I doubt anyone would disagree that we live in a sinful world. Simply defined, sin is any lack of conformity to the moral law of God in an act, a thought, or inner disposition. However, there is another aspect of sin easily overlooked. It is uncleanliness. It is the result of coming into contact with some forbidden object as certain animals or foods, corpses, pagan rites, sexual processes, etc. Unlike sin, it has nothing to do with motive or the disposition of the heart, and most often, it is unintentional. Not only do we live in a sinful world, we also live in an unclean world.
Through the years, it has been necessary for me to work outside a Christian environment to supplement our income. This typically was in some area of construction work. Recently, I was watching one of the reality shows of a logging crew with all the bleep, bleeps over the bad language, the feuding, the tempers, and fights. Donna commented, “That has to be a put on. No work place is like that.” I laughed and told her that she had never been on a construction site. You might not work with a roughneck construction crew, but any secular job exposes you to a lot of sin and uncleanliness. So often after a day in these settings, I would come home feeling spiritually filthy. I had not participated in the dirty jokes and coarse talking or any sinful activity. Yet, I felt like I had. I had not sinned or broken God’s moral law. Rather, I had become unclean because of my contact with the sinful world. As with forgiven for sin, God has provided a means of cleansing.
The Old Testament addressed clean and unclean and detailed numerous ways a person became unclean. Why God declared certainly things unclean as pork, birth of a child, or bodily discharges is unclear. The Bible also gives instructions on various remedies for uncleanliness, but I want to focus on one that still has spiritual application for us. Today, we do not become unclean if we eat a pork chop and have catfish and oysters at the Seafood Restaurant. However, Number 19 addresses the issue of coming into contact with a corpse or anything connected to death.
Remember, the Old Testament conveys principles of truth and eternal spiritual realities through outward signs and symbols. The lamb on the altar was an object lesson, teaching what Christ would do on the cross. The veil torn apart when Jesus died was a symbol that the way to God’s presence was now open. God never intended for man to die, but because of Adam and Eve’s sin, man was condemned to die. Death is still all around us. Becoming unclean because of contact with a corpse was a physical lesson teaching us a spiritual reality. The world around us is unclean because it is filled with spiritual death.
Contact with spiritual death is why, after a day at the construction site or in a smoke-filled office, surrounded by earthly things, dealing with ungodly people with corrupt minds, listening to coarse talk and dirty jokes, surrounded by sin and perverseness, that on our way home, we feel spiritually filthy. Thankfully, God has provided a means of cleansing when this happens.
The writer of Hebrews makes a reference we can easily miss. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, v14 how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:13, 14). What is the meaning of the ashes of a heifer? In Number 19, the LORD added a ritual for the cleansing of anyone who had contact with a corpse or anything associated with death. Obviously, today, we do not become unclean when we attend a funeral. The cleansing by the ashes of a heifer was a symbol of what Christ would do for us. He is not only the Lamb for the forgiveness of sin; He is also the ashes of the heifer for our spiritual cleansing.
How do you receive this cleansing? Just like forgiven of sin, we appropriate by faith what Christ has accomplished. Not long after I grasp the truth and significance of Numbers 19, I was preaching the Wednesday evening service. I had studied and prayed almost the entire day for my message. I felt ready. When I entered the foyer of the church, a member greeted me. As we were chatting, he told me something that was extremely crude. I suddenly felt spiritually filthy. How could I preach when I felt so unclean? Then I remembered my study on the ashes of the heifer and Christ’s fulfillment. Immediately, I asked Him to cleanse me and accepted it by faith. Before I walked into the pulpit, I again felt spiritual clean and ready to teach my lesson. Since then I have applied this many times.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Do you ever feel spiritually filthy? Ask Christ to cleanse you from the spiritual death in this world, accept it by faith, and know you are clean because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.