Is the purification of our sins carried
out only once or many times?

The purification of sins is made only
once.
Hebrews 1:3 says, "Having made
purification of sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high." We
can see that His work of purifying of
sins has been accomplished. Hebrews
7:27 says, "For this He did once for all
when He offered up Himself."
Hebrews 9:12 says, "But through His
own blood, entered once for all into
the Holy of Holies, obtaining an
eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:25
through 26 says, "Nor in order that He
might offer Himself often...But now
once at the consummation of the
ages He has been manifested for the
putting away of sin through the
sacrifice of Himself." Hebrews 10:10
through 12 says, "By which will we
have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all...But this One, having
offered one sacrifice for sins, sat
down forever on the right hand of
God." From this we can see that the
purifying of sins is only once.
The blood of Christ is precious
because of its efficacy; once is
sufficient to purify sins. It was not so
with the blood of bulls and of goats.
Hebrews 10:1 through 4 says, "For the
law...can never by the same sacrifices
year by year, which they offer
continually, perfect those who draw
near. Otherwise would they not have
ceased to be offered, because those
worshipping, having once been
purified, would have no longer had
the consciousness of sins? But in
those sacrifices there is a bringing to
mind of sins year by year; for it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and
goats to take away sins." This portion
tells us clearly that the blood of bulls
and goats was only an annual
reminder of man's sins; therefore, it
had to be offered frequently. The
blood of bulls and goats can never
take away the sins of man. The work
of the cross has accomplished this
once for all, and nothing more can be
added.
How then should we explain 1 John
1:7, which says, "But if we walk in the
light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us
from every sin"? The cleansing here is
a lasting and continual action. There is
a difference between continuance and
repetition. Repetition is to do
something over again. Continuance is
to be nonstop in an action. The
meaning of continual cleansing is that
the blood has lasting effectiveness
before God. The blood of the Lord is
continuously effective; it is not a
matter of having to wash over and
over again. The precious blood causes
us to have great liberty before God. If
we do not realize the great
effectiveness of the blood of the Lord
Jesus before God, we will consider the
blood of the Lord and the blood of
bulls and goats to be the same. Even
after a believer has committed sins,
the blood does not cleanse him again;
rather, when he confesses his sins, he
believes that the blood has cleansed
him, and then has peace.
Suppose a sinner wants to be saved.
Is he saved by believing that Christ
has died for him or is he saved by
Christ coming to die for him again? A
sinner is saved when he believes that
Christ has died for him. When a
believer commits sins, does he obtain
peace through believing that the
blood of Christ has cleansed his sins
or by Christ coming again to shed His
blood and cleanse his sins? Surely,
peace is obtained through believing
that the blood of Christ has cleansed
him.
Let us look at the typology of the
ashes of the red heifer in Numbers 19.
The red heifer for the offering had to
have three kinds of qualifications: (1)
it had to be without spot and blemish
—this typifies the sinlessness of the
Lord; (2) it had to be one which had
never borne a yoke—this typifies the
Lord, who was never a slave of Satan;
and (3) it had to be pure red—this
typifies that the Lord bears our sins.
Red typifies sins because it says in
Isaiah 1:18, "Though your sins are like
scarlet...though they are as red as
crimson." The red refers to the skin
and hair being pure red, not to the
heifer being red within. The Lord Jesus
is sinless within, while bearing the sins
of man without. The red heifer was
burned outside the camp (Num. 19:3);
even so, our Lord Jesus also suffered
death without the camp (Heb. 13:12).
The red heifer was for the atonement
of sins (Num. 19:4), because all the
offerings for the atonement of sins
had to have their blood sprinkled
before the tabernacle of the
congregation. If their blood was for
purification, it had to be sprinkled
upon the man. The manner of
burning the red heifer was different
from that of other sacrifices. "And the
heifer shall be burned in his sight; her
skin, her flesh, and her blood, with
her dung, shall be burned; and the
priest shall take cedar wood and
hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into
the midst of the burning of the
heifer" (Num. 19:5-6). The cedar wood
and the hyssop signify the creation,
which includes the entire world (1
Kings 4:33, "from the cedar tree...even
unto the hyssop". Also, the scarlet
wool signifies sins. This helps us to
realize that at the time of the Lord
Jesus' death, all the sins of the whole
world, beginning from Adam, were
included. When the Lord bore our
sins on the cross, the work was
absolute and unlimited, and nothing
else can be added to it.
Even though the red heifer died, the
ashes still remained. The ashes
proved that a red heifer had been
slain. What was the use of these
ashes? "For the unclean they shall
take of the ashes of the sin offering
that was burned, and running water
shall be put upon it in a vessel...and
the clean one shall sprinkle upon the
unclean...thus, on the seventh day he
shall purify him" (Num. 19:17-19). The
ashes had the function of taking away
sins continually. This indicates that
when we trusted in the one-time
substitutionary death of the Lord, our
sins were forgiven; likewise, we can
continually deal with all our sins and
obtain forgiveness by the fact of the
Lord's death. The cleansing in 1 John
1:7—2:1 corresponds with the
function of the ashes of the red heifer.
We should know that if we,
unfortunately, commit sin, it is not
necessary for another red heifer to be
slain; the ashes of the red heifer
which has died are still effective
before God. Thank God that when
Christ bore all our sins on the cross,
He not only paid our past debts, but
He also left enough funds to pay our
future debts. This is God's work. And
this is the gospel!