In 1799, French soldiers in Egypt were excavating for a fort expansion when they stumbled upon the Rosetta Stone. This large stele fragment contained three inscriptions sharing the same message, one in hieroglyphics, one in Demotic, and one in Greek. By comparing these inscriptions, scholars finally cracked the meaning of the hieroglyphics, unlocking a vast world of knowledge about early Egyptian civilization.[1]
Moses’ writings are the Rosetta Stone for unlocking the mystery of union with Christ. In them God gave groups of parallel symbols that mutually explain one another. One such group includes the red heifer, the bronze snake, the bronze altar and laver, and the cleansing of the leper.
Ashes from the red heifer were an ingredient in cleansing those defiled by touching a dead body. Red cows are not bright red, as the name might suggest, but rather, bronze in color. This color matched the bronze snake that Moses hung on a pole. Originally, a snake was a symbol of Satan and evil, but Jesus adopted this snake symbol for Himself. Just as the serpent in Pharaoh’s court ate the other snakes, so Jesus unites sinners to Himself, thus making their sin His own. Paul wrote, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB). Even though Jesus ends up looking like a snake because of all the sinners in Him, yet through this arrangement, those sinners come out clean.
The bronze fiery serpent hearkened back to this earlier snake symbolism, but it also suggested a connection to the bronze furniture in the sanctuary courtyard. Together with the bronze-colored heifer, these symbols formed a trifecta of bronze imagery that all pointed forward to Christ. Jesus is the true altar, the marvelous “table of the Lord” from which both God and humans eat (Malachi 1:7). And He is the sin offering that is offered within that altar for us to devour. He, the fiery altar, consumes us as we abide within Him, but within that fire is His body, given as a feast for us. When we consume that feast, He abides in us. It is as He later said, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56 NKJV).
Jesus further explained, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63 NKJV). The Word’s flesh and blood is His Spirit, and His Spirit is contained in His teachings. We receive Jesus by receiving His teachings. This arrangement does not mean that we must achieve a certain level of perfection before He in turn receives us. Rather, it is about our attitude: we must wholeheartedly seek to know and do His will, depending on Him for strength. He will then work in us to give us the desire and ability to carry out this resolution.
Just as the fiery serpent consumed the other snakes, so the fiery altar consumed the burnt offerings. This bronze altar was the fiery mouth of the bronze serpent. Although it consumed the bodies of the burnt offerings, their hides ended up among the priests, since they belonged to the priest who helped offer them (Leviticus 7:8). Likewise, when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, Christ consumes our inner lives, but we then become priests with Him, helping others enter that delectable union. And just as the priests regularly washed in the laver, so Jesus cleanses all who abide in Him. He emphatically declared, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me” (John 13:8 NKJV). As we abide in the belly of the bronze snake, He washes us. This is the reality to which the bronze laver pointed.
These symbols of the bronze snake and the bronze altar and laver set the foundation for the red heifer. For that ceremony, the people were to select an unblemished animal without defect. Likewise, Jesus was sinless. And just as Moses was to grasp the snake by the tail, not behind the head to control it, so the red heifer was to never have been yoked; Jesus is the one in authority over us, never the other way around.
The people were to bring the red heifer outside the camp and slaughter it in Eleazar’s presence. Just as the class of sin offerings whose blood was brought into the sanctuary were burned outside the camp, so the red heifer was sacrificed there too. This location pointed to Jesus suffering in shame outside the gate (Hebrews 13:12-13).
Eleazar was to sprinkle some of the red heifer’s blood seven times toward the tent of meeting. This sprinkling suggested a parallel, one which we have already begun establishing in our study of the bronze symbols. But fascinating differences provide additional color. Although the bodies of the regular sin offerings were served within the altar as food for the priests, the blood of the sin offering was poured on the ground at the base of the altar. In fact, the people were forbidden to drink any blood, “for the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). This was to show that the blood of animals had no power to truly remove sins (Hebrews 10:4). It was only a shadowy symbol pointing forward to Christ.
But unlike the sin offering, the blood of the red heifer was burned with it, foreshadowing an altar where both the body and blood would be served. Jesus graphically unveiled this reality on the night before His crucifixion. He blessed the cup and passed it to His disciples, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:25 NASB). In addition to serving His body for us to consume, as foreshadowed by the sin offering, He now serves us His blood too. He has made a way for us to internalize His life.
Into this blazing red heifer Eleazer was to throw cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. The original language only specifies a scarlet color, not the material; the color was what mattered. These three items also showed up in the cleansing of the leper. In that ceremony, the cured leper was to bring two turtle doves. The priest was to slay the first in an earthenware vessel over running water. Then they were to take the second bird, along with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, dip them all in the blood of the first bird, sprinkle the leper seven times (indicating a connection), and then set the second bird free.
Breaking down the symbols, the earthenware vessel corresponds to the earthen altar for the sin offerings whose blood was brought into the sanctuary. And it is a fitting parallel of the burning place for the red heifer outside the camp. The first bird corresponds to the sin offering, which was always sacrificed prior to the burnt offering. And it corresponds to the red heifer, into both of which were placed the cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. The second bird corresponds to the burnt offering, and although there was no blazing fire in this representation, there was a cold fire of sorts – cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. This second bird endured entering the altar, encountering the wood there, the ethereal scarlet flames, and the bitter hyssop symbolizing a painful sacrifice, yet came out alive and free. It was a living sacrifice.
The second bird in the cleansing of the leper corresponds to Eleazar in the red heifer ordinance. The high priest did not participate in this ceremony, only Eleazar, a common priest. His part in this ceremony parallels the experience of believers. After throwing the cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop onto the fire, he was to stand nearby as the pile burned. But just like the second bird, he was a living sacrifice. As such, he could not literally pass into the blazing fire along with the cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. But he did stay close to the fire, conveying the sense that in the reality, the fire was his destiny. Comparing the red heifer and the cleansing of the leper, we can deduce that the fire is hot, the sacrifice is bitter, but the one offered there will be united to Christ and come out alive and free. Just as the burning bush’s branches blazed with the fire of God’s presence, yet lived, so it is when the fiery Holy Spirit rests upon believers. There is a bitter sacrifice, to be sure, but in losing our life, we gain God’s life. The Son of God is there, offering Himself to us in the flames.
The ashes of the red heifer correspond to the blood-soaked second bird – a combination of the blood of the first bird and the living bird, all mixed together in one. Likewise, the ashes of the heifer included the remains of the heifer, but also the elements of Eleazar’s living sacrifice. This living sacrifice retained a measure of uncleanness even after the fire, so much so that the person who gathered the ashes became unclean. But these ashes are spiritual bleach, eventually purifying anything within them. Similarly, Jesus purifies all who abide in Him.
If one of the Israelites touched a dead body, that person became ceremonially unclean. To fix the problem, the priest had to take some of the red heifer’s ashes, mix them with water, then sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. This water represents the same thing as the running water over which the first bird was slain. It foreshadowed the Holy Spirit who gives life amid this spiritual death in the altar (John 7:37-39). Paul summed up the sentiment, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20 NASB). Through an ongoing cleansing, His Holy Spirit moves us from a state of uncleanness to cleanness, from death to life, from sinfulness to holiness.
Back at the burning bush, God told Moses to put his hand inside his cloak. He did so, and when he pulled it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. Then God told him to repeat the exercise, and this time when he pulled his hand out, it was whole, just like the other. Likewise, Jesus has the power to make His body leprous by attaching leprous sinners to Himself. And He has the power to then cleanse those leprous sinners, perfecting their fellowship with Him. But this purification takes time. Just as Naaman dipped seven times in the dirty Jordan River and finally came up clean, so those who were sprinkled with this holy water may not at first see a change. But if they will abide in Jesus, dirty as His body may be, they will eventually come out clean.
Jesus has spread a feast for you, a feast of His body and blood – His life contained in His teachings. But just like the living sacrifice was symbolically cast into the midst of the blazing red heifer, so to access this feast, we must be consumed as living sacrifices. Jesus declared, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25 NASB).
We lose our life in pursuit of this feast, but we gain a new life – the Spirit of God contained within His teachings. We are united to the mighty God of heaven, one with Him in mind, purpose, and character. We become partakers in His experience – His ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, and glory. O, the unspeakable value! Come and eat the greatest feast ever served.
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Bio: Jeff Wickham is the author of the book “United: The Staggering Message of the Kingdom.” He is a speaker, writer, and medical device engineer. His service within the church includes roles such as elder, head elder, and lay pastor, and currently, he serves as an Adult Sabbath School Superintendent and Youth Sabbath School Teacher at the Hendersonville SDA Church. He is married to Amy, his high school sweetheart, and they have four children. You can contact him at jeffrey.n.wickham@gmail.com.
[1] Douglas K. Wilson, “Rosetta Stone,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).