Having, in our last paper, endeavored to present to the reader the precious truth unfolded to us in the death of the red heifer, we shad now ask him to join us while, for a few moments, we sit and meditate upon the burning of the heifer. We have looked at the blood, let us now gaze upon the ashes. In the former, we have the sacrificial death of Christ, as the only purification for sin. In the latter, we have the remembrance of that death applied to the heart, by the Spirit of God, in order to remove any defilement contracted in our walk from day to day. This gives great completeness and beauty to this most interesting type. God has not only made provision for past sins, but also for present defilement, so that we may be ever before Him in all the value and credit of the perfect work of Christ. He would have us treading the courts of His sanctuary, the holy precincts of His presence, “clean every whit.” And not only does He Himself see us thus; but, blessed be His Name, He would have us thus in our own inward self-consciousness. He would give us, by His Spirit through the word, the deep inward sense of perfect cleanness is His sight, so that the current of our communion with Him may flow on without a ripple and without a curve. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” But if we fail to walk according to the light — if we forget, and, in our forgetfulness, touch the unclean thing, how is our communion to be restored? Only by the removal of the defilement. And how is this to be affected? By the application to our hearts and consciences, of the precious truth of the death of Christ. This is the work of God’s Spirit, in each case, and the type thereof is presented to us in the ashes of the red heifer.
“And one shall burn the heifer in his sight........And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer........And a 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 a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.”
It is the purpose of God that His children should be purified from all iniquity, and that they should walk in separation from this present evil world where all is death and defilement, when viewed from a divine stand point. “Grace to you, and peace, from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4).) And again, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:13, 1413Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:13‑14).
It is remarkable how constantly the Spirit of God presents, in intimate connection, the full relief of the conscience from all sense of guilt, and the deliverance of the heart from the moral influence of this present evil world. Now, it should be our cave, beloved Christian reader, to maintain the integrity of this connection. Of course, it is only by the grace of the Holy Ghost working in us that we can do so; but our souls ought to seek earnestly to understand and practically carry out the blessed link of connection between the death of Christ as an atonement for sin, and as the moral power of separation from this world. Many of the people of God never get beyond the former, if they even get that length. Many seem to be quite satisfied with the knowledge of forgiveness of sins through the atoning work of Christ, while, at the same time, they fail to realize deadness to the world in virtue of the death of Christ, and their identification with Him therein.
Now, when we stand and gaze upon the burning of the red heifer in Num. 19 — when we examine that mystic heap of ashes, what do we find? It may be said, in reply, “We find our sins there.” True, blessed be the God of all grace, and blessed be the Son of His love, we do indeed find our sins, our iniquities, our trespasses, our deep crimson guilt, all reduced to ashes. But is there nothing more? Can we not, by a careful analysis, discover something more? Unquestionably. We find nature there, in every stage of its existence— from the highest to the lowest point in its history. Moreover, we find all the glory of this world there. The cedar and the hyssop represent nature in its widest extremes; and, in giving its extremes, they take in all that lies between. “Solomon spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall.” “Scarlet” is viewed, by those who have carefully examined scripture on the point, as the expression of the glory of this world — the glory of man. In a word, then, we see, in the burning of the heifer, the end of all that is in this world, and the complete annihilation of the flesh with all its belongings. All this renders the burning of the heifer deeply significant. It shadows forth a truth which is too little known, and, when known, too readily forgotten — a truth embodied in those memorable words of the apostle, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
We are all far too prone to accept the cross as the ground of escape from all the consequences of our sins, and of full acceptance with God, and, at the same time, refuse it as the ground of our complete separation from the world. True, it is the expression of our entire deliverance from guilt and consequent condemnation; but it is more than this. It has severed us, forever, from all that pertains to this world, through which we are passing. Are my sins put away? Yes; blessed be God. According to what? According to the perfection of Christ’s atoning sacrifice as estimated by God Himself. Well, then, such precisely is the measure of our deliverance from this world — from its fashions, its maxims, its habits, and principles. The believer has absolutely nothing in common with this world, in so far as he enters into the spirit and power of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That cross has dislodged him from everything here below, and made him a stranger and a pilgrim in this world. The truly devoted heart sees the dark shadow of the cross looming over all the glitter and glare, the pomp and fashion, of this world. Paul saw this, and the sight of it caused him to esteem the world, in its very highest aspect, in its most attractive forms, and brightest glories, as dross.
Such was the judgment formed of this world by one who had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. “The world is crucified unto me,” said he, “and I unto the world.” Such was Paul, and such should every Christian be — a stranger on earth — a citizen of heaven, and this not merely in sentiment or theory, but in downright fact and reality; for as surely as our deliverance from hell fire is more than a mere sentiment and theory, so surely is our separation from this present evil age. The one is as positive and as real as the other.
But here let us ask, Why is not this great practical truth more pressed home upon the hearts of evangelical Christians, at the present moment? Why are we so slow to urge upon one another the separating power of the cross of Christ? If my heart loves Jesus, I shall not seek a place, a portion, or a name, where He found only a malefactor’s cross.
This, dear reader, is the simple way to look at the matter. Do you really love Christ? Has your heart been touched and attracted by His wondrous love to you? If so, remember that He was cast out by this world. Yes, Jesus was, and still is, an outcast from this world; and be it remembered that one of Satan’s special devices is to lead people to accept salvation from Christ while, at the same time, they refuse to be identified with Him in His rejection — to make use of the atoning work of the cross while abiding comfortably in the world that is stained with the guilt of nailing Christ thereto. In other words, he leads people to think and to say that the offense of the cross has ceased; that the world of the nineteenth century is totally different from the world of the first; that if the Lord Jesus Christ were on earth now, He would meet with very different treatment from that which He received then; that it is not now a pagan world, but a Christian one, and this makes a material and a fundamental difference; that now it is quite right for a Christian to accept of citizenship in this world, to have a name, a place, and a portion here, seeing it is not the same world at all as that which nailed the Son of God to the tree as a malefactor.
Oh! Christian reader, will you pause and ponder this? We feel it incumbent on us to press upon all those who read our pages that this is, in very deed, a lie of the archenemy of souls. The world is the world still. It hates Jesus as cordially as when the cry went forth, “Away with him! Crucify him!” There is no change. If only we try the world by the same grand test, we shall find it to be the same evil, God-hating, Christ-rejecting world as ever. And what is that test? Christ crucified. May this solemn truth be engraved on our hearts! May we realize and manifest its formative power! May it detach us more completely from all that belongs to the world! May we be enabled to understand more fully the truth presented in the ashes of the red heifer! Then shall our separation from the world and our dedication to Christ he more intense and real. The Lord, in His exceeding goodness, grant that thus it may be, with all His people, in this day of hollow worldly profession!
Let us now consider, for a moment, how the ashes were to be applied.
“He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.”
It is a solemn thing to have to do with God — to walk with Him from day to day, in the midst of a defiled and defiling scene. He cannot tolerate any uncleanness upon those with whom He deigns to walk, and in whom He dwells. He can pardon and blot out, He can heal, cleanse, and restore; but He cannot sanction evil, or suffer sin upon His people. It would be a denial of His very name and nature were He to do so. This, while deeply solemn, is deeply blessed. It is our joy to have to do with One whose presence demands and secures holiness. We are passing through a world in which we are surrounded by defiling influences. Of course defilement is not now contracted by contact with “a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave.” These things were, as we know, types or figures of things moral and spiritual with which we are in danger of coming in contact every day of our lives. We doubt not that those who have to do much with the things of this world are most painfully sensible of the immense difficulty of escaping with unsoiled hands. Hence the need of holy vigilance in all our habits and associations, lest we contract defilement, and interrupt our communion with God. He must have us in a condition worthy of Himself. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”
But the anxious reader whose whole soul breathes after holiness, may eagerly inquire, “What then, are we to do, if it is true that we are thus surrounded on all hands by defiling influences, and if we are so prone to contract that defilement? Furthermore, if it is impossible to have fellowship with God, with unclean hands and a condemning conscience, whatever are we to do?” First of all, then, we should say, be watchful. Wait much and earnestly on God. He is faithful and gracious — a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God — a liberal and an unupbraiding Giver. “He giveth more grace.” This is positively a blank check which faith can fill up to any amount. Is it the real purpose of your soul to get on, to advance in the divine life, to grow in personal holiness? Then beware how you continue, for a single hour, in contact with what soils your hands and wounds your conscience, grieves the Holy Ghost and mars your communion. Be decided! Be whole-hearted! Give up, at once, the unclean thing, whatever it be, habit, association, or anything else. Cost what it may, give it up. Entail what loss it may, abandon it. No worldly gain, no earthly advantage, could compensate for the loss of a pure conscience, an uncondemning heart, and the light of your Father’s countenance. Are you not convinced of this? If so, seek grace to carry out your conviction.
But it may be further asked, “What is to be done when defilement is actually contracted? How is the defilement to be removed?” Hear the reply in the figurative language of Num. 19. “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 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 day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.”
The reader will remark that, in the twelfth and eighteenth verses, there is a double action set forth. There is the action of the third day, and the action of the seventh day. Both were essentially necessary to remove the ceremonial defilement caused by contact with the varied forms of death above specified. Now, what did this double action typify? What is it in our spiritual history that answers thereto? We believe it to be this. When we, through lack of watchfulness and spiritual energy, touch the unclean thing and get defiled, we may be ignorant of it; but God is not ignorant. He knows all about it. He cares for us, and is looking after us, not, blessed be His name, as an angry judge or stern censor, but as a loving Father, who will never impute anything to us, because it was all long ago imputed to the One who died in our stead. He knows all about it, and He will make us know it too. Yes, He will make us feel it deeply and keenly. He will be a faithful reprover of the unclean thing, and He can reprove all the more powerfully, simply because He will never reckon it against us. The Holy Spirit brings our sin to remembrance, and this causes unutterable anguish of heart. This anguish may continue for some time. It may be moments, days, months, or years. It was only last evening we heard of a young person who was rendered miserable for three years, by having gone with some worldly friends on an excursion. This convicting operation of the Holy Ghost we believe to be shadowed forth by the action of the third day. He first brings our sin to remembrance, and then He graciously brings to our remembrance and applies to our souls, through the written word, the value of the death of Christ as that which has already met the defilement which we so lightly contract. This answers to the action of the seventh day — removes the defilement and restores the communion.
And be it carefully remembered, that we can never get rid of defilement in any other way. We may seek to forget, to slur over, to heal the wound slightly, to make little of the matter, to let time obliterate it from the tablet of memory. It will never do. Nay, it is most dangerous work. We know of few things more disastrous than trifling with conscience or the claims of holiness. And it is as foolish as it is dangerous; for God has, in His grace, made full provision for the removal of the uncleanness which His holiness condemns. But the uncleanness must be removed, else communion is impossible. “ If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” The suspension of a believer’s communion is what answers to the cutting off of a member from the congregation of Israel. The Christian can never be cut off from Christ, but his communion can be interrupted by a single sinful thought. It is well to remember this. It is a serious thing to trifle with sin. We may rest assured we cannot possibly have fellowship with God and walk in defilement. To think so is to blaspheme the very name, the very nature, the very throne and majesty of God. No, dear reader, we must keep a clean conscience, and maintain the holiness of God, else we shall very soon make shipwreck of faith and break down altogether. May the Lord keep us walking softly and tenderly, watchfully and prayerfully, until we have laid aside our bodies of sin and death, and entered upon that bright and blessed world above where nothing that defileth can ever enter.
To be continued, if the Lord will.