Lev 15:31, "Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them." 
    	In this morning’s reading, we are once again given a glimpse into the care and the love and the protection that God had in His heart toward His Chosen people. We can read it very plainly in the terms of how God was making stipulations for the protection of the people from the various diseases and communal illnesses that plagued the other nations surrounding them.
	The beginning of the reading is often accepted as referring to both men and women in the general sense of the word used which simply means mankind in the English. The vast numbers of commentators refer to the Lord setting aside anyone, male or female within the context of the opening verses dealing with the discharge from the body. The exact frame of reference for that discharge is not directly specified but it is generally postulated that it is a reference either to the unnatural discharge that would result from a venereal disease such as gonorrhea or the discharges of diarrhea or vomit that would accompany the outbreak of cholera or such like diseases. 
Most researchers, however, feel that rather than a venereal disease discharge, this is more likely to be the latter. The reasoning is that a venereal disease is transmitted through intimate relations that would be less apt to bring itself on the population as a whole whereas a disease such as cholera with the resulting discharges from the body would be more widely spread if not contained and controlled by the means so stipulated by the Lord. The resultant practices of washing and avoiding contact with any of the items soiled by the discharge again seem to be more aimed at the communal protection from an outbreak of a cholera-like disease than that of a venereal disease.
The Lord was making known the means by which such illnesses could be controlled in that day and less likely to infect others. There were the washings and the separation and the avoidance techniques as well as the coming to the priests with the required sacrifices in order to be brought back into the community as a whole.
Then the stipulations concerning sexual secretions in males are stated, again with a view toward the cleansing of the man and the woman and anything that would be so soiled. Notice that there is nothing defiling about the sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. The translation is such that there is ambiguity, but again the commentators urge that the Hebrew inherent meaning is a husband and wife. There is no sacrifice that must accompany this act, simply a washing away of the residue. Thus there was no shame associated in any measure. It was just a precaution fixed by the Lord to instruct the husband and wife on the need for cleansing after their intimacy. 
 This is followed by the directives regarding the normal menstruation period of the woman. Again the caring of God is evident in providing instructions for the care of the woman and the necessary need for her to keep herself and her clothing and bedding clean from the normal discharge. Again, there was no shame associated with this as there was no need to go to the priest for sacrifice or restoration. 
However, if the discharge was not normal, it could be an indication of a disease that could be contagious. Therefore God mandated that the woman with such an issue be contained and that there would need to be a going to the priest and restoration after the required sacrifices. This was also a means whereby such a woman in distress would be given rest and time to recuperate as she would be prohibited from cooking or touching anything that might cause the uncleanness of her family. Again, this was a stipulation which showed the heart of God toward those who were suffering and to protect those who could be infected.
	All of these conditions for care are very basic and very literal. They are not necessarily spiritually infused and can be considered at face value. Then we get to our passage of the morning, verse 31. "Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them."
	In this verse, God makes the reason for the need for these cleansing practices known. They need to practice obedience to His ordinances and provisos in order not to die by bringing that which is unclean into His Holy sanctuary. If they are not willing to obey His requirements for their being cleansed, they would not be properly prepared to come into His sanctuary in order to honor Him. Obedience to that which was for their protection and their best interest and their welfare was an indication of their hearts’ regard toward God. If they were willing to defile His place in their midst with their attitude that He was not worthy to obey in these practical matters, then they would surely suffer the deadly consequences of dishonoring His Holiness. 
	The Lord was very specific about this as we read in Num 5:2+3. Num 5:2+3, "Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who is unclean because of a dead person. You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst." 
      	This was not a matter of interpretation of what should or should not be done and if The Lord was serious about the stipulated treatment of those who were a danger to the rest of the people. He made it abundantly clear that what He required was what needed to be done in order to not defile the camp where His presence, and thereby His protection dwelled. 
	We have seen that the Lord made provision, in the time in which medicine was generally non-existent, to have the priests as the buffer between the people who were clean and those who were unclean, those who had an illness that included symptoms of discharge and bodily sores akin to leprosy. The Lord made it very evident that those priests had to abide by the same restrictions regarding their honoring God in obedience to His guidelines for what was clean and unclean. Please open to Lev 22:2-6, and read along with me as the Lord details what the priestly order had to do.
	Lev 22:2-6, "Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the Lord. Say to them, 'If any man among all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me. I am the Lord. 'No man, of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. And if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if a man has a seminal emission, or if a man touches any teeming things, by which he is made unclean, or any man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness; a person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts, unless he has bathed his body in water. 
  	Just as the general populace had to abide by those regulations, so the priests were under the same, but with the need for extreme caution in order to not be cut off from their appointed place before God. This was their life and their heritage and their inheritance in the land. If they lost that place before God, they lost everything. That meant that they had to be extremely diligent in the course of how they approached their duties, their tasks, and their consideration of their uncleanness as set before us in the Word of God. 
	The need for this precision and introspection and circumspection of both their spiritual and physical condition was that they were the gate-keepers of the people’s health and well-being. They were the ones to whom the people came for inspection and for being reinstated within the social community. This was reinforced to the nation in Deut 24:8. Deut 24:8, "Be careful against an infection of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests shall teach you; as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 
	The place of the priestly order was the provision of God’s grace for the people and the priests were to recognize it. It was not a position to lord over the masses because the priestly order had to be even more diligent in their own obedience to God. They were to serve the people in order to make the lives of the entire nation better and pleasing to God and protected from the diseases that rampaged and devastated the surrounding nations. They were to teach and to instruct the people as to the manner in which to be pleasing and compliant to all that the Lord ordained for His Chosen nation. This was emphasized by the Prophet Ezekiel in Ezek 44:23, when he had to instruct the priests as to their duties unto God and man. Ezek 44:23, "Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 
	The priests were to educate and to train the people in the manner in which they would be offering unto God all that would honor and reverence Him in their obedience. If the nation wasn’t taught what to do how could they do it? Therefore the priestly order was the method by which all the ordnances and the instructions and the practices of cleanliness instituted by God would be passed down from generation to generation.
	There came a time, however, in the history of the Jewish nation, in which those teachings were not done and the people were not taught what to do and how to bring unto God the cleanness of their offerings in reverence to His holiness and His awesomeness. They had been led astray by those kings who did evil in the sight of the Lord and it fell upon King Hezekiah, in his reign of doing that which pleased the Lord, to once again give the people the proper guidance and instruction as to what would protect them and would cause them to honor the Glory and the Holiness of The Lord God Almighty. The people were plagued with the results of their not practicing those things which God had required of them. They had turned away from God and from His precepts and Hezekiah needed to intercede on their behalf before the Lord, to once again place upon the priests the necessity of their honoring the Lord and the people in their service unto both.
	Please open in your Bibles to 2 Chron 30:17-23 where we can read together of the renewal of that which would honor the Lord. 2 Chron 30:17-23. 2 Chron 30:17-23, For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves; therefore, the Levites were over the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was unclean, in order to consecrate them to the Lord. For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good Lord pardon everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary." So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. And the sons of Israel present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day after day with loud instruments to the Lord. Then Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good insight in the things of the Lord. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers. Then the whole assembly decided to celebrate the feast another seven days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy. 
	Notice how the priests were once again giving offering and instruction on behalf of the people. Also note that despite the uncleanness of the people, Hezekiah prayed for them before the Lord and the Lord healed them. We must not just skip over this point. They were unclean and sick and through the prayers of the King, God heard and then God healed the people. And the people celebrated before The Lord for seven days with great joy in their hearts and minds. Then after those seven days, they were so glad to be before the Lord, celebrating God’s goodness and mercy and grace, that they chose to continue that celebration for another seven days with joy.
	We conclude our message with Heb 10:19-25, if you would turn to it. In this passage, we see that we have One Who prays for us in our uncleanness and our disease and our defilement. On the basis of His work in our lives, we are given access to the very throne of God. All that filth and guilt and shame of our former lives is washed away and we are enabled to come to God to present our sacrifices of praise and worship and honor in the Holiness and reverence that He requires. 
Heb 10:19-25, Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
	By the grace of God through the living work of Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, we are washed from our iniquity and presented before the Father cleansed from all impurity and malice and evil intent. We do not defile His Holiness but celebrate Him and His so great love forever and forever with exceeding joy. So be it!     
    	"Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Isa 42:10-12. Sing to the Lord a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it. You islands and those who dwell on them. Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices, The settlements where Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, And declare His praise in the coastlands. Amen.