The water of purification

“The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening.” Numbers 19:6-7
In Numbers 19 we read the instructions for preparing the water of purification. It involves the sacrifice of a red heifer, then its ashes are collected. The ashes are put into a jar which is then filled with water, and then used to purify people or things that have become unclean by coming into contact with dead bodies or carcasses.
This might all sound completely irrelevant to us today, but there is a picture here of Jesus, which we can learn from. In Lev. 1:10-12, God insists that the high priest must not deliberately make himself unclean. Yet here, the very act of preparing the ashes for the water of purification, renders the priest and those who help him, unclean (see Num. 19:8-10).
Think about what Jesus did for us: He came into this world, sinless, His blood uncorrupted by Adam’s sin (hence the need for the virgin birth). He lived a perfect life of obedience to the Law of God. He did not make Himself unclean by sin on account of anyone. But there was one time where He did become unclean, and the Father forsook Him (Matt. 27:46). That was when He was in the process of making a way for us to be purified and our uncleanness removed from us. He gave up His own perfect record, becoming sin – the very essence of what He hated – so that we could be redeemed. We should never underestimate this.