God was very strict in the old covenant about the fact that you had to be clean ceremonially. Leviticus is full of restrictions, one of which was touching a dead body. If you touched a dead body you couldn't participate in the spiritual life of Israel until you had been made clean again, which involved washing and waiting.
So then I come upon Numbers 9. It says "6 And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day."
The men come to Moses and want to know why they couldn't celebrate. So Moses asks God and, surprisingly, God says "10 ... if any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord."
Passover, of course, is a wonderful picture of the fact that God "passed over" us in pouring out His wrath against evil. He did this after we applied the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, to the doorposts of our hearts.
God says that even if you are unclean and feel unworthy to come to Jesus, or even if you have wandered far away from Him, don't let that be a barrier to coming to Him.
"And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take water of life without price." Revelation 22:17
Pastor Tom
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Tom: It has been my experience that those who cannot see the grace of God in the OT have never really read it. This passage is loaded with the grace of God - the unclean may come - pointing to Him would would bid, "whosoever will, let him come." What a wonderful picture of the Grace of God that always existed, but has been manifested in these last times for us.
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