The heifer was to be red, without one spot, thus in a special manner typifying the blood of Christ. It was to be without blemish, thus representing Him Who knew no sin. (2 Cor. 5:21) It was to be one that had never been broken to bear the yoke; it must be a heifer that had always been free, never forced to do anything.

This was symbolic of the Son of God, who came of His own free will and died for us. Christ was above all law, no yoke was upon Him. (John 10:18) While enduring the agony of Gethsemane, He could have wiped the bloody sweat from His brow and returned to His rightful place in heaven, and left the world to perish. There was no power, only that of supreme heavenly love, that forced Christ toward the cross of Calvary. (John 3:16) He came a voluntary offering, from choice. He offered Himself for the sins of the world, and the Father's love for the fallen race was so great that, much as He loved His only Son, He accepted the offered life. Angels are amenable to the law of God, therefore their life could not have atoned for the transgression of the law. Christ alone was free from the claims of the law, the only one who could redeem the lost race.

The offering of the red heifer was a very imposing ceremony. The heifer was not taken to the temple, like most other offerings, but to a rough valley without the camp, that had never been cultivated or sown. The priest, clothed in the pure white garment of the priesthood, led the heifer, and was accompanied by the elders of the city and the Levites. Cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet were also carried to the place of offering.

When the procession reached the rough valley, they paused, and the elders came forward and killed the heifer. The priest then took the blood, and with his face toward the temple, sprinkled the blood with his finger toward the temple seven times.

If a person had been found dead in the field and it was not known who had taken the life, then the eiders of the city next to where the slain man had been found, came forward and washed their hands over the body of the heifer as they offered a prayer to God requesting that the Lord would not lay innocent blood upon them. (Duet. 21:1-9) After this the heifer's entire body, including the blood, was burned. As the flames mounted up, the priest stepped near and cast some of the cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet into the midst of the fire. (Num. 19:1-8)

The red heifer was offered without the camp, typifying that Christ suffered, not for the Hebrew race alone, but for the whole world. If every offering had been slain within the court of the sanctuary, some might have taught that Christ died only for His own people, the Hebrew race; but the red heifer was offered without the camp, (Heb. 13:12,13) symbolising the fact that Christ died for all nations tribes, and people.

The condescension and love of the Lord is wonderful. Lest some poor, forlorn, discouraged soul should think he was not worthy to accept the offered sacrifice, the red heifer was not only taken without the camp, but to a rough valley, so rocky and utterly worthless that it had never even been ploughed. No one had ever attempted to cultivate it; and yet here was the place chosen to sprinkle the blood of that special offering which typified Christ in a particular sense. It typified Him as one who is above law.

It does not matter if Satan has so marred the image of the Creator in man that there can scarcely a trace be seen of anything but the attributes of Satan; yet Christ with His mighty arm can raise such a one up to sit with Him on His throne. The whole life may be wasted and be, like the rough valley, of no account; but if such a one will turn his eyes toward the heavenly sanctuary, and plead for mercy by confessing his sins, the precious blood of Christ, of which the blood of the red heifer was a symbol, will be sprinkled over his wasted life, as verily as the blood of the heifer was sprinkled over the rough stones of the valley; and Christ will say to the repentant one as He did to the thief on the cross, who had wasted his life. Thou shalt be with Me in paradise. (Luke 23:38-40)

There are none so sunken in sin or in heathen darkness but that hope and salvation are held out to them through the typical offering of the red heifer. This sacrifice was a shadow of heavenly things. Now type has met antitype. Christ has suffered without the camp for the sins of the whole world. There are none so sunken but that He can lift them up. It may look impossible to man; the customs and habits of the world may condemn a person, and say he is lost; but Christ is above all law. He can save to the uttermost all who came unto God by Him. (Heb. 7:25) The cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet cast into the fire were typical of the purifying of the earth and all vegetation from every trace of sin by the blood of Christ. (Isa. 65:17-19)

After the body of the heifer was burned to ashes, a person who was not contaminated by touching the dead, gathered up the ashes and placed them in a clean place, and they were kept to be used for purifying those who touched the dead. (Num. 19:9,10) If a person died in a tent or house, the house and all who touched the dead body were counted unclean until purified. This was to impress the people with the I terrible nature of sin. It taught them that death came as the result of sin, and was a representation of sin. (Jas. 1:14,15) Some of the ashes were placed in pure running water, and a person who was ceremonially clean dipped a bunch of hyssop and cedar in the ashes and water, and sprinkled the tent, the articles within the tent, and the people. This was repeated several times until all were purified. (Numbers 19:18)

In like manner, Christ, after He shed His blood for sinful man, entered the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary to present His blood before the Father, to cleanse man from the defilement of sin. (Heb. 9:11,12)

The cedar and hyssop used to sprinkle the purifying water denoted that the person upon whom it fell was cleansed from all earthly moral defilement. The thoroughness of the work was typified by its being repeated several times.

David evidently had this ceremony in mind when he prayed, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Ps. 51:7) Paul's mind was led from type to antitype when he wrote to his Hebrew brethren, If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb. 9:13, 14)

Many people read their Bibles and pass over these beautiful types as ceremonies peculiar to the Jews, and meaning nothing to Christians. They consider the Old Testament of little value But the Lord through Moses gave that wonderful galaxy of types and symbols contained in the sanctuary service and the Levitical laws; and Moses was so fearful lest the people might think he had given them the service, that over two hundred times we find him assuring them that God Himself was the Author of them, by such expressions as The Lord said, or The Lord commanded. He desired all to know that God had given that marvellous system of types and shadows, not only throwing light from Eden to the cross, but revealing to sinful man the work of Christ from the cross to the end of time. These typical ceremonies, like a great reflector, throw light upon the ministry of Christ that cannot be obtained in any other portion of the Scriptures. The Saviour taught that a study of the writings of Moses would strengthen faith in Him. Had ye believed Moses, He said, you would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe My words? (John 5:46,47)