of cleansing. We who are corrupted people, apart from Christ, cannot have any other source of cleansing. Cling tightly to Him, strive to live a clean life—not relying on ourselves. May God grant grace and mercy to us. That is all for today. Thank you, everyone.