“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, this is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.
You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting” –
Num. 19:1-4.
Jesus our red heifer
The heifer in our quote is our LordJesus in an Old Testament shadow form. A heifer is a young (female) cow that has not brought forth before.
You know, in the Bible, the male is symbolic of the active and ceremonial and the female stands for the passive and practical.
In other words, in going to the Cross, the Lord Jesus has to be passive and not active. He has to surrender Himself without a fight, like a lamb led to the slaughter who does not oppose it – Is. 53:7.
Unique body of Jesus
The heifers red colour makes this animal very unique physically. This is because a fully red-coloured cow is generally difficult to come by. And in the Scripture, we just quoted, the blood and ashes of this heifer was for purifying from sin.
So, this heifer is symbolic of our Lord Jesus Christ whom God prepared a unique body – Heb. 10:5, “Therefore when He (Jesus) came into the world, He said sacrifice and offering You (God) did not desire, but a body You have
prepared for Me.”
Yes, Jesus’ body was not the normal one that humans have. Human bodies have sin in them, even from the womb, because sin is spiritually in mankind’s make-up or heart.
But, Jesus’ body was different because He had no sin in His make-up. It looked like the normal human body but was not, in terms of being a sinful flesh; although it looked like one – Rom. 8:3,
“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh”.
Yes, Jesus’ flesh had no sin in it, although prone to sin like that of all humans. That is how unique the body that God prepared for Him was. It was human body alright, but had no sin in it, because His spiritual heart was sinless. And that impacted His body, as far as being sinful was concerned.
Hallelujah!
Unique Blood of Jesus
And, the Blood flowing in Him was unique as well. It was God’s Royal or Ruling Blood and it was sinless at origin. So, this Blood would be accepted by God the King of Heaven as a sacrifice, provided He (Jesus) kept it free from sin whilst on earth.
And He did that, by leading a sinless life on earth, from cradle to grave, although like all mankind, He could have sinned.
Unique inner perfections of Jesus
And so, our Lord was perfect inside. Yes, the apostle Peter said “He did no sin” – 1 Pet. 2:22. Apostle Paul said, “He knew no sin” – 2 Cor. 5:21. And the apostle John said, “in Him was no sin” – 1 Jn. 3:5. Wow!. So in action and speech, thought and heart, there was no sin in Jesus.
Hallelujah!
Unique outer loveliness of Jesus
Jesus was not just unique inside, but physically too. The uniqueness of Jesus’ physical body is further described in our text. He had no blemish and defect on Him. He was a perfect example of a human, from head to toe.
You know, our Lord Jesus’ physical looks was essential because God always required that His sacrifice was physically ‘perfect’ and not defective in any way – See Lev. 22:20-25.
Wow!
So, Jesus’ bodily features were the best mankind had ever seen, from His face to His back. His limbs were perfect too. One hand or leg was not shorter than the other. He was symmetrically or anatomically perfect and altogether adorable.
Yes, His dentistry was immaculate. His lips parted rightly when He smiled. His eyelids opened correctly, with no squint. His vision and breath was impeccable.
He was simply lovely, from His eyes to His toenails, yet masculine in build. Beloved, our Jesus was the chiefest among ten thousand – See SOS 5:9-16.
Unyoked Jesus
Furthermore, Jesus had no yoke on Him. Many people carry yokes from their ancestry. There is usually a family weakness yoked to humans, even from their infancy. Some of these yokes are spiritual and others physical. But, our lovely red Heifer Jesus had no such encumbrances from His past.
He was altogether unique. Yes, although He was a perfect slice of masculine beauty, our Jesus was to be a heifer or submissive to God in attitude.
Holy Spirit helped Jesus
This heifer was to be given by Israel to Moses and Aaron. They were in-turn to hand Him over to Eleazar the son of Aaron, to be killed. Now, the name ‘Eleazar’ means ‘God is helper’. This speaks of the Holy Spirit, who is the grand Helper – Rom. 8:26a.
Yes, Holy Spirit is the one who helped Jesus to die for us – Heb. 9:14, “How much more shall the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God”.
Jesus’ system transcends normal human standards
And Eleazar was to take the heifer outside the camp where the people were, to be killed in a lonely place beyond where humans were. Thus, our dear Lord Jesus died outside the camp as well. Yes, it was to fulfil this religious ceremony in the Old Testament – Heb.13:13,
“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own Blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”
The camp was where the humans were. In other words, you should go beyond the low-negative-‘fallen’ thinking of humans, or operate outside the ‘box’, in order to get to Jesus. It is because His thoughts and Kingdom ways are far higher than the ways of mankind, in pleasing God – See Is. 55:7-9.
So, it is important to yield to the Kingdom-word of God who is Jesus Christ, in order to enjoy His blessings; and not the religious words of well-meaning humans, who want to please God by their own ways and thought – See Is. 55: 10-13. Hallelujah!
Automatic cleaning of all humans by the Ruler’s Blood
Now, after the heifer was killed, the blood was to be sprinkled seven times by Eleazar towards the camp where the people were. That is a prophetic picture of the cleansing benefit we receive as humans from the Ruling Blood of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
Beloved, there is an automatic cleansing that all of mankind have already undergone, by the sacrifice of the Life of Jesus on the Cross – Acts 11:9, “But the voice (of God ) answered me (Peter ), what God has cleansed you must not call common (or unclean ).” Emphasis mine. This makes God the grand Saviour of all mankind – 1 Tim. 4:10,
“For to this end we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the saviour of all men, especially of those who believe”.
The Greek word translated “especially” in this quote is ‘malista’ that means: ‘to the greatest degree’. In other words, there is an automatic ‘saving’ God has graciously offered all mankind in principle, whether they believe in Him or not. But, those who believe Him get ‘born again’ and actually get to enjoy salvation in its greatest degree.
Hallelujah!
Automatic cleansing of believers by the Blood
Moreover, the Holy Spirit automatically cleanses believers with the Blood of Jesus, as they walk in the light (or understanding) of what Jesus has done for them – 1 Jn. 1:7,
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
This automatic cleansing of believers is part of the inheritance of the saints or believers in light – Col. 1:11-12.
So, in the Old Testament, whilst Israel assembled in the tent, Eleazar or the Holy Spirit was outside their camp, sprinkling the Royal Blood of the real Heifer seven times in their direction, ‘without their involvement’.
Hallelujah!
It was God it all by Himself out of His Grace and without their will, as He took responsibility for them.
