His Redemption Covers You Everywhere

"Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the LORD." (Numbers 9: 10)

Consider the literal translation of this verse:

"'Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Though any man is unclean by a body or in a distant journey (of you or of your generations), yet he hath prepared a passover to Jehovah;" (YLT)

The original Hebrew of this verse suggests that the men mentioned in this verse have celebrated the Passover.

What' going on here? The Hebrew recognizes the eternal, Finished Work of Jesus Christ!

Now, there are other wonderful truths which we can receive from this passage.

In the Law of Moses, man could be made unclean in three ways:

"What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;" (Leviticus 22: 24)

Leprosy speaks of the sin in our flesh, the sin of our thoughts, within us. "A running issue" speaks of sins which we have done or do. Sins from touching a dead body speak of association. Because we are all born dead in our trespasses because of Adam (Roman 5: 12-14), we are all guilty or defiled by association.

The last sin seems like the most unfair. We did not do anything wrong, did we? Demonstrating a boldness which God has given us today through His Son (Hebrews 4: 16), men in Israel approached Moses:

"And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?" (Numbers 9:7)

In effect, the men said: "Why can't we offer the offering for the Passover? It's not our sin within or without which defiles us at this time".

Now, Moses, a type of the law, cannot answer their need. The law is inflexible, but the LORD delights in mercy/grace, not sacrifice (Hosea 6: 6; Matthew 9: 13).

So:

"And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you." (Numbers 9: 8)

"Stand still" first appears in Genesis 18: 8, where Abraham stands under a tree after serving milk and butter to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. "Stand still" is a picture of resting in the perfect work of Jesus Christ, that He has paid for all our sins, that we may be partakers of His grace!

The LORD responded that whether they have touched a dead man, or in a journey far away, they can celebrate the Passover, and because of Christ Jesus, even though we were dead in Adam, and even if we sense that we are far away from Him, we can rest and receive grace because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross, our Passover Lamb who takes away our sin (John 1: 29), and the sins of the entire world (1 John 2: 2)