THE RED HEIFER

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                          A RED HEIFER
     In  the  book of Numbers (Orders, Protocol), chapter  19  we 
read a wonderful story about one aspect of what Jesus did for  us 
on  the cross of Calvary.  In part it reads: Num. 19:2  --  Speak 
unto  the children of Israel, that they bring thee a  red  heifer 
without  spot,  wherein [is] no blemish, [and] upon  which  never 
came  yoke:.  
     It  tells  of the red heifer being slain outside  the  camp, 
being  burned  to ashes.  Cedar, hyssop and scarlet  were  to  be 
thrown into the fire, and hence, would be in the ashes.  (I don't 
know  what that means, but there IS a meaning, I am  sure.)   Her 
ashes  were to be stored in a safe place OUTSIDE THE CAMP, to  be 
used in the ceremonial cleansing of people who became unclean  by 
reason of dead bodies, etc.
     A  closer look at the ceremony of cleansing will give  us  a 
better  idea of how God "ticks", if you will allow me to use  the 
expression.   We find that God has  made the rules, and  we  must 
abide by them.  I don't wish to leave the impression that we have 
to (as the Catholics do) smear ashes on ourselves in order to  be 
clean.   These ceremonies ALL pointed to Jesus, and His  work  on 
Calvary.  But listen to the Word:
     Num. 19:12 He shall purify himself with it on the third day, 
and  on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he  purify  not 
himself  the  third  day, then the seventh day he  shall  not  be 
clean.
     We  sometimes have a tendency to believe that God  overlooks 
our  times of deviation from the Christian way, but such  is  not 
the  case.   Whenever we become aware of having not  acted  in  a 
Christ like manner, we need to return and repent of it.  We  dare 
not  pass it over, waiting for "time to heal it", as  the  saying 
goes.  Time has no healing properties at all.
     Num. 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man  shall 
be unclean seven days.  We have all done it.  Our bodies are  all 
"sold  under  sin", and are an umclean thing.  We "touch  a  dead 
body"  every  time we indulge our carnal natures.  Each  time  we 
indulge the wishes of the flesh, we have "touched" a dead body.
     God's  remedy for our "uncleaness" is to run to Jesus,  con-
fessing (declaring) our fault, and asking Him to "sprinkle  clean 
water"  (Ezek 36:25) upon us.  The amazing thing about it  is--HE 
WILL DO IT.
     But, as in the text, if we neglect to run to Jesus (as shown 
by  the third day sprinkling) we can never be cleansed.  We  will 
never   be  free  of  the  guilt  of  having  "touched   a   dead 
body"--indulging our fleshly desires.
     OH, HOW WE NEED TO WALK IN REPENTANCE