And cleanse me from my sin
1 And cleanse me from my sin.’ — Ver. 25.
ATT is easy to see that David’s sin weighs heavily upon his soul. For the third time he pours out his desire before the Lord that His grace might liberate him from sin. Let it be understood that he does not speak of liberation from punishment. He does not speak even in the least degree of comfort in the restoration to God’s favor. it is sin itself which is so terrible to him, and this he would fain have taken away. And that he felt deeply what sin was is manifest specially from this, that every one of the three utterances which he uses represents sin in a distinct light. He felt it as a transgression of the law of God, a violation of the honor and authority of His King and Lord. He calls it iniquity according to its inner character, because it was the exact opposite of all that was good and holy, utterly unrighteous. And he confessed it as sin, a condition of perversity and misery. Concerning these transgressions of the law of God, he had prayed that they might be blotted out of God’s book; concerning his iniquity, he desired that he might be washed from it; now, once again, in view of his sin, he prays for cleansing. In the earnestness of his soul, he makes known in the most significant way his desire for the redemption which he expects from grace: ‘Cleanse me from my sin.5
The word which is here translated cleanse is the same which David found in Lev. xiii. and xiv. in the laws concerning leprosy. It appears there ten times, and is there translated: to pronounce clean. We are thus referred to these passages for the explanation. There we learn that whenever a fear arose that any one had the leprosy he had to be brought to the priest. Observe that if it was really so, then he pronounced him unclean. If it was really not this disease, however, then the priest had to pronounce him clean. So also if a leper had been healed of this disease, the priest had to pronounce him clean or unclean. After that he might again return to the temple and have the enjoyment of all the privileges of the people of God. We see that in the New Testament, in like manner, the word ’ cleanse ’ is always used of leprosy; and also that whenever any one was cleansed by Jesus he had still to go to the priest in order to be pronounced clean in the name of God.
From these and similar passages it is manifest that for cleansing two things were necessary: this purity, indeed, consisted of two elements. The one was that the sufferer should be clean of his leprosy. The other was that on the part of God he must be pronounced
HATE MERCY UPON 3IE.
clean. In this Psalm we find that in the purity which is also expected from the grace of God these two elements also are found. When in ver. 7 we hear, ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, then, as we shall see in that passage itself, this has reference especially to pronouncing clean, to acquittal from guilt. When, later on, in ver. 10 we hear, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God,’ this looks rather to the inner cleansing of the nature and the spirit.
Nevertheless there is manifest here a distinction betwixt the leprosy of the body and that of the soul. The leper must first be personally clean, and then he is pronounced clean. The sinner, on the contrary, is first pronounced clean, and then becomes more and more partaker of the inward cleansing. The distinction, however, is not so marked as it appears. For the sinner is pronounced clean only in virtue of his union with the Lord Jesus. Jesus, the perfectly pure One, takes him up into His purity, becomes surety that this purity shall be communicated to him. It is because he is clean in Jesus that he is pronounced clean, and then he becomes all the more inwardly purified. And thus the two aspects of purity have one root, namely, £ the purity of Jesus.5
And thus also the two are one. The same grace which pronounced clean also makes clean. The same repentance which desires acquittal also longs for inward purity. And in this prayer,; cleanse me from my sin,’ derived from the word of the Lord concerning leprosy, David appears to have embraced these two elements together. What he later on separates is here still united in this one supreme thought: 6 1 would be free from sin; take the sin which I have committed, take it away from me; take away from me the sin which is still hidden within me. Cleanse me from my sin.’
It was the work of the priest to cleanse the leper. David desired to have this priestly action at the hands of God Himself. He knew that although this cleansing is a hidden and spiritual work it is nevertheless thoroughly real. He knew that no repentance, no conversion, no change of spirit or life, could cleanse him from sin. He knew that there is only one, the Holy One, who is mightier than sin, that is in a position to cleanse him; and he knew that this God is the God of all grace, who will also do it. Therefore he prays: 6 Cleanse me from my sin.’.
Reader, what David found necessary you have also need of. He desired that the holy God would stretch out His hand from heaven and touch him: yes, him upon the earth, and take away his sins from him. Oh let this also be your prayer; consider it: sin is mine, it is upon me, it is in me. The purity which God gives may also be mine, on me, and in me. As really as sin is mine must the cleansing also be mine. Otherwise I may not be redeemed. Yes: make David’s prayer your own, and make your own also that of the leper who cried: ‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.’
And if you fail to do this with thorough earnest-HATE MERCY UPON ME.
ness, go, contemplate your sin where David contemplated his. Head in God’s word how wretched the condition of the leper was (Lev. xiii. 45, 46). Shut out from his fellow-men, from the temple and the service of God, he must continually cry out: 1 Unclean, unclean!’ This God ordained as a symbol of sin. Pray God that He may make you feel what a deadly and wretched disease consumes your soul; how you wander about, cast out from the presence of God and from intercourse with Him, and then pray: ‘Cleanse me from my sin.’
And when you thus pray, Jesus will also say to you, ‘I will: be thou clean.’ The leper went out immediately and was cleansed. Only believe in His power to cleanse, in His love which seeks you, in His grace sealed with His blood. You shall then know also, once for all, that the great deed of grace which you cannot now understand has taken place also in you.
Therefore, yet once again, my reader, let this prayer of David become your own. Like his sin, yours also is very great. As for him, so also for you, God is the only helper. Let your prayer, like his, be a cry from the whole heart: ‘Have mercy upon me; wash me; cleanse me from my sin/