Daily Devotion | Leviticus 14:1–32 | 2026 February 12

Alright, everyone—peace to the brothers and sisters. We thank God for his grace as he brings us to a new day to study the Daily Devotion. Today our passage is Leviticus chapter 14, verses 1 to 32. Let us pray. Our God, we thank you. We are so weak, and we often stain ourselves with uncleanness, but, O God, you are so holy, and you command us to live a clean life. Lord, we thank and praise you. Please lead us, through these regulations of cleansing, to know your holiness more deeply, so that we may, with all our heart and with all our strength, live a holy life. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Yesterday we mentioned that God’s intention is for us to live a holy life in every area of life. Then chapter 14 tells us: if we have been stained with a skin disease, and if we are to be cleansed, what should be done? What procedures are required? And through this we see that it is not like, “I feel like I’m better, so I’m better, and I can just return to the camp.” It is not like that. So you see that the life of the Israelites had a strict set of norms. They lived in an organized, managed condition. It was not that an individual could just do whatever he wanted. He had to be recognized within the community. He had to be received within the community. And all of this required a very complicated process. And what was the purpose? It was to show God’s requirement for holiness. The people of Israel must live a holy life.

So what is chapter 14 specifically about? It is about this: if a person had a skin disease—at that time, there was no medicine to treat it. There was no medical treatment. They would lock the person outside the camp. And then what? He would be pitiful—he could only eat a little food that others gave him as alms, and outside the camp it was extremely painful. And if, in the end, the disease healed, it would be by his own immunity, by his own strength—he slowly recovered.

But if the disease healed—if the leprosy was healed—how was it handled? There are several key things here. First, he had to go and see the priest. He had to tell people, “My disease is healed.” Then the priest had to go out of the camp, out to the outside, to examine him. That is, it is not that they come into the camp and let the priest look at them. It is that the priest goes out. Why? So that if his leprosy has not truly healed, it will not defile the whole camp. So the priest goes out first to see whether he has truly recovered. And if he truly has recovered—like we said in the last one or two days, it has stopped spreading and is healed—then what?

First, there must be certain rituals done outside the camp. What rituals? Take two live clean birds, and cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. As for what these things specifically do—scarlet yarn, hyssop, cedarwood—we do not really know. We can only make some guesses. For example, scarlet yarn—when we think in Christ, we might think scarlet could symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ. And hyssop—we think of how Moses used hyssop dipped in blood when he made covenant with Israel, so hyssop may be a sign representing covenant—showing that God is in a covenant relationship with him.

And cedarwood—cedar was not used in making the tabernacle; in the tabernacle it was acacia wood for the ark and for the furniture. Cedar appears later in the temple—cedar for door panels and so on. So perhaps it also implies something about the temple’s ornaments. So I think cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop may all point toward the temple, and point toward the covenant God makes with man, showing how firmly God upholds his covenant. That is roughly what I think, because I have not seen a commentary explain these things very clearly. These are inferences, and these are my inferences.

And there must be two live birds, and they must be clean birds—you cannot offer an unclean thing at this time. Then how are these two birds handled? You take an earthenware vessel and put living water in it—meaning you go to a spring, take water from a living source, and put it in a clay vessel. Then you slaughter one bird over it. Then the water becomes water mixed with blood. Then the live bird, the cedarwood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop—all together are dipped into this water mixed with blood. You dip them in, and then you sprinkle that blood—sprinkle it on the person who is to be cleansed—sprinkle him seven times, and then he is declared clean.

So here I think there is still a concept of atonement in it, even though the place of execution is outside the camp. Because if we speak according to the whole Bible, for a person to be cleansed, it must be through the blood of Jesus. So here I think: cedarwood points to the temple; hyssop points to covenant; scarlet yarn points to the blood of Jesus Christ; and these things are sprinkled upon the one who seeks cleansing and he is cleansed. I think it is still the blood of Jesus Christ covering and atoning. And indeed one bird is killed.

Then there is another bird that is released into the open field. And this concept should not be unfamiliar to us later. On the Day of Atonement, Israel had two goats: one was slaughtered, one was driven outside the camp. The one driven outside the camp represented taking Israel’s sins away outside the camp. This bird is similar: the live bird is released again, showing that this person’s sin has been carried away. This ritual shows the person is cleansed, his sin has been taken away, and God no longer remembers his iniquity. This is the ritual in the open field. I believe this points to the blood of Jesus Christ. This should be fairly clear.

Then what does he do? He comes back. He washes his clothes, shaves off his hair, and then enters the camp. After entering the camp, he must stay outside his own tent—outside his tent, not inside—he stays seven days. On the seventh day, because his whole body is healed, there is no symptom on his body, then he shaves again—he shaves all the hair on his body, shaves the hair, and then washes his clothes and bathes in water, and then he is clean. This is an extremely complicated set of cleansing procedures—very complicated.

Is it finished after that? No. On the eighth day he still must go to the tabernacle to offer sacrifices. What sacrifices? First there are lambs—three lambs: two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb. And also fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and oil must be brought—this oil, one log of oil. Then before the LORD, what happens? He offers the male lamb as a guilt offering first. He offers the guilt offering first. Then the others—these three lambs are handled: one guilt offering, one sin offering, and one burnt offering.

And then there is also a detail: first blood is put on the right ear, the right thumb, and the big toe of the one who is to be cleansed. Then oil is also put on the right ear, the right thumb, and the big toe. Finally oil is poured on the head of the one who is to be cleansed. Then through the guilt offering, sin offering, and burnt offering, he is cleansed. So this is the regulation of sacrifices for a person. It is very complicated. On the eighth day he is, as it were, brought back again through sacrifice.

So among the Israelites, to be stained with uncleanness was very painful and very troublesome. He is driven outside the camp. After he recovers, in order to return and be received again by the people, he must do these rituals outside the camp. Then after he returns—there are details that I may have already mentioned, and I will not repeat again—and there is also this: he must be marked with blood, and then marked with oil. The meaning of blood and oil, I think, is relatively clear: listening to God’s word, doing God’s work, walking God’s way; and oil also is placed—this also represents that under the leading of the Holy Spirit he must be cleansed, he must follow God, he must listen to God’s word. Because the reason he became unclean was that he did not listen to God’s word, did not do God’s work, did not walk God’s way, and thus he was stained with uncleanness. So being struck and disciplined by God, now he is willing to repent, and before God he must offer sacrifices again.

Then later it speaks of what if he is not “able”—that is, if he is poor—what then? One male lamb as the guilt offering, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. The meaning is the same. It repeats it again: he still must return—he still must do these things. That is roughly the content of this passage.

So what is the instruction for us here? First, it very clearly tells us that for a person to be cleansed, he must go through a very complicated process—very complex. What we see here is almost—haha—outside the camp you must do things, you must find the priest, then after returning you must stay outside your tent for seven days, shave hair, then wash clothes and be cleansed, and then after returning you must come specifically to offer sacrifices—offer three sacrifices: a guilt offering. That is, you offended God; you must make compensation to God. We have said the guilt offering is like a compensation offering. Then you must have atonement for him, and then you must offer a burnt offering.

These complicated procedures remind Israel, first, in the rituals: you must pay attention to your holiness. Do not casually stain yourself with uncleanness. The consequence of being stained is very serious. That is the most direct impression. And in all this restoring of relationship—returning to the community of the covenant people—these rituals, without any doubt, all the regulations of sacrifices point to Christ. This is certain. The two birds—blood sprinkled on the person so that he can return to the camp—and then later the guilt offering, sin offering, and burnt offering—all three offerings still point to Christ.

Because whether it is compensation to God—we said when we explained the guilt offering: we have no righteousness; it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, his perfect obedience, his complete righteousness; and Jesus Christ bears our debt of sin; and Jesus Christ offers himself as a burnt offering. These three offerings obviously show what God has done for us in Jesus Christ: he compensates all our debt of sin, he fulfills complete righteousness, and he offers himself fully, so that such a sacrifice is pleasing to God, and an unclean person can come before the clean God. This is how we understand the use of these three offerings.

And we also see God’s mercy. If he is not able—if he does not have enough money, if he is in hardship—what then? He only needs to offer one male lamb, and then two young pigeons or turtledoves. But the lamb must be offered—the guilt offering must be offered—because he greatly offended God and he must make compensation. So he must offer such a sacrifice so that he can be before God as without guilt. And all these sacrifices point to Christ. They point to Christ.

After we speak about how these sacrifices point to Christ, we reflect on ourselves. We must also remind ourselves especially: first, we must pay attention to a holy life. We must not casually stain ourselves with uncleanness. We have repeatedly mentioned what it means to be stained with uncleanness in the last two times, so I will not repeat it here.

But if we have been stained, what should we do? According to Scripture, we must confess and repent. So all these rituals show us: what does repentance look like? What is repentance? Repentance is not merely that I say with my mouth, “I confess,” and then it is done. Do you see? Repentance requires paying a great price.

So for us Christians, when we sin, we must pay attention to this. When we teach the confession, we especially say repentance and faith are two sides of one reality. After we sin, we must repent. First, we must believe that Jesus Christ has already atoned for our sin, that in Jesus Christ we are already without guilt. This is the part you must believe. But after believing, is it finished? No. You must have deeds of repentance.

Here it tells us: first is the guilt offering—compensation. You must compensate. You must give a ram to God as compensation. So if in real life we sin and offend people, what then? We must remember: we must compensate others. You cannot say, “I offended you—sorry—goodbye.” You cannot do that. If we have truly caused others loss, then our so-called repentance, the first point, is to compensate the other person—to make up the loss we caused. This is true repentance. You cannot say, “I repented,” and it is done. No. Repentance includes a guilt offering—you compensate.

Then the sin offering—Jesus Christ certainly atones for us, and we ourselves must also repent in actual life by showing our separation from that sin. We no longer stain ourselves with that sin. We no longer pay attention to that sin. So brothers and sisters, repentance—if you read the Westminster Confession and the Larger Catechism, they explain repentance very clearly—every sin must be repented of. You cannot keep being stained. So an unrepentant person is a person who continues in that environment. But repentance means you can stop—it is not continuous. Because continuous sin is willful sin, and then there is no sin offering.

Therefore we must stop. If there is a sin we are committing, and we know it, we must cut it off. We cannot commit it again. This is what the sin offering means. We must cut off that connection. Then the burnt offering means we offer ourselves again to God. And the ritual here is very clear: listen to God’s word, do God’s work, walk God’s way. There is both blood and oil—there is the blood of Jesus Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit—and then our life begins to turn.

Repentance means to turn back. You cannot say, “I sinned, and I confess. Lord, I should not have cursed; I should not have hated; I should not have offended people.” And then what? Next time you still offend, you still curse—this will not do. So these guilt offerings, sin offerings, and burnt offerings, and the blood and the oil on the ear, the thumb, and the toe—these things all tell us: repentance means turning. You must turn, leave your evil way, come before God, and live a clean life again. This is a very important point for us, because in real life I have encountered many things like this, and I myself am also like this.

We may not take repentance very seriously. Of course, when we hear it, we all want to live a holy life. But once it comes to repenting—once it comes to leaving sin in Jesus Christ—often we do not want to. And sometimes that unwillingness even comes out as: “The time is not yet. I will adjust myself. Don’t rush me.” I think some of that is an excuse—some of it is an excuse. Since the word of God has come to you, you must immediately listen to God’s word, do God’s work, and walk God’s way. You cannot treat it as if you can be very casual. I think we have become too light about sin. We often say, “Anyway the blood covers it,” and it is done. But we do not thirst for real repentance, for obeying the law in every area of life, for living a holy life under a new worldview. I think this is a great deficiency of Christians. Our repentance is not thorough. Our repentance is very little.

In fact, if there is no repentance, there is no holiness. Without holiness, how can God dwell among us? Why did Israel need such a complicated procedure to return into the camp? This is a symbol of repentance. You must truly repent. And I believe that after so many complicated procedures, that sinner would certainly be very careful about sin: “Oh, I won’t do that again. This is too complicated. This is too painful.” For us, it is the same. I think Christians need to be sensitive. Sometimes God is already reminding us. Sometimes God is already disciplining us. We must turn back in time, leave the sins we crave—especially those chronic sins in our hearts: hatred, self-centeredness, love of the world.

These things must be truly repented of. We must continually cleanse ourselves in Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin, and that sin must be carried outside the camp like that bird. Do not love the world again. Repentance inside must be real. Our inner man is like a large ship turning—it is hard to turn. A little change is not enough. It must be an all-around change. Little by little, our worldview, our view of life, our values must be reshaped—through the daily word, through the Daily Devotion, through weekly preaching. We must have our hearts corrected, and after being corrected, we keep pursuing holiness.

We must pay attention to repentance. What small thing did I do wrong? Why do I have this? Why did I commit this? Keep digging deeper into yourself, so that your life becomes more and more holy. I believe this is what today’s passage in Leviticus is telling us through these priestly regulations of sacrifices: what real repentance looks like.

In Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ has borne our debt of sin, has fulfilled complete righteousness, and has offered himself for us. Then very clearly we must also follow this pattern: compensate for what we owe others, separate ourselves from sin, and offer ourselves, truly, in God’s grace and will—listening to God’s word, living a holy life in God’s word. I think this is the reminder of this passage, so that our repentance may appear so real.

So brothers and sisters, I think we must pay attention to this. Without repentance, how can we prove that we are regenerate people? Without repentance, without sacrifices, how could we possibly be joined to a holy covenant community? Therefore may God help us to truly live a life of serious repentance in his will. That is all for today. Thank you, everyone.