The Cleansing Water

Leviticus 12:1-8, 14:1–32, 5:13-30, Numbers 19:1–22

 Numbers 19:9 “Then someone who is ceremonially clean will gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a purified place outside the camp. They will be kept there for the community of Israel to use in the water for the purification ceremony. This ceremony is performed for the removal of sin.”

 DO you wonder why there are so many laws with so many stipulations? The short answer is sin. Think of it. When God created the world, he had three laws for Adam and Eve to obey. But then came the soul’s fall into death. When we look at the world and the human condition, isn’t there an endless number of ways we error in our relationship with God and with one another? The law is the LORD’s grace,  offering the means for mankind to be right with God and each other.

   Numbers 19:9 concludes the instructions to kill and burn a red heifer to purify one from touching a dead body. The resulting ashes would literally make the water of purification more effective as a cleansing agent. A heifer also is symbolic of the female bearing and continuing life. The ceremony is to point to the continuity of life after a family member had died.
   Red suggested both the cost of sin and the color of the ground from which Adam was created. The unblemished heifer, never used for work, was the sign of purity. And as in all sacrifices, the pure animal died for the sin of the impure congregation.
   Cedar wood was used to burn the heifer. This wood, less subject to decay, also represented continuing life.
   These and other elements listed in Leviticus 19 signified all that strengthened life. Let’s look to this purifying ceremony as a reminder we must be pure before our Lord Jesus Christ. He has died outside the camp to become the cleansing Living Water. He is our great High Priest whose red blood purifies our souls.