“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”” (Numbers 5:1-3, ESV)
There is a popular expression often quoted, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” This expression is not quoted verbatim in the Bible, but the precept is seen in the Old Testament in reference to the Israelite community. We see it here in this passage, where the Lord told Moses to keep the Israelite camp clean.
The command of the Lord had two significant purposes. One was on the physical side. It would be to keep disease from spreading inside the camp.
The other had greater spiritual considerations. Keeping these imperfections out of the camp was a picture of maintaining purity with our infinitely holy God. It had to do with the holiness of God’s people in His presence.
Considering this in the church, from a practical standpoint we should use common sense when people are physically ill. During the recent COVID pandemic, it was wise for people diagnosed with the sickness to isolate until they were not at risk for spreading the disease. People should have the same consideration for any communicable illness.
However, this is not the main point of this precept. The precept is that God’s people are to maintain spiritual purity in the church community. Believers must stay vigilant to maintain spiritual purity, that is holiness, in our church and personal lives since the church and believer are a dwelling place of God’s special manifest presence. The particular difficulty is that we live in a sin polluted world. The world system is very pervasive. Its ways are seductive. It often influences covertly. What are the threats? They are threefold, heresy, moral degradation and worldly methodologies.
We are threatened by heresy. There is a movement that is trying to remove the church from the foundation of God’s Word. This comes in subtly by those who attempt to interpret the Scriptures in ways that undermine the absolute truth of the entire Bible. Moral and doctrinal compromise are great issues facing the church today. The result of this attack on the truth is to discredit the foundation and lead believers on a dangerous road. We must be vigilant to hold firm to the truth of God’s Word and put false teaching out of the camp.
Renewing the Heart 