Reading #285
The red cow
This week we read of an almost unknown ritual in the sanctuary service which was not performed in the courtyard or the building. Its results were not immediate, but were stored for future use. I don’t have all the answers regarding its meaning here, for I am still working on it, but I’ll share what I have seen so far.
The apostle Paul refers to this ceremony and tells us something of what it means. “For if the blood of bulls [in the daily] and of goats [in the yearly], and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean [occasionally], sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh [or were used as symbols on earth]: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge [cleanse] your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament [the covenant of grace], that by means of [His] death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament [the old covenant of works], they which are called might RECEIVE the promise of eternal inheritance.” Hebrews 9:13-15.
Here the two covenants are contrasted and their purposes made known. But while doing this, Paul has included the ashes of a heifer as an important part of the earthly sanctifying process! Why?
In the old rituals, the sprinklings of the blood of bulls or goats were not sufficient to show the complete picture of redemption. They covered forgiveness and cleansing from the guilt and power of sin (salvation), but not the POLLUTION of death. For example, in the daily the result of the sin was not cancelled by the blood of the victim, but it simply provided a means to transfer it into the sanctuary close to the presence of God and away from the repentant one. Thus it was ready to be shown to, and removed from Him, in the yearly. Psalm 103:12.
However, for some a sprinkling of ashes was required to complete the work on earth BEFORE the “deaths” caused by sin could be removed from the sanctuary on the scapegoat. (See Leviticus 16 for that.)
Although by “ONE offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified,” (Hebrews 10:14) the sacrifice of the Son of God contains many facets, and they are pictured by the many different animal offerings.
All of these must be used for the complete work to reach its intended goal. This particular sacrifice was a red heifer which represented the more perfect offering that should redeem from the POLLUTION OF SIN [not the guilt].
Let’s look at the old ceremony which helped to complete the picture of the work of atonement. Some may look upon this slaying of a young female virgin cow as a meaningless ceremony, but it was done by the command of God and bears a deep significance that has not lost its application to the present time. The LORD is lifting the veil to give us a clearer insight into His plans.
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Numbers 19:
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: 3 and you shall give her to Eleazar the priest [not Aaron], that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one [a second person] shall slay her before his face [in his presence].
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This heifer was to be red, which was a symbol of the blood of Christ. It must be without spot or blemish, and one that had never borne the yoke of servitude. Here, again, Christ was typified. The sinless Son of God came voluntarily to accomplish the work of atonement. There was no obligatory yoke upon Him, for He was independent and above all law. The angels, as God's intelligent messengers, are under the yoke of obligation to their Creator; no personal sacrifice of theirs could atone for the guilt of fallen man. Christ alone was free from the claims of the law and therefore was the only one who could undertake the redemption of the sinful race. Indeed, He was the only one who had power in Himself to lay down His life and to take it up again. John 10:8. It was He, “who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Philippians 2:6.
In short, it was to reflect His image fully.
The sacrificial heifer was conducted outside the camp and slain in a most imposing and public manner. Thus Christ suffered outside the gates of Jerusalem, for Calvary was outside the city walls. This was to show that Christ did not die for the Hebrews alone, but for all mankind. He proclaims to a fallen world that He has come to be their Redeemer and urges them to accept the fullness of redemption that He offers them.
This glorious Being loves poor sinners and took upon Himself the form of a servant, that He might suffer and die in our place. He might have remained at His Father's right hand, wearing His kingly crown and royal robes, but He chose to exchange all the riches, honour, and glory of heaven for the poverty of humanity, for the horrors of Gethsemane and the humiliation and agony of Calvary. He became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, that by His baptism of suffering and blood He might purify and redeem us.
“Lo, I come,” was His joyful assent, “to do Your will, O My God.” Hebrews 10:7.
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Numbers 19:
4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before [towards] the tabernacle of the congregation seven times. 5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn. 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet [cloth], and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean [separate] until the even.
8 And he that burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean [separate] until the even.
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The heifer having been slain, the priest, clothed in pure white garments, took the blood on his hand (not in a bowl) as it issued from the body of the victim and cast it toward the temple seven times. (The remainder of the blood was burnt with the body.) “And having a high priest over the house of God; let us draw near [to Him] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts [already] sprinkled from an evil conscience [a cleansing of the past], and our bodies washed with pure water [baptism]” expecting great things. Hebrews 10:21-22.
The “blood” of Christ is effective, but it needs to be applied continually which is why the priest sprinkled seven times. God not only wants His servants to use the means He has entrusted to them for His glory, but He desires us to make a full consecration of ourselves to His cause.
To this end the priest threw into the fire three things: Something large and something small to cover everyone, and something to represent sin. “And he [Solomon] spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon [a big tree] even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall [a small plant] . . .” 1 Kings 4:33. “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white as] wool.” Isaiah 1:18.
Having watched till there was nothing left except ashes, these two men then left the scene and returned to their homes.
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Numbers 19:
9 And a [third] man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without[outside] the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a WATER OF SEPARATION: it is a purification for sin.
10 And he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger that sojourns among them, for a statute for ever.
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The entire body of the heifer was burned to ashes, which signified a whole and ample sacrifice. The ashes were then gathered up by a person uncontaminated by contact with the dead (normally a priest, but not necessarily). It was a third man, a special man, who appeared and collected the remains of the burning and stored them away in a special place outside the camp, to be used later whenever required as a means of separation from pollution. Note that this “separation” could apply to the stranger as well as the home-born, and was intended to last forever.
Having done that simple task, the third man departed also.
Now the Spirit tells when and how the ashes were to be used. As we read we need to keep in mind that the wages (result) of sin is death, and that the plan of redemption is to separate us from that. Romans 6:23.
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Numbers 19:
11 He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with it [the ashes] on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean [two cleansings are required, halfway through and at the end of the period].
13 Whosoever touches the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifies not himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel [polluted, but not lost]: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him [and death will be its result].
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This was an occasional sacrifice for the purification of all those who had necessarily or accidentally touched the dead. Such a person need not be guilty of a sin, but the contact with sin’s results would still affect him/her. When they realized that, they could be cleansed by Another.
Thus all who came in contact with death in any way were considered ceremonially unclean, or separated. It was to forcibly impress the minds of the Hebrews (and us) with the fact that death came in consequence of sin and therefore is a representative of sin. The one heifer, the one ark, the one brass serpent, impressively point to the one great offering, the sacrifice of Christ, but this ceremony also shows us a group of people co-operating in different things, and at different times, for its fullness.
When they were needed some of the ashes were placed in a vessel containing water from a running stream. Another clean and pure person, a fourth person (certainly no ordinary human is here depicted), then took a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled the contents of the vessel upon the tent and the people assembled in and around it. As we have seen, sprinkling by hyssop can also represent reading the word of God. Ephesians 5:26. Here we are being shown the continuing effect on our lives that the reading of God’s word combined with a true understanding of His sacrifice, mixed with the guidance of the Spirit, will have.
We have all come “short of the glory of God [by being born in sinful flesh]” (Romans 3:23), so we all need the “ashes”, but unless we know about them and experience the two cleansings we will remain “unclean” on the seventh “day” and will pass through the grave as a result.
This ceremony was repeated twice in order to be thorough and was done as a purification from sin. It is expressly declared that this sacrifice was NOT for forgiveness of sin, but for purification from its result, DEATH. (There was no confession of sin made over it and there was no blood used in the ritual cleansing.)
Thus Christ, in His own spotless righteousness, after shedding His precious blood, entered into the holy place to minister in the heavenly sanctuary. And there the special mixture will be brought into the service of reconciling God to men and women. “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a Minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the LORD pitched [in heaven], and not man. For every [earthly] high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer.” Hebrews 8:1-3.
He is offering a way of escape from the pollution of death!
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Numbers 19:
14 This is the law, when a man dies in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel, which has no covering bound upon it, is unclean. 16 And whosoever touches one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days [this embraces all Christians].
17 And for [such] an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running [living] water [representing the Spirit of God] shall be put thereto in a vessel: 18 and a clean [fourth] person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: 19 and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day.
And on the seventh day he [the unclean person] shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
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This new cleansing person used hyssop, dipping it into the ashes and water and sprinkling the polluted one with this new combination. This ritual symbolised the sacrifice of Christ as used to cleanse us from impurities, and shows how we can experience this. The repeated sprinklings illustrate the thoroughness of the work that must still be accomplished for the repenting sinner AFTER he himself has been forgiven and cleansed from sin. All that he has must also be consecrated. Not only should his own life be washed clean and pure, but he should strive to have his family, his domestic arrangements, his property, and his entire belongings consecrated to God. Only after the entire tent had been sprinkled using the hyssop, could it be written over the door of those cleansed: “I am not my own; LORD, I am Yours.”
It is written of the last generation: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD [without dying]? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Your face, O [God of] Jacob. Selah.” Psalm 24:3-6.
Thus should it be with those who profess to be cleansed by the blood of Christ today. The psalmist, in his prayer, refers to this heifer ceremony when he says: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [from pollution]: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and RENEW a right spirit within me.” Verse 10. “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your free Spirit.” Verse 12. “Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted to You.” Verse 13.
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Numbers 19:
20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean [and must enter the grave].
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A solemn statement was made to ancient Israel that the man who should remain unclean and refuse to purify himself twice should be cut off from among the congregation. This has a special meaning for us today for it shows the difference between resurrection and translation. If it was necessary in ancient times for the unclean to be purified by the sprinkling of the earthly ashes of a red heifer, how essential it must be for those living in the perils of the last days, and exposed to the full temptations of Satan, to have the blood of Christ in its fullness applied to their hearts daily. “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”