The Ashes of an Heifer Sprinkling the Unclean

The Ashes of an Heifer Sprinkling the Unclean

Hebrews 9:13 and Numbers 19:1-3

A.J. Ison

            The ashes of a red heifer were used in the production of the waters of separation for those who were defiled by touching a dead body, or the bone of one dead or were defiled in some other way. The institution, use and end of that ordinance is set before us in Numbers chapter nineteen, and is an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Christ. (J. Owen)

            The heifer was to be red, without spot and without blemish,(Num.19:2). Red is the color of guilt, Isa.1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. One white spot, or hair ruined the heifer for this ordinance, the heifer must be red with no other color intermingled; this is to illustrate or is to type the Lord Jesus standing in the law place of sinners, …the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isa. 53:6. For all who have interest in Jesus Christ as surety, their sins were laid on Christ the surety of the better testament (Heb.7:22) when he stood to make satisfaction for the sin debt of his elect. The sins of the heirs of the better testament were made to meet together on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ, Heb.9:15. The sins of his people were imputed to Jesus, the Christ of God; this is his being made to be sin for us who knew no sin, 2 Corinthians 5:21, and this is his being made a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law, Galatians 3:13, this is his own self bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, 1 Peter 2:24. This is his sinking in deep mire where is no standing, his coming into deep waters, where the floods overflow him, that is, the floods of the sins of his people poured out into his soul, laid to his account by God the father, Psalm 69:2. The sins of all the Old Testament and New Testament saints were laid on Christ, the guilt and filth, the shame and punishment was his to bear as the surety of his elect.

            The heifer was to be without blemish, there could be no deformity, of any kind, no malformation of any part, no asymmetry in its stature, it had to perfectly proportioned, and perfectly whole. This is to illustrate or type the perfect moral rectitude of the character of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was and is without sin of his own, he knew no sin, did no sin, had no sin, he is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens, Heb. 7:26. Though he stood before the law and justice of God as the guilty one, yet it was the guilt of others that was upon him, he had no guilt of his own by way of commission, but his guilt was by imputation the guilt of his spouse (the church) was laid to his charge, and he must answer for it. (At this juncture we should insist that justification is by imputation alone; as the sin of the elect was charged to the account of Christ, that is to say, the sin of the elect was imputed to the Lord Jesus; just so the righteousness of Christ is reckoned to the account of the elect, this truth is set before us in second Corinthians 5:21 “For he [God the father] hath made him [God the Son, Jesus Christ], who knew no sin, to be sin for us: that we [his elect, his members, his church and spouse] might be made the righteousness of God in him.) The reason of this (that is the reason that God the Father imputed the sin of the elect to Christ and also imputes the perfect righteousness of Christ to the elect) is federal union of Christ and his spouse, Christ had been one with his people since they were chosen in him and therefore chosen with him, at union with him, so that by that union it is fit that the head should suffer for the body or that the husband should accept the liabilities and pay the debts of the spouse. Christ Jesus in his person and in his moral character is without blemish, and so must the type be answerable to the antitype John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22.

            The ceremonial and sacrificial heifer was to have never been under yoke, “…upon which never came yoke:” Num. 19:2. God the Son entered into covenant with God the Father, and with God the Holy Spirit, as a sovereign divine person. He as God entered into covenant; not under any constraint or “yoke” but with delight to do the will of God. And as the “Word made flesh” that is, as God man and mediator, he held this testimony “ I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart, Psalms 40:8. Though the cost to him as man was his agonies and blood unto death, even the horrid death of the cross yet as man standing in office for men and toward God he held this testimony “… my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” John 4:34. The zeal of Christ for the manifestation of the glory of the redemptive, immutable, sovereign, and eternal; counsel, will, decree, and covenant, of God, toward his elect, was the fire that burned in the heart of Christ to the offering up of himself as a sacrifice for sin.

            The red heifer was to be delivered to Moses and Aaron, at the common expense of the children of Israel, for it (the water of separation made from the ashes of her burnings) was for the common use of that people, Num.19:2. Moses and Aaron were to deliver the heifer to Eleazar the priest, “ that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face” Num.19:3. The heifer was delivered to Eleazar, who was Aaron’s son and his Sagan or deputy who was to bring the heifer without the camp. Once Eleazar had delivered the heifer without the gate, one who he had appointed was to kill the heifer before his face. Several things are to be noted in these events. Eleazar was not to kill the heifer, but one was to kill her before his face. This was a type of the death of Christ.  It was the Romans that crucified the Lord Jesus before the face of the priests of Israel. The Sanhedrin (with Caiaphas in office of high priest) delivered the Lord Jesus to Pontius Pilate the Roman governor, who found no fault in Christ. Yet Pilate at the insistence of the priests delivered the Lord Jesus to be crucified, and it was Roman soldiers that crucified the Lord Jesus, Matt. 27:41; Mark. 15:31. Aaron was to have nothing to do with the heifer after she was delivered to Eleazar, this was in order that he (Aaron) might remain ceremonially clean, for all who had to do with the heifer were by their dealing with her unclean, Num 19:7. Aaron must as much as possible remain ceremonially clean in order to officiate in his office of high priest. This may type or illustrate the horrible hypocrisy of Caiaphas and the major part the Sanhedrin, for when they delivered the Lord Christ to Pontius Pilate (for execution) they would not go into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled. The heifer was reputed, polluted and accursed, for the sin of the people which was upon her, and those who slew her, burned her, gathered the ashes of her burnings, or had anything to do with her were made thereby unclean until they were washed and evening fell.  She was led forth without the camp and slain, as accursed and polluted, though she was without spot or blemish. Just so the Lord Christ suffered without the gate in the place where malefactors were put to death, Lev.24:14. The death of the cross was for the worst sort of criminals, escaped slaves , thieves, etc. the Lord Jesus was numbered with these transgressors, and accounted accursed by God the Father for he hath made him to be sin for us, and cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, 2 Cor.5:21 and Gal. 3:13. Yet the sin he bore in his own body on the tree was not of his commission but the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all, that is, all his people, those whose sin debt he came to pay. To be continued.