Parasha Metzora 5782

Me

(Talk about past porn addiction.)

But this is no longer who I am… Not because I don’t still have a propensity for failure in this area, but because it is no longer my identity… I no longer allow it to define who I am because I am redeemed by the Blood, instead my identity is found in Yeshua and Yeshua alone.

We

And the reality is we all have sorted pasts and dramatic failures that the Lord has brought us through or that He is currently drawing us from.

Perhaps the areas we’ve failed in weren’t pornography (though if you’re a guy and honest I highly doubt it) or even sexual sin at all...

Maybe we’ve struggled with lying, gossip, or slander...

Or any of a thousand other ways we could fall short of the glory of God… But, the reality of who we are in Messiah isn’t hinged upon what we’ve done in the past, it isn’t hinged upon the mistakes we’ve made or the failures we’ve experienced, it isn’t hinged upon how we’ve diminished the image and likeness in which we’ve been created… No, the reality of who we are in Messiah is hinged upon the grace and mercy found in the Blood of the Lamb, it is hinged upon the cleansing power found in the Blood of the Lamb, it is hinged upon our being adopted as sons and daughters of the King of Kings because of the Blood of the Lamb.

God

This week we read Parasha Metzora, Leviticus 14:1-15:33, which begins with chapter 14 describing the process by which a metzora (one with Tzara’at) would be declared unclean and/or clean—which could only be declared by a Kohen. It also details the process the metzora will go through once declared clean by the Kohen in order to be readmitted into the community again—which includes washing his clothes, shaving off all hair, mikveh; then on the seventh day he is to do it all over again. On the eighth day he is to bring his offering for a trespass offering and for a wave offering before Adonai to the Kohen who declared him cleaned at the Mishkan. The rest of the first half of chapter 14 describes the procedure for these offerings.

The second half of chapter 14 deals with what is to be done if Tzara’at is found in a home of an Israelite.

And as if the past several chapters dealing with Tzara’at and niddah after giving birth weren’t awkward enough, chapter 15 deals with a series of other ways in which one can become unclean because of bodily fluids.

Now as we address Parasha Metzora today I’d like us to focus on one specific and important aspect of what we see in this Parasha. As we do I’d like us to keep this principle in mind—

Our identity is in Yeshua and Yeshua alone, not in the lies, broken chains, and open prison cells the enemy wants to keep us trapped in.

(Repeat)

So let’s dive into Parasha Metzora together...

Leviticus 14:1–7 TLV

Then Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: “This is the Torah of the one with tza’arat in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the kohen, and the kohen is to go to the outside of the camp. The kohen is to examine him, and behold, if the mark of tza’arat is healed in one with tza’arat, then the kohen is to command that two clean living birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop be brought for the one being cleansed. The kohen shall command them to kill one of the birds in a clay pot over living water. As for the living bird, he is to take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them with the living bird into the blood of the bird that was killed over the living water. He is to sprinkle on the one being cleansed from the tza’arat seven times and pronounce him clean, then release the living bird over the open field.

Now Talmud tells us the plague of Tzara’at comes upon someone because of potentially seven sins incurred: slander, bloodshed, a false oath, incest, arrogance, robbery, and envy. But of these, the most commonly held tradition is that Tzara’at is directly tied to the act of Lashon Harah (literally evil tongue—evil speak, gossip, slander, lying, etc…) and, as Toby mentioned last week, this opinion is held because of the acts of Miriam and Aaron in Numbers 12. In this account Miriam and Aaron are talking trash about Moses becuase of his Cushite wife, in particular we see their chutzpah in...

Numbers 12:1–2 TLV

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of the Cushite woman he married, because he had married a Cushite woman. They asked, “Has Adonai spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t He also spoken through us?” Adonai heard it.

(Joke about the next verse saying Moses is the most humble man that ever lived…)

Because of this, as soon as they ran their mouth Adonai corrected them in a hurry and then Miriam was struck with Tzara’at because of her Lashon Harah. And yes, it is uncomfortable that Miriam and Aaron were both talking smack but only Miriam was physically punished for it… But, there is a legitimate reason for this, and that is that Aaron was the High Priest and he needed to be ritually clean in order to serve Israel in the Mishkan. He also needed to be ritually clean in order to be the priest who would declare Miriam a metzora and then later on who would declare her clean again and perform the cleansing ceremony for her, as we see described in this week’s Parasha.

But notice that the most important aspect of what we see here in the beginning of Parasha Metzora is that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, only the Kohen can declare someone a metzora. The potential carrier would have to go to the Kohen and be inspected, the Kohen knew exactly what to look for, and if he made the declaration that you were unclean you had to reside outside the camp. Then, once healed, only the Kohen could declare you clean again…

But, as we see in Talmud, while Lashon Harah is considered to be a primary cause for Tzara’at, it isn’t the only sin from which one might get Tzara’at. And ultimately, Tzara’at is an outward sign of the uncleanliness going on within the individual who is guilty of sin. And one really unique thing about the seven sins the rabbis believe to be the cause of Tzara’at is that each one of them are sins that we would try to hide or try to not make public. Think about it, if you kill someone, commit robbery, or commit incest the last thing you want is for the crime to be found out and to be held responsible for it. Lashon Harah is often done in the quiet, in private, or as I like to call it shadow talking… And arrogance and envy are sins we like to pretend no one will notice… Each of these are sins that we try to hide and carry on our own backs without anyone helping with the burden. So, Tzara’at is an outward reminder of what is really going on on the inside of our hearts and lives when we are living in sin.

This is one of the key purposes to James saying confess your sins to one another in James 5… In particular, he says:

James 5:13–20 TLV

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of Messiah’s community, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your offenses to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that the one who turns a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

James is pointing us to a similar reality in the Brit Chadashah, that our suffering and illness can be connected to sin in our lives just like Tzara’at (not always, but often). And often when we have unconfessed sin that we are trying to hide we can be compiling the issue… James says confess your sins to one another not because we need the forgiveness of others to find atonement, that is only found in repenting of our sins to our Heavenly Father. But, when we have sins we are hiding from others we are carrying the guilt and shame of those issues and the enemy loves to use that guilt and shame to tear us down and break us.

When we repent to the Lord and ask for forgiveness we are forgiven immediately and the slate is wiped clean. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t earthly consequences we may face (such as damaged relationships). But, the enemy loves when we try to hide our sins from others and pretend like we are perfect and innocent because he knows our biggest fears are what others would think of us… So, even though we have found redemption in the Blood of the Lamb, when we try to hide our sins from others and put on a show the enemy comes in and says:

“How could anyone possibly love you, remember what you did over here?”

“How could God really love you, remember how terrible this sin was?”

“If you were really forgiven by God would you still feel so ashamed of this issue?”

“No one is going to want to be in relationship with you if they find out about this area of your life...”

The enemy loves to torment us with this kind of stuff because he knows that in the back of our minds we’re already afraid of what others would think of us if they knew the “real us”… But, the truth is, when we are redeemed and bought by the Blood of the Lamb our fears of how others may see us is no longer our identity… And, very rarely would our sins be any worse than the sins others have committed… And no matter the difference between the way we have sinned and the way others have (because all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God) all who call on the Name of Yeshua are recipients of grace by the exact same Sacrifice and walking in our new identity as sons and daughters of the Most High.

Our identity is in Yeshua and Yeshua alone, not in the lies, broken chains, and open prison cells the enemy wants to keep us trapped in.

Now, a huge part of what we read in Parasha Metzora is the process by which one who is a Metzora becomes ritually pure again.

We can see how the purification ritual corresponded with other rituals revealed in the Torah. The sprinkling of the hyssop by the priest recalled the blood of Passover; the offering made of the two birds—one which was sacrificed and the other set free—recalled the scapegoat of the Yom Kippur ritual. The washing of garments, the shaving of all hair, and the immersion in a mikveh recalled the birth of the Jewish people at the Yam Suf. The blood of the guilt offering applied to the earlobe, thumb and foot, (as seen in Leviticus 14:14) recalled the dedication of Aaron and his sons as the priests of Israel.

In other words, the individual purification process mirrored the purification of the community of Israel, and healing ultimately meant being re-identified as a redeemed child of God. In a very literal sense then, we see how the metzora was "reborn" by water and by the blood just as we experience when we call upon the Name of Yeshua for Salvation.

This is such an important concept to wrap our heads around… As we’ve already discussed, only the Kohen could declare an individual metzora and only the kohen could declare the individual Tamei or clean and restored again. And when one was declared a metzora they were sent out to reside outside the camp and in a lot of ways it was as if the metzora was considered dead to the world. They couldn’t see their family or their friends, they couldn’t hug their loved ones, they couldn’t move about freely… They had to remain away from everyone so as not to contaminate others with tzara’at, or more specifically as tzara’at is an outward symbol of what was spiritually going on on the inside, they had to be careful not to contaminate others with their sin.

And this idea of isolation and quarantine and the loneliness and mental struggle that goes with it is something that many of us are all too familiar with after the past two years of Covid…

But here’s what I want us to take away from Parasha Metzora if nothing else. Just like with the metzora there is an idea of being dead while still being alive, the same is true in our sins… Without Messiah we are dead even while we are still living. But, when we come to Messiah, when we cry out upon His Name and are cleansed in the Blood of the Lamb—just like the metzora being cleansed after the kohen declares them healed—we are reborn and given a new identity. We are no longer the sum of our sins and mistakes because that sum has been erased, washed clean by blood and water of Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection. This means the false identity we have assumed in our sins, and particularly in trying so hard to hide our sins so others won’t think worse of us, has been redeemed and we are now re-identified not as a sinner, not as lost, not as dead while living, but instead as a son or daughter of the King of Kings. And nothing anyone else says can rob us of that, and none of the lies of the enemy can rob us of that.

So let us walk in victory as redeemed in Messiah rather than walking in the shame, guilt, and fear that has had us spinning out because of our sins.

Ephesians 2:1–10 TLV

You were dead in your trespasses and sins. At that time, you walked in the way of this world, in conformity to the ruler of the domain of the air—the ruler of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of disobedience. We too all lived among them in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind. By nature we were children of wrath, just like the others. But God was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Messiah. (By grace you have been saved!) And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua— to show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.

Let me repeat that last verse one more time, and I need you to listen closely to this...

Ephesians 2:10 TLV

For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.

We were dead in our sins, but there is a renewal of life available in the Blood of Messiah. Because of the Love of God, even while we were still in our sinful ways a means of redemption was made available to us through Yeshua. And through our redemption in Yeshua HaMashiach we are a recreated by the Lord for good deeds in the Ruach HaKodesh. The only thing left for us to do is to walk in them!!!

And this is the #1 thing the enemy does not want us to do… He wants us to remain buried in our guilt and shame of our mistakes and sins… Even as believers the enemy wants us to remain trapped by chains that Yeshua has already broken off of us, imprisoned behind prison cells that have already been unlocked and blown open. He wants us to remain focused on the fear of what people might think if they know the “real me” rather than focused on the reality that our true identity, the true, real me is the new identity we have in Messiah Yeshua and in our new identity all of our past sins and mistakes are not only washed clean, but are each powerful opportunities to share with others the revelation of the forgiveness only available in Messiah Yeshua.

Our identity is in Yeshua and Yeshua alone, not in the lies, broken chains, and open prison cells the enemy wants to keep us trapped in.

So let’s toss off the imprisoned identity the enemy wants us to remain in, and walk boldly in the redeemed identity of the new creation we have become in Yeshua.

When I think of the reality of being made new in Yeshua I think of the example of some of our great heroes of faith found throughout the Bible.

I think of Melech David who sinned in some richter scale record breaking kind of ways… Yet, because he made T’shuvah and walked in his renewed identity in the Lord he was considered a man after God’s own heart.

I think of Rav Sha’ul who was personally responsible for the deaths of many early believers, but after coming to faith in Yeshua himself he didn’t wallow in the despair of who he use to be and what he use to do, he rejoice in his new identity found in Messiah Yeshua. And through his new identity he didn’t try to hide the pain and anguish he caused or the reality of his past sins, instead he used them to discuss how far God has brought him in order to show others the full depth and breadth of atonement and forgiveness available in Yeshua—no matter how bad or lost you think you are.

I think of Yaacov, the brother of Yeshua who didn’t believe anything Yeshua had to say until after the death, burial, and resurrection… Yet, in his redeemed state the Lord used him as one of the most important leaders of the Body of Messiah in Jerusalem, and as a biblical author.

So, no matter what you have done in the past, no matter who you use to be, no matter how far gone you think you are… There is always hope in Messiah Yeshua. There is always opportunity for redemption and restoration, there is always opportunity to find your new identity.

Hebrews 8:1–6 TLV

Now here is the main point being said. We do have such a Kohen Gadol, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. He is a priestly attendant of the Holies and the true Tent—which Adonai set up, not man. For every kohen gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary for this One also to have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a kohen at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Torah. They offer service in a replica and foreshadower of the heavenlies—one that is just as Moses was instructed by God when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For He says, “See that you make everything according to the design that was shown to you on the mountain.” But now Yeshua has obtained a more excellent ministry, insofar as He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.

Parasha Metzora says only the kohen can declare one Tahor or Tamei (unclean or clean) and relegate them outside the camp. And only a kohen can perform the service of cleansing the former metzora to declare them clean.

Hebrews 8 tells us that Yeshua is our eternal Kohen Gadol in the order of Malchi-Tzedek and His ministry is of a better covenant enacted on better promises.

Hebrews 9:11–14 TLV

But when Messiah appeared as Kohen Gadol of the good things that have now come, passing through the greater and more perfect Tent not made with hands (that is to say not of this creation), He entered into the Holies once for all—not by the blood of goats and calves but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Messiah—who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God—cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

If the declaration and cleansing blood ceremony of the kohen in the Mishkan and Beit HaMikdash could bring cleansing, how much more so the Blood of Messiah?!

He has made available a true cleansing of our hearts and souls and a renewal of our identity in Him. So let us no longer cleave to the crippling false identities the enemy wants us to hang on to, but instead let us boldly walk in our true identity in Messiah Yeshua. Let us no longer shy away from the sins and mistakes of our past, let us truly believe in the forgiveness and cleansing work of the Blood of the Lamb and allow Him to use our redemption from our past to encourage others to find Salvation in Him.

Our identity is in Yeshua and Yeshua alone, not in the lies, broken chains, and open prison cells the enemy wants to keep us trapped in.

You

So what is holding you back today? In what false imprisonments have you allowed the enemy to keep you trapped in? Are you ready to fully surrender and embrace your true identity in Messiah today? Are you ready, as a believer in Yeshua, to walk in the truth of your identity in Him? Are you ready to toss of the shame and guilt of your past and to embrace the testimony of redemption and restoration that has been provided in God’s rich mercy because of His love with which He loved you?

We

If our worship team will make their way back up to the stage. (Unmute the worship team)

While tzara’at is a physical reality and something that can be physically seen, we often experience the same consequence of isolation and separation from other believers because of the guilt and shame of our sins. We often let the enemy hold us back because of thoughts like, “what if someone finds out what my past was like?” But here’s the thing, folks, there isn’t a single person who has ever encounter the Grace of God who wasn’t in desperate need of it… There isn’t a person in this room who has experienced Salvation in Yeshua who doesn’t have sorted past that they didn’t need washed clean from…

But, when we approach the throne of our Heavenly Father in the Blood of the Lamb we are washed clean and our Kohen Gadol, Yeshua HaMashiach, has declared us clean, restored, renewed, and able to enter into the Presence. No one, not even the enemy, can rob you of that truth…

It is time we, as believers, get out of our own heads and relish in the cleansing power of the Blood Atonement found in Messiah Yeshua!

It is time we stop cower from the guilt, shame, and fear the enemy tries to entrap us with and walk boldly in the freedom we have found in the grace of Messiah!

It is time we stop worrying about what others may think if they find out we weren’t always righteous and holy and realize that every single follower of Yeshua has a past from which they’ve been cleansed, many of which would likely blow our sorted stories out the water…

It is time we start allowing the Father to turn our past failures into testimonies of His grace and mercy that He can use to draw others into the Kingdom.

It is time that you and I start to walk fully in our new identities as sons and daughters of the King of Kings!!!