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Introduction
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Recently when communing with the
Father there was brought to me the glory of the impeccable
Christ. I had been studying the Laver of the Tabernacle and the
need for the priest to wash his hands and feet before serving at
the brazen altar (Ex. 30:19-20), or ministering in the
Tabernacle (Ex. 40:32). To have failed to do so would have
incurred instant death. The brazen altar was the place of
sacrifice and the laver had water for cleansing. It was then
the truths were brought to me: |
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a) |
Christ approached the cross but never went to a laver, because
he was impeccable. |
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b) |
Christ entered the heavenly
tabernacle to function, but never went to a laver, because He
was impeccable. In that holy sphere He functions perfectly and
permanently. He lives in the power of an endless life (Heb.
7:16). The word translated endless “akatalutos” is only used in
this passage. It is variously translatable “indissoluble”
or
“unchanging” life. |
The Lord Was
Impeccable
A very frail illustration is that of
light. Light can shine upon the
most corrupt places and yet is not
tarnished. It can pierce into the
darkest spheres and yet is not
corrupted. Christ walked in a world
of humanity who were corrupt in
themselves and in that which they
did. We are aware that when we live
among uncouth people, subconsciously
and helplessly that uncouthness
affects us so that at a moment of
inattentiveness we say or act in the
same way. That never happened the
Lord. The cynicalness of the Jewish
leaders never caused Him to doubt or
question who He was or what He had
come to do.
It is important to understand that
the impeccability of Christ is
different but includes His moral
perfection and vice versa. Had there
been the slightest flaw in His moral
perfections, He would not have been
impeccable. Furthermore, it must be
understood that impeccability goes
beyond His sinless perfection and
that, incapable of sinning. It
means that He was without personal
defilement. No one He ever met
with, and nothing He ever
encountered, could defile Him.
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Being undefiled and undefileable: |
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a) |
Virtue never degraded to the vice of pride |
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b) |
Purity never degraded to haughty prudence |
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c) |
Courage never degraded into foolish rashness |
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d) |
Fulfilling God’s appointments never degraded into stressful
situations |
He was impervious to defilement
through touch
During those years of His earthly
sojourn, although surrounded by sin
and defilement, His spirit was
impervious to all defilement. He
could take the dead hand of the
little girl (Matt. 9:25), an act
which would have caused ceremonial
defilement to another (Lev. 11:31)
but not Him. Contact with death
could not pierce His moral
impeccability or defile Him.
There was a day when a leper came to
Him seeking cleansing. This man was
an outcast, an “untouchable”, then
he met the Lord. What sympathetic
pathos there are in the words:
“Jesus put forth His hand, and
touched him” (Matt. 8:3). The
priest was allowed to look on the
leprous man (Lev. 13:3, 12, 25) but
not touch him, for then he would
have been unclean as the man was.
The Lord “put forth His hand and
touched him” and not only was the
man cleansed, but neither
ceremonial, physical, or spiritual
defilement came on the Lord. He was
still impeccable and it was
irrelevant if He had raised untold
thousands by touch or healed
thousands of lepers by His touch, He
would still have been impeccable.
On another day a woman with an issue
of blood touched the hem of His
garment (Matt. 9:20), as were the
many who had diseases (Matt. 14:36),
or, on another day: “He healed many:
inasmuch that they pressed upon Him
for to touch Him, as many as had
plagues” (Mk. 3:10), and such was
the impeccability of the Lord that
He was never defiled.
Putting it concisely, “His was a
body impervious to sickness and a
spirit impervious to defilement”.
He
never caused anyone to be defiled by
association with Him
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Before our Lord was born, the
Holy Spirit “overshadowed” Mary. It was a miracle along at
least two avenues. The Holy Spirit began a new life within the
womb of Mary, which in itself was a miracle. God had created a
man without a woman (Gen. 1:27), and He had created a new life
from a barren mother (Gen. 29:31; 30:6), or a new life from
two biologically dead parents
(Gen. 17:17; Rom. 4:19), but He
had never created a new life without a man consciously or
unconsciously being involved (Gen. 19:34-36). However, this was
much more than just a new life, it was a new sort of life, being
only the “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15), and one in which the
“corruption” of Adam’s sin never was passed on to the baby,
therefore, a baby born who was not under the condemnation and
death Adam brought upon all men. Our Lord was unlike every
other baby born for: |
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a) |
He was the not just “innocent” as all baby’s are, but positively
holy. (Lk. 1:35) |
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b) |
He was the first one to ever come “into” this world. All our
fore-parents have always been in this world. (Jn. 1:9; 9:39;
16:28) |
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c) |
He
was God, yet such was the perfection of His humanity that He
alone glorified God as God
from the moment He came into the
world. (Psa. 22:10) |
On a Sabbath day the Jews had
polluted the spirit and deeper
meaning of the law according to
their deciding of what was work and
what was not (Matt. 12:10-12).
Again, on the Sabbath He will tell
the man at the pool to take up His
bed and walk (Jn. 5:8-9) showing the
true purpose of the Sabbath, man
free from man’s traditions and
distorted teachings, and functioning
for the glory of God. Such cases
were not spiritually defiled by
obeying Him.
He could never be contaminated by
that which was around Him
Christ heard the blasphemy (Matt.
27:42), yet it never contaminated
Him unconsciously sinking into His
subconscious mind, but in full
awareness of what the folk were
doing he sorrowed for them: “Father
forgive them” (Lk. 23:34). He knew
the moral depravity of the woman who
was a sinner (Lk. 7:39), yet no
lustful imagination ever developed
in His heart or mind. He lived on a
much higher plane, and only saw the
tragedy of a marred life. When the
woman who was caught in adultery was
brought to Him, his perfection was
not marred by accepting what they
said, but having convicted them and
while not condoning the woman, He
sought to direct her spiritually (Jn.
8:3-11).
He was impervious to defilement by
experiences
It is an accepted fact that once an
individual dies, the body begins to
decompose, of which there are five
stages. Such was the perfection of
the Lord, even in death His body
never entered the first stage. God
was very particular about the
handling of the body of His Son. No
defiled hands ever touched that Holy
body, it was the hands of a clean
man who took it down from the
cross. The sacred record is: “He
took it down, and wrapped it in
linen” (Lk. 23:53). Matthew informs
us that it was a: “clean linen
cloth” (Matt. 27:59), and His body
was placed in a “sepulchre . . .
wherein never man before was laid” (Lk.
23:53). Not only was His body
impervious to death and disease from
others in life, but in death His
body saw no corruption. He was
undefiled even in death. God had
declared: “Neither wilt Thou suffer
Thine Holy One to see corruption”
(Acts 2:27). When He left the tomb
on the first day of the week (Mk.
16:9), it was left as clean as when
He was placed in it.
It is irrelevant which aspect of the
Lord we consider the writer to the
Hebrews wrote it most beautifully:
“Who is holy, harmless, undefiled”
(Heb. 7:26), and with those words
Macleod Whylie wrote:
A perfect path of purest grace,
unblemished and complete,
Was Thine Thou spotless Nazarite,
Pure, even to the feet.
Thy stainless life,Thy lovely walk,
in every aspect true,
From the defilement all around, no
tint of evil drew.
No broken service, Lord was Thine,
no change was in Thy way,
Unsullied in Thy holiness, Thy
strength knew no decay.
Morning by morning Thou didst wake,
amidst this poisoned air,
Yet no contagion touched Thy soul,
no sin disturbed Thy prayer.
. . . . Rowan Jennings
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