Emmaus Road Ministries

Numbers 19: 7-8

“The priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be UNCLEAN UNTIL EVENING.  And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be UNCLEAN UNTIL EVENING.”

In part 4 we talked about something that certainly must have puzzled King Solomon: The cryptic three items that the priest had to toss into the fire as the red heifer was burned. As mysterious as that must have been, the topic we will be discussing today must as really scrambled his brain! 🤯

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Unclean Until Evening.

In the course of preparing the ashes of the red heifer, everyone involved in the process was considered “UNCLEAN UNTIL EVENING.”  Ever come across this phrase wonder what it meant? 🤔 So did King Solomon.  Well, here it is in a nutshell:

In accordance with Jewish Law, the priests offered a sacrifice every morning and every evening every single day for 1500 years.  The time of the morning sacrifice was 9am and the time of the evening sacrifice was 3pm.  (Evening, in Hebrew time, is 3 o’clock in the afternoon). Do those times ring any bells? They should because THE EVENING SACRIFICE IS THE ONE THAT FINISHES.

Jesus Fulfilled Both Sacrifices.

When the Roman soldiers drove that first nail into our Savior’s hand, it was PRECISELY 9AM.  At exactly 3PM–the time of the evening sacrifice–He cried out with a LOUD voice, “FINISHED!”  Jesus then dismissed His spirit, bowed His head, and died.  Jesus is the PERFECT SACRIFICE THAT FINISHES!  Through His death that day, He fulfilled both the morning and the evening sacrifices.  No more sacrifices never EVER need to be offered…..ever.  IT IS FINISHED!!!

The First And The Last.

Jesus is the First and the Last, the beginning and the end, the Author and the Finisher of our faith!  Thankfully, you and I today don’t have to wait until evening to be clean because we live AFTER Jesus shed His precious blood, the eternal evening sacrifice.  His FINISHED WORK is behind us.  WE ARE FOREVER CLEAN!  

Ancient Israel, however, looked FORWARD to the cross.  Waiting until evening was a symbolic way of pointing ahead to Jesus’ death.

What was the work that He finished?  JESUS FULFILLED THE WHOLE LAW. He Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law.  I did not come to destroy (the law) but to FULFILL.  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is FULFILLED.”  Matthew 5:17-18

Tell me, Church:  Have heaven and earth passed away?  No…..well, so far; and guess what?  ALL THE LAW HAS BEEN FULFILLED. Abba had a legal right to rip that veil of the temple that separated us from Him.  Now, when we accept His free gift of righteousness, we can have full and free fellowship with Him forever!

Pastoral Confusion.

Many pastors of mainline churches miss it right here.  They mistakenly believe that we are still under the law because heaven and earth have not passed away.  They misunderstand what Jesus said, and I quote:  “till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law TILL ALL IS FULFILLED.”  I think they are confused by the “all was fulfilled” part; that and they (incredibly) don’t understand how to “rightly divide” God’s word. 🤔

For more on the topic of rightly dividing, you may follow the link below:

Introduction to Rightly Dividing The Word Of God: Part 1 of 16.

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LAW Produces Licentiousness.

Does that mean we are law-less?  Certainly not!  Why do we need the Law, which is essentially like a map, when living inside us is THE ONE WHO WROTE THE MAP, and He leads us into all righteousness?

Contrary to popular Christian opinion, it is LAW which produces licentiousness. Grace is the antidote for sin.  They have it backwards.  The devil was defeated at the cross AND the law was nailed to it!  YOU CANNOT OUT SIN GOD’S GRACE.  It is GREATER than ALL our sin!

For more on the above topic, you may follow the links below:

No One Is Forgiven Little.

And…..

Blank Check

That was part of the purpose for Jesus’ death on the cross:  He restored the law to it’s pristine standard, leaving no stone unturned–no jot or tittle omitted, fulfilled ALL the law as 100% man, OVERpayed the penalty for all our sins and FULLY SATISFIED the justice of our Father.  That’s why He was able to cry, “FINISHED!”  That’s why His Father had a legal foundation on which to raise Him from the dead.

Ok. Rant over.  Back to the red heifer. You may follow the link below if you wish to continue this story:

What’s In Your Water: Ashes Of The Red Heifer Part 6 Of 9.