“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.”
- Numbers 29:11-12 -

Death is defiling in the camp where the holy God has made his dwelling. The God of Israel is a living God. Death is in the world because of sin, which is always a barrier to our relationship with God. Israelites were forbidden from following other nations in consulting the dead or any other occult practices. Ancestors were respected, but not worshipped or consulted.

In Hebrews, the ashes of the heifer are mentioned as giving temporary cleansing, but the blood of Jesus brings eternal redemption. He, like the heifer, is slain ‘outside the camp’ (vs 3,9). His death is not defiling but brings healing and life. He does not avoid the dead but raises them to life. We follow him outside the camp so that, in identifying with him in his death, we may live with him forever in the city prepared for us. Hallelujah!

PRAYER: Father, thank for the sin you poured on Jesus at Calvary, allowing me to be forgiven. May I never take it for granted.

(Summary from the book Encounter with God)