Numbers 19 Devotional

Cleansed from Death's Touch

“Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.”Numbers 19:9 (BSB)

Death is the one thing no one can avoid, and this chapter faces it directly. Touching a dead body, entering a tent where someone has died, or touching a bone or a grave made a person unclean for seven days (19:11, 14, 16).

God provides the remedy himself. A red heifer without defect, never yoked, is slaughtered and burned outside the camp with cedar, hyssop, and scarlet wool, and its ashes are kept ready for making the water of purification (19:2-9). The unclean person is sprinkled on the third and seventh days, and then he is clean (19:12, 19). But refusing the water is serious, because it defiles the LORD's tabernacle (19:13, 20). God takes the stain of death seriously, and he makes cleansing available to anyone who will receive it. Hebrews argues that if a heifer's ashes could restore outward cleanness, Christ's blood does far more, cleansing the conscience for the service of God (Hebrews 9:13-14). The cleansing you need has already been provided.

To think about: What guilt are you trying to scrub away yourself instead of receiving the cleansing Christ offers?