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The Blood Applied Continually, July 13
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, ... purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 9:13, 14
.
The sacrificial [red] heifer was conducted without the camp and slain
in the most imposing manner. Thus Christ suffered without the gates
of Jerusalem, for Calvary was outside the city walls. This was to show
that Christ did not die for the Hebrews alone, but for all mankind. He
proclaims to a fallen world that He has come to be their Redeemer and
urges them to accept the salvation He offers them. The heifer having
been slain in a most solemn manner, the priest, clothed in pure white
garments, took the blood in his hands as it issued from the body of the
victim and cast it toward the temple seven times....
The body of the heifer was burned to ashes, which signified a whole
and ample sacrifice. The ashes were then gathered up by a person un-
contaminated by contact with the dead and placed in a vessel containing
water from a running stream. This clean and pure person then took a
cedar stick with scarlet cloth and a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled the
contents of the vessel upon the tent and the people assembled. This
ceremony was repeated several times ... and was done as a purification
from sin.
Thus Christ, in His own spotless righteousness, after shedding His
precious blood, enters into the holy place to cleanse the sanctuary. And
there the crimson current is brought into the service of reconciling God
to man. Some may look upon this slaying of the heifer as a meaningless
ceremony, but it was done by the command of God and bears a deep
significance that has not lost its application to the present time....
The blood of Christ is efficacious, but it needs to be applied contin-
ually....
If it was necessary in ancient times for the unclean to be purified by
the blood of sprinkling, how essential for those living in the perils of
the last days, and exposed to the temptations of Satan, to have the blood
of Christ applied to their hearts daily.
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