There was a ritual introduced in Numbers 19 that was used for use in the water of cleansing; it is for the purification from sin. v. 9. The ashes of a red heifer, that was without defect or blemish, were kept outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. v. 6.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:1-2, 7.

Reading about the hyssop, the scarlet wool and the cedar wood, I couldn’t help but think of the verse above – and about our sins like scarlet. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:16, 18.

God is sharing with the people a ritual that offers cleansing after touching a dead body and I can’t help but appreciate the symbolism. We are in a sense, dead in our sins. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5.

The people could be made ceremonially clean after touching a dead body. You know how good it feels to bathe after being really dirty and to put on clean clothes? You feel fresh again. I think about God’s truth washing my heart and mind, His love refreshing my heart. We live in an unclean world. God shows us how to be clean. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27.

God shows us how to be clean and it’s by the washing with water through the word and this not by our efforts but because of His great love for us, that even when we are dead in our sins, by His grace we are saved. God’s love cleans us whiter than snow. How great is that kind of love?

I need the kind of cleansing only God can give me. I want to be bathed in His love and walk in newness with Him. His great love does that for me and for you. Ask and you will receive.