NUMBERS

Numbers Chapter 19

• Numbers 19:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
• 2 This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: 
• 3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 
• 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before 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, 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 until the even. 
• 8 And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 
• 9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without 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 gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute forever. 
• 11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
• 12 He shall purify himself with it 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. 

The purpose of the Red Heifer was to cleanse the meeting place and to bear sin and the impurity of Israel. The ashes were to be gathered up and stored in a clean place outside the camp. They were kept for the people of Israel for the water for impurity. This object was the source of the material used for the sanctifying waters that purified Israel. This whole structure was to combine to make the sacrifice of purification. It is followed immediately by the rite of the cleansing of those that were impure by reason of their handling a dead person.

• Numbers 19:13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
• 14 This is the law, when a man dieth 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 hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. 
• :16 And whosoever toucheth 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. 
• 17 And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: 
• 18 And a clean 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 shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 
• 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 hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
• :21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
• 22 And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

The red heifer sacrifice and burning is a type of Christ. The ashes were given to purify or make clean. Even those that were defiled by a dead body were considered unclean. 

Little do we realize what a great service Christ did for all mankind and how necessary His death, burial and resurrection were to insure the cleansing from sin that was separating us from God and the changing of our soul from death to life. 

When we read of the cleansing ordinances and sacrifices they had to do in order to be clean, we see that we must discern between the holy and unholy and between good and evil. God is so holy and pure that we can't come into His presence without first being made clean from sin. We must be sanctified and set apart like the Levites. 

We see though that these ordinances and sacrifices were only temporary. They had to be done over and over again for sin to be cleansed and even then they were not cleansed like those that are cleansed by the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus made the permanent final sacrifice for all sins even for those that died before He came to the earth. 

They were saved by faith too every time they came to the priest and brought a sacrifice for sin. They did this every time they sinned. Their obedience to these laws of ordinances showed their faith in the final perfect sacrifice that was to come by way of the Messiah whom we now know as Jesus or Yeshua.

Jesus opened the way for all who believe no matter what age, what race, what nationality they are. The gospel of Jesus Christ is for all who will simply turn from sin and believe in Him as Lord and savior. 

Since the beginning when Adam sinned against God, the sin passed upon all that were born of man and woman. The exception was Jesus who came to be born of a woman but not of the natural man. 

That sin that we inherited from Adam literally separated us from God. We were lost and on our way to hell that was originally made for the devil and his followers or the angels that fell when Satan fell. This is so when the time was right, all sin would be confined to hell and not be allowed to influence anyone ever again. That time has not yet arrived (October, 2025). 

All who die in a sinful state will enter that place. God sent Jesus Christ to stop this descent into hell but it can only be stopped by those who believe in Jesus and receive His way of salvation. To believe in Jesus is to believe to the point where we desire to stop sinning and start following Him as Lord. Since He literally died for our sins and as a payment for our sins, we in turn have to acknowledge that we have sinned and trust Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

If we think we have no sin and do not need a savior from sin, then we will die lost and enter that place from which there is no escape. We don't have to be lost though but we do have to get to the place where we are tired of sin and want to be cleansed and be reconciled back to our heavenly Father.

We can do all the good deeds we want and try to just stop sinning on our own but that still will not save anyone from hell and separation from God for eternity. There is only one way of salvation and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life. No person can come to the Father except they come through Jesus. 

God would not have allowed His Son to suffer such an agonizing painful death and allow our filthy sin to come upon Him when He was dying on the cross if there had been another way of salvation. 

Do all the good deeds you want but it will not save the soul. 

• 1John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 
• 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 
• 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 
• 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
• 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
• 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 

We must be cleansed from all unrighteousness to enter into eternal life and partake of the presence of God. 

• Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
• 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
• 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 

We can see by studying the old law how serious sin was. So very serious that they would be struck dead if they entered into the place where the presence of God dwelt without the proper preparation. Our preparation is faith in Jesus Christ. It was made a whole lot easier and we can be saved without a priest, Levite or even a prophet. Praise God for this new and living way. 

The Old testament law was given so that we could see how badly we needed a savior from sin. If God had not have preserved this for us, we wouldn't know. We would be in ignorance. 

This is serious stuff. It is more than just a religion. It is life. It is everlasting. We need Jesus Christ without delay in order to inherit the kingdom of God and be part of God. The alternative is not something any of us wants but sin and God does not mix. We see that in both the Old Testament and the New. 

To be reconciled to God we must turn away from sin. The only thing powerful enough to both cleanse from sin and give us victory over any future sin is by repenting of sin and believing in Jesus Christ to save us from sin. There is only one way of salvation. That why is Jesus Christ. We love the Jew, and those in other religions today but there is only one Messiah and that is Jesus Christ. He already came and He is coming again. Jesus, the way the truth and everlasting life. 

Only the power that comes through faith in Jesus is able to save from sin and deliver us from all unrighteousness. If you have believed in Jesus and have received this good way of salvation, seek to be baptized in the Holy Ghost and start following Him. It is a new and living way. Share this good news with a friend. DC