‘Purge Me…Wash Me’

---

‘Purge Me… Wash Me’

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7

David needed cleansing. He had stolen another man’s wife and then arranged the man’s murder. He had passed the man’s death off very glibly by saying, ‘The, word devours one as well as another.’ Now, David was bearing the weight of his bloodguiltiness. He has made full confession. He has owned his sin. He has traced it to its’ source. We wants cleansing from God. How will he get it? Our text declares, ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.’ To what does David refer? The first mention of hyssop, a plant of the mint family, is in Exodus 12. There God prescribes the use of it in the application of the blood of the Lamb on the evening of the first Passover. Therefore, David is referring to the cleansing which is related to the application of the blood. He further confirms that when he speaks of God’s washing of him so that he can be ‘whiter than snow.’ Again he refers to cleansing by the blood. Hebrews confirms this by saying, ‘Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.’ The writer of Hebrews, within the context, relates this directly to the Blood of Christ. Here is where David landed. Here is where we land. When we have sinned against God and want cleansing, we find that cleansing in the Blood of Christ. This is how God purges us with hyssop and washes us that we may be ‘whiter than snow.’ Today we look to the Blood of Christ to cleanse us from every earth-gathered stain.

Our Almighty Redeeming God,
we praise You that You have power
to cleanse us from every stain.
We rejoice that there is a fountain opened
for us for sin and for uncleanness.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning