“The person who remains unclean and does not purify himself will be cut off from the community because he has defiled the sanctuary of Adonai. The water for purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.”-Numbers 19:20
Okay, today we’re going to wrap up Numbers 19 (hopefully).
The concluding statement of this chapter concerning the Red Heifer sacrifice is crystal clear.
After touching a corpse, anyone who does not purify themselves by having the mixture of Red Heifer ashes and water sprinkled on them will be cut-off or KARET in Hebrew.
Not only will their relationship with the congregation of Israel be terminated but their relationship with God, the source of all life, will also end.
Why is the penalty so severe?
Again, verse 20 gives us the answer: “…because he has defiled the sanctuary of Adonai”.
In some way, when a person becomes defiled from touching a dead body, it results in defiling God’s HOLY sanctuary and that cannot be permitted.
Again, understand that it is the defilement of God’s sanctuary that’s at stake here.
The whole purpose of the Red Heifer sacrifice was to purify God’s HOLY Sanctuary.
Now you may be thinking, if the purpose of the Red Heifer sacrifice was to purify the Sanctuary, why is the Red Heifer mixture of ashes and water applied to a human being to purify him after he touches a corpse?
This is something the ancient Jewish sages didn’t seem to have an explanation for.
The best answer they could seem to come up with is that it was a HOLY decree from God and that we just have to accept it.
Well, I’m going to do a Jewish thing here and answer a question with a question.
In light of the New Covenant revelation, what (or who) is now considered to be the Tabernacle or Temple of the Living God?
Check out some of these verses from the Brit Hadashah (New Testament).
“Don’t you know that you yourselves
are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit
dwells in your midst?”
1 Corinthians 3:16
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,
in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God-–
this is your true and proper worship.”
-Romans 12:1
“For we that are in this tabernacle do groan,
being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon,
that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”
-2 Corinthians 5:4
My whole point is that aren’t we now told that we as believers are living and breathing Tabernacles or Temples of God?
Aren’t we also told that the Holy Spirit of God indwells in these fleshly Tabernacles we currently inhabit (our bodies)?
Possibly the ancient Jewish sages couldn’t yet see what has now become clear in hindsight, that after the sacrifice of Messiah, God would leave the Sanctuary built by men and through His Holy Spirit actually make men sanctuaries themselves.
I’m not going to be dogmatic with that last statement but according to my best understanding that seems to be the case.
Now here’s another key question I need to ask.
Just as a person who was contaminated by a corpse had to be purified lest he defile God’s sanctuary, would it not logically follow that before the HOLY Spirit of God can indwell a believer today, he or she also has to be purified?
Next, let me ask you this.
What were the purifying God-ordained chemical elements of the Red Heifer ritual?
They were blood and water, right.
When I say blood, I’m referring to the blood that was inside the ashes of the Red Heifer.
Remember, for this sacrifice, the blood was NOT drained from the animal.
So when the Red Heifer was burned to a crisp outside the camp, although dried up at the end, you ended up with thoroughly blood-soaked ashes in a sense.
Now what specific observation was pointed out in the Book of John concerning Yeshua’s crucifixion?
“But one of the soldiers
pierced His side with a spear,
and immediately blood and water
came out.”
-John 19:34
Why such a detailed wording that BOTH “blood” and “water” came out?
Well, because blood ATONES and water PURIFIES.
Both actions were needed when God’s HOLY sanctuary (of which we are now) became defiled.
However, understand with the Red Heifer sacrifice we’re studying here in Numbers 19, the ashes and water concoction was LITERALLY sprinkled onto the contaminated person who had touched a corpse.
Obviously, concerning Yeshua’s sacrifice, we cannot literally sprinkle his blood and water onto us, so such statements in the New Testament must be taken metaphorically.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Yeshua,
his son, purifies us from all sin.”
-1 John 1:7
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN NUMBERS CHAPTER TWENTY
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