Good morning, and a most blessed Thursday to you.

In our time of devotion together, we are going to look at two nineteenth chapters—one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. We will look at Numbers chapter 19 and John chapter 19.

So, if you would, please open your Bibles to Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible—the fourth book in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses—and turn to chapter 19.

This chapter is part of the laws concerning cleanliness and uncleanness that God gave to Moses for the people of Israel. Beginning in the middle of verse 10, we read:

“This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them. Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days…”

The Lord goes on to explain that anyone who touches a corpse becomes ceremonially unclean and must be purified. If they are not purified, they remain unclean and are cut off from the community because they have defiled the tabernacle of the Lord.

Now, keeping your finger there as a bookmark, turn with me to John chapter 19, the fourth book of the New Testament.

This is the account of Jesus on the cross. After speaking to His mother Mary and to His beloved disciple John, we pick up in verse 28:

“After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished… He said, ‘I am thirsty.’”

They lifted sour wine to Him on a branch of hyssop. After receiving it, Jesus said, “It is finished,” bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.

Later, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

Then Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus—two men who had become disciples of Jesus—asked for His body. They lovingly wrapped Him in linen cloths with spices according to Jewish burial customs and laid Him in a new tomb.

Now go back to Numbers 19.

Under the law, it was absolutely unclean to touch death. If a person touched a dead body—animal or human—they became unclean.

But here we have Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, God Himself, who not only touched death—He tasted death. He died.

Think about that.

God, who declared death to be unclean, gave up His life and became a corpse Himself.

Numbers says that touching a corpse defiles the tabernacle—the dwelling place of God’s holy name—and brings separation.

What happened on the cross?

Jesus willingly took that defilement upon Himself. He took our uncleanness, our sin, our separation. The Father turned His face away as Jesus bore the wrath that we deserved.

He became sin for us so that we would not bear sin’s eternal curse.

And yet death could not hold Him.

As Colossians 1:18 says, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.”

Jesus is the first to rise from death into resurrected life. And through His death and resurrection, death is transformed for those who belong to Him.

For the believer, death is no longer defilement unto separation—it is the doorway into the presence of Christ.

When we die, our souls are immediately with Him, and in the fullness of time, we will be raised bodily—body and soul united forever in the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, together with all the saints.

What a remarkable contrast:

In Numbers, death makes a person unclean and cuts them off.

In Christ, He takes death upon Himself, swallows it up, conquers it, and opens eternal life to us.

He was rejected so that we would be received.

He became unclean so that we would be made clean.

He tasted death so that we would taste life everlasting.

This is the incredible fulfillment of God’s promise for you and for me.

And as Scripture says, all of God’s promises are “Yes” in Jesus Christ.

That promise is for you.

Cling to it.

And share it—so that others may hear it, know it, and cling to it as well.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Lord, we thank You for the promise of life through Your death. We thank You that You tasted death, You who knew no sin, so that we might have eternal life in You.

Thank You for Your sacrifice upon the cross. Thank You for the power of Your resurrection. Thank You for calling us to hear and believe the good news of life in You.

Lord, use us this week to share that good news with those around us. And bring us back together again to worship Your life-giving name.

We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have an amazing rest of your week, and I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday.

Until then, God bless.