Time Out For Tea

by Cherri Lambert

I don't know about you, but I am definitely a creature of habit. When it comes to making a cup of piping hot tea for myself, no mattter how many varieties of fine herbal tea I may have in the cupboard, I usually find myself reaching for the old standby, orange pekoe black. Where tea is concerned, I think I my tendency is to return to what I knew first, and this is not wrong. However, sometimes I carry the inclination a step further, seeking old and familiar in my daily walk. That is when I really get myself into trouble because doing this affects me spiritually. Until the blessed day of my spiritual birth, I lived in a wholly carnal condition, apart from Christ. What I knew first was carnality; I knew nothing of the Spirit. I lived in the flesh because I was ignorant of a better way of living. Returning to the fleshly existence that I first knew will lead me into sin, yet a times I find myself returning there.

Should I ever bring myself to forsake my old, faithful retainer, orange pekoe black, and develop a taste for herbal tea, I would like to learn to appreciate hyssop tea above all others. Why? Because it is delicious? Because it has a wonderful aroma? Because it is good for my physical body? No! All these things may very well be true of hyssop tea, however, my reason for choosing it has nothing to do with any of them. Why then? Because, from a spiritual point of view, hyssop has always interested me greatly.

Since it isn't often used as a culinary herb, I never really thought of hyssop as an herb at all until just recently. I always considered it to be a plant God used in Scripture for a particular purpose, like the cedar or olive tree. Since I have begun studying hyssop as a herb, the verses concerning it have become more meaningful to me. When God created hyssop, He made an attractive, fragrant little plant. It grows to be only three feet tall, but God gave it wonderful properties. Gardeners value hyssop as a good soldier. It guards neighboring plants against bacterial diseases and some unwanted pests. When planted in the vineyard, hyssop increases the yield of grapevines. Medicinally, hyssop can be used to treat a wide variety of ailments. It is a powerful expectorant; a honey-sweatened tea made from it helps clear the lungs and throat, improving breathing. It is a purgative and helps to cleanse the digestive system on worms. A mouth rinse made of hyssop boiled in vinegar helps fight the infection that causes toothache. Hyssop oil, rubbed into the hair and scalp, kills parasites. Because it has healing properties, the bruised, green leaves of hyssop, when applied to open sores, cuts and bruises, encourage prompt healing. During the time of the Egyptians, it was even used to cleanse leprosy. In short, when God created hyssop, He created a powerful cleansing agent that could effectively purify the inner and outer body of all manner of uncleanness. In hyssop, He created a physical testimony of spiritual truth - through His power and through His precious blood, we can become clean, inside and out, through and through.

Hyssop is referenced twelve times in the Word of God. The name "hyssop" actually means "holy herb." Scripture indelibly links it to purification. We find it first in Exodus 12:22 "And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning." Here we see that the first time God makes mention of hyssop is with regard to the Passover. A bunch of hyssop was used, like a brush, to apply the blood of the slain Passover lamb to the lintel and the side posts of the door so that the death angel would pass over that house. In choosing hyssop as the vehicle by which the blood was applied, God was making a statement to His people. Surely they must have made the connection. The blood applied to the entryway of the house had cleansing power that could defeat death!

We know that this first Passover was a foreshadowing of the day when Jesus Christ, the perfect Passover Lamb, would be slain, shedding His precious, sinless blood for us. When we apply His cleanising blood to the doorway of our hearts, the promise of eternal life is ours - death is defeated and has no more sting for us - the grave has no victory in our lives. Joy comes in the morning when we leave our earthly house, enter into Heaven (our Promised Land), and go to dwell with Him forevermore.

God mentions hyssop again in Leviticus chapter 14. The chapter begins with the cleansing of leprosy in a man and ends with the cleansing of leprosy in a house. The blood of a slain bird, running water, hyssop, cedar wood, scarlet, and a living bird are used together in each case. As we thoroughly study Leviticus 14:1-32, it becomes evident that cleansing a man of leprosy did not just involve ridding his skin of the dread disease. Soul cleansing was an elemental part of the cure. This was evidenced by the trespass and sin offerings God required, by the atonement that God commanded to be made for the leper, and by the great pains God took to insure that all leprs, no matter how poor, could be cleansed.

To me, the anointing with blood and oil of the right ear, right thumb, and the great toe of the right foot indicates that a change in direction was anticipated from that day forth. After his cleansing, the leper was expected to live a renewed life through keeping his ear attuned to God's voice, through endeavoring to do all things to God's glory, and through following God's leading each and every day. Clearly, this would indicate that a thorough, inner cleansing of the soul had taken place. As Christians, God expects us to show forth our inner cleansing through living renewed lives for Him. It is our reasonable service.

Once again God mentions hyssop in Numbers 19:6&18. As we read through chapter 19, we see that God instructed the children of Israel to choose a special red heifer. They were commanded to slay her and burn her entire body. As she was burning, they were to cast cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet into the midst. Her ashes were to be gathered up and carefully stored in a clean place outside the camp. When water of separation was needed, it was prepared by putting running water and some of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification into a vessel. Hyssop dipped in this water of separation was used to sprinkle people and things that had become defiled and unclean through contact with the dead. This cleansing was necessary to avoid contagion.

As we live our daily lives, surrounded by the spiritually dead, we need the Water of the Word in our lives to keep us from becoming defiled by the influences around us. God's Word is our water of separation; it purifies our souls. When we become contaminated by returning to the ways of the world around us, we need to separate ourselves from others (take a time out), draw near to God, and allow His Word to work in our hearts. Through its wonderful power, God's Word can bring us to repentance, clean us from the inside out, and keep us from defiling others through a bad testimony. God's Word can keep the vermin and parasites of wikedness far from us, but we must first submit to its ministration. Through the direction of the indwelling Holy Spirit, it can do a great and mighty work.

In the New Testament, God makes mention of hyssop in Hebrews 9:19. As we study chapter 9, we see that God compares the reality of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ with the many Old Testament ordinances that not only foreshadowed His coming but also gave the Old Testament saints hope through faith. He gives us a clear parallel between the establishment of the New Testament through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Old Testament through the blood of calves and of goats. Again we see blood, water, scarlet wool, and hyssop mentioned as God tells us how the first testament was dedicated. These elements were types of figures of Jesus Christ; He is the Water of Life; He is the Lamb with scarlet wool; the blood He shed was pure and able to cleanse to the uttermost. The use of hyssop symbolizes this. I love verse 21: "Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry." We are vessels of the ministry if we have been washed and made clean by the pure, precious blood of the Lamb. We will not be barren, unfruitful vines in His vineyard but will flourish if we are kept spiritually clean through the power of His Word. Remember, hyssop helps the grapes to grow - what a wonderful blessing!

In John 19:29, we see hyysop touch the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. As He hung on the Cross, just before He cried, "It is finished:" the Water of Life gave us a clear message. The words of my lips are pure and can purify all who will submit to their cleansing power.

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7. These words of David were wrenched from his soul after Nathan, God's prophet, confronted him with his sin. David had returned to what he knew first - a carnal existence. This had led his to walk in the paths away from God. With a broken and contrite heart he cried unto God to purge him and make him clean. In pleading tith the Lord to purge him with hyssop, David was asking to be purified inside and out, through and through. He then asked God to renew and restore him. "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." (Psalm 51:10-12)

How many of us get caught up in sin, returning to what we knew first, living carnally, lusting after pleasure and material things? Do we stand aloof from God as He earnetly beseeches us to return to the foot of the cross and kneel before Him with a broken and contrite heart? Do we continue to rush pell-mell through our daily existence, putting our relationship with Christ on the back burner? Do we take time out for hysssop in our lives? Wouldn't a cup taste good right now?