Although you may find this chapter hard to understand at first, it is very important for us all to try. For it is a picture of your life as a believer today. God here is telling us how awful SIN is to Him. Not the sins we did before we were saved, but those we do after. You will never be punished for one sin you ever do, for the Lord Jesus has been punished for them (John 13:10). But God our Father knows that the sins we do after we’re saved spoil our communion with Him, and also make us unhappy. You and I need to learn what God is saying to us by this illustration. God has provided a way for us. Let’s learn what it is.
V.2 The red calf (heifer) without a spot, of course is a picture of Christ.
V.3-8 The calf is taken outside the camp, killed, blood brought back, and sprinkled 7 times in front of the tabernacle (Lev. 14:7); Death or blood are not mentioned again in this chapter. All a picture of Christ, His death outside the city of Jerusalem, and His blood shed. Through His one sacrifice our sins are gone forever. 7 is the perfect number.
V.9-10 But now the ASHES are kept — a constant reminder of the death of the heifer. We don’t need to be saved again if we believers sin, but we need to remind ourselves of what it cost the Lord Jesus to put away our sins. Sometimes we are careless about the things we believers do, but God isn’t. Read verse 9 and see how similar it is to what Joseph did in Matthew 27:59.
V.11-16 They surely had to be careful not to touch a dead body. We also should remember that socializing with the world spoils our communion with the Lord.
V.17-22 The ashes and water are sprinkled on the unclean person. Notice that it took four days for the person to be restored to full communion. We don’t get back into communion as quickly as we get out of it. May we have the same horror of sin as God has.