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The King James Bible translates this verse literally. The only modern translation that comes close to doing so is the NIV, which says, "for our justification," the same as the KJV. My purpose is not to go into an exegesis of Romans 4:25, but simply to show that Christ's death and resurrection are, as Matthew Henry said, "the two main hinges on which the door of salvation turns" (Matthew Henry's Commentary on Romans 4:25).

The death and resurrection of Christ was foretold in the Old Testament by plain prophecies and also by types. The Old Testament types are pictures of what Christ would do in the future, when He

"was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

One of the most meaningful of these types is found in Leviticus 14:4-7. Please turn there in your Bible. Let us stand and read these four verses aloud.

"Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field" (Leviticus 14:4-7).

You may be seated.

Here we have a leper pronounced clean. The leper is a picture of a man lost in sin. The two birds are a picture of Christ "delivered for our offences and…raised again for our justification." The priest takes two birds. One bird is killed. The second bird is dipped in the blood of the bird that was killed. Then a piece of hyssop is dipped in the blood. The leper is sprinkled seven times with the blood. Then the bird that was dipped in the blood is let loose "into the open field" (Leviticus 14:7).

Dr. J. Vernon McGee said, "There were two live clean birds used in this sacrifice…One was killed - to represent the death of Christ. The other was living, to represent the resurrection of Christ. These are the two facets of the Gospel. Paul says, 'For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures' (I Corinthians 15:3-4). Two birds: death and resurrection!" (J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1981, volume I, page 387).

"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

Now listen to the comments of Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952), the founder and president of Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Chafer said,

Of two birds which together present in one type the whole undertaking wrought by Christ through His death and resurrection (cf. Romans 4:25), the second bird, dipped in the blood of the first bird, signifies Christ in resurrection and ascension taking His blood into heaven. The antitype is clear, since there is no other cleansing which God can recognize except the blood of His Son and that presented in Heaven, Hebrews 9:11-28 (Lewis Sperry Chafer, D.D., Litt.D., Systematic Theology, Dallas Seminary Press, 1948, volume V, pp. 235-236).

Daniel J. Borkert and Ken R. Pulliam, in an article in Calvary Baptist Theological Journal (vol. 3, no. 2, 1987, pp. 1-9) titled "The Blood of Christ," point out that

John MacArthur's discussion of the blood allows for misunderstandings. By his strong emphasis on equating blood with death, he leaves the impression that only the death and not the blood was essential. See [his] commentary on Hebrews, Moody Press, 1983, pp. 201-203. R. B. Thieme, Jr., in a different way, also diminishes the importance of the blood of Christ maintaining that it is symbolic of His spiritual death. See The Blood of Christ, 4th edition, Bible Ministries, 1979, p. 23.

Borkert and Pulliam are not friends to our position, but they clearly point out the error of both Thieme and MacArthur. So does Leviticus 14:4-7! And so does Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder and president of Dallas Theological Seminary. Let me repeat Dr. Chafer's comment again.

Of two birds which together present in one type the whole undertaking wrought by Christ through His death and resurrection (cf. Romans 4:25), the second bird, dipped in the blood of the first bird, signifies Christ in resurrection and ascension taking His blood into heaven.

That's mighty plain teaching. And it refutes Dr. MacArthur's oft-repeated statement,

"Nothing is said which would indicate that Christ carried his actual physical blood with him into the heavenly sanctuary" (The MacArthur Study Bible, note on Hebrews 9:12).

Dr. Chafer said that MacArthur's position was wrong, and that "the second bird, dipped in the blood of the first bird, signifies Christ's resurrection and ascension taking His blood into heaven" (ibid.).

Things that are different are not the same. Dr. MacArthur says that we are not told that Christ's Blood was taken into Heaven. Dr. Chafer says that the second bird, with blood on it, let loose into the sky, is a type of Jesus taking His Blood back to Heaven. Both of these men cannot be right. I choose Dr. Chafer on this point for two main reasons.

1. It gives the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, with His Blood, as a sound Biblical antitype of this ceremony in Leviticus 14:4-7.

2. The bird dipped in blood and then let loose in the sky strongly pictures the ascendant Christ carrying Blood with Him to Heaven.

Things that are different are not the same. And Dr. MacArthur and R. B. Thieme's views do not match the view of the original founder and president of Dallas Theological Seminary, a prestigious school to this very day, though weaker than it once was on some points.

The old teachers and preachers, like Dr. Chafer, held the common view that Christ's Blood is now in Heaven, and Dr. Chafer uses this Old Testament cleansing ritual to prove his point. I for one would like to see John MacArthur answer Dr. Chafer and show how he is wrong, since Dr. MacArthur has said repeatedly that the Blood of Christ is not in Heaven. Let Dr. MacArthur "cough up" and answer Dr. Chafer point by point in Chafer's passage in his multivolume Systematic Theology (volume V, pp. 235-236).

It is enough to say that we agree with Dr. Chafer and not Dr. MacArthur on this point. But since it was MacArthur who challenged Chafer and rejected his conclusions, it is MacArthur's duty to prove that he, not Chafer, is right. Chapters and verses please. Dr. MacArthur, what typical meaning regarding the Gospel is found in Leviticus 14:4-7? You started the discussion. Now give us Bible verses to prove that Dr. Chafer was wrong! Silence on this will, I think, show that you in fact do not have actual Bible verses to disprove Dr. Chafer's point that

The second bird, dipped in the blood of the first bird, signifies Christ in resurrection and ascension taking His blood into heaven (ibid.).

I just don't think Dr. MacArthur has the Biblical ammunition to disprove the founder and president of Dallas Theological Seminary on this critical point.

"[Christ] was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

Now let us think about the practical meaning of these verses in Leviticus. Are you a leper? Have you felt within yourself the seeds of death and total depravity? Have you felt the "leprosy" of your sin? Has it troubled you and weighed you down with conviction of your sin? If not, then Leviticus 14:4-7 is just a nice Bible study on the death and resurrection of Christ. You will see no need for Christ ascending to Heaven with Blood to cleanse you. As Dr. J. Gresham Machen said, the whole story of Christ's death and resurrection will simply seem like "an idle tale" to you. You must come under conviction of sin - with no way to escape, nothing that you can do, to rid yourself of the horrible disease of the leprosy of sin. Only when you are terrified and troubled by your sinful "leprosy" will you seek cleansing through the Blood of Christ, which is now available in Heaven to cleanse you. If you are horrified by your sin, then, and only then, will you come to Christ, the "living bird," who has Blood to wash the dark stains of sins from your record in the sight of God.

There is no peace for troubled sinners in learning a few comments from Thieme or MacArthur. Their dry-as-dust Bible expositions can never give you peace with God. You must actually come to the living "bird" with the Blood to cleanse you from those sins. That is Jesus Christ, once crucified, now in Heaven. Only Christ Jesus has Blood to cleanse you from all sin. Come to Christ. It must be a divine-human encounter with Christ. You must be sick of your sin and you must seek Jesus Christ. No one else's blood can ever cleanse you from sin! Seek Christ with all your heart. When you find Him, lay flat on Him. "Let no other trust intrude. None but Jesus, none but Jesus, can do helpless sinners good" ("Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched" by Joseph Hart, 1712-1768).

No amount of Bible study can save you. You must have an encounter with the resurrected Christ! You must be made clean by His Blood! Come by simple faith to Christ,

"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

(END OF SERMON)

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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Abel Prudhomme: Leviticus 14:1-7.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
"Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness"
(by Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, 1700-1760;
translated by John Wesley, 1703-1791).)