How we thank and praise the Lord that, as the high and dignified Christ with a resurrected, ascended, glorified, and honored humanity, He was willing to be lowly, becoming in the likeness of men, so that He may be near man and deal with sin and impurity! Hallelujah!
This week we are prayerfully considering Num. 19, in particular the water for impurity, a subject that is not very common in today’s Christianity.
This water for impurity was actually an offering for sin, and it was to deal with the impurity and defilement of death that resulted from the sin of rebellion.
The children of Israel rebelled against God and Moses again and again, and the result was that death was everywhere; even those who did not rebel were affected by death, for many died in rebellion and as a result of rebellion.
So the Lord provided a remedy for this kind of defilement – the water for purification, which cleanses the Lord’s people from the defilement of death.
In the church life we enjoy the Lord and we love His word, and we learn to blend together and function in our measure for the building up of the Body; however, from time to time there may be a rebellion – either a big one or small rebellions, locally.
We may not be involved in a rebellion, and we may only hear about it, but the result is that death comes in, and we all are affected; so we need to enjoy and experience the application of the water for impurity.
The enemy hates the Lord and His move, and he wants to hinder the formation of the army in the best way he can; we should not be surprised or shocked when we see or hear of rebellions, but we should enjoy Christ in a particular way as the water for impurity.
The main ingredient of this water was the red heifer, which was to be slaughtered and completely burned; this red heifer signifies the redeeming Christ.
He was spotless, blameless, without sin; He came in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, but He had no sin in the flesh. Christ was without the sinful nature; He had the “color red” (the heifer was to be red), but He didn’t have the nature of sin, and He had no sin.
Christ was never used by anyone, especially by or for God’s enemy, Satan; He only did the Father’s will and sought the Father’s glory.
As the reality of the red heifer, Christ was brought outside the camp and slaughtered; He was brought into a place of shame and crucified so that we may be redeemed. What a wonderful redeeming Christ we have!
The Honorable and Uplifted Christ was Willing to be Lowly and become a Man to Shed His Blood for our Redemption
For the composition of the water for impurity, the slain red heifer was burned, and the priest took cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet strands, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer (Num. 19:6).
As the red heifer was being burned, these three additional items were cast into the fire, burning along with it, and then some ashes were produced; these ashes included all these things.
In Lev. 14 where we see the cleansing of the leper we have the same items: cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet strands, and even the running water, but in Lev. 14 the scarlet strands were not burned, for they had a different significance.
Cedar wood in the Bible is a tall and strong tree, referring to a humanity that is filled with glory (Song of Songs 1:17). Cedar wood signifies the honorable and uplifted humanity of the Lord, which enables Him to be our Savior (see 1 Kings 4:33).
Christ came as the honorable and uplifted One with a wonderful humanity, and He was qualified to be our Savior.
Cedar, in typology, indicates the resurrected, ascended, glorified, and honored humanity of Jesus. What a Man the Lord Jesus was!
His humanity was not just a normal humanity or an uplifted one – His humanity was resurrected, ascended, glorified, and honored, and He is the honorable and uplifted Christ to be our Savior!
Cedar wood therefore signifies Christ’s heavenly humanity, His glorified humanity, and His heavenly human life (Song of Songs 8:9). Just as the cedar tree far transcends over all other trees, Christ is the only glorified man among all men (Song of Songs 5:15; Phil. 2:9-11). Wow, what a Christ!
As signified by cedar, Christ is a person who has ascended into heaven and whose excellency and uplifted and noble humanity transcended all others.
This One is not only for us to admire, but for Him to become our Savior, and even more – for Him to become the ingredient of the water for impurity to cleanse us from the defilement of death!
Hyssop – which is among the smallest of plants – signifies that the honorable and uplifted Christ was willing to be lowly, becoming in the likeness of men, so that He might be near to man and become man’s Savior (Num. 19:6; 1 Kings 4:33; Phil. 2:7).
The great Creator became our Savior; the honorable and uplifted Christ humbled Himself willingly to become a man and be with us, live among us, and be available to us.
On the one hand, the Lord has the highest standard of humanity, as typified by cedar wood; on the other hand, He was willing to become lowly so that He might be available to us, as typified by hyssop.
Scarlet, a dark red color, implies much in typology; the color scarlet signifies the shedding of blood, referring to the redeeming work of the cross (Heb. 9:12, 14, 22; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
In Lev. 14:4 scarlet signifies that the Lord lowered Himself to become a man that He might do the will of God and shed His blood for our redemption. Scarlet signifies the blood of Christ shed for our redemption in its highest significance.
The scarlet signifying the blood was burned along with the heifer and the cedar and the hyssop, together with the heifer with its blood; at the end there was a pile of ashes, and the blood was also included.
The high and dignified Christ and the lowly and humbled Christ in His redemption were elements for the composition of the water for impurity. Hallelujah, what a Christ!
Thank You Lord for all that You have done and all that You are to us. You are the honorable and uplifted Christ who was willing to be lowly and become a man to shed Your blood for our redemption. How we love You, Lord, as the high and dignified Christ and the lowly and humbled Christ in Your redemption. Thank You for shedding Your blood on the cross; You became lowly to be available to us, and You shed Your blood for us. We love You, Lord, and we apply You to our being and to our experience in all that You are and all that You have accomplished.
The High and Dignified Christ became Lowly as a Man and Terminated the Sins of All Creation
What a wonderful Christ we have, and how rich is the significance of what He is, He has done, and He has accomplished, especially as we see this in type in the Old Testament and in reality in the New Testament!
The Lord didn’t just become a man, lived a perfect human life, died on the cross, and was resurrected; there’s a rich significance and meaning to what He has done and what He is, and the components of the water for impurity in Num. 19 help us see this and enjoy this.
On one hand Christ has justified us by His blood; this is objective, before God and the spiritual world, and it has to do with declaring the truth and making this our testimony.
On the other hand, when we apply the high and dignified Christ who became lowly as a man to terminate all the sins of creation, this is subjective in our life and experience.
Hallelujah, Christ brought His blood before God and sprinkled it before Him, and God was satisfied!
Praise the Lord, the high and dignified Christ became lowly as a man and on the cross He terminated the sins of all creation, and now we can enjoy this and experience this! Amen!
The efficacy of the red heifer’s death was toward God and was able to make propitiation before God for man’s sins. The burning of the red heifer, however, is different from the burning of the burnt offering in Lev. 1:9, which was for producing a fragrance acceptable to God.
The burning of the red heifer was for the bearing of sins and for dealing with sins completely.
When the red heifer was burned, the cedar tree, hyssop, and scarlet strands were also burned with it, which signifies that Christ dealt with sin and sins completely and He terminated them on the cross.
The high and dignified Christ humbled Himself to become lowly as a man, and He died on the cross to shed His blood and also to deal with all sins.
He is the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15); man is the head of all creatures on earth, and the Lord Jesus became a creature to be a man, partaking of the flesh.
Therefore, when He died on the cross, He died not only as a high and dignified man but also as a humble man, and He brought with Him the entire creation to which He has been joined.
We all were crucified with Christ when He died, and through His death all the old creation was terminated, sin was finished, and Satan was destroyed. When the Lord Jesus died, all the creation and all the sins committed by the creation were terminated together.
The high and dignified Christ and the lowly and humbled Christ in His redemption are now elements in the composition of the water for impurity to cleanse us from any defilement of the death resulting from the sin of rebellion.
Thank You Lord Jesus for coming as the high and dignified Christ to become the lowly and humbled Christ in Your redemption. Hallelujah, Christ came as the Firstborn of all creation and as a creature to terminate all creation and all sins on the cross! Praise the Lord, when the Lord Jesus died, all creation and the sins committed by the creation were terminated together! Amen, Lord, we partake of You as such a One who is high and dignified yet lowly and humbled, the One who is both honorable and uplifted yet humble and lowly to be our Redeemer! Hallelujah for our Christ!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Cristosul înalt și plin de demnitate a devenit umil ca un om și a terminat păcatele întregii creații.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1960, vol. 1, ”Synopsis of Numbers,” pp. 293-294, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 5, The Water for Impurity.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Though Thou art God, most glorious, high, / Thou in the flesh to us came nigh, / A lowly man become thereby; / Lord, I remember Thee! (Hymns #86)
# Thy precious blood has made us clean, / That we accepted be; / Regenerated by Thy life, / We now are one with Thee. (Hymns #116)
# ’Tis there man died in God, / Hallelujah! hallelujah! / There ceased this human clod, / Hallelujah! hallelujah! / With joy we all declare, / We’re terminated there! / We’ll sing now and fore’er, / Hallelujah for the cross! (Hymns #1204)
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