Read Numbers 19:1–22
Questions from the Scripture text: Who spoke to whom (Num 1:1)? Whom is he to command (Num 1:2)? To bring what? And give to whom (Num 1:3)? To do what with it? What is Eleazar to do with the blood (Num 1:4)? How many times? Where? Then what must be done to the heifer (Num 1:5)? What must the priest add to the fire (Num 1:6)? What must he do (Num 1:7)? With what effect? What must the one who operated the fire do (Num 1:8)? With what effect? Who must gather what (Num 1:9)? And store them where? For whom/what purpose? And what must this gatherer do (Num 1:10)? With what effect? For how much of Israel’s national and church history would this be maintained? What might happen to whom (Num 1:11)? For how long? On which of these days must what be done (Num 1:12)? What does the presence of such a man among the people do to the tabernacle (Num 1:13, 20)? To avoid this, what must Israel do to such a man? If the water is not sprinkled on him, then what remains on him instead? How else may a man become similarly unclean (Num 1:14)? For how long? What else is unclean with him (Num 1:15)? Where else can this uncleanness be contracted (Num 1:16)? For how long? How is the water for their purification mixed (Num 1:17)? What sort of person must apply it (Num 1:18)? Using what? To whom and what? On which days (Num 1:19)? What must the purified person do on the last day? With what effect? What must the man who applies the water do, on whatever days that he applies it (Num 1:21)? With what effect? Who else is made unclean (Num 1:22)? For how long?What can be done about our uncleanness? Numbers 19:1–22 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ cleanses the unclean.
Purification that God accepts. The great problem that this chapter addresses is found in Num 1:13 and Num 1:20. Because YHWH Himself has made His presence to dwell among Israel in a consecrated, covenantal way, the defiled people in the camp become defilers of the tabernacle and its holy place and holy of holies. Such a person must be cut off from Israel as an assembly (Num 1:13, 20). This is at least excommunication and possibly even execution.
How can their defilement be addressed? God specifies a red heifer here, the color itself communicating further the idea of purifying blood. The cedar wood and scarlet thread and hyssop (v6) have the same associations (cf. Ex 12:22; Lev 14:2, 6, 49). These are to be burned to ash, from which water for purification (Num 1:9) can be mixed as needed (Num 1:17)? By God’s own prescription, an exchange occurs for the unclean man: rather than his uncleanness remaining upon him (Num 1:13), the water of purification is sprinkled upon him (Num 1:12, 18–19). God honors His own prescription by considering the person clean.
Purification that actually works. None of this is because red heifers or any other ingredient here has inherent atoning or cleansing power. It is because God Himself cleanses sinners by the blood of Christ.
David understands this when he cries out to God, regarding his original sin (cf. Ps 51:5) and remaining sin (cf. Ps 51:6) that God would “purge [him] with hyssop and [he] shall be clean” (cf. Ps 51:7). He understands the point that God makes by these rituals: in God’s salvation, He is providing not just forgiveness of sin but cleansing from its power and even presence.
Heb 9:11–14 emphasizes “the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean” in how Christ’s blood cleanses our conscience from our dead works (works that come from our original, sinful nature, and the remaining sinfulness within us). In Christian baptism on earth, there is no application of Christ’s blood to us or mixing of Christ’s ashes with the water to be sprinkled with hyssop. But we understand the use of the same application of water to person to point to the same thing pointed to here: that when Christ pours out His Spirit upon a sinner, the Spirit applies to that sinner the cleansing merits and power of Christ and His blood. (Which the Spirit does by giving life and faith and thereby uniting him to Christ).
So, it was not heifer-ash-water that worked, nor is it Christian-water-baptism that works, but Christ Himself Who works by His Spirit. And the God Who has prescribed each in its season accepts what He has prescribed for the ceremonial/covenantal “cleansing” of His people in each season.
Purification applied to you. In one more important way, the superiority of Christ can be seen in our passage. Uncleanness is profoundly contagious! Not just the one who touches a dead body, or even a part of that dead body or is in a tent with a dead body, is unclean. The priest is made unclean. The one burning the heifer is made unclean. The one who carries the ashes of the heifer is made unclean. Even in the 3rd and 7th day purification rituals, the one applying the water is made unclean. But Christ is not made unclean in offering Himself in our behalf or applying Himself to us! We even saw this signified recently when he took the dead girl by the hand but was not made unclean (cf. Mt 9:25). On another occasion, He touches the open coffin of a widow’s son (cf. Lk 7:14) as He raises him from the dead. He is a Priest of such inherent and pervasive holiness and righteousness that He cannot be defiled but rather cleanses us!
So, dear reader, when you are keenly aware of not just your guilt before God, but your uncleanness before God, come to Christ. Come to God through Christ. Set your mind and heart upon Him Who has shed His blood once for all, and embrace the purification that God has provided for you. Not the blood of bulls and goats or the ashes of a heifer, but “the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” Enjoy the cleansing of your conscience, and devote yourself to the service of the living God!
Purification that God accepts. The great problem that this chapter addresses is found in Num 1:13 and Num 1:20. Because YHWH Himself has made His presence to dwell among Israel in a consecrated, covenantal way, the defiled people in the camp become defilers of the tabernacle and its holy place and holy of holies. Such a person must be cut off from Israel as an assembly (Num 1:13, 20). This is at least excommunication and possibly even execution.
How can their defilement be addressed? God specifies a red heifer here, the color itself communicating further the idea of purifying blood. The cedar wood and scarlet thread and hyssop (v6) have the same associations (cf. Ex 12:22; Lev 14:2, 6, 49). These are to be burned to ash, from which water for purification (Num 1:9) can be mixed as needed (Num 1:17)? By God’s own prescription, an exchange occurs for the unclean man: rather than his uncleanness remaining upon him (Num 1:13), the water of purification is sprinkled upon him (Num 1:12, 18–19). God honors His own prescription by considering the person clean.
Purification that actually works. None of this is because red heifers or any other ingredient here has inherent atoning or cleansing power. It is because God Himself cleanses sinners by the blood of Christ.
David understands this when he cries out to God, regarding his original sin (cf. Ps 51:5) and remaining sin (cf. Ps 51:6) that God would “purge [him] with hyssop and [he] shall be clean” (cf. Ps 51:7). He understands the point that God makes by these rituals: in God’s salvation, He is providing not just forgiveness of sin but cleansing from its power and even presence.
Heb 9:11–14 emphasizes “the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean” in how Christ’s blood cleanses our conscience from our dead works (works that come from our original, sinful nature, and the remaining sinfulness within us). In Christian baptism on earth, there is no application of Christ’s blood to us or mixing of Christ’s ashes with the water to be sprinkled with hyssop. But we understand the use of the same application of water to person to point to the same thing pointed to here: that when Christ pours out His Spirit upon a sinner, the Spirit applies to that sinner the cleansing merits and power of Christ and His blood. (Which the Spirit does by giving life and faith and thereby uniting him to Christ).
So, it was not heifer-ash-water that worked, nor is it Christian-water-baptism that works, but Christ Himself Who works by His Spirit. And the God Who has prescribed each in its season accepts what He has prescribed for the ceremonial/covenantal “cleansing” of His people in each season.
Purification applied to you. In one more important way, the superiority of Christ can be seen in our passage. Uncleanness is profoundly contagious! Not just the one who touches a dead body, or even a part of that dead body or is in a tent with a dead body, is unclean. The priest is made unclean. The one burning the heifer is made unclean. The one who carries the ashes of the heifer is made unclean. Even in the 3rd and 7th day purification rituals, the one applying the water is made unclean. But Christ is not made unclean in offering Himself in our behalf or applying Himself to us! We even saw this signified recently when he took the dead girl by the hand but was not made unclean (cf. Mt 9:25). On another occasion, He touches the open coffin of a widow’s son (cf. Lk 7:14) as He raises him from the dead. He is a Priest of such inherent and pervasive holiness and righteousness that He cannot be defiled but rather cleanses us!
So, dear reader, when you are keenly aware of not just your guilt before God, but your uncleanness before God, come to Christ. Come to God through Christ. Set your mind and heart upon Him Who has shed His blood once for all, and embrace the purification that God has provided for you. Not the blood of bulls and goats or the ashes of a heifer, but “the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” Enjoy the cleansing of your conscience, and devote yourself to the service of the living God!
Questions for Application
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for providing to us a purification ritual that You accept, and that is applied to us just the once. Please continue to apply Christ to our consciences by the ongoing work of Your Spirit in our lives. Keep us from being polluted by sin, and keep cleansing us suntil You have completed Your work of sanctification in us and fit us for glory, we ask through Christ, our Priest and sacrifice, AMEN!What are times that your conscience was defiled before God—that you knew and felt that you had done wrongly before Him? In such circumstances, what use can you make of your baptism, and God’s own view of it? How does Psalm 51 help you understand how to make use of the outward ritual in relating directly to God?
Suggested songs: ARP51A “God, Be Merciful to Me” or TPH51C “God, Be Merciful to Me”
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