Hyssop
Today's Through the Bible Reading: Psalms 21, 38, 51
Abbreviated Reading: Psalm 51
Here’s a treat for today’s devotion! What follows is an excerpt from my new devotional, Jesus, Day by Day. I love this devotion and can’t wait for the full book to be released in September! Hope you enjoy!…
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7
The slightest details in God’s Word can open our eyes to the grandest truths of grace. Take for instance David’s reference in Psalm 51:7. After sinning terribly with Bathsheba, David was desperately grieved and pleaded with the Lord for forgiveness. He asked God to purge him with hyssop.
Hyssop was a little shrub with a significant purpose. Think back to Leviticus 14:1–7. There, a sprig of hyssop would be dipped in water and blood as purification was applied to a person healed of leprosy. This ceremonial law shadowed the complete forgiveness that would come through Christ and Christ alone.
In the Old Testament, leprosy often symbolized sin, as it was deadly, extremely infectious, and affected the whole person. There was no remedy apart from a miracle (2 Kings 5). The symbolism fits! We had no remedy apart from Christ.
The cleansing of the hyssop foreshadowed the complete forgiveness we find in Jesus. He purged our guilty conscience as He covered us in His redemptive blood (Heb. 9:14). But He also washes us in the water of His Word, cleansing us from the defilement of sin (John 15:3; Eph. 5:26) and making us white as snow (Eph. 5:27).
God raised up for David a Righteous Branch (Jer. 23:5–6), who brought us complete forgiveness. I believe it to be no coincidence that the drink offered to Jesus Christ on the cross was extended to Him on a branch of hyssop (John 19:29). The One who fulfilled the law drank from the very thing that represented purification, as He bore our sins upon Himself.
Like David, you can pray today, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean,” knowing it is Jesus Himself who washes you and makes you whiter than snow.
Keep reading: Psalm 103; 1 Chronicles 20:1–3; 2 Samuel 8:2–8; 1 Chronicles 18:2–8
by Sharon Kaselonis / All rights reserved ©
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