Then shall the priest command to take … two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop … 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 over the running water. Leviticus 14:4, 6 NKJV
We would like to consider a few references to the cedar tree. It has been said that if the lion is the king of beasts, the cedar of Lebanon is the king of trees. We will see that the cedar tree reminds us of our Lord Jesus.
Our scripture above is the first reference to the cedar tree in the Word of God. Here we consider what it cost the Lord to be able to cleanse us who were spiritual lepers.
The clean living bird speaks of Him as the Lord of heaven, the One who came down from heaven. In the cedar wood, we think of His greatness as the Son of God. We think of His majesty and His glory, the Son of the Father, and the Creator. The hyssop was a small plant that “springs out of the wall” (1 Ki. 4:33). If the cedar tree is majestic and grand, the hyssop is lowly. Yet both these plants together set before us our blessed Savior! In the cedar tree we see Him as the “I am.” In the hyssop we see Him as the One “gentle and lowly of heart.” The scarlet suggests His earthly glories (cf. 2 Sam. 1:24) as the Son of David.
As we meditate on His personal glories as the Son of God, His moral glories as the Son of Man, and His earthly glories as the Son of David, we see that the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet all had to be dipped in the blood. Christ, in type, had to go into death to make the leper clean. He had to die in order to make you and me clean! Now He is risen, as seen in the living bird let loose (Lev. 14:7); and we live in Him. May we worship Him!