B. Its Usage

The next matter we need to see is how the water for purification was used.

1. To Be Sprinkled upon the Unclean Persons

The water for impurity was to be sprinkled upon the unclean persons: those who touched a dead body, or came into a tent or were already in a tent in which a man died, or touched one who had been slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave (vv. 11-14, 16-20). This is a picture of the situation of the children of Israel at that time. The uncleanness of death was everywhere.

The impurity in this chapter does not refer to sin but to death. Death comes out of sin, and sin is the root of death (Rom. 5:12). From the sin of rebellion, death became prevailing among the children of Israel. Thus, there was the need for the water for impurity. Only the working of Christ's redemption, through His dignified and humbled humanity, with His death and the Spirit of His resurrection, could heal and cleanse the situation.

2. To Be Sprinkled
upon the Tent in Which a Man Dies
and upon the Open Vessels and Furnishings in It

The water was also to be sprinkled upon the tent in which a man died and upon all the open vessels and furnishings in the tent, for their cleansing (Num. 19:15, 18).

C. The Priest Who Sprinkled
the Blood of the Heifer and Burned
Its Skin, Flesh, and Blood, with Its Dung,
the Man Who Burned the Heifer,
the Man Who Gathered Up the Ashes of the
Heifer, and the Man Who Sprinkled the Water
for Impurity Washing Their Clothes
and Bathing Themselves in Water

The priest who sprinkled the blood of the heifer and burned its skin, flesh, and blood, with its dung, the man who burned the heifer, the man who gathered up the ashes of the heifer, and the man who sprinkled the water for impurity were to wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water (vv. 7-10, 18-19). This signifies that whoever was involved with the water for impurity became unclean and needed to be washed and cleansed. After this, the entire situation of the children of Israel was cleansed from the effect of the death that came in from their sin of rebellion.

I hope that we all will keep in mind the four rebellions in chapters eleven through fourteen; the insertion in chapter fifteen, with the ordinances concerning the offerings, the keeping of the Sabbath, and the people's dress; the widespread rebellion in chapter sixteen; the vindication through the budding rod in chapter seventeen; and confirmation of the reward to the priests and the Levites in chapter eighteen. Following all this, we see in chapter nineteen the water for impurity to cleanse away and annul the effect of the death that came from the great rebellion.