The Temple Institute have revealed that a new Red Heifer has been born in the United States of America. The calf is currently around five months old and its owners are hoping to present it to the Temple Institute for the role of cleansing for the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. Of course it's not the first time a Red Heifer has been born in recent years. In 2002 another Red Heifer was born in Israel, but it was later disqualified from fulfilling the role after the discovery of a couple of white hairs in its tail...

In the book of Numbers chapter 19, the Lord commanded that the ashes of a particular type of heifer be used for the cleansing of the priests and the holy place. The heifer had to be pure red, without blemish or spot. It was to be slain before the high priest. The high priest then cleansed the holy place by sprinkling its blood with his finger seven times before the tabernacle. The heifer was burnt with its dung, and the high priest cast cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet thread into the fire. The high priest was now considered ritually unclean, and had to bathe his flesh and his clothes in water. Another clean man took the ashes of the heifer and laid them in a clean place outside the camp. As a result, this clean man also was made ritually unclean, and had to bathe his flesh and clothes in water. The ashes were then gathered up and mixed with water, and used for purification of the sins of the people.

A few years back I received an email from Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Insititute regarding the sacrifice of the Red Heifer. In it the Rabbi mentioned the enigma of the sacrifice of the Red Heifer, how the process of its sacrifice could make a person unclean, yet its ashes be used for the purification of the people. In his email he says that this is a mystery that only Moses fully understood. But when we understand that these sacrifices were merely pointing to the ultimate sacrifice that the Messiah would perform, it all becomes clear.

The Old Covenant was given by God for the purpose of bringing us to the Messiah. It was a teaching covenant (Romans 15:4), a temporary covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) and is now a terminated covenant (Hebrews 8:13). The Apostle Paul says the Old Covenant was our 'schoolmaster' to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). The required purity of the Red Heifer, without blemish and without spot, was to show us the necessity of the sinlessness of the Sin Bearer. In order to bear God's punishment for the sin of others, He Himself must have no sin of His own. The New Covenant says of the Messiah, “He knew no sin” (1^st Corinthians 5:21), “He did no sin” (1^st Peter 2:22) and “in Him is no sin” (1^st John 3:5). He was brought before Caiahphas, the high priest, and was condemned to death (Mark 14:64). He was led away to be crucified outside the camp (Hebrews 13:12). And after His body was taken down from the cross, it was laid in a clean place, in a new tomb in which never a man had lain (Matthew 27:60). It is through His sacrifice that He has obtained purification for sin. And God has “made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (1^st Corinthians 5:21).

The prophet Jeremiah foretold of a day when God would make a “new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah”, Jeremiah 31:31. The Lord said it would not be like the covenant that He made with Israel in the day that He brought them out of Egypt, but it would be a new covenant based on better promises. The Old Covenant depended on man's ability to keep it, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not”. The New Covenant depends on the righteousness of God alone. Now God says, “I will”. “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts”, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people”, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”. Praise God that through the sacrifice of the Messiah on the cross, and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God has written His laws on our hearts, and is our God, and has forgiven our iniquities and will remember our sins no more (Hebrews 10:18).

It is sad to say that many Jewish people still do not realize that God has made a New Covenant. They do not realize that the Old Covenant was merely pointing us towards the sacrifice that the Messiah would accomplish for us on the cross. They are content in observing the mere shadow of things, not realizing their true spiritual significance. It is my hope and prayer that many people, both Jews and Gentiles, will come to recognize Yeshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Messiah and trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 10:13-14
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Source YouTube, Temple Institute