Being Cleansed by the Blood and Washed by the Lord’s Life to Live a Clean Life

In Lev. 12-15 God trained His people to live a clean life; we need to be cleansed by the Lord with His blood and with His Spirit and life so that we may be clean, matching Him fully.

After David committed the great sin with Bath-Sheba, he prayed in Psa. 51 that the Lord would cleanse him of his sin and wash him of his iniquities (v. 2), and that He would create in him a pure heart (v. 10).

Our God is holy, righteous, and glorious, and for Him to dwell among us, we need to be trained by Him through His word that we would live a holy, clean, and rejoicing life.

First of all we need to realize that God is holy, that is, He is distinct, separate from the common, and holy; we as His people were chosen by Him to be holy and without blemish, and we can and should partake of His holy nature.

In order for us to live a holy life and have a holy living, we need to put off the old life and put on the new, that is, put off the old man with its living and put on the new man with the church life in resurrection.

We live in this world, and it is not easy to separate ourselves for God, being holy; the way for us to be organically and constitutionally separated unto God is by enjoying God in mutuality. The mutual enjoyment between God and His people separates us, His people, unto Himself from everything other than Him, making us a holy nation.

To be holy doesn’t mean that we are sinless or perfect, but that we are separated unto God and saturated with His holy divine nature to be as holy as He is.

Only God is holy, and we as His people have His divine nature in us, and we should partake of this nature by being sanctified in God’s word, so that intrinsically our constitution would change, and we would be holy as God is holy.

God makes us holy first by separating us unto Himself through regeneration, and then by imparting himself, the holy one, into our being, so that our whole being is permeated and saturated with His holy nature.

When our nature within is changed from being natural and sinful, to being holy, we cannot but live a holy life and have a holy living, matching our holy God to be His holy people.

For us to be holy is to partake of God’s nature and have our while being permeated with God Himself. In this way we can match Him not by outward behavior or work but by inward constitution, for we are holy in our nature. Hallelujah, we are becoming as holy as God is holy, we are becoming the holy city, the New Jerusalem!

Being Cleansed by the Blood and Washed by the Lord’s Life to Live a Clean Life

Our God is holy and clean, and in Lev. 12-15 He gave specific ordinances for His people to be cleansed and be a clean people to match Him.

He knows how unclean we are; He is aware of our uncleanness which comes from our having contact with unclean things and people, the uncleanness which is the defilement of our sins, and the uncleanness of our natural being.

On one hand we are unclean because we have contacted with the world, unclean things, and unclean people; this is an outward uncleanness of which we need to be cleansed.

On the other hand, we are unclean because of the defilement of our sins, for when we commit sins we are defiled and unclean; we need to be cleansed from the defilement of sin.

Furthermore, even deeper, our natural being with everything that comes out of it is unclean, as signified by the discharges coming from our body, which are unclean. Everything that issues out of our natural life is unclean. Our words, our attitude, our living, our actions, and everything we do in our natural man is unclean, not sanctified unto God, and defiling.

We need to have a realization of our uncleanness, so that we would be ready to receive the Lord’s provision for us to be clean. The ultimate result of God’s cleansing for us to live a clean life is that we are whiter than snow – our being will be so clean before God that it appears that we have never been defiled!

We need to realize that, just like Isaiah the prophet, we are men of unclean lips, and we dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips, so we need to be cleansed (Isa. 6:5).

Praise the Lord, Christ’s redemption was a purifying and cleansing work, and when we were saved, His work on the cross was applied to us through the blood. We have been purified in our conscience from sin and dead works by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:22); He made purification for our sins – He didn’t just die for our sins, but made purification for our sins (Heb. 1:3).

At the time of our salvation, there’s a fountain open for sin and uncleanness – and when we apply the blood, we are washed in the blood of the Lamb (Zech. 13:1). Right now, how much more will the blood of Christ purify our conscience from sins, dead works, and any problems (Heb. 9:14)!

Besides the cleansing of the Lord’s blood, we also need to be cleansed by His life and His Spirit. The cleansing of our hearts by faith spoken of in Acts 15:9 is actually the cleansing by the Spirit of life who washes us inwardly.

We were in an unclean state and a defiled condition, but we were washed by the Spirit, by the divine life (1 Cor. 6:11). Praise the Lord for the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit for us to live a clean life (Titus 3:5)!

Right now Christ is in His heavenly ministry fulfilling His word in Eph. 5 to present to Himself a glorious church, a beautiful bride, as described in Song of Songs 4:7. He is cleansing us by the washing of the water in the word to present us as His beautiful, clean, purified bride to Himself (Eph. 5:26).

Christ wants to wash us, wash the saints, and wash the churches with His life and His Spirit so that our defects, scars, wounds, wrinkles, and anything contrary to the glorious expression of God would be removed! Hallelujah!

On our part, we need to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh (2 Cor. 7:1) and be separated unto God. And if we sin, we can confess our sins under His light, and He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

We simply need to confess our sins, and He forgives us. And we need to stay in His washing and sanctifying word so that any defilement and uncleanness would be washed away, and we would live a clean life and a holy life.

Lord Jesus, we want to live a clean life by being cleansed by Your blood and washed by Your Spirit and Your life. We cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh, and we come to You as we are to be under Your light, confessing our sins, so that we may be washed and cleansed. Lord Jesus, purify our conscience by Your blood, wash us and renew us by Your Spirit, and sanctify us in Your word to make us Your beautiful and glorious bride! Thank You for Your blood which cleanses us, and thank You for Your life and Your Spirit which washes us!

Being Cleansed from Uncleanness by the Lord’s Blood and the Water of Life in the Word

In Lev. 12 we are shown how we are unclean and impure by birth – and the way for us to be cleansed, and in chs. 13-14 we see how we can be cleansed from leprosy.

Ch. 15 reveals that we need to be cleansed from all unclean discharges from the human being; anything that is discharged from our being – including our words – is unclean.

Our birth is dirty, and every little discharge out of us is dirty; we need to live a clean life, a life that is not dirty, to match our holy God. For us to live a clean life, we need to contact God through the offerings of the bronze altar and through the laver.

In Eph. 5:26 Paul says that we are cleansed by the washing (lit, “laver”) of the water in the word. In the word of Christ there’s the water of life to cleanse us and wash us from our earthly defilement.

Our contact with unclean people and being in unclean situations and places causes us to be defiled and dirty; for us to keep a clean life, we need to contact the clean people (see Lev. 11; Acts 10:11-15).

Our actions are unclean, our sins make us unclean, and even the good things that come out of our natural being still make us unclean.

Leprosy is something that comes from within man’s being, coming from rebellion; it signifies the serious sin issuing from within man, such as willful sin, presumptuous sin, and opposing God with determination.

How much we need to be cleansed and washed from any uncleanness and defilement! Anything discharged from us – including our words – is unclean.

This is why we need the cross of Christ to end our old life, and we need the resurrection of Christ to have a new beginning.

Again and again we need to come to the Lord as we are, confess our sins, and enjoy the cleansing of His blood, so that we may live a clean life.

But this is not all: the cleansing of the blood is for the sins and dead works, but we still have the uncleanness in our being, our natural being. Therefore, we need to come to God’s word to receive the water of life, which is the washing, cleansing Spirit of life embodied in the Word.

Whenever we come to the word of God with the exercise of our spirit, we touch something within the word that washes us. There’s a washing of the water in the living, instant, spoken word from God to us!

As we read the Bible, we need to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord; our contact with the Lord and our reading the Bible in spirit will cause us to be washed, cleansed, and purified, with the result of living a clean life as God’s people.

Lord, show us our uncleanness and impurity which comes from contacting unclean people, from committing sinful deeds, and from our natural being. Oh Lord, we are unclean and impure to the core, for every discharge from our natural being is unclean and impure! May the cross end our old life and may we live in resurrection a clean life in the church life. We want to apply the blood every day to be cleansed from any sin and defilement. We come to Your word with an exercised spirit to receive the washing of the water in the word. Amen, Lord, cleanse us, wash us, and purify us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The History of God in His Union with Man, pp. 172-174 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 1, God Training His People to Worship and Partake of Him and to Live a Holy, Clean, and Rejoicing Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin, / And be washed in the blood of the Lamb; / There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean, / O be washed in the blood of the Lamb. (Hymns #1007)
  # Lord, may Thy blood now cleanse me, / Wash all my sins away, / That with Thy Holy Spirit / Thou may anoint, I pray. / My service, I confess, Lord, / Is failure-full and weak; / The filling of Thy Spirit / To live for Thee I seek. (Hymns #280)
  # Jesus, O living Word of God, / Wash me and cleanse me with Your blood / So You can speak to me. / Just let me hear Your words of grace, / Just let me see Your radiant face, / Beholding constantly. (Song on, Jesus, O living Word of God)