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Welcome. I'm Cliff Hedges. This is Pastor Cliff's Notes. This is a podcast where we are studying the Bible. We're working our way through the book of Numbers. Today is episode 1638. And we're looking at Numbers chapter 19, verses 11 through 22. So God had brought the Israelites to the edge of the promised land, the edge of the land of Canaan, but they rebelled. It was too scary. And God's response to their rebellion, because it was more than just rebellion, it was rejection of him and his plan. So he sent them back into the wilderness to remain there until the faithless generation died. That is, all those who were counted in the census in chapter one of Numbers. He said it'd be a 40-year period. And then there was another rebellion sometime after that, led by Korah. He was a Levite. He challenged the priesthood that God had established. He said everyone was holy. Everyone could approach the Lord. He gathered 250 prominent men. And when Moses challenged those men to make an offering of incense to the Lord, fire came out and consumed these 250 men. And then the earth swallowed up the families of the three leaders of the rebellion. Then a plague broke out, and it was only stopped when Aaron, the true high priest, offered incense in a proper way to the Lord that stopped the plague. So this is all to nail down who God has chosen to be the priests. Then just though there was no mistake about it, because people were still grumbling, the Lord had all the leaders submit their staffs to Moses. He left them in the tabernacle next to the Ark of the Covenant overnight, and Aaron's staff was the one that budded and produced almonds. So that just nailed down who the priesthood is. Now in Numbers chapter 19, it started with the slaughtering and burning of the red cow or the red heifer. And this is all for the water of purification. So the red cow is burned up outside the camp, and then the ashes are collected and put in safe storage outside the camp. But you take some of the ashes and mix them with water, and that makes this purification water. So we pick it up now in Numbers chapter 19, verse eleven. The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. He is to purify himself with the water on the third day and the seventh day, and he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Anyone who touches a body of a person who has died and not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water from purity has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanliness is still on him. So the issue here is a dead body. Somebody touches a dead body, they're made unclean. That's not new. We've seen this before, that if you have contact with a dead body, you're unclean for seven days. Now here it reiterates back in verse 11, you're unclean for seven days. It doesn't say you have to stay outside the camp. But you are told that in other places. Back in Numbers chapter 5, verses 2 and 3, Moses was told, if somebody's touched a dead body, send them outside the camp. We'll see a little later in Numbers 31, verse 19. The reminder, remain outside the camp for seven days because you've touched a dead body. So you do have to remain outside the camp because you are unclean. Anybody touches you becomes unclean. But this is the process now of restoring cleanliness. And it involves this water of purification, which is water made by mixing fresh water with the ashes of the red heifer. Now we see, as we've seen often, that if you don't follow these rules, you were to be cut off from Israel. And that was always kind of a nebulous term. What does that actually mean? Sometimes it means you just the blessings of Israel are being withheld for you by God. Sometimes it means sounds like excommunication being kicked out. Sometimes it sounds like you got to be put to death. Now, if we look at this and say what the result of this is, is if you are never made clean this way, it means you're always in a constant state of uncleanliness. And if you would dare go to the tabernacle, you would defile the tabernacle. Back in Leviticus 15, verse 31, we saw that warrants death. Anybody who defiles the tabernacle will die. So that links the death penalty with being cut off from Israel. This one just shows how serious this is. It is a big deal that if you've touched a dead body, you are unclean. No. The issue is death is the ultimate example of sin. That is why there is death. There was no death in the Garden of Eden. Death comes about as a result of sin. The wages of sin is death. And so death is just such this ultimate symbol of sin, the ultimate result of sin. Death makes us unclean, and we have to be restored to cleanliness in order to approach God. And the good news is there's a way to do this. You're not just cast out forever, you can restore cleanliness. But you've got to do it God's way. Verse 14. This is the law when a person dies in a tent. Everyone who enters the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days. And any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean. Anyone in the open field who touches a person who's been killed by the sword or has died, or even touches a human bone or grave will be unclean for seven days. So there's two instances of a death. One is it's in a house. Well, in that case, the house is unclean essentially. Anyone in the house, anything in the house is unclean. And so you have to go about making things clean. All the people who are unclean have to go outside the camp for seven days, sprinkle the water of purification on the third and seventh day, then they're restored to cleanliness. How do you clean things in the house? You wash them so that you can restore a house to cleanliness. So example one, somebody dies in a house. Another is they just die outside somewhere, either on a battlefield or they just die outside. Whoever deals with the person then is made unclean. Even if you find a human bone and pick it up, you are unclean. Or if you happen to walk on a grave, you would be unclean. But there is a way of restoring cleanliness. Verse 17. For the purification of the unclean person, they're to take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and add fresh water to them. So this is how you make the water of purification. You take some of the ashes. That gives us a recipe. It doesn't say how much water to how much ash. Doesn't say whether it's to be just a little pinch of ash to a whole gallon of water. We're not told. But it is say fresh water. Now literally says living water. And the idea of living water is it it's water that's fresh. It comes from a spring, it's from a creek, from a river, it's water flowing, so there's always a fresh supply to it versus stagnant water. So fresh water and ashes, water purification. Another stipulation, verse 18. A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who are there. It's also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who has been killed. So you need somebody who is clean to take some of the hyssop, dip it in the water, and do the sprinkling. That then provides the purification. Verse 19. The one who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being purified must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening. But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean. That's just pretty blatant retelling of what it is. If you touch dead body, you have to be sprinkled twice during this week of uncleanliness. Bathe, wash your clothes, then you're clean again. Verse 21. This is a permanent statute for them. The person who sprinkles the water for impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening. So even the clean person who came to participate in this to provide the sprinkling by handling the water of purification, they become unclean. Just until evening, and he has to wash his clothes, then he'll be clean that evening. What do we make of all this? This water of purification, it's not to forgive sins. Remember this, it's not to forgive sins. We're talking about cleanliness here. And the issue with cleanliness is being in a condition to approach God. So this is all for restoring cleanliness. Specifically, restoring cleanliness for someone who is made unclean by a dead body. This is not forgiveness, this is ritual. It's not magic, it's ritual. Notice that there's no priest required here. This could be done by anyone who is clean can participate in this. So why? Well, it heightens awareness of how we are defiled by the world and need to be separate from the world to approach God. Remember, death is just the ultimate example of uncleanliness and just making people very aware of what a big deal it is to be made clean in order to approach God for forgiveness. Now, what's a New Testament example of this for us? Well, the book of Hebrews is often the best source of this because it's very much looking back at these things and seeing Christ is now the answer for this. In Hebrews chapter 9, verses 13 and 14, he says, For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciousness from dead works, so we can serve the living God. So being made clean, that is, being made in a condition to approach God, was done through these rituals, through these ceremonies, through obedience to the Lord. For us, being made clean to approach God is through the blood of Christ. But it's good to look back at this to get a sense of what a big deal sin really is, what a big deal sin does to make us unclean. And even if we are followers of Christ, we need to recognize that we've been contaminated by the world and to get right in order to really have a healthy relationship with God. Now, how do we do that? Well, the Holy Spirit will guide us and we confess our sins and talk to God, get closer to God, versus just remain in this contaminated state from the world. So all this is to teach people about sin and what a big deal it is, and what an incredibly big deal it is then to go from that state to be able to approach God. That's where we remember that's where we need to remember what a big deal it is that we have been pulled out of the slime of the world, made clean by Christ, and can't approach God ourselves. Thanks for joining me. Join me again next time as we continue working through numbers.