Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: "This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and offal. The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening."
"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the aliens living among them."
"Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Whoever touches the dead body of anyone and fails to purify himself defiles the Lord's tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean; his uncleanness remains on him."
"This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean."
"Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days."
"For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or someone who has been killed or someone who has died a natural death. The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify him. The person being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and that evening he will be clean. But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, and he is unclean. This is a lasting ordinance for them."
"The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening." Numbers 19
Numbers 19 addresses the matter of purification as it applies to contact with either human beings or animals that are dead.
This isn’t the first time we have seen the matter of cleanliness and purification addressed in the Old Testament. You’ll remember that throughout the book of Leviticus that God gave specific direction on how the Israelites were to handle matters of uncleanliness and you’ll also recall how much of a key role the Chief Priest played in making determinations of cleanliness after matters of uncleanliness.
Here, the theme once again is in how to deal with contact with anything dead. The timing isn’t by accident. For many Israelites died at the hands of God’s wrath after Korah’s rebellion, many of which dying by the plague before Moses and Aaron interceded and convinced God to stop His punishment.
So why so much concern about contact with anything dead?
There were two key reasons why a priority was placed on this…one physical and one spiritual.
First, the physical reason. Anything found dead could possibly carry with it disease or infectious bacteria that could be passed onto anyone who touched or handled the body or carcass. Unchecked, a person could contract something from the dead and carry it into the camp where others would be infected. Keep in mind there weren’t great health facilities back in the days of the Old Testament. A breakout of a deadly, infectious disease could potentially wipe out the entire Israelite nation. God’s strict guidance for dealing with uncleanliness helped protect His people from potential disaster.
Spiritually, death was connected to sin and thus contact with anything dead was considered defilement for the person making contact. Purification through the washing of not only oneself but one’s garments was symbolic of washing away the defilement contracted by touching the dead.
One other very interesting matter in this particular passage is the symbolic connection to Jesus, particularly in the opening verses where the red heifer was sacrificed and burned with some very special items added. The resultant ash would be mixed with water during the cleansing process. Let’s look at the special connection, proving once again that the Old Testament is indeed more than relevant and contains so many connection points to our Savior.
The connection begins with the red heifer. God has mentioned sacrifices many times over before now but this was different in that He specifies color (red) and the type of cow (heifer) required. The color red symbolizes blood and the fact that the cow was an unblemished heifer, a cow that had never been pregnant, represented purity and uniqueness. It would be rare to find such an animal that was red and a heifer and without defect.
Consider now that Jesus was pure and unblemished…His red blood poured out to pay the price for all sinners of the world. His sacrifice led to our cleansing by way of His shed blood…just as the red heifer would shed blood as it was sacrificed to ultimately purify and cleanse the Israelites. Need scriptural reinforcement for this? Paul gives it to us in His letter to the Hebrews. He said,
"For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14) Indeed, how much more has the blood of Jesus washed us all white as snow and made us whole again? Truly as the beautiful hymn proclaims, "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
As if this weren’t enough, there’s more. For note the items that were to be burned along with the red heifer…cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet.
Cedar wood was very resistant to disease and rot, thus making it a precious and valuable wood. The wood is symbolic of the cross that Jesus was nailed to and some believe the cross itself was made out of cedar wood.
Hyssop was used several times in the scriptures. You’ll remember that a hyssop branch was used to spread the blood around the door posts before God came through Egypt on the Passover. You’ll also remember that hyssop was present at the cross as the Roman guards offered Jesus a drink on a hyssop branch.
Finally, the scarlet was once again a symbolic reference to the blood of Jesus. We also see scarlet used in the veil and curtains of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:31), in the garments of the high priest (Exodus 28:5-6), the covering for the table of showbread (Numbers 4:8), the sign of Rahab’s salvation (Joshua 2:21), and the color of the mocking "king’s robe" put on Jesus at His torture by the soldiers (Matthew 27:28).
Question: Do you know the One who was sent by the Father to be crucified and sacrificed as payment for your sins? Do you acknowledge the heavy price paid…a price paid in shed blood that provided you with salvation and a hope for life eternal after this worldly life ends?
Friends, Jesus was the final sacrifice needed for purification. The shed blood from the Lamb of God who indeed came to take away the sins of the world was sufficient to cover us all. Thanks be to God for His Son who washed us all white as snow with His blood. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment