We'll be concluding Chapter 15 today with a segment of Scripture regarding a particular type of embellishment, intended to promote godly living, that is to be sewn onto the edges of the people's garments. This embellishment is there for the purpose of reminding the Israelites they are to be holy: set apart for the Lord's service, separate from idolaters, different from the cultures around them. We are going to talk about how the sight of these items on the edges of garments served to remind the people every day, all day long, that they belonged to the Lord and must live in a way that honored the Lord. We'll also talk about how these items figure in one of the miraculous healings performed by Jesus.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all My commands and will be consecrated to your God.'" (Numbers 15:37-40) The color blue likely symbolizes the Lord's divinity---the glory of God.
We think of Him being seated on His throne in heaven, so we have a tendency to look upward, point upward, or think upward when communing with the Lord or talking about the Lord. Blue is the color of the sky and the color blue tends to be associated in our thoughts with the throne room of God. When we think about God we can't help thinking "up", so to speak, and even when our heads are bowed in prayer our thoughts and our words are perceived by us as streaming in an "upward" direction toward the Lord. We often lift our hands toward heaven in praise or in supplication, symbolically reaching toward God who is seated in the heavens. We think of our prayers as rising upwards toward God, and indeed the Bible uses this terminology by saying that the prayers of the Lord's people rise up to Him like the smoke of the sacred incense. (Psalm 141:2, Revelation 8:4) The blue cord on the tassels is intended to make the wearer of the tassels focus their thoughts heavenward. If our thoughts are focused upward toward our holy God, we will be less likely to focus on things of this world that might lead us astray.
Jesus would have followed the instructions given in verses 37-40 above. He would have worn tassels with blue cords on the corners of His garments. Did Jesus need to be reminded to live a holy life? No, but Jesus was born under the Old Testament law and He kept the law. He is the only human being who ever perfectly kept the law. He obeyed every word God the Father ever said, and this included wearing the tassels with the blue cords. These tassels with their blue cords are mentioned in a story supplied to us in Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48. In this story an unnamed woman had been suffering from a bleeding disorder for twelve years. Such a disorder would have rendered her ceremonially unclean and physically unwell. She had seen many physicians and had tried many "cures" and had spent all her money, but instead of experiencing any relief her condition continued to grow worse. There was nothing left to try, medically speaking. She'd tried every reputable treatment and probably every alternative treatment as well. But as Jesus passes by on His way to heal the critically ill daughter of a synagogue leader, this woman is filled with the faith to believe if she can manage to touch just the edge of His garment, she will be made whole. We don't want to miss how great her faith is. She doesn't think she needs to have a conversation with Him. She doesn't think she needs Him to place a hand on her head and pronounce a blessing upon her. She doesn't think she needs Him to instruct her on some sort of action to take that will result in healing. She doesn't even think it will take Him knowing she's there. She believes the Lord Jesus Christ is so holy and so capable of doing all things that merely brushing one of the tassels of His garment with the tips of her fingers will make her well.
Various versions of the Holy Bible render these passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke in different ways. Some say she touched the "hem" of Jesus' garment. Some merely say she touched "His clothes". But in the original Greek, the word used by the gospel writers to indicate the portion of His garment that she touched would be most properly rendered as "a fringe, a tuft, an appendage, or a tassel". As Jesus passes by this sick woman in the crowd, she makes a leap of faith and reaches out toward Him so that one of the tassels with the blue cord on the edge of His garment (likely His prayer shawl) brushes the fingertips of one trembling hand. And she is made whole!
Not only is she made whole, but Jesus realizes healing power has gone out from Him. He didn't see the woman in the crowd. He didn't speak to her. She didn't implore Him to heal her. But He knew she was there because He felt healing power transfer from Himself to this woman of faith. He didn't allow her faith to go unacknowledged; He stopped and called her forth in front of the crowd and said, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." This woman had been ceremonially unclean for twelve years. Not only was she unable to take part in religious services at the temple, but even in her own household no one could lie on a bed she'd used or sit on a chair she'd used or touch any garment she'd worn. Imagine the stigma she bore! Imagine her sadness and depression! Imagine how worthless she must have told herself she was! This, I believe, is why Jesus called her forth in this huge crowd and pronounced her whole in front of everyone there. He restored her dignity and sense of self-worth! There was a procedure she'd have had to undertake at the temple by bringing the prescribed offerings for a person who had been made whole from an issue of blood, and no doubt she did that, but Jesus knew she'd suffered so much and for so long that going through the process prescribed by the law wasn't going to be enough to heal the brokenness of spirit she'd endured for so long. She would be rendered ceremonially clean by the law and would be able to resume normal life in every way, but this particular lady needed a healing of spirit that could only be accomplished by the Lord declaring her whole in front of many witnesses.
Precious friends, when the Lord declares us whole, we are whole! When He makes us clean, we are clean! No matter what is in our past, when we come to Christ and accept Him as our Savior, we are made clean from our past just as surely as the woman in the gospel accounts was made clean of her blood disorder. Our old lives and old natures are gone and we are made fresh and new: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation is come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17) Even though we still sometimes make mistakes after coming to Christ (because we are still living in mortal bodies in a fallen world), when we confess our mistakes He forgives us of them and makes us clean from them. (1 John 1:9)
The tassels with the blue cords are a visual reminder to the Israelites that they are the Lord's people. Because they are the Lord's people, they are to think and talk and behave like the Lord's people. As they go about their daily lives they will see these tassels with their blue cords swinging back and forth on the edges of their garments. This sends a continual message to their minds of: "I belong to the Lord. I am to obey the Lord's commands. I am different from the people of the idolatrous cultures around me. I serve the living God. God is holy and I must honor Him by being holy. God loves me and is good to me and I will thank Him for His love and goodness by doing what is right in His eyes."
Our chapter concludes with the Lord saying to the Israelites: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God." (Numbers 15:41) The Lord has said many times, "I am the Lord your God", so far in the Old Testament. He keeps repeating this message because the Israelites are going to a land where the Lord is not accepted or honored as God. The people need to have it firmly fixed in their hearts and minds that the Lord is God---their God---before they ever step foot in the promised land.
You and I need to keep this firmly fixed in our hearts and minds too because we interact with unbelievers every day. For one thing, if we don't remind ourselves who we are in the Lord, we can more easily be drawn into ungodly behaviors of the culture around us. For another thing, if we don't remind ourselves who we are in the Lord, we won't be capable of leading unbelievers to the faith. When conducting business over the phone or in person, many of the people we interact with don't serve our God. At school or in the workplace there are people who don't know the Lord. Unbelievers are around us in the grocery stores and restaurants. Unbelievers are driving on the same roads we drive. We all probably have unbelievers among our family members and friends. There are even unbelievers in our places of worship; not everyone who attends services is attending because they know the Lord. Because we are surrounded by unbelievers, it's extremely important that we speak and behave like people who know the Lord. If we don't look like we belong to the Lord, our testimony will have no effect on those who don't know the Lord. We have to be different. We can't afford to blend into the culture and swim with the stream because if we do we will not be able to lead others to faith. Souls are at stake! If we don't live godly lives that honor our Lord, how can we hope to draw anyone to Him? If lost people don't feel like we love them, why should they believe the Lord loves them? If we don't display a spirit of mercy and forgiveness, what would make them think the Lord wants to extend mercy and forgiveness to them? If God is our Father, we should look like Him.
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