Numbers 19
McGeeCHAPTER 19THEME: The offering and ashes of the red heiferWe come now to one of the most interesting offerings. It is called the offering of the red heifer, and it is most unusual.
Numbers 19:1
THE OFFERING AND ASHES OF THE RED HEIFERThis is the first time an offering is to be a female animal.
Numbers 19:3
Now what is the purpose of this?
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How was this to be used?
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This is an unusual ordinance, and it sounds very strange, but there is a good reason for it. When the children of Israel were on the march and a man sinned, they couldn’t stop right there, put up the tabernacle, and go through the ritual of offering a trespass offering or a sin offering. So what were they to do when a man sinned on the way? They would take the ashes of this heifer, mix those ashes with running water, then with hyssop sprinkle the individual who had sinned. That sounds very strange, doesn’t it? But that was the way God dealt with sin for those people. Let me tell you another strange incident. When our Lord Jesus Christ went into the Upper Room with His disciples, the first thing He did was to get a basin of water and wash the disciples’ feet. Now why did He do that? He tells Simon Peter the reason. “…If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (Joh_13:8). If the Lord Jesus had not washed the feet of Peter, Peter could not have fellowship with Him. He had come from the Father and He was going back to the Father. “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself” (Joh_13:3-4). Jesus Christ has gone back to the Father now, and He is still girded with the towel of service. The basin of water is the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is the One who applies it, and the hyssop speaks of faith. When you and I sin today, Christ is not going to die all over again. We are told, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1Jn_1:7). That “light” is the Word of God. If we walk in the light, what do we see? We see that we are dirty and that we need cleaning. The Spirit of God convicts us.
The Word tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, will keep on cleansing us from all these sins. But the water of the Word and the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ must be applied to us. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn_1:9). He died down here to save us. He lives up yonder to keep us saved. When Jesus Christ died for our sins, He did not die only for those sins up to the time we came to Him. He died for our sins from the time we came to Him at the Cross until He gives us a crown. Don’t tell me that you don’t sin after you have been saved. Sin in our lives is a fact which so many Christians neglect. Christian people get cleaned up for church. They take their Saturday night bath to be clean for Sunday. Congregations smell better today than they used to smell because they use deodorants, perfumes and colognes, but to God they smell worse because they are dirty. How many have been looking at things they shouldn’t look at?
They come with dirty eyes. How many have been listening to gossip during the week? How many have been hearing filthy things they shouldn’t hear? They come with dirty ears. Some have dirty hands because they have been doing things they shouldn’t have done. Some have dirty feet because they have been walking where they shouldn’t have walked.
They think that coming to church makes everything all right. Well, it’s not all right. That’s the reason the Lord Jesus says, “…If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (Joh_13:8). If the church service seems dead, and the sermon boring, perhaps it’s because you need a bath, a spiritual bath. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1Jn_1:6). We don’t want to lie. If we do, then we have to confess that to Him.
It is so important to go to Him and to tell Him all our sins. And you might just as well tell Him because He already knows all about you anyway. But it makes fellowship so wonderful if we confess our sins to Him. Why don’t you go to Him for cleansing? Someone may ask how often this should be done. Well, I don’t know about you, but I try to take a shower every day. And I find that I must go to Him two or three times every day and tell Him that McGee has been wrong and that McGee shouldn’t have seen this, or done this, or said that. May I say to you, we want to keep sweet with Him, and the only way we can do that is to confess our sins. This offering of the red heifer is a marvelous offering. It kept the children of Israel sweet on the wilderness march. This was their deodorant for the wilderness march so that they might walk in fellowship with Him.