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"This purification was `by Himself' di'heautou (Heb. 1: 3), "through death" dia tou
thanatou (Heb. 2: 14) "through His blood" dia tou idiou haimatos (Heb. 9: 12) and
"through the sacrifice of Himself" dia tes thusias hautou" (Heb. ix.26).
This last expression I regard as the full form, expressing what is elliptically expressed
in our text by di'heautou "by Himself" (Moses Stuart)."
The word katharizo is used for the cleansing of a leper (Matt. 8: 3), and the
ceremonial cleansing of the outside of the cup (23: 25). It is used in the epistle to the
Hebrews, as indeed are the other forms of the word, and it will enlighten us as to the
meaning if we consider all the other references in this epistle:
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the aionian Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, purge (katharizo) your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?" (Heb. 9: 14).
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying (katharotes) of the flesh" (Heb. 9: 13).
"And almost all things are by the law purged (katharizo) with blood" (Heb. 9: 22).
"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be
purified (katharizo) with these" (Heb. 9: 23).
"Our bodies washed with pure (katharos) water" (Heb. 10: 22).
As we examine these passages we shall observe that they do not speak primarily of the
forgiveness of sins, or the justification of the sinner; they do not speak of redemption,
but of one only of its effects, viz., purification. The type which will indicate fairly clearly
the object of the work of Christ in Heb. 1: 3 is that of the "ashes of the heifer".
The nineteenth chapter of Numbers gives a detailed statement of this institution. Let
us briefly analyze the record:
(1)
The red heifer had to be without spot or blemish, and one upon which had never come a yoke.
(2)
It was slain "without the camp" (see Heb. 13: 12).
(3)
The whole heifer, together with cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet, was burned to ashes; these
ashes were used for the purpose of purification.
(4)
Uncleanness was contracted by touching a dead body, or by being in a tent wherein a man died,
or by touching a bone, or a grave.
(5)
Purification was effected by mixing the ashes with living water and by sprinkling with a bunch
of hyssop on the third and seventh days.
(6)
An unclean person who refused to be purified was cut off from the congregation; he had defiled
the sanctuary.
It will be noticed that the whole question is one of defilement and its resulting
exclusion from the service of the Lord. Some of the causes of uncleanness were quite
outside the volition of the person involved, the touching of one slain in the field, or the
death occurring in one's own home were shadows of the defiling contact of the world.
Had the water of purifying not been at hand, many would perforce have been absent from
the Lord's house. The great Antitype of the ashes of the heifer is "the blood of Christ";
this "purges the conscience from "DEAD works". The reference to the defilement of
Numb. 19: is obvious; the dead man, the bone, and the grave are here exchanged for
"dead works"; the privilege of access to the Tabernacle being exchanged for "service to
the living God". The running water was a type of the "aionian Spirit".