Blog In Audio
The Ashes of The Red Heifer
Greetings,
I am presently on my third day of elk hunting. The operative word is ‘hunting’, since I have not yet been successful. Plenty of evidence and even sightings, just not in the spot I need them to be in. It is supposed to get really wet this afternoon, so I hope I have the appropriate gear to see me through. I sure would like to put some meat in the freezer. In light of that, my subject today is the Red Heifer, no pun intended – just happens to be during my elk hunt time.
In the Old Covenant Torah/Temple system, there was a sacrifice of a Red Heifer. That heifer was spotless, without blemish or defect of any kind. It was only a shadow and symbol of what was to come to us from heaven. It was not the thing that God desired, only a copy of something that God desired to bring into the earth. Some are looking for a day of the restoration of this sacrifice in some form in the nation of Israel, but I believe that this sacrifice is already complete in Christ and the fruit of that sacrifice is rising up in the earth. The red heifer is but a symbol of a spotless body for the service of God in Christ.
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The body that we have been given access to is the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the house of God. Through Jesus we have ended our old life of flesh and entered into a body of faith in Christ. Being joined together in the body of Christ is what gives us our true identity in Christ. The pure water is the testimony of water that can sanctify us in this world. It is the water that contains the ashes of the red heifer; thus, it washes us to declare who we really are in Christ. These things are symbolic of the testimony we find by the power of God’s words to our hearts and minds that sanctify us to reign in life as God desires.
I believe that heifer was symbolic of the body of Christ, the womb of God in the earth joined to Jesus the head in all things for the glory of the Father and the testimony of Jesus name. Before we could become the body of Christ, Jesus had to come as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person in human form. He was both the head and body of Christ for the new creation of a human race destined to become the brightness of the Fathers glory and express image of His person in the earth. Like the first Adam, the eternal Last Adam of Jesus contained a spiritual rib for the formation of the body of Christ in the earth. The body of Christ is the eternal Eve joined with the eternal Adam to fill the earth with the glory of God. This testimony is so glorious that even the heavens and the earth are shaking for the manifestation of this true glory. It is eternal in that it is destined to make both heaven and earth as one for the glory of God.
Jesus was the Red Heifer (the Body of Christ offered outside the camp for all) so that we could become the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ). He gave His life fully so that He could sanctify us with the water of His testimony (His word) and present us to Himself as a wife without spot, blemish, wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph. 5:25-32). The shadow of this truth is found in the Old Covenant. Again, the Old Covenant was only an informing of that which one day become the transforming power of God’s grace for mankind. We cannot just think in terms of a single lifetime. We must think generationally and understand that eternity is not measured in created terms. Our lives are part of something much bigger than the mere few years we are given in this segment of our journey. Life does not end on earth, but earth plays an important role in our journey of life.
Numbers 19:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “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.’”
As was portrayed in this sacrifice, Jesus was without blemish to guarantee a progressive sanctification of our lives so that we too can become people without blemish. God does not see our blemishes and the Holy Spirit works in our lives to cause us to become as God sees us. Even with our flaws, God does not see our flaws. He writes us up well in the halls of heaven, even as he wrote Abraham as being a man who never wavered in his faith. Although God does not see our flaws, Holy Spirit is also working in our lives as the power of God’s amazing grace to cause us to reign in life. We are overcoming the weaknesses of our lives by the power of God’s strength. This is not merely for ourselves, but for an increasing glory in the maturation and culmination of God’s plan for mankind. Being healed of our blemishes does not make God love us more, it simply reveals the life-transforming power of God’s love working in our lives.
Jesus was without defect to assure our ability to become defect free in Christ. Those defects can even be in our thinking. God does not condemn us for our defective thinking, but the power of His love working in and through our lives causes us to take on the testimony of Christ. The mind of Christ within us is renewing our own minds to become as they should be in our destiny in life.
Jesus was never in bondage (yoked) to sin to assure our freedom from the yoke of sin. Although we may sin at times, we are no longer bound to a life of sin. God sees us as sinless in Christ, but the power of Christ in us also empowers us to take on the character, nature, and way of a sinless life. Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, not to condemn us, but to make us as we should be. He makes us free by the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
