In this series on THE ASHES OF A RED HEIFER we have seen that in the worship of the Old Testament, where everything was SYMBOLICAL, where spiritual realities were conveyed through outward signs, every physical defilement pointed to, and carried with it, a spiritual counterpart. Especially was this the case with reference to death. Death pointed to the whole dread realm of sin, sorrow, and separation from God, the ghastly nightmare through which man has suffered for six painful milleniums. Hence, defilement by the dead was symbolically treated as the greatest of all. It lasted seven days; it required a special kind of purification; and it extended not only to those who had touched the dead, but even to the house or tent where the body had lain, and all open vessels therein.

The Lord commanded the people to bring a red heifer - one without spot or blemish - and present it to the High Priest. The High Priest in turn gave the red Heifer into the hands of Eleazar the priest to be taken outside the Camp and slaughtered there in his presence. It was not one of the sin-offerings of the Day of Atonement - indeed, it was no "offering" at all, for no part of it was offered on the Lord's altar or eaten by the priests. It was sacrificed, but not in the same sense, nor in the same place, as these offerings - in the Court. It was not even killed by one of the priests, nor was its blood taken into the Tabernacle. The red heifer was taken outside the Camp of Israel, and was then killed and burned to ashes, except a little of the blood taken by the priest and sprinkled by the priest seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. While the body of the heifer was being incinerated, Eleazar was to throw cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet thread into the burning fire. When all was consumed, the ASHES of the heifer were not brought into the Tabernacle, but were left outside the Camp, gathered into a heap, accessible to any of the people who had use for them. The Lord directed that a portion of the ashes was to be mixed with running water in a vessel, and a bunch of hyssop dipped into this water was to be used in sprinkling the person, clothing, tent, vessels, etc., of any one who contracted ceremonial defilement through touching a dead body. Thus, any who became legally unclean through contact with death, was cleansed or purified by being sprinkled with water containing some of the ashes of the heifer.

Now, here is an Israelite who has come into contact with a dead body. Because he has been so defiled, under the law, he cannot stay in the Camp, neither can he approach the Tabernacle. Though he has committed no sin, yet he is prohibited from having fellowship with either man or God! The very presence of death caused all fellowship and worship to cease! Until the time he was sprinkled, he was kept out of fellowship with God, but when he had been duly sprinkled he was clean. He was restored to his people and to the presence of God. Ah, though we have committed no act of sin, yet, because of our contact with the DEATH around us, the influence of the flesh, the world, and the devil, how often have we had the sense of being far away from the presence of God! It was not actual sins that separated us - it was, rather, the NEGATIVE INFLUENCES of a realm of DEATH upon MIND, EMOTION, and CONSCIENCE. How often the seemingly needful involvement of daily living so OVERWHELM us that they mar our lives with anxiety, stress, fatigue, and distraction until we find ourselves so fragmented and divided that we are not able to gather ourselves to serve the Lord with all out heart, mind, and strength - then we have touched death and have been defiled by it, and need to be CLEANSED from these things and their NEGATIVE EFFECTS upon our lives. If we contract defilement, that defilement must be removed ere we know the free flow of HIS LIFE. But we cannot get rid of it by any effort of our own; it can only be by the use of God's gracious provision; even the WATER OF SEPARATION. "He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean" (Num. 19:12). This sets forth the wonderful provision of God in Christ to meet our need in passing through a DEFILING WORLD of death on our way in to the full redemption of Christ, applied to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

"And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: and the priest shall take CEDAR WOOD, and HYSSOP, and SCARLET, and cast it into the midst of the burning heifer" (num. 19:5-6). How little we have appreciated the "ingredients" of God's grace that flow unto us who are partakers of His Spirit. All the redemptive ingredients of Christ's life and His death are included in the ashes of the heifer and are mingled together in the Spirit of Truth who has come to abide within His people, just as the ashes of the red heifer, and the ashes of cedar wood, and hyssop and scarlet were mingled together in the water of separation. Every part of the heifer, including her blood and her skin and her dung - the whole sacrifice - was burnt. Into the midst of the burning body of the heifer, the priest cast scarlet thread, cedar wood and hyssop, because they set forth the character of the sacrifice and the nature of the elements which effect our cleansing from the defilements of the world. Remember always, in reflecting on these wonderful truths, that each ingredient of these ashes MUST REPRESENT SOMETHING BY WHICH WE ARE MADE CLEAN, for they are all realities resident in the Christ and now ministered unto us by the working of the Spirit for our cleansing.

SCARLET on the natural plane is the type or expression of human splendor, worldly grandeur, the glory of the kingdoms of this world. But in reference to our Lord Jesus Christ it embodies a higher meaning, bespeaking the splendor and grandeur and glory of the divine power and authority manifested in Him. Some have supposed that the scarlet represents the blood of Christ, but the true type of His blood, the blood of the heifer, is already part of the sacrifice and the ashes. It is impossible to speak with too much fervor or be too abundant in our praise and adulation of the Christ of God! His name is called Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Christ is God and as God, Christ is King: the throne of the universe belongs to Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. O, you souls, redeemed by Christ, behold your God! Our Lord is the Mighty God.

The sense of who He is, the recognition of His greatness and majesty has been lost in the modern Church. Now He is "the man upstairs." We have become too palsy-walsy with God. I am utterly convinced that many people who speak the most intimately about God, as if He were their Uncle Joe, would find themselves with their hands over their mouths and their faces in the dust, if they should suddenly come into His presence. We have lost the mountain view of God. "O Zion, get   up into the high mountains and say, Behold your God!" (Isa. 40:9). Too many have lost the view of the greatness and the grandeur and majesty of our King. Oh, I would not forget the fact that Jesus has come and has poured out His love and has brought us nigh, but I would remind you that after the resurrection of the Christ and His ascension to throneship at the right hand of the Father, and His coming again in mighty Spirit power into the yielded hearts of His faithful followers, no one ever spoke to Him as Jesus again. When He was revealed by the resurrection as the Son of God with power, from that point on no one ever spoke to Him as Jesus - He was the L-O-R-D Jesus!

What does the word "Lord" mean? In the days of Jesus, the word "lord" (kurios - with lower case letters) was what slaves called their masters. When it appeared in Capital letters - THE LORD - it meant the Caesar of Rome. As a matter of fact, when public employees or soldiers met each other they used to greet one another by calling out "Caesar is the Lord," and the other responding "Yes, the Lord is Caesar." This presented a problem for the Christians. They insisted to the contrary that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Caesar did not mind other men being called lords as long as the term "THE LORD" was reserved for him. But the Christians reserved the term for Jesus. They placed Jesus high above the emperor. They said, in effect, "Caesar, you can count on us in some things, but when Jesus and you are in the balance, we will choose Jesus, because we have submitted our lives to Him. He is the first One. He is THE LORD - the One who possesses supreme authority in our lives." That was the reason Caesar persecuted the Christians.

The Gospel that we have in the Bible is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel that presents Jesus as King, as Lord, as First one, as the Maximum Authority. Jesus taught us to pray "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven." What does this mean? I am the king of my life; I am seated on the throne; I make the decisions; I do it "my way." But when the Lord Jesus comes I must abdicate my throne and let Him sit on the throne. Now everything must be done HIS WAY. The testimony of those who are really in the Kingdom of God is all the same; "Till I met the Lord Jesus, I was the commander of my life. Since I met Him, He commands."

Most people are Christians because they want to go to heaven and escape hell. If all the preachers and teachers one day called a press conference and told their people, "We have discovered that there is no heaven or hell," how many would stay in the Church after that? Most of the people would ask, "Why are we coming then?" They were coming for heaven, not because JESUS IS LORD AND EVERYBODY MUST SUBMIT TO HIM. In the hour in which we live the vast majority of Christians are more miserable than most other people in the world. They are only enduring this life in order to eventually get to heaven where they imagine they will spend the next billion trillion years or so singing, playing harps, and dancing. I am quite sure that if such people would admit the truth, they would admit that even a thousand years of singing, shouting, playing harp music and dancing around in white robes would become very boring, to say the least. I find that most of these people can't endure five hours in a meeting even if the glory is falling all around! Most of them start watching their watches about noon on Sunday morning! The problem is that their theology leaves them with nothing constructive to do and all eternity to do it in! They know nothing about the KINGDOM OF GOD. A kingdom denotes rulership and advancement of all kinds. It means WORK and RESPONSIBILITY and a place of ministry and authority to bless.

Then there are those who are Christians for a fire escape out of hell, not because Jesus is King and they truly hunger and thirst after the righteousness, peace and joy of His Kingdom. How many thousands, yea, millions of Christians have no true love for God, but are serving Him out of fear of going to hell, as a slave in fear of a tyrant! If such persons had the fear of hell removed from them it is obvious that they would promptly tell God to go to hell and then proceed to drown themselves in devilish pleasures and fleshly pursuits. If the wages of sin were removed, they would immediately go out and begin to live it up in the world, serving both the flesh and the devil. Such have no love for God at all, their eyes have never beheld HIM as the altogether lovely and all-glorious LORD and KING of the universe, and their heart strings have not been touched by the beautiful message of the KINGDOM OF GOD. They have never beheld the King in His beauty!

He is the great King of kings and Lord of lords. There are some whom I have heard from time to time who speak of Christ as Prophet, Priest, and soon-coming King - as if to deny by this that Christ has any Kingdom at all at the present time. Such ignorant statements always leave me cold. What could be farther from the teachings of God's Word, which teaches that Christ already rules and reigns over His Kingdom and that we are already a part of that Kingdom? We are told in Colossians that He "has translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son." Already it has taken place, already we are in that Kingdom, already the Christ has a Kingdom and is its King. The word "kingdom" comes from the two terms "king" and "dominion" - king's dominion. It exists wherever the dominion of the Christ rules and holds sway over the hearts of men. Christ is the great King right now, ruling all things for the well-being of His subjects and bringing absolute perfection and completion to His plans which He ordained before the foundation of the world. He is the King of the ages and invincible. He shall yet arise in power and glory in His completed and perfected body - the MANIFESTED SONS OF GOD - and reveal Himself as the great conquering King, bringing deliverance to the whole creation, reconciling all things unto Himself, and then shall all know the glory of His Kingdom as every tongue confesses and every knee bows and all in that day declare that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD - Jehovah of hosts, the Lord of glory, the King of the universe!

The Lord our God is the King, and His Kingdom shall rule over ALL. And praise His name, He is even now bringing forth in the earth a Kingdom people - the firstfruits of His redemption - who are discovering HIS LORDSHIP over all in their lives. Ah, the Royal Majesty of Jesus Christ was cast as a Scarlet Thread into the fires of the cross that consumed the body of the red heifer, and now, as our minds and emotions and consciences are sprinkled with the ingredients of those blessed ashes of HIS SACRIFICED (poured out) LIFE, raised in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, there comes the omnipotent authority of HIS WORD WITHIN causing the agitated emotions, the carnal thoughts, the fierce temptations, the old frustrations, the natural weaknesses, and all the NEGATIVE INFLUENCES of the death realm to flee as darkness flees before the rising sun. When all hell assails us, when the power of death all around crowds in upon us, when the pressures of this world would frustrate and vex and suffocate us, then HE STANDS UP WITHIN US AS KING - in Kingly authority. Scarlet thread! When the world, and our own flesh, would tear us apart and smash our lives and our hope os sonship upon the rocks, He is there, the still small Voice, the deep, inner confidence that all is well, that He, the Lord of glory is with us still, and all is secure in His loving hands, for He ordained our path and made provision for the hour. He is Himself the provision, the indwelling Christ, the anointing, His authority inherent in the Spirit moving in our lives, and this wonderful "ingredient" of HIS DOMINION AND LORDSHIP is continually and unfailingly AVAILABLE TO US in the WATER OF SEPARATION - overcoming all external pressures and powers. Thank God, in every situation and circumstance of life HE IS PRESENT TO SUBDUE ALL THINGS unto Himself, thus cleansing from the defilement of death.

The second ingredient cast into the midst of the burning red heifer was HYSSOP. Hyssop was the plant used by the Israelites in Egypt to splash the blood of the passover lamb on the two doorposts and the upper part of the doorway of their houses (Ex. 12:21-22). At the inauguration of the Law Covenant, Moses employed hyssop in sprinkling the book of the Law and the people (Heb. 9:19). Hyssop also figured in the cleansing ceremony for persons or houses previously infected with leprosy (Lev. 14:2-7, 48-53). And the purification by the "water of separation" was made by sprinkling with hyssop. Additionally, hyssop was one of the "active ingredients" in the ashes of the red heifer. It can easily be seen that hyssop always relates to CLEANSING and PURIFICATION, and David thus appropriately prayed after he had gone in to Bathsheba, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps. 51:7).

According to various authorities, the hyssop of the Hebrew Scriptures is marjoram. This plant of the mint family is common in Palestine. Under favorable conditions it attains a height of one and a half to three feet. Its branches and thick leaves are hairy and, if bunched together, can easily hold liquids for splashing. The fact that marjoram is found growing in rock crevices and walls harmonizes with I Kings 4:33 wherein it is stated that king Solomon in his wisdom "spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall." It grows in dry places, out in the sun. It produces small bluish-purple flowers and has a sweet fragrance. It is also a bitter herb and was anciently used for medicinal purposes. According to Jewish history, three separate stalks, each with a blossom on it, were tied together, and the tip of these blossoms dipped into the water of separation, the hyssop itself being grasped while sprinkling the unclean.

It is interesting to note that hyssop always relates to sacrifice - and therefore to humility, and weakness, and contrition of heart. There is a wonderful passage of Scripture containing the kernel of the precious truth embodied in the hyssop. Paul wrote, "Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in HUMILITY count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind within you, which also was in Christ Jesus who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but EMPTIED HIMSELF, taking the FORM OF A SERVANT, being born in the LIKENESS OF MEN. And being found in human form He HUMBLED HIMSELF and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:3-8, Revised Standard).

There is presented first Christ's wonderful Divinity: "in the form of God," "equal with God." Then comes the mystery of His incarnation, in that word of deep and inexhaustible meaning: "He emptied Himself." The cross follows, with the humiliation, and obedience, and suffering, and death, whence it derives its worth: "He HUMBLED HIMSELF, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." And all is crowned by His glorious exaltation: "God has highly exalted Him." Christ as God, Christ becoming man, Christ as man in humiliation working out our redemption, and Christ in glory as Lord of all - such are the treasures this passage contains.

Two striking statements stand out: "He EMPTIED Himself," "He HUMBLED Himself." The most startling thought of all is that GOD HUMBLED HIMSELF! We can hardly conceive of such a thing. The high and holy One, the omnipotent and omniscient Creator and Lord of the universe HUMBLED HIMSELF! Yet, it could not be otherwise. Let me state it this way: God is humble! Have you ever thought about that? If God were not humble there would have been no babe in Bethlehem's manger, no Son growing up in dusty Nazareth, no Redeemer dying in agony upon the cross. If God were not humble there would be no indwelling Spirit, no habitation of God in temples of clay. If God were not humble it would mean the destruction of God Himself. He would then have almighty power without the balance of mercy, love, compassion, and identification with His creation. Thus, He would be a tyrant, and tyranny holds within itself the seeds of its own destruction.

Furthermore, God REQUIRES humility of us. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up" (James 4:10). "Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with HUMILITY: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the HUMBLE. HUMBLE yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God..." (I Pet. 5:5-6). "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved...HUMBLENESS of mind..." (Col. 3:12). The question follows: Does God require an attitude of mind and state of being of HIS ELECT which He does not Himself possess? Nay! "HE HUMBLED HIMSELF!" In Jesus Christ we behold the humility of God.

And now comes the word: "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God EMPTIED HIMSELF, and as a man HUMBLED HIMSELF." The Sons of God must be like Christ in His self-emptying and self-humiliation. The first great act of self-abnegation in which as God He emptied Himself of His divine glory and power and laid it aside, was followed up by the no less wondrous humbling of Himself as man, to the death of the cross. And in this amazing twofold humiliation, the astonishment of the universe and the delight of the Father, the Word with utmost simplicity tells us we must, as a matter of course, BE LIKE CHRIST.

People have great difficulty understanding an abstraction or a force. It must be personalized and that is why God has come in the person of Jesus Christ so that we might see Him and see what God is like. The only begotten Son, He has revealed Him. God has been personalized in Jesus Christ, and this personification, the embodiment of God Himself, HUMBLED HIMSELF! That One who walked by the sea of Galilee and throughout the dusty roads of Palestine was none other than the Living God, the Creator who emptied Himself and humbled Himself and came into this world. Humility, self-abasement, serving, laying down OUR LIVES to POUR OUT to others - these are the very principles of the Kingdom of God! "Whatsoever therefore shall HUMBLE HIMSELF as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mat. 18:4). "But he that is greatest among you shall be your SERVANT. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall abased; and he that shall HUMBLE HIMSELF shall be exalted" (Mat. 23:11-12).

This is the character of the hyssop, God not merely as the Scarlet, the mighty exalted King with dominion and power, but God identified with man, sitting where we sit, living where we live, feeling what we feel, experiencing what we experience, and TRIUMPHING IN IT! This is the humility of God, the servantship of God, the priesthood of God. "Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God...for in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:17-18). "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

God said, "I will invade humanity and come down in the person of My Son, limit myself to a human, physical body just like man has, with all its appetites, emotions, possibilities of suffering hunger, weakness, and death, and I will demonstrate the character, the life, the love and the power of God on the human level." The incarnation was God manifesting Himself within the limitations of a human body. Christ could not fly, He could not see further than anybody else, He could not run faster than the other young men in His day, He got as tired as anybody else, He got as tempted as anybody else, He got hungry, fell asleep, they could spit on Him and finally kill Him. Yet in Jesus Christ you have the perfect expression of God. The meaning of the incarnation is that God could drink out of a bottle if Jesus drank out of a bottle, God in Him learned to crawl before He learned to walk, God learned a language and stumbled over the words before He got it straight, His mind could increase.

When God invaded humanity in the body of Jesus Christ, He took upon Himself human nature and limitation, was made in the likeness, not of glorified flesh, but of sinful flesh, and for thirty three and a half years lived, walked, slept and died in that body, manifesting God in the scope of humanity. Being mocked, God was living in Him. Asleep in the boat, God was living in Him. When He was weary, pressed, persecuted, hated, spit upon, His back beaten, His brow crowned with thorns, His hands and feet nailed to a cross, His side pierced, yet, dying on the cross in agony with the spittal running down His face, GOD WAS LIVING AND MANIFESTING IN HIM, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself!

Do you see what God did? He made it possible for Himself to be at home in human bodies. "The tabernacle of God IS WITH MEN" (Rev. 21:3). Not with angels, with man. "And the Word was MADE FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:14). It means that God can, by His Spirit, Jesus can, by His Spirit, come in and live in these human bodies of ours, grow up in the fullness of His nature, mind, and power within us, living in us, loving in us, and manifesting Himself in us until with the Christ we can say, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father; I and the Father are one."

Paul grasped the deep reality of this when he said, "For me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). He didn't say, "For me to speak in tongues, dance in the Spirit, fall out under the power, heal the sick, cast out devils, be spiritual and get into the 144,000 is Christ." No, no. He said, "For me to LIVE is Christ." Living for Paul did not mean those obviously supernatural moments when he was seeing visions and hearing voices and being caught up into the third heaven. It meant for Paul to walk from one town to another on the dusty roads with Christ walking in him. It was for Paul to sew tents, with Christ making tents through him. It was speaking to people and manifesting the love of God, with Christ manifesting that love through him. The everyday living out of his life in the nitty-gritty of human experience - WAS CHRIST!

So now God can feel at home in us, He has humbled Himself, He can live and work and manifest Himself without any abnormality or strain. The Son of God can live in us, manifest His life in us in the office, in the shop, among the ungodly, in the home, in every relationship of life. Some people think that there are areas, particularly to do with our bodies, our appetites, our functions, with which God does not have anything to do, but GOD made us that way. Christ was made that way, and He demonstrated God in every facet of His life, spirit, soul, and body.

George Warnock has written these precious words: "Jesus comes on the scene, and immediately we are made to realize that here is One that is Great because of His humility. Here is One who can take note of the things that are meaningless to others; for He (like the hyssop) was but a 'Root out of a dry ground.' Here was One who 'had no form nor comeliness;' One who could not get enthralled about the mighty and the noble; or share the enthusiasm of the disciples about the splendor of the Temple; but who saw beauty in the 'lily of the field;' One who would not break the 'bruised reed,' or quench the 'smoking flax.' True greatness does not stand apart, above, or beyond the ordinary. True greatness is always identified with humility and weakness and insignificance and lowliness. That is why the great and mighty God of the universe who created all things could not forever remain high and lifted up in the heavens, He must come down and show Himself as He really is...meek and lowly and compassionate. God takes special note of the 'hyssop' because He is so Great. He tells us that He 'dwells in the high and holy place,' and then He is quick to remind us, 'I dwell also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit' (Isa. 57:15). Now we are talking about 'hyssop' which is one of the ingredients of this Fountain of Life. Only the humble will see thereof, and be glad. Only the humble will partake of it, because only the humble can get low enough to discover God's dwelling-place (and don't forget, you will never enter into this kind of life until you discover God's dwelling-place, and then abide with Him there)" - end quote.

God's dwelling-place - "Behold, the tabernacle of God is WITH MEN." Ah, beloved, God is here within us by His Spirit, not only as the Scarlet, but as hyssop, an humble priest to identify with us and bear us up in time of trouble and cleanse from all that defiles. The Spirit of the one WHO HAS LIVED OUT GOD'S LIFE IN THE FLESH has come within, not the God in heaven who CAN do it, but the God who HAS done it. This is they hyssop cast into the fire! When we know Him thus, what a cleansing is effected from the defilement around us. God is nigh! He is here! In our today! In every situation and circumstance! To live out HIS LIFE in us, praise His name!

There are also fagots of cedar that are cast into the fire with hyssop and scarlet as the burning heifer is consumed in the flames. The cedar is again one of the ingredients of the water of separation for the purification of defilement contracted by contact with the death of this world's system. The cedar speaks to us of THE FRAGRANCE OF HIS LIFE, which, of course, is known only by exposing ourselves to HIS PRESENCE. The cedar tree has long stood as the symbol of eternal life, and is also known predominately for its fragrance. Here is the picture of Life bowing to the ravaging flames, but yielding up its glory at the same time, and imparting a fragrance to the sacrifice. The cedar filled the mountains and the valleys with its delighful odor during its long lifetime; now in death it brings the same fragrance to the sacrifice, yielding up the fullness thereof in the final burst of perfume, that the sacrifice might be acceptable to the nostril of God and efficacious for all to whom it is applied.

The lovely Shulamite maiden in the Song of Solomon intoned this canticle about the King: "His countenance (presence) is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars" (S. of S. 5:15). Lebanon, the home of the cedar, derives its name from the root word "Leban" meaning "white." Its mountains, snow-covered a good part of the year, provided the moisture needed to keep the trees thriving on its slopes. Fed by melting streams of water, they yielded up a fragrance that filled the valleys and covered the hills, the fragrance of spiritual elevation. What beautiful applications of this truth can be made to the elect Sons of God, planted upon the mountains in the Garden of God, elevated in the high and heavenly places in Christ, filling the depressions and reaching the heights, and always bearing the odor that reveals the source of our life. But in this study we must restrain ourselves, limiting the application to its fulfillment in the firstborn Son who "of God is made unto wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (I Cor. 1:30).

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Lebanon was its smell. The fragrance that filled the valleys and covered the slopes of the mountains came from the most majestic of trees, the cedar. "The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon" (S. of S. 4:11). The smell of Lebanon was the smell of a tree, a tree that would yield its fragrance day after day, night after night, unchanging with the passing time. Summer and winter, in tropical heat or mountain cold the cedar gave up the perfume for the garments of the king. There are many references to the cedars in the Scriptures. The very name by which the tree was known, EREZ, in Hebrew means "firmly rooted and strong." It is a tree that has always been held in high esteem, not only for its vigor and beauty, but also for it fragrance and the lasting quality of its wood. There is something permanent, something continues, about the fragrance of a tree. Shrubs that bloom give up their odors for a time, but then the flowers fade and wither away, and the fragrance is no more. Annuals bloom for a while, perhaps a day or a week, but then they, too, fade away and the sweet smell becomes just a memory of yesterday. Not so the odor of the cedar tree, especially the cedar of Lebanon. The fragrance of the cedar abides even though the tree may be cut down and sawn into boards or beams or pillars. Hardly any kind of wood unites so many good qualities as the cedar; its wood not only pleases the eye by its reddish stripes, and exhales an agreeable smell, but it is hard and without knots, and is never eaten by worms, and lasts so long that some persons consider it imperishable. Hence, in the typology of Scripture it bespeaks the FRAGRANCE OF HIS LIFE - an eternal and incorruptible life!

The fragrance of His life is in the sweetness and power of HIS PRESENCE. "Because of the savor (fragrance) of Your good ointments, Your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love You. Draw me, we will run after You" (S. of S. 1:3-4). DRAW ME! How? By sending forth the sweet fragrance which shall captive me, and cause me to desire and look upon and be conscious of ONLY You. Your name is an ointment poured forth. The name represents the whole nature and character of the one to whom it belongs. HIS LIFE has been poured out, contained in heaven no longer, His love and mercy and righteousness and power have reached out unto mankind, and those who receive THE FRAGRANCE find that it awakens in them a deep desire to RUN AFTER HIM, while at the same annulling ALL OTHER INFLUENCES. Herein is peace and rest and joy! The cares of THIS WORLD have turned many peoples lives into a time bomb just ready to explode. The strain of living is intensified because of financial problems, pressure on the job, ungodliness all around, noise pollution, multiplied activities, hectic schedules which keep one always on the run, until the nerves are completely frayed, the mind weary, the body fatigued, and the emotions ready to erupt. The vital presence of God has been choked out, meanwhile, we have touched death and been defiled by it, and need to be CLEANSED from these things and their NEGATIVE EFFECTS in our lives.

The water of separation must be APPLIED. This denotes that there must be an action, a drawing aside, a giving of ourselves to it, until the cleansing has done its work. OUR FLESH must be EXPOSED to the water of separation with its wonderful purifying ingredients - the scarlet of HIS LORDSHIP, the hyssop of HIS PRIESTLY MINISTRY, and the cedar of the FRAGRANCE OF HIS LIFE...the PRESENCE of the Lord. As one has written: "The presence of the Lord is a secret place. David describes it as the shadow of the Almighty. The cloud overshadowing the Camp of Israel throughout their journey in the wilderness, a shade by day and a pillar of fire by night, was none other than the PRESENCE of the Almighty. 'In YOUR PRESENCE is fullness of joy,' wrote the enraptured psalmist; and how could it be otherwise since the God of Israel is our fortress, our power, and our habitation? As a garment plucked from a perfumed closet bears in its fibres the sweet aroma, so they who dwell in THE PRESENCE of Christ radiate the glory, the beauty, and the power of His attributes. 'All Your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made You glad,' wrote David. The ointment Mary poured with prodigality upon the head of the Saviour filled all the house where He sat with its fragrance, and we would be right in believing that aromatic balm. To dwell in HIS PRESENCE is to be LIKE HIM. To abide in His presence is to be changed into HIS IMAGE. Man can never hope to attain the likeness of the Lord by any outward regulation or command to his carnal mind, such as, touch not, taste not, handle not. It is when saints become conscious of HIS PRESENCE that men say they have been with with Jesus. It is not what God commands that changes the heart; it is He Himself. It is not recitation of God's divine laws that transforms our lives, but our relationship to Him who made them. Our abiding in the presence of Jesus Christ will cure every ill, banish every enemy, dispel all darkness and death, and transform our spirit, soul, and body into the image of Jesus Christ."

One of the great preachers of the last century was one day traveling in a carriage through a difficult area. He noticed that every time the horses came to certain outcroppings of rock, they would tend to shy away and almost pull the coach off the path. He noticed that just before they came to the rocks the coachman would take the whip and snap the horses. The horses would become so caught up in this new emotion (in this case the emotion of pain) that they lost sight of the emotion of fear of the rocks and moved steadily and straightforwardly on the path. Ah, just as the new and intense pain of the whip overwhelmed the emotion of fear in the horses, so, on the positive side, does the PRESENCE OF CHRIST sweetly and graciously sweep through our beings, quickening the mind, cleansing the emotions, washing away tensions and frustrations, purging carnal agitations, lifting the cares and pressures, breaking the relentless demands of the flesh. The new and POSITIVE POWER OF HIS PRESENCE, the sweet and beautiful FRAGRANCE OF HIS LIFE completely nullifies and cancells out the effects of the NEGATIVE. This is the cleansing of the WATER OF SEPARATION. How needful it is! And how precious.

But the water of separation must be applied, there must be a yielding of ourselves to it, to let it cover us, penetrate into our deepest being, and go through us. We must in faith turn away from all that bespeaks of death, from all that defiles, to receive of this cleansing, with the assurance that it will manifest its blessed power in us. A message comes to mind - It is the story of the house of the heart and the various rooms in the heart of one who has come to know the Lord. There was a particular room at the bottom of the stairs, right off to the side. There the Lord said to this believer, "Here I will meet with you each morning." The believer said, "Lord, you would take time to meet with me every morning?" And He replied, "Yes, I will meet you right here in this room." And so, morning after morning, just as the sun was rising, they held their intimate communion, that blessed fellowship. The believer grew in the knowledge of the grace of God and his spirit was enriched and his life blessed. But then, in the press of things through the tyranny of the urgent, there came a morning when he overslept. He had to get to the office and rushing down the stairs he forgot about the meeting. It grew to be a habit. Weeks and months went by and that quiet time was forgotten. Then one day as he reached the bottom of the stairs in his usual hurry to work, he noticed that the door was ajar and the light was on. He stepped inside to see what it was. There was Christ, sitting, waiting for him. He said, "Lord, what are you doing here?" The Lord said, "Have you forgotten that I told you I would meet you here every morning?" He said, "Lord, you mean that you have been here every day waiting for me?"

That is how it is with Christ, and that is how it is with the water of separation. The ashes of the red heifer have been LAID UP IN A CLEAN PLACE, the water of separation is ALWAYS AVAILABLE AND ACCESSIBLE to all, we need only to take the time to avail ourselves of it, to expose our lives to it, to experience its restorative power. Beloved, have you heard your Lord's voice calling you to come apart with Him, to leave everything and every one that hindered you and come into a higher place of revelation and separation unto Himself? Have you kept your Lord waiting while you fulfilled the demands of the world, or while you pampered your flesh, or while you did something that YOU wanted to do, instead of doing what He wanted you to do? Have you heard Him chide you because you neglected Him, because you were not giving yourself to prayer and to the Word, because you were not taking up your cross daily and following after Him?

When you have heard His voice in these and other ways, have you risen up eagerly and quickly and hastened to obey? Or have you asked Him to wait until a more convenient season? Did you have some "church work" which you felt was very important because some souls were looking to you for help? Did you tell the Lord to wait until you could leave them, or finish what you were doing? Many times, it is so. Not always in words do we tell Him to wait, we just go on with our "work," fulfilling the responsibilities thrust upon us. We are going to respond and obey, we are going to arise and commune with Him, we are going to seek Him with all of our heart, we are going to pursue the vision and lay hold upon the prize of the high calling, but not until a more propitious moment when we have finished what we are doing!

I do not hesitate to tell you, precious friend of mine, that it is alone with the Lord; it is when the clamoring voices of THIS WORLD have been silenced; it is when the strife and opinions of the flesh have ceased; it is when earth has receded and Heaven and Eternity have drawn near enough for us to see the unseen, that the voice of the Lord is heard in our hearts and His presence is known and His beauty appears. It is in such separation and communion that the water of separation does its work, and we are restored again to the Camp and to the Courts of the Lord. Our Beloved is calling us to dwell in touch and communion with Him in that clean place, in that secret meeting place within us, until the fragrance of His life is manifested to us, and through us to those about us. It is as we do this and treasure this Holy One who is the fountain of all heaven's perfume, that His presence and preciousness become sweeter to us day by day. How precious is the secret of His presence! Such sweet communion do we have with Him, so sweetly does He abide within us! How gentle is His voice, how He speaks, unfolding the mysteries of His Kingdom in the hearts in which He has taken up His abode!

All who come to Him shall find rest, all who seek Him shall be refreshed. "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls." Nowhere else can a soul find rest excepting by coming to the Lord, looking unto Him, exposing himself to the fragrance of His life. All the storms and hurricanes that come up against us, will not be able to dismay, disturb, frustrate, upset, unsettle, agitate, distress nor cast us down when we really KNOW HIS PRESENCE and abide in union with Him. In turmoil, under the pressure of everyday life, when things have not gone as they should, when there have been mistakes and blunders, when all hell breaks loose and the whole world is swirling wildly about us, how unspeakably precious it is to settle ourselves in the Lord. Such sweet assurance and holy stillness come over our spirits from HIS PRESENCE. The voice of our Master speaks to the billows, He quiets us upon His own bosom; and God's peace takes the place of the tension that has held us.

It is not when things are going smoothly, that we need to know His rest, but when all around is in a whirl and in unrest, then if we go into our secret closet and shut the door; if we get still before Him, His presence will steal upon us and He will comfort us as friend comforts friend. Yea, manifold more than any friend could comfort us. It is then we receive grace to say of every persecution or cause of unrest and distress, "This does not concern me; it is no affair of mine; He will take care of it." And as we look away from the death about us, and behold HIM WHO IS THE LIFE, the rest and peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep our souls.

In Numbers chapter nineteen, verses twelve and eighteen, there is a double action set forth. Anyone coming into contact with the dead was unclean seven days. He was required to cleanse himself with the water of separation on the third and seventh days. Both cleansings were essentially necessary to remove the defilement of death. Now, what did this double action typify? What is it that, in our spiritual experience, answers thereto? The use and repetition of certain numbers in the Scriptures is not without divine purpose. For our present meditation, we would like to consider the spiritual significance and application of the expression "on the third day."

When the Israelites who came out of Egypt reached Sinai, the Lord revealed Himself to them in a thick cloud of fire on the third day (Ex. 1:16). Asked for a sign authorizing Him to expel the temple merchants, Jesus replied: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" - referring not to Herod's temple, as His adversaries supposed, but to the temple of His body (Jn. 2:19,21). On another occasion, the Pharisees informed Jesus that Herod wanted to kill Him, but He refused to be intimidated and answered: "Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected" (Lk. 13:31-32). More than once Jesus told the Twelve that He had to go to Jerusalem to "suffer many things, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." We read in Hosea: "Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, that He may heal us; He has stricken, and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him" (6:1-2).

The expression "on the third day" is prophetic of a new beginning for all who, having been tried in the furnace of affliction, subjected to the pressures of this world's system, turn to the Lord to allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse them from the negative influences, and from the many subtle vestiges of their self-life, that they might live in His presence and walk in the joy and triumph of His victory and life. Thus, the cleansing of THE THIRD DAY bespeaks a NEW BEGINNING from man's side. The third day is the day of turning unto the Lord, the seeking and finding of His power and victory and presence in our lives.

The SEVENTH DAY brings the finished work - full entrance into the purposes of God. The third day is an action on our part, presenting ourselves for cleansing, while the seventh day is an action on God's part, acceptance, receiving us into the full privileges of the Camp and the Tabernacle of God. The Scriptures states: "He shall purify Himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean" (Num. 19:12). The message is clear - if there be no cleansing of the third day, then we cannot be clean on the seventh day. So let us, with humility, and childlike, expectant faith, turn to the Lord in every hour of need, opening wide our souls to the full experience of the WATER OF SEPARATION!

End of Series - J. PRESTON EBY

P.O. Box 371240 - El Paso, Tx. 79937

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