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The Pure in Heart (Part 4) |
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By Ralph I. Tilley
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I concluded Part 3 of this series by making three brief observations on this subject of heart purity: • There is a cleansing of the conscience from the guilt of sins committed. Let's take a closer look. Examination The Bible teaches that there is the cleansing of the heart/conscience from the guilt of sins committed and the defilement of sin acquired. While the New Testament has a great deal to say on this subject, I want to examine one text in particular. Hebrews 10:22 draws a connection between conscience and cleansing, the heart and cleansing: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22).1 This text is located following an extensive delineation by the writer of the efficacious superiority of Christ's atoning sacrifice and priesthood. Any careful student of the Bible will note a carryover in this text of Old Testament concepts and language (this shouldn't surprise us since throughout this epistle he takes for granted the readers' familiarity with the Jewish sacrificial system). The writer is informing his new covenant readers how one is to approach God, and he says one of the essential components to approaching God properly is to have "our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience." What does he mean by this? Let's look at the keys words in this text. "hearts" "Heart," as used metaphorically in the Bible, refers to man's inner being. It is the fountainhead and faculty of one's emotions, motives, aspirations, thoughts, attitudes, and will. The New Testament identifies a wide assortment of heart conditions. For example, it speaks of hearts that are pure, dull, good, evil, hard, distant from God, doubting, honest, and so forth.2 "sprinkled" The term "sprinkled," and its cognates, are used in the Old Testament in connection with the Tabernacle/Temple worship system. Under this system, there were three physical properties employed by the priests which were applied to various objects by the mode of sprinkling: blood, water, and oil. Two of these properties—blood and water—were designated by God to represent cleansing from sin. In the book of Leviticus, there are at least four specific occasions in which God directed the priests to sprinkle sacrificial blood in order to make an atonement for sin. First: Blood was to be sprinkled whenever any unintentional sin was committed by an individual or a group.3 After the individual or group became aware of their sin, they were to offer the prescribed offering. Blood from a bull was to be sprinkled seven times before the veil by a priest, with a portion of the same blood applied to the four horns of the altar of incense. The result? "And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven" (Levi-ticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35). Second: In Leviticus 5 there are a number of sins listed which require blood atonement. When the transgressor "realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, he shall bring to the LORD as his guilt penalty for the sin that he has committed, ..." (Leviticus 5:5-6a). The priest then takes the blood and sprinkles some of it on the side of the altar of sacrifice (5:9). The result? "And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven" (5:10b). Third: Leviticus 14 contains specific laws for the ceremonial cleansing of lepers. While there was no inherent moral evil in the disease of leprosy,4 it seems that this disease was used by God to typify moral liability for inherited sin. Otherwise, why would a guilt/sin offering be required? After a person was healed from this disease of leprosy, blood from a sacrificial bird was to be sprinkled seven times on the person as a sign of cleansing, after which he bathed in clean water. On the eighth day of the cleansing ritual, blood was taken from the guilt offering (a male lamb) and applied to the right ear, right thumb, and big right toe of the cured leper. The same was to be done with ceremonial oil. The result? "Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean." Fourth: Leviticus 16 recounts a variety of rituals surrounding the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The symbolism of the day was pronounced. Aaron, the high priest, offered a bull as a sacrificial atonement for his personal sins and those of his family. Then God said, "he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times (Leviticus 16:14). Next, Aaron brought the blood of a goat as a sin offering inside the veil and sprinkled it over and in front of the mercy seat. Afterward, he sprinkled the blood of the bull and goat on the horns of the brazen altar, consecrating it "for the uncleannesses of the people of Israel" (Leviticus 16:19). "clean" This word does not appear in the original text but is inferred. Acknowledging this, the New American Standard Bible italicizes supplied words, of which this is one. The reason some Bible versions have supplied the word "clean" n this text is because the concept of "sprinkling" suggests cleansing—either ritual or moral cleansing, depending on the context. The concept of the sprinkling atoning blood in the Old Testament always suggested the idea of the forgiveness, removal, and cleansing of sin. Whoever had acquired guilt and defilement as a result of sin, were pronounced clean following the necessary confession and prescribed atonement. "evil" The opposite of morally good. A person or act is either morally good or bad according to God's predetermined standard of goodness. The word "evil" (poneros) occurs in the Greek text a total of seventy-eight times in the New Testament. The Bible speaks of an evil heart, evil thoughts, evil people, evil culture, evil conduct, evil speech, evil conscience, and so forth.5 "Conscience" The conscience is that God-given moral faculty whereby one is able to discern the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. It can only be safely trusted as a guide in making moral decisions to the degree it is informed by the Word of God and controlled by the Holy Spirit (see, e.g., Romans 9:1). The word "conscience" (Greek: syneidēsis) occurs some twenty-seven times in the New Testament; the writers speak of a variety of consciences: good, clear, weak, wounded, seared, defiled, imperfect, pure, and evil.6 Interpretation As I have previously noted, Hebrews 10:22—and the entire book, for that matter—can only be understood in view of the Old Testament, and in particular the book of Leviticus. God directed Moses to institute a variety of religious rituals involving animal sacrifices. As a part of the atonement ritual in some of these sacrifices, blood was to be sprinkled either/or in front of the veil, on the altar of incense and sacrifice, on the confessor, in front of the mercy seat, and on a defiled house. Following the sprinkling of the blood, those who had either committed unintentional sins or known sins, were declared absolved, forgiven of all incurred guilt. They were cleansed from sin. In the case of those who had contracted leprosy and were subsequently cured, these were pronounced clean by the priest after undergoing a series of rituals. In the case of the Day of Atonement, individuals were not required to present their own sacrifice for atonement; sacrifices were offered by the high priest for all the sins for all the people, thus making atonement. Now we know there was no inherent moral righteousness in a sacrificial bull, goat, lamb, or dove—"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4)—these served as antitypes of the perfect sacrifice to come. Although the old covenant believer was indeed forgiven and justified by God, the remedy for sin and the existential reality of forgiveness and cleansing were incomplete. The late British New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce remarks on this: "The sin-offerings presented on the Day of Atonement, or at any other time, had no effect on the consciences of those on whose behalf they were brought; they served merely in an external and symbolical manner to counteract the defilement of sin."7 The author of Hebrews summarized this truth in the following words: "According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation (Hebrews 9:9-10). But there is Good News! What Aaron and all his successors never perfected; what the millions of gallons of blood shed on the Tabernacle/Temple altar and sprinkled before the veil and mercy seat could never achieve with any finality—the one perfect offering by the Lord Jesus Christ did: "For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14). Isaac Watts movingly captured this truth in the following words: Not all the blood of beasts But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb, Appropriation What God through Christ accomplished once-for-all by the atoning death of his Son on the cross, is now to be appropriated by faith by all repentant seekers. The shed blood of Christ is both efficacious for the forgiveness of sins committed and the defilement of sin acquired. The blood of Christ—wonder of wonders—removes both the record of sin against the sinner and the pollution of sin defiling the conscience. When the heart has been sprinkled clean by appropriating Christ himself, an evil conscience gives way to a clean conscience. Where there is a clean heart there is a clean conscience. Because the heart has been cleansed of all moral contaminants, the conscience is now able to function as God intended it to. As it is continually informed by the Word of God and led by the Spirit of God, the conscience will remain pure and clean. Whenever it fails to act in harmony with God's truth, it becomes tainted and is in need of cleansing. Immediate repentance assures immediate cleansing; delayed obedience results in delayed cleansing. If we desire our hearts to be kept clean before God, we must live a life of conscious reliance on Christ, our ascended, mediating High Priest. Christ is faithfully fulfilling his part to keep us safe and clean; we must do our part to walk in obedience before him: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7)—sins acquired as well as the infection of sin. Sin in every form and description, sin in every act and condition—have no power to withstand the cleansing blood of Christ. Dear reader, take heart. Embrace the sprinkled blood of Christ and be clean! Again, Isaac Watts: My faith would lay her hand Believing, we rejoice - Soli Deo Gloria - 1. Unless otherwise noted, all Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version. |
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