Blog In Audio:
Greetings;
Well, I am back in Bellingham after five days in the woods hunting. No elk yet! I guess the blessed season will come in December. It’s not over yet! We had a great service at Alife yesterday. The presence of God was obvious, and the participation of the Alife family was wonderful. Pastor Jonathan gave a great word on faith. Thank you Pastor Jonathan and all of the Alife family!
Today I am again addressing the subject of the Red Heifer. Why? The writer of Hebrews mentions the sprinkling of water and therefore it must be important.
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 washing of pure water in the Old Covenant was the washing of water that contained the ashes of a red heifer. This was the water of purification, a water of sanctification in the ceremony of the Torah/Temple system. The shadow of the Law can reveal a testimony of the New Covenant that is important to know. The truth is in Christ, but the Law was a shadow of that truth. We can skim over those Scriptures that contain the mysteries hidden in the Law and simply think that if God wanted us to know something about it, He would have written it in the language of the nations in this century. Perhaps a better approach is to let Scripture interpret Scripture for our learning.
Last week I wrote that Jesus was the body of Christ first so that we could become a part of the body of Christ in Him. It is His sacrifice as the body of Christ that qualifies us to be partakers as individuals and corporate members in the resurrection from the dead testimony of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is a place of God’s resting and covenantal presence for the mandate of the eternal Eve, the womb of redeemed humanity for the sake of fulfilling the mandate with the eternal Adam, Jesus Christ our Lord. As members of the Body of Christ, Jesus sees us as bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh.
Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
In Christ, Jesus does not see our faults, our defects, or our sins. When I say, ‘He doesn’t see our faults, our defects, or our sins’, I am not saying He doesn’t know every detail of our weaknesses and our strengths. I am saying that is not how He measures us. He measures us by a Father’s love and the love of a true Husband. Although there are things that can change, need to change, or may never change in our lives – God doesn’t see the flaws. He sees us perfect in Christ. The world and religion measure perfection as a condition of nothing wrong spiritually, emotionally, or physically. God measures perfection as ‘you are you’ at every stage of your life and He says; this is my son, or this is my daughter, in whom I am well pleased. This also allows for continual change to happen in our lives. He loves us as we are, but He also loves us enough to empower us to become what we are not. He empowers us to become the testimony of How He sees us.
Jesus was the Red Heifer (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 (word) and present us to Himself as a wife without spot, blemish, wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph. 5:25-32).
Jesus gave His life outside the camp to assure that we can live in the world and yet not be of the world – He did it before the priest Eleazar (helper of God) to assure each of us our role as priests unto God. We are helpers of God in that we are the helpmate of Jesus Christ as the body of Christ.
Numbers 19:3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him;
Jesus’ sacrifice of blood guarantees the sanctification of our lives by the perfecting power of His Holy Spirit (the sevenfold Holy Spirit of grace). We are each guaranteed a daily, continual, and increasing relationship with God in the place of meeting with Him each day. It is the blood of the New Covenant that gives life to every cell of the Body of Christ. That blood is the life-flow of the Holy Spirit within us individually and together for the corporate testimony of the Body of Christ.
Numbers 19:4 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.
I believe that the seven times of sprinkling of blood was a testimony to the empowerment of the sevenfold Holy Spirit in our lives because of the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us. In Christ we are part of the body of Christ, set apart by His life-giving words, and anointed by His Holy Spirit that the blood, the life of the body of Christ, is the sevenfold Holy Spirit. This is what makes us the body of Christ, the helpmate of Jesus Christ in all things. The sprinkling of the blood gives us the right to be empowered by the life of the Holy Spirit. The washing of pure water is the true confession of who we really are in Christ.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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Thanks Again – Ted J. Hanson
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