Hebrews 9:13-14: For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The story of the red heifer and its significance to Israel is given in Numbers 19. Although the Jews are eagerly anticipating a red heifer so that the third temple can be built and purified before being used, yet the perfect fulfilment of the red heifer was seen in Jesus Christ.
The red heifer is the only female animal sacrifice in the Bible, and the only sacrifice that specified the animal’s colour: red. It was a virgin female animal, and is representative of the Church (the female) who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul would say of the Church that She has been espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin (2 Corinthians 11:2). The heifer sacrifice is therefore a symbol of both Christ and the Church, because the Church paid for Her sin in Christ. She was in Him when He died, even as Eve was in Adam when God put him to sleep (Genesis 2:21-22).
The red heifer shows the connection of how Christ shed His blood to redeem His Bride. As the ashes of the red heifer sacrifice were used to purify the tabernacle before it could be used, so the spiritual temple, which is the Church of the Living God (1 Peter 2:5), has been purified by Christ’s blood in order for it to be used of God.
It was the congregation of Israel that was to bring a spotless, blemish-free, and unyoked heifer to the priest, in order that it might be taken outside of the camp and slain before the priest (Number 19:2-3). Jesus was the spotless One without blemish. Even Pilate would say that He could find no fault in Him (John 18:38; 19:4). Neither was Jesus yoked up with anything on this earth. He belonged to no organization, but was free to go where the Father showed Him. Like Jesus, we too are not to be entangled with the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1).
Unlike the other sacrifices which were slain inside the temple, the red heifer was to be killed outside of it. So Christ, having been found faultless, was taken outside of Jerusalem to be killed in the sight of the people. Whilst the blood flowed out from the slain heifer, the priest was to take of her blood with his finger and sprinkle it before the tabernacle seven times (Numbers 19:4). Those seven sprinklings of the blood typified the seven church ages, in which the elect of each age were covered by the blood in their receiving the bleeding Word for the age in which they lived.
After it had been slain, the entire heifer was to be burnt. Whilst it was burning, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet were to be thrown into the fire (Numbers 19:6). The cedar wood represents the cross on which Jesus died for sin. It was a curse to be hanged from the wood of a tree (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:11), but when the blood of Jesus Christ dripped upon the wooden beams, then the curse was changed into a blessing, for it made a people righteous who would believe on Christ’s sacrificial work.
Hyssop was a common plant or weed in the Middle East. It represents the faith needed to apply the blood (Exodus 12:22) and the humility we must each have in order to teach and live the Gospel. Scarlet was a ram’s skin that had been dyed red. It represents the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. So then, the cedar, hyssop, and scarlet, shows that redemption and cleansing is connected with the cross, the blood, and faith in the finished work of Christ.
The cooled ashes of the burnt heifer were to be gathered up and stored away; then, when they were needed to ceremonially sanctify those who were unclean, the ashes would be mixed with living water and sprinkled upon the unclean (Numbers 19:9). The living water was a moving water from a pure source such as a stream or river. The ashes of the heifer being mixed into the water is what made it a water of separation and a purification for sin.
The sacrificial ashes mixed with living water was a shadow of how Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary was connected with the Living Waters of the Holy Spirit given to the Church at Pentecost (John 7:37-39). It is Christ’s Holy Spirit that sanctifies (cleanses) us whilst we wash in the water of the revealed Word for the age.
This water of separation that made a purification for sin was a shadow of Jesus Christ, who, by His sacrifice on Calvary, made a way for us to be cleansed and separated from sin and all its guilt. As a person was considered unclean who had come into contact with a corpse and could not approach God in that condition, so we who were born in sin and trespasses could not approach unto God nor serve Him. But the blood of Jesus Christ, who offered Himself without spot to God, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). His blood of sprinkling (Hebrews 12:24) is the ongoing work of sanctification in our lives that continually cleanses us from a world that is defiled by death.
As the ashes of the red heifer were to be kept in a clean place (Numbers 19:9), so the sacrificial work of Christ is connected with hearts and lives that are cleansed from all sin. The Gospel is to be handled by those whom the Spirit of Christ has purified and whose lips have been touched by the present-tense cleansing fire of God (Isaiah 6:6-7).