SPOTS By Jeannette Haley

“Thou art all fair, my love;
there is no spot in thee.” Song of Solomon 4:7

It’s okay if little flecks of dark chocolate on your white desktop betray your favorite treat because, after all, they’re easily retrieved in one quick finger-to-mouth movement. But, discovering a spot or stain that is front and center on your favorite top, shirt or blouse is another matter. Sometimes they can be successfully removed, sometimes not, and sadly there are times when all the scrubbing and rubbing leaves the fabric stretched and distorted, just like when a sinner tries to “fix” an obvious sin in their own power. It just makes the whole mess messier.

The Word of God gives us some serious food for thought about spots. Of course, there is the subject of the bright, white spot of leprosy which Leviticus chapters 13 and 14 deal with. This much-feared disease is a representation of sin—sin that begins inwardly (Matthew 15:19). It is loathsome in that it can initially be felt before numbness sets in, it can be smelled and even heard by the damage it causes to the victim’s voice. It can be seen in clothing and walls of a house. This insidious, incurable condition separated the leper from family, friends, society and the temple where God manifested His presence, all of which typifies the results of sin in one’s life.

Concerning leprosy and sin, Doug Eaton of Fight of Faith blog wrote, “How do we receive this cleansing? Are there works of righteousness we must fulfill to merit this forgiveness? The answer, of course, is no. In Leviticus 13 we see a picture of how we can be declared clean. And if the leprous disease breaks out in the skin, so that the leprous disease covers all the skin of the diseased person from head to foot, so far as the priest can see, then the priest shall look, and if the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; it has all turned white, and he is clean. But when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. – Leviticus 13:12-14. If the leprous person was only partially covered with the disease, they were unclean, but if the disease covered the entire body, they were pronounced clean. This is a perfect picture of recognizing our sinfulness and coming to the Lord in repentance. If we come to Him and say, ‘I know I am sinful, but I still have some soundness in me, see these good works I do? Please see them and accept me.’ The Lord will say ‘unclean,’ because self-righteousness is like the raw flesh; it is as filthy rags. However, if we come to Him in poverty of spirit, recognizing our real condition, we will say, ‘There is nothing good in me. I am completely sinful. Have mercy on me a sinner.’ The Lord will say ‘You are clean.’ ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ 1 John 1:9.”

Spots and blemishes in the Bible mean “stained, soiled, defiled, defected or disgraced.” God gave specific instructions to Moses and Aaron concerning the red heifer, which was to be used for purification (see Numbers 19.) In verse 2 the LORD specified that the red heifer had to be “without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. In Numbers 28 verses 3 and 9 concerning the daily burnt offering, God again reiterated that the lambs were to be “without spot.” As believers, we should know that the sacrifices pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect, spotless, sinless sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. John the Baptist declared in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The Apostle Peter wrote, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” 1 Peter 1:18, 19 and Hebrews 9:14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Peter could well have been describing the same “spots” that we are daily witnessing in these end days when he wrote his second epistle. Here is a short list from Chapter 2 where he accurately describes “false prophets,” “damnable heresies,” “crowds of followers” (of false prophets and evil doers); the truth being “evil spoken of,” “covetousness,” “feigned words” (liars and scammers); “lust and uncleanness,” “despise government,” “selfwilled,” “speak evil of dignities,” “natural brute beasts,” “speak evil of things that they understand not,” “rioters,” “reveling in their own deception,” “adulterers,” “habitual sinners,” “beguiling unstable souls,” “covetous,” “cursed,” “choose unrighteousness, following the way of Balaam,” “wells without water,” “tempestuous clouds,” “speak great words of vanity,” “allure through the lust of the flesh,” “lewd,” “servants of corruption,” and “dogs returning to their own vomit” and “pigs returning to wallow in the mire.” It makes you wonder if anyone would dare to speak up and ask Peter what he really thought.

Can you just imagine what would happen to you if you stood up in your next church feast, potluck or dinner, and with a pointed finger described the spots (sins) of such individuals? Before you pass out at the very thought of it, or critically pass judgment on Peter, consider verses 12 and 13 where he wrote, “But these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.” [Emphasis added.]

Moving on to Chapter 3 in 2 Peter, we read of the urgent appeal Peter was making to stir up the church (believers) to remember the words spoken by the holy prophets (not false prophets) and of the apostles (not self-appointed “apostles”) concerning the latter days (which we are in) reminding them, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Then he reiterated the fire, judgment, the suddenness of the Lord’s coming, the earth and all within it burned up, the heavens also dissolving, and the new heavens and a new earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

The tendency for many is to skip over these vivid, traumatic and overwhelming descriptions of the coming of Christ because it’s not exactly the way many imagine or “feel” how it should be. After all, it doesn’t agree with the popular fiction movies, books and soft-on-sin sermons on the subject. In the conclusion of his powerful little book, “The Last Days of the World” Michael Boldea wrote, “It’s not that Christians today don’t believe the world will end; it’s that they don’t want it to. We’ve got too much invested in this earth to take seriously the notion that both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Even though the dogs of war are on the march, the earth is groaning, and the foundations of once seemingly impregnable societies are collapsing in real time, many still refuse to acknowledge the times in which they are living or allow for the possibility that it will get worse; much worse.”

Peter again mentioned those bothersome “spots” in his concluding appeal in 2 Peter 3:14 “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” According to Strong’s Concordance diligence means “to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest, labour, study.” Peter emphasized the need for the Church to be prepared for the coming of the Lord as the Apostle Paul emphasized to Timothy concerning the “good fight of faith” when he instructed him, “But thou, O man of God, flee these things [the love of money, ungodliness, etc.] and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” 1 Timothy 6:11. [Comment added.] Verse 14 says, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jude, Jesus’ half-brother wrote in his short, but powerful epistle concerning the ungodly who have crept in unawares, calling them “spots” and warning of mockers and the ungodly while urging believers, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” Jude 20-23.

Jude’s brother, and Jesus’ half-brother James, was well aware of the tendency of man to tolerate, ignore, or even find “spots” to be acceptable, and stated, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” James 1:27. To quote from one of Michael Boldea’s excellent books, “The Epistle of James” regarding this verse he wrote “There’s religion, there’s religiosity, then there’s pure and undefiled religion. When something is presented as undefiled, then the possibility exists that it can be defiled. Variations of that undefiled thing likely exist in a defiled form, and James outlines the prerequisites for a pure and undefiled religion.” The bottom line is, if the motivation for any of our religious plans, goals, activities or benevolent services are essentially for the purpose of receiving personal accolades or benefits of some kind, then those works are spotted, blemished, and defiled, and are unacceptable to God.

Finally, there will be no “spots or wrinkles” or any sort of defilement in the glorious church Jesus is coming for. (See Ephesians 5:27.) The question is, will Jesus find us overcomers who are ready and prepared with oil in our lamps or will He find us desperately clinging to the world and compromising with the world, the flesh and the devil in a vain attempt to save ourselves from suffering and martyrdom? Michael Boldea wrote, “The question of uttermost importance for us as believers is not when Jesus is returning but what He will find us doing when He does return. When He returns, he will find both faithful and unfaithful, the former of which He calls blessed, the latter of which He will cut in two and appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites.”

The choice is ours, and that is the bottom line.