“Anyone who touches a corpse, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him…. Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the burnt purification from sin and flowing water shall be added to them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one slain or the one dying naturally or the grave. Then the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him from uncleanness, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and shall be clean by evening” (Num 19:13, 17-19).
I can’t count how many times someone has asked me about the Israel’s pursuit of a “red heifer.” What’s the deal? The law of the red heifer was given in response to the deaths of over 14,700 people who grumbled against Moses and rejected his leadership (see Num 16:49). Because death is a curse (see Gen 3:19), the Israelites who came into contact with the bodies of those who died in the rebellion were considered unclean and, therefore, unfit to worship at the tabernacle. The Torah’s solution was the sprinkling of ashes from a red heifer in order to make them clean again. And those who were not made clean would have to be “cut off from their people” (Num 19:13, 20).
the Jewish longing to find cleansing from the defilement of death and sin can only be satisfied through the perfect sacrifice of Yeshua, not through the ashes of a red heifer!
For religious Jews today, the red heifer is an absolutely vital element for a restored temple. Without it, they simply cannot go in or even near the rebuilt temple. But I find it sad when believers become completely consumed with never-ending discussions about the red heifer. Indeed, the modern pursuit of a red heifer may be a sign of our times, and signify the late hour in God’s eschatological clock. But the Jewish longing to find cleansing from the defilement of death and sin can only be satisfied through the perfect sacrifice of Yeshua, not through the ashes of a red heifer! Let us not, therefore, waste precious time, resources, and energy in a system of worship that cannot remove Israel’s sins. That system of worship was ultimately intended to point to something and/or someone far greater. What the people of Israel most desperately need today is not a red heifer from Texas. What we really need is the Savior who can purify us and bring us safely into God’s holy presence!
“For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:13-14).
