“And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times.” Here we have the solid ground-work of all real purification. We know that in the type before us it is only, as the inspired apostle tells us, a question of “sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh.” (Heb. ix. 13.) But we have to look beyond the type to the Antitype—beyond the shadow to the substance. In the sevenfold sprinkling of the blood of the red heifer before the tabernacle of the congregation, we have a figure of the perfect presentation of the blood of Christ to God, as the only ground of the meeting-place between God and the conscience. The number “seven,” as has frequently been observed, is expressive of perfection; and in the figure before us, we see the perfection attaching to the death of Christ as an atonement for sin, presented to and accepted by God. All rests upon this divine ground. The blood has been shed and presented to a holy God as a perfect atonement for sin. This, when simply received by faith, must relieve the conscience from all sense of guilt, and all fear of condemnation. There is nothing before God save the perfection of the atoning work of Christ. Sin has been judged, and our sins put away; they have been completely obliterated by the precious blood of Christ. To believe this, is to enter into perfect repose of conscience. And here let the reader carefully note that there is no further allusion to the sprinkling of blood throughout the entire of this singularly interesting chapter. This is precisely in keeping with the doctrine of Hebrews ix, x. It is but another illustration of the divine harmony of the volume. The sacrifice of Christ, being divinely perfect, needs not to be repeated. Its efficacy is divine and eternal. “But Christ being come a High-Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained _eternal_ redemption. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and _the ashes of a 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?” (Heb. ix. 11-14.) Observe the force of these two words, “_once_” and “_eternal_.” See how they set forth the completeness and divine efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ. The blood was shed once and forever. To think of a repetition of that great work would be to deny its everlasting and all-sufficient value, and reduce it to the level of the blood of bulls and goats.