Emmaus Road Ministries

Numbers 19: 5
“Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.”

We’ve been studying the law concerning the ashes of the red heifer, a law that completely baffled King Solomon, who the wisest man in the Old Testament. In this portion of our study, we’re going to discuss another of the reasons for his confusion. 🧐

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The Book Of Laws.

Leviticus, as you know, is the book where Jewish laws are recorded.  There are many different laws included in its pages, the most prominent being the ones in the first five chapters of the book. In those chapters, The Holy Spirit listed five separate offerings, each describing a different aspect of Jesus’ one perfect sacrifice.  They are listed below with a brief explanation:

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#1. The Burnt offering This is the highest aspect of the Christ’s work. He is depicted in it as offering Himself up entirely to God to do His will, even unto death.

#2. The Grain offering. This offering typifies Christ as the PERFECT AND SINLESS MAN.  We see a wonderful Person and Who lived a completely spotless life, Whose life was an offering of a SWEET SAVOR UNTO GOD.  It was that spotless life which qualified Him to be our perfect sacrifice. This was the only offering where NO ANIMAL was required. Why? Because it shows us the absolute perfection of Christ’s Person and of the life He lived on earth, rather than His death.  Fine flour represents His sinless humanity with its evenness of moral qualities. Oil is a typology of the grace and power of the Holy Spirit which characterized His sinless life. Frankincense is a typology of the sweetness and fragrance of His Person and life.

#3. The Peace offering. This offering, like the first two, was also a SWEET SAVOR TO GOD. The blood, the fat, and the kidneys of the offering were put upon the altar as “the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord” (Lev. 3:11). This was God’s portion.  The breast was given to Aaron and his sons and the right shoulder to the priest performing the sacrifice. This was man’s part. Thus both God and man fed on the same offering, which speaks of communion and fellowship. It typifies the communion which believers in Christ enjoy with our God on the grounds of the work of Christ at the cross and His blood shed for our sins.

We Have peace with God as a result of the work of the cross.  We can feed upon Christ in fellowship with the Father. Luke’s Gospel and Psalm 85 especially present this theme.

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#4. The Sin offering. This offering was NOT A SWEET SAVOR offering. You see, the whole bullock, including it’s offal (excrement), was burnt upon the ground OUTSIDE THE CAMP. It depicts what we are…..SINNERS…..because of Adam’s sin.  It typifies Christ Who was made to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), enduring the judgment and wrath of God against sin in our stead as our substitute.

It was entirely burnt up OUTSIDE THE CAMP as just as CHRIST, FORSAKEN BY GOD, AS OUR SIN-BEARER, died outside the gates of Jerusalem.

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#5. The Trespass offering. This offering also was NOT A SWEET SAVOR to God.  It covered trespasses (what we DO) against the government of God. When sins were acknowledged, amends were required to be made for the wrong done and full restoration be made and a fifth added to it. That’s 120 percent restoration!

👉👉More importantly, this sacrifice also covered sins of which the offerer was unaware.  Jesus put all Israel under this offering when He said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

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For a more in-depth study on the Five Offerings Of Leviticus, you may follow the link below:

The Five Offerings Of Leviticus: Part 1 of 10 – Introduction

What’s Missing?

So, those are the only offerings regarding right sacrifices listed in Leviticus.   Notice anything missing?  Yep, you guessed it:  The Law concerning the Ashes of the Red Heifer isn’t there. 🤯  No doubt that fact didn’t escape Solomon’s notice which completely baffled him.  😳

That really IS odd!  Though it’s a law concerning a sacrifice to the LORD, IT ISN’T RECORDED IN LEVITICUS.  It only appears in Numbers.  Why?  🤔

The Hebrew Language gives us a big clue! 😃

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Wilderness Journey.

In Hebrew, the name for the book of Numbers is,  “Midbar,” which means “Wilderness.”  Numbers is all about the wilderness journey of the children of Israel. But……wilderness is also a typology of our journey through this world.  

Right now we, believers, are in the world:  In other words, in the wilderness.  Like Israel wandering in the desert, we also are on a journey.  This law describes a critical element for our own blessing and success while we are wandering around in this wilderness.  You see, even though we are IN the world, we are no longer OF the world; and until we meet Jesus face to face, we need all the help we can get!

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Offal.

This offering, just like the sin offering found in Levitucus, contained “Offal,” or dung, which is what made it a sin offering, as opposed to a burnt offering.

What is “OFFAL?  A very polite Old English word for “dung.”  The BURNT OFFERING where Jesus’ perfection is offered TO the Father on our behalf does not contain any offal.  Both the sin offering and the sacrifice of the red heifer represent Jesus WHEN HE CARRIED OUR SINS ON THE CROSS.

The dung didn’t come from The Victim you see…..obviously; IT CAME FROM US. He Who knew no sin, did no sin, and in Whom was no sin, took ALL our sins upon Himself and was punished for ALL OF THEM in His own body.  All the judgment, all the wrath and all the righteous indignation that we deserved, He took in our place so that we would be spared.

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Divine Exchange.

When we receive His GIFT of righteousness, we get the good we don’t deserve because Another took ALL THE BAD we do deserve in a Divine exchange.  THAT’S GRACE!  That’s the Gospel!  That really is GOOD NEWS!

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You may proceed to part 4 to if you wish to continue this study. We are going to decode the meaning of the cedar, hyssop, and scarlet:

What’s In Your Water: Ashes Of The Red Heifer Part 4 Of 9