THE SPIRITUAL WEEK
OF YOUR NATURAL LIFE


Mike Blume
August 21, 2005 pm

  Scripture Text:

 
Numbers 19:1-13 KJV  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,  (2)  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:  (3)  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:  (4)  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:  (5)  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:  (6)  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.  (7)  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.  (8)  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.  (9)  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.  (10)  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.  (11)  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.  (12)  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.  (13)  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.


 

  Message:


In this ritual and ceremony, touching or coming into contact with a dead body rendered a person ceremonially unclean.
  • They were put aside from the camp and disallowed to engage in worship in the tabernacle.
  • The blessings of God were removed from him.
  • But Seven days were considered in such an event.
  • BUT NO MORE THAN SEVEN DAYS.
  • For on the third day of his uncleanness, he was given the opportunity to be purified.
  • This was when the ashes of the red heifer were taken and mingled with water and sprinkled on the person.
  • There was a ceremonial CONNECTION to the sacrifice of the red heifer.
  • And sacrifices count as one's own death penalty, in order to free one from a future and final death.

But the person purified by this ritual on the third day since he touched death had something to yet await.
  • The ordeal was not over.
  • The SEVENTH DAY was yet to come.
  • And when one was purified on the third day, one would find themselves completely cleansed at the seventh day, and reinstated into Tabernacle involvement.

However, if one did not take advantage of the third day opportunity of cleansing, upon the seventh that person would be cut off from the entire nation of Israel, without hopes of ever being involved again in the Tabernacle worship of God.

God's Spirit manifested in the Tabernacle for the sake of distinguishing Israel from all other nations and raising them up to glorify God by blessing them and favouring them.
  • But they required the sacrifices and obedience to the Law given by Moses for God to do this for them.

So get the picture.
  • There is a first day of touching a dead body making one UNCLEAN.

There is a third day of opportunity to apply the ashes of the red heifer to purify the person.

And there is a seventh day when the person could do nothing but simply stand in relationship to Israel upon the experience of the third day cleansing or not.

I want to stress that nothing could be done at the seventh day to rectify the situation or improve upon it.

The seventh day events of either reinstatement into the worship of and relationship with God was determined by whether or not the third day cleansing was experienced.

A period of seven days is found in the bible many, many times.
  • Most notable of which is the first series of seven days in the creation of Genesis 1 through 2.
  • God finished the work the sixth day and rested from all His work on the seventh day.

Whereas the end of each of the first 6 days saw the words "and the evening and the morning were the _____ day," this is not so with the seventh day.
  • You could say there is a message here.
  • God rested that day and entered into an everlasting rest that would not end.

And that rest was intended for mankind to enter, because we read:

Hebrews 4:3-5 KJV  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.  (4)  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.  (5)  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

We enter HIS rest, in reference to the seventh day when He first rested.
  • He is still resting!
  • Man was intended to enter into it.
  • But note that mankind is considered to have NEVER entered that rest.

Hebrews 4:6-9 KJV  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:  (7)  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  (8)  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.  (9)  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Long before David spoke of a specific DAY -- TO DAY -- wherein they could rest, and even before Joshua who brought them into th rest of Canaan, there was the original rest day of the first week of earth's creation.
  • Man has never entered into it.

What happened?
  • SIN HAPPENED.

Romans 5:12-14 KJV  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:  (13)  (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  (14)  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN.
  • Like the man who touched a dead body and was rendered UNCLEAN for seven days, every one of us touched death because we were born with death having passed over all of us due to ADAM'S SIN.

And the duration of ONE WEEK is highly representative in this ceremony.
  • If touching the dead body corresponds to each of us born in sin, with death having passed upon all of us, then the seventh day would represent our natural lives ending!
  • Seventh means END.
  • And everyone knows the end of one week gives way to the beginning of a new week.
  • So SEVEN can represent end of something to be followed by the beginning of a new.

All of our lives will naturally END one day.
  • All of us have a SEVENTH Day coming.
  • It may be 70 years after your birth, or 90 years or only 48 years.
  • But whenever the END of your natural life comes, you can call it the SEVENTH DAY.
  • IT IS FINISHED.

But between the time of Adam's sin and the ultimate end of the physical as we know it today, JESUS CAME TO THIS WORLD TO DIE FOR OUR SINS.
  • And what is so significant is that God allowed TIME to ELAPSE before He manifested in flesh as Son of God to die for us.
  • The death that came by Adam would be resolved and answered by the death this SECOND ADAM would accomplish, and free us by RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.
  • And the wonderful thing about Jesus Christ's coming is that A THIRD DAY rises to prominence.
  • He died and three days later resurrected from the dead!

Luke 24:46 KJV  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:


He died for YOU!
  • He died for us all.
  • And His death is said to COUNT AS OUR DEATHS.

2 Corinthians 5:14 KJV  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

So if our lives are represented by a WEEK, and we started out our lives by having been born in sin, with death looming over us all, the no wonder the day of Christ's death, STANDING AS OUR DEATHS, was followed by THREE DAYS before He arose from the dead.

Spiritually speaking about something is not the same as physically considering that something.
  • Physically we do not live seven days and die.
  • Spiritually, though , we can see this as a representation of our complete lives.
  • Seven means complete, since God completed his work of creation the seventh day by resting.

Spiritually speaking, since we were born in SIN, we touched touch as soon as we were born.
  • Jesus Christ died AS US and FOR us on the cross.
  • His death was IDENTIFICATION with our deaths.
  • If he was going to rescue us through His death counting as our deaths, then we can say OUR BIRTHS INTO THE WORLD, when we touched death the moment we breathed the breath of natural life, correspond to the DAY JESUS CHRIST DIED.
  • Therefore the first day of day Jesus' death counts as the day we were born in sin.
  • And the third day when he rose from the dead is counted from the day the person touched death until the day the candidate received cleansing by the ashes.

Spiritually speaking, from the moment you were born spiritually dead into this world, until you accept Jesus Christ and claim HIS DEATH for your salvation, IT IS THREE DAYS.
  • In the seven days of our spiritual week representing our lives, the first day is when we died and so Christ died to identify and connect to our deaths.
  • And because Jesus resurrected the third day to actually save us, the third day of our spiritual week is when we have the chance to accept His death for salvation or not.

Nothing is done on our spiritual seventh day by ourselves.
  • The end of our natural lives comes when none of us expect it.
  • And because we can do nothing the moment we die in order to become acceptable to God and reinstated into the relationship with God, nothing is done in the ritual on the seventh day other than cutting us off forever or reinstating us into God's work.

Not only were each of us and our individual lives represented by this spiritual week, but all the history of mankind was considered.

Mankind was cut off from God's work the day Adam touched death when he sinned.
  • Ever since then man has been considered UNCLEAN.
  • Man was put aside, but the end was not yet.
  • Man had the chance of identifying with Jesus' death for his death, by accepting the ashes of the sacrifice being applied to him.
  • Jesus spiritually rose from the dead on the the third day of humankind's' existence.
  • And everyone who accepts Christ's work by faith and identify with His death for salvation the third day, claim his resurrection and are set for the end of time when God reinstates humanity back into the economy of God which He planned for Adam if Adam never sinned.

Hebrews 8:2 KJV  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Hebrews 9:11 KJV  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Hebrews 9:24 KJV  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:


A Tabernacle in Heaven in which He wants to bring us again!
  • Garden was like that tabernacle.
Did you ever stop to think of what God would do with Adam had he never sinned and fallen from God?
  • God still has this purpose in mind for man.
  • It's like a time period of seven days is given for man BUT NO MORE.
  • There is an end coming to natural living.
  • And it is in that time period that Christ identified in us when He died and resurrected.
  • And if we do not take opportunity and identify with Christ's death and resurrection on this third spiritual day, when the END COMES, we will never be reinstated into the tabernacle.
  • We will be cut off from God forever.

ANOTHER TABERNACLE is in view as well!


2 Corinthians 5:1-9 KJV  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  (2)  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:  (3)  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.  (4)  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.  (5)  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.  (6)  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:  (7)  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)  (8)  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.  (9)  Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

We can say THIS TABERNACLE is our bodies!
  • Tabernacles were for God's Spirit to indwell and be amongst men for blessing and caring.
  • But sacrifices were required, since God was trying to tell the world, "Your sin must be dealt with so I can bless you, since you r sins separated you from me.  So I require death to pay for your sins."

AND BELIEVERS who accepted the THIRD DAY opportunity, are purified.
  • God works in us and dwells in us.
  • He blesses.
  • BUT WE ALL LOOK AHEAD TO THE GLORIOUS END, THE SEVENTH DAY, when we TRULY RESURRECT WITH JESUS as our very bodies are clothed upon with a HOUSE (not tabernacle) not mad3e with hands, eternal in the heavens... and not temporary as our mortal ones are.

We WAIT and win more souls and do His work during the next FOUR SPIRITUAL DAYS until the SEVENTH end day of TOTAL RECOVERY.

However, those who do nothing about the third day opportunity...
  • Who live without accepting Christ's salvation, and commit sins in their unclean sin may think that they are getting by.
  • HOWEVER A SEVENTH DAY IS COMING.
  • AN END IS COMING.
  • And neglect to deal with sin on the third day when they had the chance, will find them coming upon the seventh day when they hear the words "DEPART FROM ME I NEVER KNEW YOU.

 (13)  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

Notice the terms... HIS UNCLEANNESS IS YET UPON HIM.

  • At the end of the seven day period, the man was considered as to whether or not HE DEALT WITH HIS UNCLEANNESS.
  • This is like judgment day at the end.
  • And all the pleasures of sin engaged in without having taken the proper steps to be purified, cause the uncleanness to remain.
  • And the man shall not enter glory.

And there is also a note to the believer.
  • God allows us to be cleansed the third day of our life's week.
  • And he wants to ensure we remain faithful to Him and not walk back out into death and become unclean again through the sins of the world.
  • Satan was an angel of heaven who sinned, and God does not want to take anyone back into heaven again and find him or her unfaithful.
  • So to ensure we remain faithful, he allows a third day opportunity to be followed by four more days for us to hold on and remain faithful, and be proven to enter glory faithfully.

Matthew 25:21 KJV  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.