Back in the 17th chapter of the
book of Numbers, the children of Israel recognized that there
was no possibility that they could come to the holy Lord God,
draw near to the tabernacle of His holiness. They recognized
that God's holiness, God's holiness, The very character of God forbade
any possibility of any sinful man coming near to God and not
being consumed. This generation needs to learn
something about that. God is not at your beck and call.
God is not at your beck and call. You cannot come to God. You cannot approach God. You cannot be accepted of God,
except God himself make a way. Look at Numbers chapter 17, verse
12. Here we read, the children of
Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we
all perish, whosoever cometh Anything near unto the tabernacle
of the Lord shall die. Shall we be consumed with dying? Sinful man cannot approach the
holy Lord God except God himself make a way for him to do so. A way totally consistent with
his own holiness righteousness, justice, and truth. God will
not bend. God will not bow. God will not alter his law. He will not sully his character,
not even to save sinners. How then can a sinner be just
with God? How can a sinner come to God? In Numbers chapter 19, We have
a blessed picture of Christ the way. The way God has made by
which sinners may be made clean and come to the holy God and
find acceptance with him. The picture here given, the type
here presented is the red heifer, the sacrifice of the red heifer.
That's my subject this morning, the red heifer. John Trapp rightly
suggested that the words Red Heifer might be typed out, Christ
covered with his own blood. I suggest you write that down
somewhere in the margin of your Bible. Red Heifer, this is Christ
covered with his own blood. When we read the books of Moses,
the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,
those first five books of the Old Testament, We should always
mentally read as the heading of each chapter the words of
our Savior in John 5 46. Moses wrote of me. Numbers chapter 19. Be sure you
read as the heading of the chapter. Moses wrote of me. Take the Lord Jesus with you
as the key and the mysteries of Moses and his writings will
fall open before you. If you don't read each chapter
as giving you a picture of Christ, Leviticus and Numbers, indeed,
all the Old Testament scriptures will be as useless to you as
if you were reading a book of hieroglyphics. among all the
laws of Levitical priesthood concerning sacrifices. None is
more striking in all of its details. None is more striking in all
of its details as referring to our Lord Jesus Christ than the
red heifer. And yet there is very little
written concerning this red heifer, very little preached concerning
the red heifer. I have managed to find a couple of articles
and a couple of sermons but I haven't ever heard anyone deal with the
red heifer. Moses was commanded to tell the
children of Israel to bring a red heifer. Let me give you the summary
of these 22 verses we read earlier. This red heifer was to be without
spot. It was to be a heifer that had
never been yoked, never yoked, compelled to do anything. never
yoked with another. It was to be without blemish
of any kind. Eliezer the priest, not Aaron
the high priest, but Eliezer, Aaron's son, another priest in
Israel, was to take the heifer without the camp. And there she
was to be slain before his face. And then While the blood flowed
from the heifer, Eleazar was to dip his finger in the warm
blood of the heifer and sprinkle the blood seven times before
the tabernacle of the Lord. And then the heifer was to be
burned, her skin, her flesh, her blood with her dung. All was to be burnt. Next, the
priest was to take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, piece
of fragrant cedar wood, some hyssop, wrap it in a piece of
scarlet and cast the cedar wood, the hyssop and scarlet into the
midst of the burning heifer. And then the priest was to wash
his clothes and bathe his flesh in running water with the ashes
of that burnt sacrifice. And thereafter, he was to come
to the camp. and be unclean until the evening. A man that was unclean
was to gather the ashes of the heifer. I'm sorry, a man that
was clean and lay those ashes up without the camp in a clean
place to be kept for the congregation of Israel. both for the sojourner
who dwelt among them and for the home-born Israelite. But
this was to be kept just for the congregation of the children
of Israel. It was to be kept as a water
of separation, a standing purification for sin. This ceremonial standing
was laid up as a law in Israel, as a statute to stand forever. That means to stand until it
was fulfilled, to stand until the time of its appointment was
ended, until Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, was sacrificed
for us, fulfilling all the types and pictures and ceremonies of
the Old Testament law. Had it not just been for the
matter of taking too much time to read our scripture reading
this morning, I would have read in your hearing Hebrews chapter
nine. I suggest that you read it. Hebrews
chapter nine tells us that all these carnal ceremonies, all
these carnal services pointed to Christ, pointed to our Lord
Jesus Christ and our redemption by him and by the pointed to
the accomplishment of that redemption by our Savior alone. All right,
first, let's look at the red heifer. We're told in verses
1 and 2 that the sacrifice here required was to be a red heifer
brought by the congregation to the Lord. Among the cattle, the
color red is very strange, very rare. Red, red, not a brownish
red, red. And so it is with our Lord Jesus
Christ. He is one among a thousand. Perhaps the color red as reference
to our Savior's humanity. He is called the last Adam in
first Corinthians 1545. The word Adam means red earth,
red earth, the earth, red earth from which God made Adam. That
which is given in his name and our Lord Jesus is called the
second Adam For as much then as children are partakers of
flesh and blood He also himself likewise took part of the same
that through death He might destroy him that had power of death That
is the devil in order to redeem and save his people In order
to put away our sins, the Lord Jesus became one of us, took
on himself our nature, took our nature into union with himself. The church sings in Song of Solomon
5, my beloved is white and ready. White speaks of his purity, his
spotlessness, his absolute perfection. Ready refers to his sufferings
and death. The shedding of his blood is
our substitute. For such an high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Our Redeemer, turn to Isaiah
63. Isaiah 63. Put you a bookmark
here in numbers. Isaiah 63. Our Redeemer was red
in His apparel, when in His own blood He stained all His raiments
in redeeming our souls and in conquering our enemies. Isaiah
63 verse 2. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine fat? I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. This is how
we see our Lord again in Revelation 19. This is how he shall be remembered
by us forever. Listen to this, Revelation 19,
13. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name
is called the Word of God. Back in Numbers 19, the color
red brings the idea of blood to mind every time we read it
in scripture. Blood was always associated with
atonement, with redemption, the putting away of sin. When you
think of Christ, always think of blood. When I think of the Lord Jesus,
I try always to associate him with the streaming blood flowing
from his body. I try to think of him and think
of my sin, remembering his red blood by which sin has been put
away. Poor, needy sinners love to hear
about and read about and think about his precious blood. What's more delightful to your
soul? What's more needful? We will in just a few minutes
again receive the bread and wine of the Lord's table. Our Lord
gave us the ordinance so that we might have in his church a
perpetual, visible reminder of his blood and his sacrifice. Because nothing is more needed,
nothing more comfortable, nothing more delightful. I have sometimes
heard complaints. about my preaching that is too
much blood in it. The scripture says the blood
is the life thereof. If there were no blood in our
preaching, there would be no life in it, no joy in it, no
comfort in it, and no power in it. His dying crimson like a
robe spreads o'er his body on the tree. In him I'm dead to
all the globe and all the globe is dead to me. my master, covered
as he was with blood, with ruby blood from the piercing of his
brow, from the piercing of his hands and his feet and his side,
gushing out of his body, blood by which God Almighty satisfied
his own justice. That's the most beautiful picture
there is of the Son of God. He is as a vesture dipped in
blood. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. That's who it is. And notice
also that this is a red heifer. A red heifer. That's strange. That's strange. Find me anywhere else in the
Old Testament wherever a female was given as a sacrifice. It's
a red heifer. Why? There is a reason for everything
given in this book. Why the red heifer? Well, Peter
tells us that, no, I shouldn't say that. God the Holy Spirit
tells us. I would hate for Peter to get
in politically incorrect trouble. God the Holy Spirit tells us
that the woman is the weaker vessel. The weaker vessel. That's why
you ladies need a man to be your head. That's why you will not
find completion for your life without a man to be your head.
The best thing you fathers and mothers can desire for your daughters
is that God give them a husband to be their head and lead them
as they serve God together. The woman is the weaker vessel. I know ladies going to hear this. I don't like that. That's so
bigoted. That's so chauvinistic. Take
it up with God. He said it. And God doesn't keep
up with modern times. The woman's the weaker vessel.
This heifer is called a red heifer because the Lord Jesus. When he came into the world in
our flesh. He took on himself the weakness
of humanity. He took the weakest weakness
of humanity. and bear our infirmities in his
own body. He himself, Matthew tells us,
bear our infirmities. This heifer I have read was so,
the Jews were so meticulous in searching for the red heifer,
finding the right sacrifice that they would not allow so much
as a spot on a hair to be anything except red. No blemish without
spot. What better portrays our Lord
Jesus Christ? He who was wholly harmless, undefiled
and separate from sinners. He who is the lamb of God, who
offered himself without spot to God as our substitute. He is the lamb of God without
spot and without blemish. He used to be a heifer or she
was to be a heifer. upon whom never came a yoke. Never put in a yoke with another
beast. And never put in a yoke. Never
put in a yoke. You put beast in a yoke to work
together. or you put beast in a yoke to
compel them to do that which is contrary to their nature,
or contrary to what they wish to do, if you can ascribe wishing
to a beast. Our Lord Jesus was altogether
alone in the work of redemption, alone in bringing in everlasting
righteousness, alone in saving our souls. Not only that, He
was by no means compelled to do anything. Turn to John 16,
John the 16th chapter. Here again, this red heifer stands
out distinctly. She is the only sacrifice under
the law that was required never to have been yoked. And there
was no yoke or obligation upon Christ but his own free, sovereign
love and gracious will for which he became the sacrifice for our
sins. He became our surety voluntarily. putting himself in bondage to
God as our covenant surety and Jehovah's righteous servant.
But nothing compelled him except his own will and his own love.
He willingly came into the world as our substitute, saying, Lo,
I come, I delight to do thy will. Oh, my God. His obedience all
the days of his life, his obedience was by his own will. He said
to his parents, Didn't you know I must be about my father's business.
This is what he came here to do his death Was by his own voluntary
will look here in John 6 10 verse 16 Other sheep I have which are
not of this folk Sheep given to him from eternity Sheep that
were his and covenant mercy before the world began Them also I must
break Must cause their mind. I must because I agreed to do
it I must because I love them and I won't be without them them
also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Oh If Christ comes fetching you
will hear his voice and you will come to him if he comes calling
You will hear his voice and you will come to him. We don't Therefore
doth my father love me watch this. I because I lay down my
life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down in myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Well, that sounds like a yoke.
No, he was voluntarily made Jehovah's servant. So he wished to be Jehovah's
servant as our redeemer and savior. Now, be sure you get this. Alan, when I read this in Exodus
19, verses, in verse 2, or Numbers 19, verse 2, I was a little perplexed. The provision of this heifer
was not to be made from the priest. This heifer was to be provided
at the united expense of all the congregation. The precept
says, speak to the children of Israel that they bring thee a
red heifer. Why do you suppose that's the
case? What was God's design? What was his intent? Bill, his
intent is just this, that everyone in Israel, are you listening? that everyone in Israel might,
as they look at that heifer and all that was involved in the
sacrifice, the slaughter, the blood sprinkling, the burning,
the water sprinkling of the ashes of the heifer, all that's involved
with it, everyone in Israel can say, that's mine. That's mine. I've got that and
an interest in that. because that heifer was brought
by me. And so it is that every sinner
who believes on the Son of God. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Will you now trust the Lord Jesus
Christ? Can you wash in the fountain
filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins? If so, Christ
is yours. In all his glory, in all his
merit, in all his pursuit, in all his work, in all his efficacy,
he is yours. All right? Look at verse 3. Here's
the second thing. Now, when I get down to verses
11 and following, I'm going to run real fast, so don't be concerned. We'll get done. Verse 3. The
red heifer, was to be given to Eliezer and slain without the
camp. Why was the heifer given to Eliezer
and not to Aaron? The paschal lamb back in Leviticus
16 on the day of Passover was brought to Aaron. The scapegoats
brought to Aaron. Why is this heifer given to Eliezer
and not to Aaron? Perhaps the reason. is to be
found in the fact that two things are represented by Eliezer and
his father Aaron. First, the one who offered the
red heifer, now watch this, in the performance of his service was made unclean. The one who offered the red heifer
in the performance of his service was made unclean. Yet Aaron,
God's priest, must not for a moment, while performing his priestly
work, become even ceremonially unclean. So our Lord Jesus, like
Aaron, is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Else,
he could not be our priest. He could not be our sin atoning
substitute. He could not be our advocate
with the Father in heaven. Yet, turn over to Proverbs 17. I want you to see this. Proverbs
17. In order to make atonement for
sin, he who knew no sin was made sin for us. In the performance
of his service to God as our substitute, he was made sin for
us and became unclean before God, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. Else, he could not have died
under the penalty of God's holy law and justice. Proverbs 17,
15. Are you there? He that justifieth the wicked
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. Bob, God Almighty, could not
condemn the Savior except to make him sin. And it can't justify
you Except he make you right Bring the heifer tell easier
We're told in verse 3 that the red heifer was to be slaughtered
Not at the sanctuary not at the door of the tabernacle, but without
the camp and our Lord Jesus That he might sanctify the people
with his own blood suffered without the gate. We're told in Hebrews
13 without the camp That's the place of uncleanness.
That's where lepers were kept. Everybody without the camp was
quarantined. Every defiled person kept separated
from the rest. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
must be and was numbered with the transgressors. He suffered
upon Mount Calvary, Jerusalem's garbage dump, the place of the
skull as our substitute, dying upon the cursed tree. My soul
looks back to see the burdens thou didst bear when hanging
on the cursed tree and hopes her guilt was there. Having declared that he suffered
without the camp for us, They're accomplishing eternal redemption.
The apostle writes, let us go forth, therefore, unto him without
the camp, bearing his reproach. Go forth to Christ, ever willing
to be isolated and separated from, abused and cursed by the
world. Go forth to him without the camp. All right, look at verse four.
Here's the third thing. The law required that the blood
of the red heifer be sprinkled before the tabernacle seven times. Eleazar must dip his finger in
the warm blood of that sacrifice and turn toward the tabernacle
and seven times sprinkle the blood of the heifer. Paul speaks of God's church which
is represented in the tabernacle and describes the blessed privilege
of faith in Christ when he says ye are come to the blood of sprinkling. The blood of the heifer shed
was not sufficient. The blood of the heifer shed
was not sufficient. It made no one clean. It purged
no one's sins. It purified no one, even ceremonially. In order for the blood that was
shed to purify the unclean sinner, the blood must be sprinkled,
applied, effectually applied in the ceremony. And so the blood
of Jesus Christ poured out at Calvary is not sufficient for
the salvation of our souls. It must be sprinkled in heaven
by him and sprinkled on our own hearts and consciences by him
as well. So that we are given life and
faith in him by the merit and efficacy of his blood. The blood's
to be sprinkled seven times. I know you can make a lot more
of numbers than is justifiable, but there's a significance to
numbers. Seven represents completion. perfection, finishing. God created
the earth in seven days and rested on the seventh day. The seventh
day was the Sabbath day of rest. The seventh day multiplied by
years, 49 years, then comes the 50th year of Jubilee, the Jubilee
Sabbath, the setting free of Israel. And the seventh day Sabbath
of the Old Testament speaks of the everlasting Sabbath, the
everlasting rest awaiting us in heaven. By blood atonement,
we enter into rest. By blood atonement, we are made
new creatures before God. By blood atonement, we have freedom,
jubilee. All that was lost is restored
and we're made free. Blood atonement. has obtained
for us everlasting rest in heaven. All right, here's the fourth
thing. In verses five and six, the red heifer was to be completely
burned in the sight of Eliezer. No part exempted. Her skin, her
flesh, her blood, even her dung burned together in the sight
of God's high priest or in the sight of God's priest, Eliezer.
Clearly, the burning of the heifer speaks of the sufferings, the
unimaginable sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ on the day
when he made expiation for our sin by the sacrifice of himself,
when he burned and burned, scorched and burned in his soul. until
at last he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Then the priest was to take a
piece of his piece of cedar wood. Very fragrant smell. Take a piece
of cedar wood. And a piece of his sprig of his. And wrap them up in a piece of
scarlet. and throw the cedar wood and
the hyssop and the scarlet in the fire with the burning red
heifer. So that the fragrance of the
cedar wood, Christ's perfect righteousness, the hyssop of
faith. You remember the children of
Israel took hyssop and sprinkled the doorpost in the little, the
hyssop of faith, God given faith. And the merit and efficacy of
Christ's precious blood, represented in the scarlet, is applied to
God's people, giving us a conscience purged from dead works and made
clean before God. Turn back to Leviticus. Let me
give you an illustration of it. Leviticus chapter 14, verse 7. This is talking about cleansing
lepers. Leviticus 14 verse 7 Then shall
the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two
birds alive and clean and cedarwood and Scarlet and hissing I believe
that's what we just read about in it and The priest shall command
that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel and over
running water. As for the living bird, he shall
take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop and
shall dip them in the living bird, in the blood of the bird
that was killed over running water. And he shall sprinkle
upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times. and shall pronounce him clean,
and let the living bird loose in the open field." We come, Myrtle, with all our
sin and guilt oppressed to Christ Jesus the Lord, and the blood
and righteousness The sweet smelling savor of Christ's sacrifice is
sprinkled on our consciences so that that which God himself
is pleased with now is ours applied by his spirit as we believe on
the Son of God. Back in Numbers 19, verse 7.
Verses 7, 8, 9, and 10. Here we're given a picture of our uncleanness by nature,
our complete, perpetual cleansing by Christ's precious blood. Let's
read these together. Then the priest shall wash his
clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water. And afterward,
he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean
until the even, or evening. And he that burneth her shall
wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and
shall be unclean until the evening. And the man that is clean shall
gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up without the camp
in a clean place. And it shall be kept for the
congregation of the children of Israel for water of separation. It is a purification for sin.
And he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his
clothes and be unclean until the evening. And it shall be
unto the children of Israel and to the stranger that sojourneth
among them. for a statute for as ever. Eleazar, the priest and the man
who burned those, the red heifer, though doing the service of God
for the glory of God and for the benefit of God's people,
defiled themselves and became unclean by their very service. Eliezer the priest and the man
who Burned the ashes of the heifer and the man who gathered up the
ashes in a clean place they all Became unclean now watch this
by their service to God So much for you being saved by what you
do So much for your righteousness.
Our righteousnesses are filthy rags to God. And even as we go
about our most holy service, our holy things are polluted
by our own hands. And so we must be continually
cleansed with the precious blood of Christ. Blessed be God, there
is a man that is clean. who has gathered up all the merit
of Christ, and with his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And that man
is Christ himself, the Holy One, our Redeemer and our Savior.
In verses 11 through 16, the sixth thing we see here is that
uncleanness is always attached to death. Uncleanness is always
attached to death. You who are unclean are dead
in trespasses and in sins. The wages of sin is death. And
you who are without Christ, dead in trespasses and sins, are unclean. Once the sentence of endless
death has been passed upon you, and you're cast forever into
the pit of the damned, you shall be consciously, tormentingly,
unclean forever. Consciously. Tormentingly unclean
forever. But blessed be God. He's made
a way for sinners to be clean. The only cleansing there is for
our souls is represented in the ashes of the red heifer in the
fount of living waters described in verses 17 through 22. And for an unclean person, they
shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification
for sin. And running water shall be put
thereto in a vessel. And a clean person shall take
hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it upon the tent
and upon all the vessels and upon the person persons that
were there and upon him that touched a bone or one slain or
one dead or a grave and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the
unclean on the third day and on the seventh and on the seventh
day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes and bathe himself
in water and shall be clean in the evening. But the man that shall be unclean
and shall not purify himself shall be cut off from among the
congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the
Lord. The water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon
him. He is unclean, and it shall be a perpetual statute unto them,
that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his
clothes, and he that toucheth the water of separation shall
be unclean until the evening, and whatsoever the unclean person
toucheth. shall be unclean, and the soul
that toucheth it shall be unclean until the evening. The ashes of the heifer, I repeat,
represent the merits of Christ's righteousness in his blood. The
running water throughout scripture speaks of the work of God, the
Holy Spirit. Our Lord spoke of that spirit
being a fountain of living water bubbling up in your souls. speaks
of the washing of the water by the word, the work of the Holy
Spirit in the new birth, convincing us of sin, of righteousness and
of judgment, thereby purging the conscience from dead works,
assuring us of redemption by Christ Jesus, the Lord. There's
just one source of cleansing. For the home born Israelite and
for the stranger that sojourns for both the Jew and the Gentile,
and so there is but one source of cleansing for sinners. Christ
Jesus, the Lord. Now, in order for you to be clean,
the blood, the hyssop, the cedar, the ashes of the heifer, the
holy water must be sprinkled upon you. That's the work of
Christ, the clean man. He, by his spirit, must sprinkle
you and make you clean. But now you listen careful. Are
you listening to me? Are you listening to me? You
must yourself bathe yourself in the fountain of living water,
in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. If you do not bathe yourself
in His blood, it is because you have not been sprinkled. But
you must bathe yourself in the blood. What's that mean, Brother
Dodd? You must believe on the Son of God. You must yourself
trust the Lord Jesus Christ. You must yourself come to Christ. Oh, poor, guilty sinner. Right where you are right now,
believe on the Son of God and go home clean. Go home clean. Can you imagine? Go home with a conscience not
guilty before God. And you, my brothers and sisters,
in all your uncleanness, come again to the fountain, this
perpetual water of separation. For the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Amen.