8-5-16. Numbers 19:1-22.  KNOWING THE SERIOUSNESS OF SIN-my devotional

Numbers 19:1-22            Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse 19:9                8-5-16

“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.” (NIV)

In this passage we will see how the Lord set his people from the crippling grip of sin and set them free to serve their calling as a Kingdom of Priests and a holy nation. It is reveled to us in the account of the ashes of the red heifer. God taught the people the seriousness of sin and ho serious it is to stay away from sin. We need to be re-sensitized to the seriousness of sin. But if one gets contaminated sin, God provides a costly means to be cleansed.

Part 1: The Ashes Of The Red Heifer (1-10)

Verses 1-10 read, “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening. 9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.”  (NIV)

The Israelites were stagnating in their walk with the Lord. Not only stagnant, but their sin was toxic and destructive. They were overcome with a spirit of complaining and rebellion. They seemed to have no problem with what sin was doing in their lives despite of God’s amazing grace. They forgot how grievous sin was to their God. Their insensitivity to sin was blinding them spiritually. They were helpless to overcome. What were they going to do.? God set out to help them to come out of the spiritual rut that sin had caused. One way he did this was through the burnt sacrifice of the red heifer.

First, the people had to know how serious sin is. A red heifer was brought.. Let’s consider its characteristics. First, the sacrifice was valuable. Look at verse 2, “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.”  The sacrifice was a red heifer. It was not a sick and dying rat, but a strong and vibrant heifer. I am not sure what the significance of it being red is. This heifer would have been highly valued among the nomadic Israelites. It was not easy to offer up such a valued animal for sacrifice.

Second, it was perfect. Look at verse 2b, “…a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.”  This heifer was without defect. Again, it was a prized animal.

Third, it was attractive and enthralling. This heifer never knew the yoke. It was free. It’s psyche as not damaged from years of forced labor.  It did not know what it meant to be forced to work. It never experienced the farmer’s lashes, forcing it to pull a plow. There is something that attracts us to something that has never been domesticated. There is a certain beauty about it. It attracts us. Maybe it represents something that our hearts long for…innocence and freedom. This heifer was an offering that pleased the Lord.

I might be reaching too far here, but the heifer may represent what God hoped for his people. God’s hope for his people they may be perfect in his sight and holy. God hoped for his people to be free. He highly valued his people. Knowing they were a very necessary part of his redemptive plan.

God also set out to show that sin is contaminating and must be avoided. Somehow handling this cow and its ashes made a person ceremonially unclean. Eleazar the priest had to be ceremonially cleansed, after slaughtering the cow and sprinkling its blood. He had to purify himself before returning to the camp. Even after purifying himself, he was unclean for seven days. A ceremonially clean man must sweep up and transport the ashes. This duty made him unclean too. He had become contaminated. He had to wash his clothes and remain ceremonially unclean until evening.

God set out to teach the Israelites something about the nature of sin. Sin contaminates our bodies, our homes and our relationship with God. Sin contaminates things that should remain holy. Sin contaminates people. It contaminates the things of God. It contaminates our relationship with God.  It is an affront to the holy God.

Sin contaminates things so much, that it requires a complicated process to be purified. This whole cleansing process seems excessive. But it shows us how extremely holy God is. It also shows us serious God is to make and keep things holy. If sin so easily contaminates, then it is definitely something to be avoided. It has no place, anywhere, in the sight of the holy God and with his people.

Sin is serious. It separates us from God (Isa 59:2). “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.” God taught them that sin cannot be treated lightly. Sin is toxic and contaminating. But if contaminated, God provided a costly means to be cleansed. These verses prescribe the preparation of the special water to be used in purification from sin (9c; Heb 9:22). The water for cleansing was prepared from the ashes of a blood sacrifice. Its ashes were used in purification rites. Everyone who dealt with the ashes had to purify themselves. It was an offering that symbolize Jesus in several aspects, but not all aspects. Jesus was the innocent sacrifice with sin. He was also highly esteemed. The blood sacrifices do look forward to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus on the cross reveals how much God hates sin.

But Jesus is known as the Lamb of God and NOT the cow of God. Jesus was a servant of all and submitted himself to suffering. He was not like the red heifer, who was running freely and never placed under the yoke. And so there are some parallels, but not complete parallels.

God allowed for meditating on the deep meaning of the rituals. Restoration of a person was only possible after an application of the ashes of the red heifer on the third day and on the seventh day. The three days prior to the first purging helped the person to really think about how much God hates sin. The four days prior to the second and final application of the ashes and running water helped the person to realize the effectiveness of the ceremony to cleanse them and  the wonders of the grace it provided. – (Williams) As God’s people we need to stop and think about what God has accomplished for us through the forgiveness of our sins. This is part of what it means to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1)

Part 2: Death…The Final Expression Of Sin In This World (11-22)

Verses 11-22, “11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the Lord’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them. 14 “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean. 16 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17 “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20 But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them. “The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.” (NIV)

In this part, we see a lot of references to death. Death was the strongest defilement because it is the final result of sin. It was the final result of sin in this world, (but not in eternity for there will be judgment.) When a person touched a dead body they were unable to approach God in worship. Death contaminated everything.

Sin bears many different types of fruit. There is fear and despair anger etc. But the ultimate fruit of sin is death. Death comes to us because of sin. Anything to do with death defiles. “The soul who sins is the one who dies.”  (Ezek 18:20) The fruit of sin must be avoided. Through touching a corpse, and not going through the ritualistic washing, meant that a person would be cut off from Israel. (13a) They would be cut off from the community.(20a) The consequences of coming in contact with death as not simply a personal matter; it involved the whole congregation, and even affected God himself, for the defilement, caused by sin even spread to the sanctuary.

There is transference of sin. Anyone who touches the heifer or the ashes of the heifer becomes unclean. Sin has been transferred to them by the mere touching of things associated with sin and death. Verse 13. The ashes were to be mixed with the water and then applied to that which was polluted. Verse 15, if the vessel was uncovered, its contents were polluted by the odor of death. – Pulpit. Verse 16. Even if a centuries old bone is touched it will defile the individual who touched it. It will mean their exclusion fro the camp for seven days and the purification process must done.

God wants us to think about the affects of sin. Look at verse 19, “The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.”  Restoration of the person, tents, jars and furnishings could only be possible by applying a slurry of the ashes of the red heifer. When it had been burnt on the altar, its ashes were used to purify water for ceremonial cleansing. It was symbolic. This ritual purified the unclean person so that once again they could offer sacrifices and worship God. It had to be offered by someone who was not unclean. The unclean person then washed himself, and also his clothes and belongings, with this purified water as an act of becoming clean again. The whole process was to emphasize how awful sin is. This is a symbolic way of showing the seriousness of sin and how highly contaminating it is. It also shows how God provides a way to be cleansed of sin. God accepted this symbolic ceremony when it is done with faith.

These regulations remind us that death is an enemy that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ defeats. A person who becomes unclean must purify himself, or he will be cut off from the people. Sin separates people from people. It separates people from God. The blood of Christ cleanses us so that we may serve the living God (Heb 9:13,14).

The point is, stay away from sin and if your do sin, care about it and make it right by coming to Jesus. Those who minister to others, also must care about the affects of sin and come to Jesus for cleansing.

Lord, I become desensitized to sin. Thank you for reminding me to avoid sin as I follow you.

One Word: Be sensitive to the seriousness of sin