Daily Devotion | Leviticus 14:33–57 | 2026 February 13  

Title: Daily Devotion | Leviticus 14:33–57 | 2026 February 13  
Scripture: Leviticus 14:33–57 (ESV, reference only)  
Date: 2026 February 13  
Speaker: Rev. John Chen  
Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Alright, dear brothers and sisters, peace. 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 33 to 57. Let us pray. Our God, we thank you. Thank you for leading us to live a holy life—Lord, in every aspect of life. Please guide us so that we may follow you. O God, you are our only hope; you are our only salvation. Lead us to know more deeply your wondrous steadfast love. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Now we come to Leviticus chapter 14, verse 33. Here it speaks about how to deal with uncleanness in a house. We have already said this: at the beginning there is the classification of food; then the regulations for a woman after childbirth; then skin diseases; then how to be cleansed if a skin disease is healed; and then next comes the house. We have said this is covering the whole range of life—God’s requirement for Israel is that in “eating, wearing, dwelling,” and of course also “using,” every aspect must be clean.

In every aspect—food you eat, clothes you wear, the house you live in, the tools you use—everything must be discerned as clean or unclean. And if it is unclean, it must be dealt with, so that they may live a clean life before God. How to obey God’s law in every aspect of life—we have spoken about this already, so we will not repeat it here.

Now let us look at the text itself. Here it speaks about a house. In the wilderness this would not really be an issue, because in the wilderness they lived in tents. But after entering the land of Canaan, if the house has “leprosy”—that is, the house becomes moldy, the house grows mold—what should be done? When it becomes moldy, first the priest must come. The house must be emptied. The priest examines it and then it is shut up—locked—for seven days to see whether the disease disappears, whether the mold can be removed.

If it cannot be removed, what then? People must take out the stones with the disease. And surely it is not just one stone—likely several stones are removed and thrown outside the city. Then after those stones are removed, other stones replace them, and fresh plaster is spread over. But if the house still has leprosy—still has mold—this shows it cannot be cleansed. Then what? It only has one chance. If it cannot be cleansed, the house must be torn down. Its timber, stones, and plaster must all be carried away and thrown out.

And when the house is shut up, no one can enter it. If someone enters it, he becomes unclean. And there are regulations about washing clothes—washing clothes so that one may be clean. But if the house, after being shut up, has no problem, and it is clean, then what? The cleansing regulation for a house is the same as the cleansing of a person: two birds, cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop; it is prepared, sprinkled seven times, and then the live bird is let go. That is the procedure.

And then the summary is: the regulations for every kind of leprous disease—scaly disease of the head, garments, houses, and also itch and eruptions and bright spots—when it is unclean and when it is clean; this is the law for leprous disease. So this is a very important part of Leviticus: to set forth the cleanliness and uncleanness of food, clothing, and houses. This is what we have been explaining.

Now of course the content is like this—there is nothing especially “new” in it. We have already spoken about obeying God’s law in every aspect of life. But there is still another angle we must notice. Besides living in obedience in every aspect, what else do we see? From garments, to skin, to houses—these three share something in common. Have you noticed? They are all coverings.

Skin covers the body. Garments cover the body. A house covers a person. So in these passages, it is discussing the problem of coverings. And if we look at coverings under the guidance of the whole Bible, then we can see that coverings point back to Genesis chapter 3—the coverings there. What is the contrast of the two coverings? Humanity wanted to use fig leaves to cover themselves, as a covering so that they would not be exposed in shame before God. But the true covering for Adam and Eve was the garment of skins. So here we can read another meaning: what has gone wrong with our coverings?

And if you connect this with chapter 12, the regulations for cleansing after childbirth, what do we read? We see that humanity lives under original sin. We cannot cleanse ourselves. And the coverings we find for ourselves are always moldy—always problematic coverings. So we need to be cleansed. In fact, the uncleanness of skin disease, the uncleanness of garments, and the uncleanness of houses—these three kinds of uncleanness are telling us that the whole of human life is unclean: the coverings are unclean, and we cannot obtain cleansing through our own coverings.

Because chapter 12 makes it very clear: we all have original sin. And then our coverings become stained. Think about it: for a person to go through his whole life and never have any skin issue, and have clothing that is always clean, and live in a house that is always clean—this possibility is very low. You will likely have problems, especially in ancient times. Houses built on the ground, with dampness and mold—that can happen. Even today, if you have lived in older or ground-level dwellings, you know this possibility is not small. So your house could always be at risk: it keeps growing mold, and if taking out stones does not work, then the house must be torn down.

So brothers and sisters, do you see? Whether skin, garment, or house—these coverings—in our lifetime, it is very hard for them never to have problems. In other words, from one angle, for a person to maintain lifelong ritual cleanness is almost impossible. And what does that tell us? It tells us that we must hope in the true covering—the robe of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we must not lose the first meaning: Leviticus is certainly telling us to obey God’s law in every aspect of life. That is true; do not throw that away. But here I believe we read another meaning: it points to Christ. Some people ask: how does skin disease, mold in clothing, or mold in a house point to Christ? The text is clear: the cleansing regulations include the killing of birds. This plainly points to Christ.

Because in a person’s lifetime, you do not know when your body will again be stained. I think we can almost say: an Israelite likely would have some period of uncleanness in his lifetime, if he took the law seriously. And for women, the matter of monthly uncleanness is even more obvious. But even for men—can you say you will never have a skin issue? That is unlikely. Even things like spots, eruptions—these would be considered uncleanness. Then what? You would be put outside the camp. So uncleanness, if the law is seriously applied, could become a kind of “normal” in Israel’s daily life.

And dealing with uncleanness—dealing with these problems—is unavoidable. So Israel would spend a lifetime wrestling with uncleanness: how to handle it, how to treat it. They would constantly deal with priests, constantly deal with procedures. If they truly obeyed the law, perhaps every male would spend some time outside the camp—because you will certainly have a time of uncleanness. But this constant uncleanness, I believe, points to a true hope: Israel could not, in essence, achieve cleansing—whether of skin, clothing, or houses. At the deepest level, they could not accomplish it.

So what happens? People would be tempted to lie: the house clearly has mold, but you do not tell the priest; your clothing has mold, but you secretly wash it and do not speak; or you have a skin issue and you hide it. I think that would become common. Because if an Israelite truly faced the law seriously, life would become extremely complicated. It really is so. And then you can understand why, soon after, in the period of the Judges, Israel fell so quickly.

Because these cleanliness regulations truly bring great difficulty to life. You still have to farm; you still have to raise children. Suddenly there is such a complicated and burdensome system. This is not like you go to the market and then wash your hands; it is not that simple. A small skin problem, and you must be shut up, put outside the camp, examined by a priest, and after healing you must sacrifice. Such complicated regulations are hard to do. But the biggest problem is not only difficulty. The deeper point is that these regulations show Israel that their true hope is not that by performing ritual cleansing they can become truly clean.

“My skin is healed. My clothing is clean. My house has no disease.” Their hope is not finally there. It must point to Christ. It tells us that true cleansing is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that a serious Israelite, who repeatedly carried out these cleansing procedures—skin disease healed, then sacrifice; clothing troubled, then sacrifice; house troubled, then sacrifice—through this exhausting, complicated obedience, would have only one hope in his heart: “May the Messiah come soon. This is too complicated. This is too tiring. Where is true redemption? Must our descendants forever wash garments, handle mold, and repeat these procedures? Is this our life?”

I believe a true Old Testament believer, moved by the Spirit, would set his hope on the coming Messiah. His hope is only in the Messiah, because only the Messiah can save us. Just as when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, she placed her hope on the Messiah: “He will come; he will tell me all things.” Jesus said, “I who speak to you am he.” That shock is enormous: the One you hoped for is right in front of you.

So these cleansing laws, I think, do two things. On the one hand, they require us to obey God’s law strictly. But I believe any serious person who faces the law will admit: we have no way, by our own strength, to obey the law. It is impossible. You cannot keep the whole law. We say we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we must obey his law with all our strength. This is what we ought to do. But if we face our conscience honestly, we must say: we can never do it perfectly.

Therefore our conscience’s peace does not come from our obedience to these laws. Our conscience’s peace comes from the covering and cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. This must be clearly defined. Otherwise we will fall into legalism. We have said we oppose antinomianism. The antinomian thinks that once he believes in Jesus, everything is peaceful no matter how he lives—this is absolutely wrong. But when facing such complicated commandments, you must also not become a legalist. If you reverse the order, you become a legalist.

Yes, we must do our utmost to obey God’s law in every aspect of life. We must study the Ten Commandments well. We must study the Larger Catechism well. We must make our lives more holy. This is necessary. But our peace of conscience is not from our obedience; otherwise we become legalists. These complicated requirements show us: we cannot cleanse ourselves. Our fig-leaf coverings cannot cover us. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, only the robe of righteousness of Jesus Christ upon us—this is the truly clean house, the truly clean clothing, the truly clean skin, the true covering that brings real change.

Because when Christ’s robe is on us, we can come with confidence before the throne of grace. All the sacrificial laws—this complicated system of cleansing—tells us: skin diseases, mold in clothing, mold in houses—these are inevitable in life. These cleansing regulations are only a shadow. They do not truly cleanse a house. And the true “house,” in biblical language, ultimately points to the sanctuary, and the true dwelling points to the Lord Jesus Christ. This “house” is the house we truly rely on—the house that will never mold. This robe of righteousness will never mildew. It is the robe covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And the skin that covers us is not a skin that will develop disease. Just as our bodies become sick—not only skin disease; within us we have many diseases. In the end, our hope is the body like Christ’s—Christ risen and ascended—the body that will never become sick, never have disease. I think that is another level we must read here.

This reminds us to cling to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ had not accomplished all righteousness for us—if he had not become our skin, our clothing, and our house—we could not be clean. This is the heart of the gospel. And this is also the motivation behind our obedience: Christ has already fulfilled the law for us. Christ has already obeyed perfectly. Christ has cleansed our skin, cleansed our clothing, cleansed our house. Such cleansing comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ.

By our own methods—digging out stones, waiting for disease to heal with no medicine—think about it: if a young person has a face full of acne, by these regulations that would all be “leprosy.” How long would he be shut up? The whole adolescence could be spent outside the camp. So these things tell us: humanity cannot avoid this, and we cannot be perfect. Our only reliance is the Lord Jesus Christ—because Christ loved us; he became incarnate to be our sin offering; he fulfilled perfect righteousness for us. Our guilt offering, sin offering, and burnt offering—he offered them all. In the end he becomes our peace.

In that peace, what do we do? We obey God’s law with all our strength. There is an order: Christ first, then us. Never reverse it. If you reverse it, you become a legalist. So when we face such laws, we can only cry out to the Lord who saves us: “It is too complicated. It is too burdensome. I cannot become clean.” Before these regulations, a human being is in deep despair. “Too hard. Too tiring. Lord, save me.” And so we truly rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

And not only our obedience—the world’s pursuit of more fame, power, status, and wealth is the same: it has no ultimate value. The world can make beautiful music, films, and stories that pierce the heart. They seem so close to heaven, as if they could touch its edge—because they reach a human pinnacle. But tragically, they can never cross the barrier between God and man. Humanity’s highest wisdom and greatest brilliance cannot cross that barrier.

Only one can cross it: the Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. He joins divinity and humanity in one person, so that God and man can be joined forever. Christ is our true hope—nothing else. So facing these cleansing regulations—so complex and burdensome—our hearts have only despair if we look to ourselves, because we cannot become clean by ourselves. Only the blood of Christ matters. The house he cleanses is the true house. The robe he cleanses is the true robe. The skin and body he cleanses is the true body.

Our hope is that in heaven we will have a fully cleansed body—an imperishable body. This is our hope. So thank the Lord. May God lead us in this hope—in a burning hope for the Lord Jesus Christ—so that we follow him, walking the path of the Ten Commandments, and our lives are continually sanctified. Yes, we must obey the law continuously, but this obedience is on the foundation that Christ has already fulfilled it, and under the premise that Christ has loved us first. We have no other way to become clean.

When you read Leviticus up to this point, you probably begin to feel despair. And if you keep reading, you may feel even less hope. Because the purpose of Leviticus is to point to Christ. Without Christ, reading Leviticus really will produce a deep sense of despair: “So complicated. I cannot do it.” Yes—that is the purpose Scripture intends: to make us long for Christ. But in Christ, we must also take obedience seriously, loving the Lord our God with all our heart and strength. That is all for today. Thank you, everyone.