People are very attentive to keeping lepers separate from those who are not affected by the disease. It is in their very tangible self interest to be vigilant on this subject. The Lord wants us to be equally vigilant to segregate those who defile Him through sin until such time as repentance is complete. The greater the claim of a person, family, or group of people to holiness, the greater the need for separation and cleansing from sin.
Our loving Father anticipates that people make mistakes and sin. He provides some instructions for how a person may seek forgiveness and again peace with the Lord and their conscience. We often talk about a “New Testament” God who forgives, but God has not changed. Forgiveness through repentance has always been His way. However, that does not mean there are not lasting consequences even after someone repents and is forgiven.
On Defilement
1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who is unclean because of a dead person. 3“You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.” 4The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the LORD had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.
5Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, 7then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. 8‘But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the LORD for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him. 9‘Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. 10‘So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it becomes his.’”
Think about sin as you would a severely contagious disease. Do you separate yourself from unrepentant sinners or sin (even your own) with as much attention and energy as you do keep yourself separate from a disease? You should. Perhaps more so, since unrepentant sin separates us from the Father spiritually and relationally. A physical disease affects only our body.
Prayerfully consider who and where you are accepting or normalizing sin in your life or the lives of others around you. Ask God’s help for how to separate yourself from this sin. Wholeheartedly seek repentance and reconciliation with the Father.
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