Broken BreadDaily Devotions from the Daily Lightby Evan HopkinsJune 12Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean.--Num. 31:23Water and fire were the means used for ceremonial purification. There were things to be cleansed that could not stand the fire; these were purified by water. And there were other things, such as metals, that could not be purified by water; these were cleansed by fire. The spoils of the Midianites required purification, not only as being tainted with death, but as having been heathen property. But, of course, all this was typical. These laws were intended to impress Israel with the fact that the God of heaven was a holy God, and that they were called to be a holy people. "Whatever is to be brought over from the natural life of passion, into the sanctified life of grace, must be purged by the cleansing virtue of the Atonement (the 'water of seperation,' see Num. 19) and by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nothing which has been contaminated with sin can be turned to Christian use unless it is first sanctified, according to its nature. But, subject to this purifying, all that is not in itself sinful may be adapted to Christian ends and used by Christian people."