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Numbers 19; Instant Purification, Just Add Water
2026.05.03 Numbers 19; Instant Purification, Just Add Water ;Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260503_numbers-19.mp3
Defiling Death and the Wages of Sin
We’re in Numbers 19; the Lord brought his people to the border of his promised land, but in Numbers 13 they rejected their Lord, his land, and his leaders. God offered them freedom, relationship, the abundant life, and they chose slavery, alienation, and ultimately death. That whole generation would die in the wilderness. Dathan and Abiram died for their rebellion. Korah and his followers died before the Lord. The Lord struck down 14,700 Israelites before Aaron could run into the midst of the people and make atonement for them. In the coming chapters, Miriam will die, Aaron will die, at the end of Deuteronomy even Moses will die. Death will characterize the next 40 years in the wilderness.
Death is not what God meant for humanity. The wages of sin is death. God meant for us to enjoy relationship with him, but we chose to do things our own way, determine for ourselves what was good or evil. We refused to embrace his loving leadership, and we brought death into his good world. Death is the epitome of all that is wrong with the world, and a picture of our ultimate separation from the goodness of God. Death is contagious, contaminating, defiling. Death is excluded from God’s presence. In Numbers 5 God instructed the people to cleanse the camp, and that included putting outside the camp those who were defiled by contact with the dead. In Numbers 9, there were some defiled by contact with a dead body, who were excluded from keeping the Passover.
Numbers 19 graciously gives the procedure for cleansing those unclean through defilement from contact with death, and as we’ve seen throughout Numbers, this points far beyond the Old Testament, to the fulfillment and true cleansing that is only found in Jesus.
The first half of Numbers 19 gives this strange procedure for preparing ashes to be used in cleansing, and the second half describes how these ashes are to be utilized in cleansing from the defilement of death.
The Ashes of a Red Heifer
Numbers 19:1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.
There are several unique things about what verse 9 calls ‘a sin offering’. Leviticus 4 gives the standard procedure for sin offering; a bull (a male not a female) is to be sacrificed at the tabernacle (not outside the camp). The one who sinned is to lay his hand on the head of the animal to identify with it; this sacrifice is rather a preparation intended to be applied to cleanse future defilement. Similarly to the regular sin offering, the blood is sprinkled seven times with the finger, but in Leviticus the blood is sprinkled before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary, not outside the camp, in the direction of the tabernacle. In Leviticus, some of the blood is applied to the horns of the incense altar, and the rest is poured on the ground at the base of the sacrificial altar, but in this sacrifice the blood is burned with the animal. In Leviticus, some of the animal is burned on the sacrificial altar in the tabernacle, and the rest is burned outside the camp; this animal is entirely burned outside the camp.
Some other differences; the color of the cow is specified to be red, whereas the usual sin offering was simply to be an animal without blemish. This procedure includes the burning of cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn along with the animal, items that were used in the cleansing of infectious skin diseases or spreading mildew or mold in a house in Leviticus 14.
The priest oversees this sacrifice, sprinkles the blood, and adds the cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn, but he is not doing the majority of the work of this sacrifice. It seems there is involvement by several not-priestly Israelites; one who slaughters and burns the animal, and another who collects the ashes and stores them for future use. It is also interesting that each one involved in this process of preparing ashes for cleansing becomes himself ceremonially unclean, and must wash his clothes and bathe and be unclean until evening.
Unlike the regular sin offering which is immediately effective for the one who offers the sacrifice, this sacrifice is intended to provide a way to cleanse the future defilement of future sinners.
Application of the Purifying Ashes
The rest of this chapter describes how this sacrifice was to be applied.
Numbers 19:11 “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. 14 “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel. 18 Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. 19 And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. 20 “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. 21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22 And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
The ashes of the burnt sin offering were to be mixed with fresh water (literally living water) and the cleansing water was to be sprinkled with hyssop by a clean person on the unclean person on the third and seventh day, and they would be cleansed. This cleansing was readily available to all; both to the Israelite, and to any foreigner who identifies with them. It could be administered by any ceremonially clean person.
Consequences of Neglect
But the consequences of neglect, of failing to apply the provided remedy is also clearly stated; ‘if he does not cleanse himself …he will not become clean.’ ‘Whoever …does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel …he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.’ (19:12-13) ‘If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.’ (19:20). A failure to be cleansed from the defilement of death meant death.
Moses Wrote of Jesus
What’s the point of all this? Just some ancient trivia about an antiquated Israelite ritual, completely obsolete, obscure and irrelevant?
Remember, Jesus claimed ‘if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me’ (Jn.5:46).
John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
How does this strange ritual point us to Jesus?
Death Conquered
Death is contagious, contaminating, defiling; the danger of contact with death is that we too will die. Spiritual death ultimately separates us from God’s good presence.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, … 3 …and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Numbers 19 offers a way to be cleansed from the contamination of death. But Jesus does more; he cleanses us not only from the uncleanness which comes from contact with death, Jesus grants us immunity from death; he inoculates us against the ultimate power and penalty of death;
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
1 Corinthians 15:54 … “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Guilt Exchanged for Cleansing
How does Jesus guarantee eternal life to sinners who believe in him? One thing we see in this ritual is that the ones who make and apply the sacrifice become unclean, and the unclean one to whom the sacrifice is applied is made clean. Contact with this sacrifice cleanses the defiled and defiles the clean. But we know there is only one who is truly clean. Peter says
1 Peter 2:22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. …24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says:
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Hebrews 9 compares and contrasts the blood of Christ with the animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant.
Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The cleansing of Christ is greater! How much more! Not mere outward ceremonial, but inward transformation, transforming our heart, purifying our conscience.
David, after committing adultery and murder, sins not covered by any sacrifice in the Old Testament, cried out for this kind of cleansing;
Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Outside The Camp
This sacrifice was unique in that the entire thing happened outside the camp, the place to which those who were unclean were sent. Hebrews 13 highlights the fact that:
Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Like the high priest in chapter 16, who did not stay at a safe distance from death but ran into the midst of the congregation to take his stand between the dead and the living, Jesus comes down to us, he meets us right where we are, in our hopelessness, brokenness and need.
Instant Cleansing; Just Add Water
But sometimes we struggle to believe how something that happened so long ago can have any relevance for us. How can Jesus’ death 2000 years ago apply to us today?
This red heifer sacrifice was a form of dehydrated forgiveness, instant cleansing, just add water! There was no expiration date. The sacrifice could have been made yesterday or years ago, and it was just as potent as the day it was made. This was a sacrifice that was by its very nature pre-made to forgive future offenses.
The ashes were to be activated with living water. In Jeremiah (2:13; 17:13) YHWH God claims to be the fountain of living water. Jesus offered living water to the sinful Samaritan woman in the heat of the day (Jn.4:10). He said in John 7
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The Holy Spirit takes the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and makes it active; he brings the cleansing power of the blood of Christ to bear for you today! It is the power of the Spirit who applies Jesus’ sacrifice made in the past to effect cleansing in us today.
This cleansing water is readily available, but it must be applied. It was to be applied with hyssop, the same plant the Israelites used that first Passover in faith to apply the blood of the lamb to their doorposts to protect them from God’s coming wrath.
The merit of Jesus’ death is available to us today; it is freely available, and it has not lost any of its cleansing power, but it must be applied. It must be applied individually, personally. The consequences on the one who does not take the graciously provided cleansing water and cleanse himself are severe. That one is unclean, his uncleanness is still on him, and he shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
Ambassadors for Jesus
Here’s a beautiful thing; any clean person was qualified to apply this cleansing to the one who needs to be cleansed. You don’t have to be a priest. You only have to have yourself been cleansed, and now you can extend his cleansing power to those around you.
***
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
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By Rodney Zedicher2026.05.03 Numbers 19; Instant Purification, Just Add Water ;Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260503_numbers-19.mp3
Defiling Death and the Wages of Sin
We’re in Numbers 19; the Lord brought his people to the border of his promised land, but in Numbers 13 they rejected their Lord, his land, and his leaders. God offered them freedom, relationship, the abundant life, and they chose slavery, alienation, and ultimately death. That whole generation would die in the wilderness. Dathan and Abiram died for their rebellion. Korah and his followers died before the Lord. The Lord struck down 14,700 Israelites before Aaron could run into the midst of the people and make atonement for them. In the coming chapters, Miriam will die, Aaron will die, at the end of Deuteronomy even Moses will die. Death will characterize the next 40 years in the wilderness.
Death is not what God meant for humanity. The wages of sin is death. God meant for us to enjoy relationship with him, but we chose to do things our own way, determine for ourselves what was good or evil. We refused to embrace his loving leadership, and we brought death into his good world. Death is the epitome of all that is wrong with the world, and a picture of our ultimate separation from the goodness of God. Death is contagious, contaminating, defiling. Death is excluded from God’s presence. In Numbers 5 God instructed the people to cleanse the camp, and that included putting outside the camp those who were defiled by contact with the dead. In Numbers 9, there were some defiled by contact with a dead body, who were excluded from keeping the Passover.
Numbers 19 graciously gives the procedure for cleansing those unclean through defilement from contact with death, and as we’ve seen throughout Numbers, this points far beyond the Old Testament, to the fulfillment and true cleansing that is only found in Jesus.
The first half of Numbers 19 gives this strange procedure for preparing ashes to be used in cleansing, and the second half describes how these ashes are to be utilized in cleansing from the defilement of death.
The Ashes of a Red Heifer
Numbers 19:1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.
There are several unique things about what verse 9 calls ‘a sin offering’. Leviticus 4 gives the standard procedure for sin offering; a bull (a male not a female) is to be sacrificed at the tabernacle (not outside the camp). The one who sinned is to lay his hand on the head of the animal to identify with it; this sacrifice is rather a preparation intended to be applied to cleanse future defilement. Similarly to the regular sin offering, the blood is sprinkled seven times with the finger, but in Leviticus the blood is sprinkled before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary, not outside the camp, in the direction of the tabernacle. In Leviticus, some of the blood is applied to the horns of the incense altar, and the rest is poured on the ground at the base of the sacrificial altar, but in this sacrifice the blood is burned with the animal. In Leviticus, some of the animal is burned on the sacrificial altar in the tabernacle, and the rest is burned outside the camp; this animal is entirely burned outside the camp.
Some other differences; the color of the cow is specified to be red, whereas the usual sin offering was simply to be an animal without blemish. This procedure includes the burning of cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn along with the animal, items that were used in the cleansing of infectious skin diseases or spreading mildew or mold in a house in Leviticus 14.
The priest oversees this sacrifice, sprinkles the blood, and adds the cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn, but he is not doing the majority of the work of this sacrifice. It seems there is involvement by several not-priestly Israelites; one who slaughters and burns the animal, and another who collects the ashes and stores them for future use. It is also interesting that each one involved in this process of preparing ashes for cleansing becomes himself ceremonially unclean, and must wash his clothes and bathe and be unclean until evening.
Unlike the regular sin offering which is immediately effective for the one who offers the sacrifice, this sacrifice is intended to provide a way to cleanse the future defilement of future sinners.
Application of the Purifying Ashes
The rest of this chapter describes how this sacrifice was to be applied.
Numbers 19:11 “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. 14 “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel. 18 Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. 19 And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. 20 “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. 21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22 And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
The ashes of the burnt sin offering were to be mixed with fresh water (literally living water) and the cleansing water was to be sprinkled with hyssop by a clean person on the unclean person on the third and seventh day, and they would be cleansed. This cleansing was readily available to all; both to the Israelite, and to any foreigner who identifies with them. It could be administered by any ceremonially clean person.
Consequences of Neglect
But the consequences of neglect, of failing to apply the provided remedy is also clearly stated; ‘if he does not cleanse himself …he will not become clean.’ ‘Whoever …does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel …he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.’ (19:12-13) ‘If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.’ (19:20). A failure to be cleansed from the defilement of death meant death.
Moses Wrote of Jesus
What’s the point of all this? Just some ancient trivia about an antiquated Israelite ritual, completely obsolete, obscure and irrelevant?
Remember, Jesus claimed ‘if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me’ (Jn.5:46).
John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
How does this strange ritual point us to Jesus?
Death Conquered
Death is contagious, contaminating, defiling; the danger of contact with death is that we too will die. Spiritual death ultimately separates us from God’s good presence.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, … 3 …and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Numbers 19 offers a way to be cleansed from the contamination of death. But Jesus does more; he cleanses us not only from the uncleanness which comes from contact with death, Jesus grants us immunity from death; he inoculates us against the ultimate power and penalty of death;
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
1 Corinthians 15:54 … “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Guilt Exchanged for Cleansing
How does Jesus guarantee eternal life to sinners who believe in him? One thing we see in this ritual is that the ones who make and apply the sacrifice become unclean, and the unclean one to whom the sacrifice is applied is made clean. Contact with this sacrifice cleanses the defiled and defiles the clean. But we know there is only one who is truly clean. Peter says
1 Peter 2:22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. …24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says:
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Hebrews 9 compares and contrasts the blood of Christ with the animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant.
Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The cleansing of Christ is greater! How much more! Not mere outward ceremonial, but inward transformation, transforming our heart, purifying our conscience.
David, after committing adultery and murder, sins not covered by any sacrifice in the Old Testament, cried out for this kind of cleansing;
Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Outside The Camp
This sacrifice was unique in that the entire thing happened outside the camp, the place to which those who were unclean were sent. Hebrews 13 highlights the fact that:
Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Like the high priest in chapter 16, who did not stay at a safe distance from death but ran into the midst of the congregation to take his stand between the dead and the living, Jesus comes down to us, he meets us right where we are, in our hopelessness, brokenness and need.
Instant Cleansing; Just Add Water
But sometimes we struggle to believe how something that happened so long ago can have any relevance for us. How can Jesus’ death 2000 years ago apply to us today?
This red heifer sacrifice was a form of dehydrated forgiveness, instant cleansing, just add water! There was no expiration date. The sacrifice could have been made yesterday or years ago, and it was just as potent as the day it was made. This was a sacrifice that was by its very nature pre-made to forgive future offenses.
The ashes were to be activated with living water. In Jeremiah (2:13; 17:13) YHWH God claims to be the fountain of living water. Jesus offered living water to the sinful Samaritan woman in the heat of the day (Jn.4:10). He said in John 7
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The Holy Spirit takes the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and makes it active; he brings the cleansing power of the blood of Christ to bear for you today! It is the power of the Spirit who applies Jesus’ sacrifice made in the past to effect cleansing in us today.
This cleansing water is readily available, but it must be applied. It was to be applied with hyssop, the same plant the Israelites used that first Passover in faith to apply the blood of the lamb to their doorposts to protect them from God’s coming wrath.
The merit of Jesus’ death is available to us today; it is freely available, and it has not lost any of its cleansing power, but it must be applied. It must be applied individually, personally. The consequences on the one who does not take the graciously provided cleansing water and cleanse himself are severe. That one is unclean, his uncleanness is still on him, and he shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
Ambassadors for Jesus
Here’s a beautiful thing; any clean person was qualified to apply this cleansing to the one who needs to be cleansed. You don’t have to be a priest. You only have to have yourself been cleansed, and now you can extend his cleansing power to those around you.
***
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org