After so many deaths in the camp of Israel, just about
everyone was unclean. Because of their uncleanness, the system of tabernacle
worship was greatly, if not entirely, impinged. So, for the cleansing of the
people, God instituted the famous sacrifice of a red heifer.
Now, this was not
a young bull (as was common among holy sacrifices), nor was it an offering on
the brazen altar, nor was the blood taken into the tabernacle, nor did any part
of the animal become meat for the priests. This was something very different. The whole
animal was slain and burned outside of the camp. The blood was sprinkled 7 times toward the door of the tabernacle, but the rest of the heifer was burned
to ashes along with cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet. And, unlike the other
sacrifices that SANCTIFIED their handlers, the ones who made this sacrifice
were UNCLEAN because of it.
Additionally, it wasn't the blood that was most precious in
this ritual; it was the remaining ashes (Numbers 19:9) which were kept outside
of the camp. So, in other words,
this was not an atoning sacrifice (though atonement was certainly foundational
to any meaning or significance of it). This was a restoration sacrifice. It was
for the ceremonial cleansing of the body (Hebrews 9:13 & 11-16).
Also in Hebrews,
a comparison is drawn between the water-and-ash cleansing of the body and the
water-and-blood cleansing of the conscience. Moses' law dealt with the visible
body; the law of Christ deals with the invisible spirit (Ephesians 4:22-24). Corporeal cleansing for a season of worship
has its place, but incorporeal cleansing is necessary if we hope to worship God
in Spirit now in the midst of a filthy world (John 4:23-24). Which one of us isn't touched and defiled daily
by the deadness of our own nature... not to mention the cursed mortality all
around us?
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