Like floor plans and elevations, sometimes we need more than one view to get the whole picture.
Let’s face it—miracles are hard to draw. For example, how would you illustrate this verse: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20)? Add to that, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor 5:17). Let’s see. I no longer live—but I do live? And Christ is in me—but I am in Christ? That’s exactly the epic miracle we have in our story today. The once-leprous person was going to die to his old life of disease, damage, distance, and despair. Now a new life was beginning, back inside the camp with family and friends! What a change! Burn those old clothes. Shave off that old hair. This is a whole new start. So what would be an appropriate offering to illustrate a new beginning? Listen. “And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed…And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field” (Lev 14:5-7). It might have been good if one bird could have died and then come back to life, but two birds give us the whole picture. See that bird flying free? Look! Blood, the proof of death, is on it—but it’s alive! This is God’s picture of what happened to the healed leprosy patient, and what happens to the saved sinner. Death to the old life, but now alive and free! What a miracle! Has it happened to you?