Numbers 19:1

Num. 19. The ashes of the red heifer of which was made the water of separation for the purification of those that were legally unclean. This heifer, being a female, doubtless does more directly signify the church of Christ, than Christ himself. She was a heifer without spot, having no blemish, because it was the church of saints that are pure and upright ones, those that are not defiled with any pollution, showing hypocrisy, or want of evangelical perfection; they are Israelites indeed in whom is not guile, and those in whom God does not behold iniquity or see perverseness. The slaying and burning of this heifer signifies the sufferings and persecutions of the church of Christ, and the fiery trial which she was to undergo. The persecutions of the church of Christ have mainly been carried on by burning. The purifying with the ashes of this heifer, signifies that the church and people of God should be purified by her sufferings, and as it were by the ashes of the martyrs. The purifying of God's people, and taking away their sins, and refining them as silver, and making them white, is often declared to be the end of the suffering and persecutions of God's people, and it is the way in which it pleased God to lay the foundation of the purity of his church, viz. by continuing it for many ages under extreme persecutions, first under the tyranny of Rome heathen, and nextly under antichrist, and so to fill up, as the apostle expresses himself, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ: for Christ does as it were suffer in his members, in all their affliction he is afflicted; the church is his body, and in this sense the slaying and burning this heifer represents the sufferings of Christ, as they represent the sufferings of his people, whereby they are made conformable to Christ's death, and partakers of his sufferings. It pleases God to lay the foundation of the spiritual purity and prosperity of his church, in the first place, in his eldest Son, even Jesus Christ, and secondarily in the blood of the martyrs, Christ's younger brethren, that are as it were God's youngest son. See Notes on Joshua's prophecy concerning the rebuilding of Jericho.

This was not to be a cow, but a heifer, and also without spot or blemish, which is very agreeable to the description that is given of the church of Christ in Revelation, in the time of their persecution. Revelation 14:4; Revelation 14:5. "These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins - And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God."

And it must be a red heifer, which signifies the militant state the church is in under those sufferings, conflicting with her enemies. The color red, is often so used in Scripture. So Christ, while he is warring with his enemies, is represented as being red in his apparel, Isaiah 63 and as being clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, Revelation 19:3. So God's saints are clothed in red until they have got through their sufferings, and are in a triumphant state; then they are represented as having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 7:14.

It was to be a heifer on which never had come yoke; which most fitly represents the Spirit and practice of God's true church in the time of persecution from her enemies, which refuses to submit to the yoke, that they would oppose whatever cruelties they exercise them with. She will not call any man on earth master or lord - will not be subject to their impositions - will not forsake the commands of God, nor be subject to the commandments of men - will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth - will not worship the beast, nor his image, nor receive his mark in their forehead, nor in their hand. They stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, not submitting to the yoke of bondage, Galatians 5:1.

This heifer was sacrificed to God; so are the martyrs represented as sacrificed. They offer up themselves a sacrifice to God through the Holy Spirit, and the souls of the martyrs are represented as souls under the altar. She was to be burnt without the camp, as the martyrs, especially those suffering under antichrist, are rejected and cast out of the communion of their persecutors, as not being of the church of Christ.

Her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with the dung, were to be burnt: the suffering of the martyrs burns up their carnality and corruption, and cleanses all their filthiness.

The peculiar use of the ashes of the red heifer was to purge from pollutions by dead bodies. So the use for which God designs the suffering and persecutions of his church, is to rouse his people from coldness and deadness in religion, and from carnality, and worldly or fleshly mindedness, whereby some become as dead carcasses; for he or she that liveth in pleasure, is dead while he liveth. Carnal things are well compared to dead carcasses, for they are fleshly, and they are filthy and loathsome like stinking flesh.