"The Water of Separation"
Summary
Covenant mercy cannot simply overlook defilement: the same God who kept mercy for thousands also appointed specific rites of cleansing for those made unclean by contact with death. The most striking was the ceremony of the red heifer — whose ashes, mixed with water, formed the “water of separation.” This chapter shows how that ceremony foreshadowed the cleansing of baptism, by which believers are separated from a world dead in sin.
In the ordinances which the Lord gave unto Moses, concerning offerings for sin, in the atonement thereof—divers kinds of sacrifices and manner of cleansing, were directed for different kinds of sin. Atonement was made for “sins of ignorance,” and trespasses unwittingly committed. Atonement was also made for physical defilement contracted by the touch of any unclean thing. Both that which was physical and that which was actual transgression were designated as “Sin.” There were also sins presumptuously committed for which no atonement was provided.
In the type described in Numb, xix., certain principles for the cleansing and purifying of sin are represented. “Cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet were cast into the midst of the burning of the heifer.” And one who was clean was commanded to “gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place: to be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.” When taken for use, “running water was put thereto in a vessel,” and sprinkled upon the unclean. It was for the special cleansing of those who had touched the dead, or a grave. In the light of the “Revealed Mystery,” the beautiful significance of this shadow is brought out. The believer, in coming to Christ, is called to pass through a “water of separation.” The water alone can not purify apart from the cleansing, purifying principles, contained in the sacrificial offering. In the type, it was for the cleansing and purifying of those who had been in contact with the dead. In the antitype, the separating, purifying power contained in the one true sacrificial offering, separates and purifies the believer, from spiritual contact with the “dead in trespasses and sins.” And the same separating, purifying power of those cleansing principles contained therein, will finally cleanse, from contact with death and the grave.
The complete moral and spiritual separateness from contact with that which is defiling, prefigured in this type, is expressed in plain words by the apostle Paul, thus: > “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you: and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. vi. 14-18).