Reader, behold, in the poor, solitary leper, a vivid type of one in whom sin is working. This is really what it means. It is not, as we shall see presently, a helpless, ruined, guilty, convicted sinner, whose guilt and misery have come thoroughly out, and who is, therefore, a fit subject for the love of God and the blood of Christ. No; we see in the excluded leper one in whom sin is actually working--one in whom there is the positive energy of evil. This is what defiles and shuts out from the enjoyment of the divine presence and the communion of saints. So long as sin is working, there can be no fellowship with God or with His people. "He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." How long? "All the days wherein _the plague_ shall be in him." This is a great practical truth. The energy of evil is the death-blow to communion. There may be the outward appearance--the mere form--the hollow profession, but communion there can be none so long as the energy of evil is there. It matters not what the character or amount of the evil may be--if it were but the weight of a feather--if it were but some foolish thought, so long as it continues to work, it must hinder communion--it must cause a suspension of fellowship. It is when it rises to a head--when it comes to the surface--when it is brought thoroughly out that it can be perfectly met and put away by the grace of God and by the blood of the Lamb.
This leads us to a deeply interesting point in connection with the leper--a point which must prove a complete paradox to all save those who understand God's mode of dealing with sinners. "And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; then the priest shall consider; and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean." (Chap. xiii. 12, 13.) The moment a sinner is in his true place before God, the whole question is settled: directly his real character is fully brought out, there is no further difficulty. He may have to pass through much painful exercise ere he reaches this point--exercise consequent upon his refusal to take his true place--to bring out "all the truth" with respect to what he is; but the moment he is brought to say, from his heart, "_Just as I am_," the free grace of God flows down to him. "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." (Ps. xxxii. 3, 4.) How long did this painful exercise continue? Until the whole truth was brought out--until all that which was working inwardly came fully to the surface.--"I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,' and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." (Ver. 5.)
It is deeply interesting to mark the progress of the Lord's dealing with the leprous man, from the moment that the suspicion is raised, by certain features in the place of manifestation, until the disease covers the whole man, "from the crown of the head unto the sole of the foot." There was no haste and no indifference. God ever enters the place of judgment with a slow and measured pace; but when He does enter, He must act according to the claims of His nature. He can patiently investigate. He can wait for "seven days;" and should there be the slightest variation in the symptoms, He can wait "seven days more;" but the moment it is found to be the positive working of leprosy, there can be no toleration. "Without the camp shall his habitation be." How long? Until the disease comes fully to the surface. "If the leprosy have covered _all_ his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean." This is a most precious and interesting point. The very smallest speck of leprosy was intolerable to God; and yet when the whole man was covered, from head to foot, he was pronounced clean--that is, he was a proper subject for the grace of God and the blood of atonement.