King James Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: Water of Separation
Date: Tuesday February 14, 2012
Today's Chapters: Numbers 19-21

Hello My Friend,

The word defile is defined as to make foul, dirty, or unclean. Out of all the sins committed, those that defile the flesh are more detestable to God than all the rest. Why? Besides the body being the Temple in which God dwells in all believers, it is the only type of sin that one can sin against their own body. “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” - I Corinthians 6:18-20.

While ordinary fresh water is a means to cleanse the flesh of it's impurities, that was not the case when a person defiled themselves by touching a dead body, human or animal. A special kind of water was necessary to cleanse a body that was defiled by a dead body. Therefore, God instituted the law of the water of separation.

“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:..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...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...And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.” - Numbers 19:2,9,13,17-19.

The heifer was to be wholly burned, the ashes mixed with water was a purification for sin, which our Lord Jesus Christ made by His death on the cross. Just a sprinkle of His precious blood cleanses us and separates us from the dead body that defiled us. What dead body do we touch? Our own. A body without Christ in it is a dead body, it does not have the Spirit of God in it. The one thing that the law could not do was conquer death nor abolish it, for the wages of sin is death. However, Jesus Christ made a way to conquer death by offering Himself, who was sinless and without spot to die for us. How did He abolish death? He arose three days later, giving victory over death to all who believe in Him. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord...For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 6:9-11,23.

Thirty-eight years had come to pass since the ten spies encouraged the people not to go into the promised land, all, but Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua had died and now they were allowed to head back toward Canaan. While passing through they came to Edom, it was the shortest route to the promised land, but they had to get permission to pass through. When they refused to let the Jews pass and they had to go another route the became distraught and began complaining that there was no water for them to drink. God gave Moses a command to get water for them to drink from a rock.

“And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!..And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink...And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them...And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.” - Numbers 20:2,3,7,8,12,23,24.

While our works do not save us nor keep us saved, they do play a part in the rewards that we get, we may even get some here on earth, but most of our rewards will be in heaven. That day Moses and Aaron lost their rights to be able to walk on the promised land. What was the offense that caused Moses and Aaron to forfeit their rights to the promised land? There were several reasons, but the one that struck Him the most was their unbelief, even the slightest disbelief (which is a sin) in God can cause us to lose some of the blessings that He would have given us, but we are not cut off from God as those who do not believe at all would be. While sin can cause a hindrance in our relationship with God, it cannot take us from God once we are saved because we are saved by faith in Christ not by anything that we have done. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.” - Galatians 2:16,17.

The Jews were wearied by a long march round the land of Edom, this time instead of blaming Moses they began to speak discontentedly of what God had done for them, and distrustfully of what he would do. Out of anger He sent fiery serpents among them, which bit or stung many to death. “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” - Numbers 21:5-9.

The serpent represents Satan and sin, Satan controls us by sin, of course, the wages of sin is death. The brass serpent becomes a type of Christ who knew no sin, but was made sin for us, anyone who looked to the brass serpent was cured. Today, in order to be cured one must personally look to Christ, believing only He can save them. We must have faith in Him, God will not grant eternal life to anyone who does not have faith that only His Son can save them. Faith is talking yourself into believing that what God says He will do. God never lies, therefore, if He says we can only be saved through Christ and that He alone gives us eternal life than He will do what He says, without faith in Christ we are not saved. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” - John 3:15.

Today's Psalm: 51:7 - “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

Today's Proverb: 30:12 - “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.”

Today's Prayer: God, You are truly the One who meets all our needs. We turn to worry when we consider ourselves to be the source of our provisions rather than You. There is nothing we lack when we commit our faith and trust in You and ask You to provide for our needs. You know what we have need of before we ask it, but You are pleased that we acknowledge You to be our provider of natural, physical, and spiritual resources. When our hearts are secure in You, we have no fear as we look to our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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