In Romans 3:21, Paul tells us that… righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. That reminds us that the Law always demanded two witnesses, and we see that all the way through the Word of God. What the Law witnessed to was the fact that it had no power to provide righteousness. And the prophets were constant witnesses that there was no righteousness in the system that they preached. Righteousness had to come entirely by the grace of God.

This morning as I was studying this verse I was reminded of the witness of one of God’s prophets, David. Who was called a prophet by Luke (Acts 2:31). And I think we can see this in Ps 51 (the Psalm of repentance) when David witnesses to the fact that righteousness comes from the grace of God, apart from any selfish character of man, who declares himself to be righteousness by his works of self-worth.

Ps 51:1-4 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightiest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 

After being convicted of his sin of defiling Bathsheba and murdering her husband, Uriah, David prays for grace on the sole basis of God’s loving-kindness and tender mercies.

Ps 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

He asks to be washed from his iniquity and cleansed from his sin. And then he asks God to purge him. The Hebrew word for “purge” is chata, which means to make reconciliation or to purify. And David asks God to purge him with hyssop. And that got me to thinking about why David chose hyssop.

Whenever the priest in the temple had to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice in the midst of the cleansing ritual, he used what we would call a brush. It was made of three parts: the brush was a bundle of hyssop, the handle was cedar wood, and the hyssop was tied to the handle with a scarlet cord.

It’s interesting that the cedar was the highest tree and hyssop was the lowest shrub. One commentator referred to the contrast as the “heavenly nature” and the “earthly nature” of Christ, combine in one and the scarlet cord was the salvation that tied them together in His blood. The fragrant odor of the cedar reminds us that when Jesus offered Himself on the Cross, it was an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour (Eph 5:2). And hyssop is a plant that grows in crevices in stone walls. We see it high above the worshipers at the wailing wall in Jerusalem today. What is interesting about the plant is that its root is no longer than a half an inch and yet the plant can grow up to twenty feet in length.

It’s a clear reminder to us… of all that may grow out of the clinging property of a tiny faith, that is firmly fastened to the rock.

So as David asked God to purge him with hyssop, He was saying… cleanse me by your blood. David was setting forth his faith in God’s righteousness and not his own. He had acknowledged his sin was first and foremost against God.

Ps 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 

David’s asking God to purge him with hyssop is a wonderful reminder for us. When we come before Him in faith in His righteousness, and ask to be forgiven for sinning against Him, and to be purged and cleansed, we need to picture what that meant to David. We are cleansed by the sweet smelling sacrifice of Christ that tied heaven to earth with His blood. It’s our simple faith in that fact, like the hyssop plant clinging to the rock, that His sacrifice cleanses us today. Then we can say with confidence along with David…

Ps 51:7b … and I shall be whiter than snow.