L
E V I T I C U S
CHAP. XVI.
In
this chapter we have the institution of the annual solemnity of the day of
atonement, or expiation, which had as much gospel in it as perhaps any of the
appointments of the ceremonial law, as appears by the reference the apostle
makes to it, Heb. ix. 7, &c. We had before divers laws concerning
sin-offerings for particular persons, and to be offered upon particular
occasions; but this is concerning the stated sacrifice, in which the whole
nation was interested. The whole service of the day is committed to the high
priest. I. He must never come into the most holy place but upon this day, ver.
1, 2. II. He must come dressed in linen garments, ver. 4. III. He must bring a
sin-offering and a burnt-offering for himself (ver. 3), offer his sin-offering
(ver. 6-11), then go within the veil with some of the blood of his
sin-offering, burn incense, and sprinkle the blood before the mercy-seat, ver.
12-14. IV. Two goats must be provided for the people, lots cast upon them,
and, 1. One of them must be a sin-offering for the people (ver. 5, 7-9), and
the blood of it must be sprinkled before the mercy-seat (ver. 15-17), and then
some of the blood of both the sin-offerings must be sprinkled upon the altar,
ver. 18, 19. 2. The other must be a scape-goat (ver. 10), the sins of Israel
must be confessed over him, and then he must be sent away into the wilderness
(ver. 20-22), and he that brought him away must be ceremonially unclean, ver.
26. V. The burnt-offerings were then to be offered, the fat of the
sin-offerings burnt on the altar, and their flesh burnt without the camp, ver.
23-25, 27, 28. VI. The people were to observe the day religiously by a holy
rest and holy mourning for sin; and this was to be a statute for ever, ver.
29, &c.
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The
Great Day of Atonement.
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B.
C. 1490.
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1 And the LORD
spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered
before the LORD,
and died; 2 And the LORD
said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times
into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is
upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy
seat. 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a
young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches
upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen
mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he
wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.
Here is, I. The date of this law concerning the day of atonement: it was after
the death of the two sons of Aaron (v. 1), which we read, ch.
x. 1. 1. Lest Aaron should fear that any remaining guilt of that sin should
cleave to his family, or (seeing the priests were so apt to offend) that some
after-sin of his other sons should be the ruin of his family, he is directed
how to make atonement for his house, that it might keep in with God; for the
atonement for it would be the establishment of it, and preserve the entail of
the blessing upon it. 2. The priests being warned by the death of Nadab and
Abihu to approach to God with reverence and godly fear (without which they
came at their peril), directions are here given how the nearest approach might
be made, not only without peril, but to unspeakable advantage and comfort, if
the directions were observed. When they were cut off for an undue approach,
the rest must not say, "Then we will not draw near at all," but,
"Then we will do it by rule." They died for their sin, therefore God
graciously provides for the rest, that they die not. Thus God's judgments on
some should be instructions to others.
II. The design of this law. One intention of it was to preserve a veneration
for the most holy place, within the veil, where the Shechinah, or
divine glory, was pleased to dwell between the cherubim: Speak unto Aaron,
that he come not at all times into the holy place, v. 2. Before the
veil some of the priests came every day to burn incense upon the golden altar,
but within the veil none must ever come but the high priest only, and he but
on one day in the year, and with great ceremony and caution. That place where
God manifested his special presence must not be made common. If none must come
into the presence-chamber of an earthly king uncalled, no, not the queen
herself, upon pain of death (Esth. iv. 11), was it not requisite that the same
sacred respect should be paid to the Kings of kings? But see what a blessed
change is made by the gospel of Christ; all good Christians have now boldness
to enter into the holiest, through the veil, every day (Heb. x. 19, 20);
and we come boldly (not as Aaron must, with fear and trembling) to the throne
of grace, or mercy-seat, Heb. iv. 16. While the manifestations of God's
presence and grace were sensible, it was requisite that they should thus be
confined and upon reserve, because the objects of sense the more familiar they
are made the less awful or delightful they become; but now that they are
purely spiritual it is otherwise, for the objects of faith the more they are
conversed with the more do they manifest of their greatness and goodness: now
therefore we are welcome to come at all times into the holy place not made
with hands, for we are made to sit together with Christ in heavenly
places by faith, Eph. ii. 6. Then Aaron must not come near at all times, lest
he die; we now must come near at all times that we may live: it is
distance only that is our death. Then God appeared in the cloud upon the
mercy-seat, but now with open face we behold, not in a dark cloud, but in a
clear glass, the glory of the Lord, 2 Cor. iii. 18.
III. The person to whom the work of this day was committed, and that was the
high priest only: Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place, v.
3. He was to do all himself upon the day of atonement: only there was a second
provided to be his substitute or supporter, in case any thing should befall
him, either of sickness or ceremonial uncleanness, that he could not perform
the service of the day. All Christians are spiritual priests, but Christ only
is the high priest, and he alone it is that makes atonement, nor needed he
either assistant or substitute.
IV. The attire of the high priest in this service. He was not to be dressed up
in his rich garments that were peculiar to himself: he was not to put on the
ephod, with the precious stones in it, but only the linen clothes which he
wore in common with the inferior priests, v. 4. That meaner dress did
best become him on this day of humiliation; and, being thinner and lighter, he
would in it be more expedite for the work or service of the day, which was all
to go through his hands. Christ, our high priest, made atonement for sin in
our nature; not in the robes of his own peculiar glory, but the linen garments
of our mortality, clean indeed, but mean.
5 And he shall take of
the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin
offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 And Aaron shall
offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make
an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7 And he shall take
the two goats, and present them before the LORD
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And
Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD,
and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the
goat upon which the LORD's
lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But the
goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive
before the LORD,
to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into
the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin
offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for
himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering
which is for himself: 12 And he shall take a censer full of
burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD,
and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within
the vail: 13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the
LORD,
that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the
testimony, that he die not: 14 And he shall take of the blood of
the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat
eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his
finger seven times.
The Jewish writers say that for seven days before the day of expiation the
high priest was to retire from his own house, and to dwell in a chamber of the
temple, that he might prepare himself for the service of this great day.
During those seven days he himself did the work of the inferior priests about
the sacrifices, incense, &c., that he might have his hand in for this day:
he must have the institution read to him again and again, that he might be
fully apprised of the whole method. 1. He was to begin the service of the day
very early with the usual morning sacrifice, after he had first washed his
whole body before he dressed himself, and his hands and feet again afterwards.
He then burned the daily incense, dressed the lamps, and offered the
extraordinary sacrifice appointed for this day (not here, but Num. xxix. 8), a
bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, all for burnt-offerings. This he is supposed
to have done in his high priest's garments. 2. He must now put off his rich
robes, bathe himself, put on the linen garments, and present unto the Lord his
own bullock, which was to be a sin-offering for himself and his own house, v.
6. The bullock was set between the temple and the altar, and the offering of
him mentioned in this verse was the making of a solemn confession of his sins
and the sins of his house, earnestly praying for the forgiveness of them, and
this with his hands on the head of the bullock. 3. He must then cast lots upon
the two goats, which were to make (both together) one sin-offering for the
congregation. One of these goats must be slain, in token of a satisfaction to
be made to God's justice for sin, the other must be sent away, in token of the
remission or dismission of sin by the mercy of God. Both must be presented
together to God (v. 7) before the lot was cast upon them, and
afterwards the scape-goat by itself, v. 10. Some think that goats were
chosen for the sin-offering because, by the disagreeableness of their smell,
the offensiveness of sin is represented: others think, because it was said
that the demons which the heathens then worshipped often appeared to their
worshippers in the form of goats, God therefore obliged his people to
sacrifice goats, that they might never be tempted to sacrifice to goats. 4.
The next thing to be done was to kill the bullock for the sin-offering for
himself and his house, v. 11. "Now," say the Jews, "he
must again put his hands on the head of the bullock, and repeat the confession
and supplication he had before made, and kill the bullock with his own hands,
to make atonement for himself first (for how could he make reconciliation for
the sins of the people till he was himself first reconciled?) and for his
house, not only his own family, but all the priests, who are called the house
of Aaron," Ps. cxxxv. 19. This charity must begin at home, though it
must not end there. The bullock being killed, he left one of the priests to
stir the blood, that it might not thicken, and then, 5. He took a censer of
burning coals (that would not smoke) in one hand, and a dish full of the sweet
incense in the other, and then went into the holy of holies through the veil,
and went up towards the ark, set the coals down upon the floor, and scattered
the incense upon them, so that the room was immediately filled with smoke. The
Jews say that he was to go in side-ways, that he might not look
directly upon the ark where the divine glory was, till it was covered with
smoke; then he must come out backwards, out of reverence to the divine
majesty; and, after a short prayer, he was to hasten out of the sanctuary, to
show himself to the people, that they might not suspect that he had misbehaved
himself and died before the Lord. 6. He then fetched the blood of the bullock
from the priest whom he had left stirring it, and took that in with him the
second time into the holy of holies, which was now filled with the smoke of
the incense, and sprinkled with his finger of that blood upon, or rather
towards, the mercy-seat, once over against the top of it and then seven times
towards the lower part of it, v. 14. But the drops of blood (as the
Jews expound it) all fell upon the ground, and none touched the mercy-seat.
Having done this, he came out of the most holy place, set the basin of blood
down in the sanctuary, and went out.
15 Then shall he kill the
goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood
within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the
bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the
uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in
all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation,
that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17
And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth
in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have
made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the
congregation of Israel. 18 And he shall go out unto the altar that
is before the LORD,
and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and
of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round
about. 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his
finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the
children of Israel.
When the priest had come out from the sprinkling the blood of the bullock
before the mercy-seat, 1. He must next kill the goat which was the
sin-offering for the people (v. 15) and go the third time into the holy
of holies, to sprinkle the blood of the goat, as he had done that of the
bullock; and thus he was to make atonement for the holy place (v.
16); that is, whereas the people by their sins had provoked God to take away
those tokens of his favourable presence with them, and rendered even that holy
place unfit to be the habitation of the holy God, atonement was hereby made
for sin, that God, being reconciled to them, might continue with them. 2. He
must then do the same for the outward part of the tabernacle that he had done
for the inner room, by sprinkling the blood of the bullock first, and then
that of the goat, without the veil, where the table and incense-altar stood,
eight times each as before. The reason intimated is because the tabernacle
remained among them in the midst of their uncleanness, v. 16. God
would hereby show them how much their hearts needed to be purified, when even
the tabernacle, only by standing in the midst of such an impure and sinful
people, needed this expiation; and also that even their devotions and
religious performances had much amiss in them, for which it was necessary that
atonement should be made. During this solemnity, none of the inferior priests
must come into the tabernacle (v. 17), but, by standing without, must
own themselves unworthy and unfit to minister there, because their follies,
and defects, and manifold impurities in their ministry, had made this
expiation of the tabernacle necessary. 3. He must then put some of the blood,
both of the bullock and of the goat mixed together, upon the horns of the
altar that is before the Lord, v. 18, 19. It is certain that the altar
of incense had this blood put upon it, for so it is expressly ordered (Exod.
xxx. 10); but some think that this directs the high priest to the altar of
burnt-offerings, for that also is here called the altar before the Lord
(v. 12), because he is said to go out to it, and because it may
be presumed that that also had need of an expiation; for to that the gifts and
offerings of the children of Israel were all brought, from whose uncleanness
the altar is here said to be hallowed.
20 And when he hath made
an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the
congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 And
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and
shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not
inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23 And
Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off
the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place,
and shall leave them there: 24 And he shall wash his flesh with
water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer
his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an
atonement for himself, and for the people. 25 And the fat of the
sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26 And he that let go
the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in
water, and afterward come into the camp. 27 And the bullock for
the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was
brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry
forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their
flesh, and their dung. 28 And he that burneth them shall wash his
clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the
camp.
The high priest having presented unto the Lord the expiatory sacrifices, by
the sprinkling of their blood, the remainder of which, it is probable, he
poured out at the foot of the brazen altar, 1. He is next to confess the sins
of Israel, with both his hands upon the head of the scape-goat (v. 20,
21); and whenever hands were imposed upon the head of any sacrifice it was
always done with confession, according as the nature of the sacrifice was;
and, this being a sin-offering, it must be a confession of sin. In the latter
and more degenerate ages of the Jewish church they had a set form of
confession prepared for the high priest, but God here prescribed none; for it
might be supposed that the high priest was so well acquainted with the state
of the people, and had such a tender concern for them, that he needed not any
form. The confession must be as particular as he could make it, not only of all
the iniquities of the children of Israel, but all their transgressions
in all their sins. In one sin there may be many transgressions, from the
several aggravating circumstances of it; and in our confessions we should take
notice of them, and not only say, I have sinned, but, with Achan,
"Thus and thus have I done." By this confession he must put the
sins of Israel upon the head of the goat; that is, exercising faith upon
the divine appointment which constituted such a translation, he must transfer
the punishment incurred from the sinners to the sacrifice, which would have
been but a jest, nay, an affront to God, if he himself had not ordained it. 2.
The goat was then to be sent away immediately by the hand of a fit person
pitched upon for the purpose, into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and God
allowed them to make this construction of it, that the sending away of the
goat was the sending away of their sins, by a free and full remission: He
shall bear upon him all their iniquities, v. 22. The losing of the
goat was a sign to them that the sins of Israel should be sought for, and
not found, Jer. l. 20. The later Jews had a custom to tie one shred of
scarlet cloth to the horns of the goat and another to the gate of the temple,
or to the top of the rock where the goat was lost, and they concluded that if
it turned white, as they say it usually did, the sins of Israel were forgiven,
as it is written, Though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as
wool: and they add that for forty years before the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans the scarlet cloth never changed colour at all, which
is a fair confession that, having rejected the substance, the shadow stood
them in no stead. 3. The high priest must then put off his linen garments in
the tabernacle, and leave them there, the Jews say never to be worn again by
himself or any other, for they made new ones every year; and he must bathe
himself in water, put on his rich clothes, and then offer both his own and the
people's burnt-offerings, v. 23, 24. When we have the comfort of our
pardon God must have the glory of it. If we have the benefit of the sacrifice
of atonement, we must not grudge the sacrifices of acknowledgment. And, it
should seem, the burning of the fat of the sin-offering was deferred till now
(v. 25), that it might be consumed with the burnt-offerings. 4. The
flesh of both those sin-offerings whose blood was taken within the veil was to
be all burnt, not upon the altar, but at a distance without the camp, to
signify both our putting away sin by true repentance, and the spirit of
burning, and God's putting it away by a full remission, so that it shall never
rise up in judgment against us. 5. He that took the scape-goat into the
wilderness, and those that burned the sin-offering, were to be looked upon as
ceremonially unclean, and must not come into the camp till they had washed
their clothes and bathed their flesh in water, which signified the defiling
nature of sin; even the sacrifice which was but made sin was defiling: also
the imperfection of the legal sacrifices; they were so far from taking away
sin that even they left some stain upon those that touched them. 6.
When all this was done, the high priest went again into the most holy place to
fetch his censer, and so returned to his own house with joy, because he had
done his duty, and died not.
29 And this shall
be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth
day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether
it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among
you: 30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement
for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before
the LORD.
31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your
souls, by a statute for ever. 32 And the priest, whom he shall
anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his
father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even
the holy garments: 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy
sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the
congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the
priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34 And this
shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the
children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD
commanded Moses.
I. We have here some additional directions in reference to this great
solemnity, particularly,
1. The day appointed for this solemnity. It must be observed yearly on the
tenth day of the seventh month, v. 29. The seventh had been
reckoned the first month, till God appointed that the month in which the
children of Israel came out of Egypt should thenceforward be accounted and
called the first month. Some have fancied that this tenth day of the seventh
month was the day of the year on which our first parents fell, and that it was
kept as a fast in remembrance of their fall. Dr. Lightfoot computes that this
was the day on which Moses came the last time down from the mount, when he
brought with him the renewed tables, and the assurances of God's being
reconciled to Israel, and his face shone: that day must be a day of atonement
throughout their generations; for the remembrance of God's forgiving them
their sin about the golden calf might encourage them to hope that, upon their
repentance, he would forgive them all trespasses.
2. The duty of the people on this day. (1.) They must rest from all their
labours: It shall be a sabbath of rest, v. 31. The work of the
day was itself enough, and a good day's work if it was done well; therefore
they must do no other work at all. The work of humiliation for sin requires
such a close application of mind, and such a fixed engagement of the whole
man, as will not allow us to turn aside to any other work. The day of
atonement seems to be that sabbath spoken of by the prophet (Isa. lviii. 13),
for it is the same with the fast spoken of in the verses before. (2.) They
must afflict their souls. They must refrain from all bodily refreshments and
delights, in token of inward humiliation and contrition of soul for their
sins. They all fasted on this day from food (except the sick and children),
and laid aside their ornaments, and did not anoint themselves, as Daniel, ch.
x. 3, 12. David chastened his soul with fasting, Ps. xxxv. 13. And it
signified the mortifying of sin and turning from it, loosing the bands of
wickedness, Isa. lviii. 6, 7. The Jewish doctors advised that they should
not on that day read those portions of scripture which were proper to affect
them with delight and joy, because it was a day to afflict their souls.
3. The perpetuity of this institution: It shall be a statute for ever, v.
29, 34. It must not be intermitted any year, nor ever let fall till that
constitution should be dissolved, and the type should be superseded by the
antitype. As long as we are continually sinning, we must be continually
repenting, and receiving the atonement. The law of afflicting our souls for
sin is a statute for ever, which will continue in force till we arrive where
all tears, even those of repentance, will be wiped from our eyes. The apostle
observes it as an evidence of the insufficiency of the legal sacrifices to
take away sin, and purge the conscience from it, that in them there was a remembrance
made of sin every year, upon the day of atonement, Heb. x. 1-3. The annual
repetition of the sacrifices showed that there was in them only a faint and
feeble effort towards making atonement; it could be done effectually only by
the offering up of the body of Christ once for all, and that once was
sufficient; that sacrifice needed not to be repeated.
II. Let us see what there was of gospel in all this.
1. Here are typified the two great gospel privileges of the remission of sin
and access to God, both which we owe to the mediation of our Lord Jesus. Here
then let us see,
(1.) The expiation of guilt which Christ made for us. He is himself both the
maker and the matter of the atonement; for he is, [1.] The priest, the high
priest, that makes reconciliation for the sins of the people, Heb. ii.
17. He, and he only, is par negotio--fit for the work and worthy of the
honour: he is appointed by the Father to do it, who sanctified him, and sent
him into the world for this purpose, that God might in him reconcile the
world to himself. He undertook it, and for our sakes sanctified himself,
and set himself apart for it, John xvii. 19. The high priest's frequently
bathing himself on this day, and performing the service of it in fine linen
clean and white, signified the holiness of the Lord Jesus, his perfect freedom
from all sin, and his being beautified and adorned with all grace. No man was
to be with the high priest when he made atonement (v. 17); for our Lord
Jesus was to tread the wine-press alone, and of the people there must
be none with him (Isa. lxiii. 3); therefore, when he entered upon his
sufferings, all his disciples forsook him and fled, for it any of them
had been taken and put to death with him it would have looked as if they had
assisted in making the atonement; none but thieves, concerning whom there
could be no such suspicion, must suffer with him. And observe what the extent
of the atonement was which the high priest made: it was for the holy
sanctuary, for the tabernacle, for the altar, for the priests, and for
all the people, v. 33. Christ's satisfaction is that which atones
for the sins both of ministers and people, the iniquities of our holy
(and our unholy) things; the title we have to the privileges of
ordinances, our comfort in them, and benefit by them, are all owing to the
atonement Christ made. But, whereas the atonement which the high priest made
pertained only to the congregation of Israel, Christ is the propitiation, not
for their sins only, that are Jews, but for the sins of the whole Gentile
world. And in this also Christ infinitely excelled Aaron, that Aaron needed to
offer sacrifice for his own sin first, of which he was to make confession upon
the head of his sin-offering; but our Lord Jesus had no sin of his own to
answer for. Such a high priest became us, Heb. vii. 26. And therefore,
when he was baptized in Jordan, whereas others stood in the water confessing
their sins (Matt. iii. 6), he went up straightway out of the water
(v. 16), having no sins to confess. [2.] As he is the high priest, so
he is the sacrifice with which atonement is made; for he is all in all in our
reconciliation to God. Thus he was prefigured by the two goats, which both
made one offering: the slain goat was a type of Christ dying for our sins, the
scape-goat a type of Christ rising again for our justification. It was
directed by lot, the disposal whereof was of the Lord, which goat should be
slain; for Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. First, The atonement is said to be completed by
putting the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat. They deserved to have
been abandoned and sent into a land of forgetfulness, but that punishment was
here transferred to the goat that bore their sins, with reference to which God
is said to have laid upon our Lord Jesus (the substance of all these shadows) the
iniquity of us all (Isa. liii. 6), and he is said to have borne our
sins, even the punishment of them, in his own body upon the tree, 1
Pet. ii. 24. Thus was he made sin for us, that is, a sacrifice for sin, 2 Cor.
v. 21. He suffered and died, not only for our good, but in our stead, and was
forsaken, and seemed to be forgotten for a time, that we might not be forsaken
and forgotten for ever. Some learned men have computed that our Lord Jesus was
baptized of John in Jordan upon the tenth day of the seventh month, which was
the very day of atonement. Then he entered upon his office as Mediator, and
was immediately driven of the Spirit into the wilderness, a land not
inhabited. Secondly, The consequence of this was that all the
iniquities of Israel were carried into a land of forgetfulness. Thus
Christ, the Lamb of God, takes away the sin the of world, by taking it
upon himself, John i. 29. And, when God forgives sin, he is said to remember
it no more (Heb. viii. 12), to cast it behind his back (Isa. xxxviii.
17), into the depths of the sea (Mic. vii. 19), and to separate it as
far as the east is from the west, Ps. ciii. 12.
(2.) The entrance into heaven which Christ made for us is here typified by the
high priest's entrance into the most holy place. This the apostle has
expounded (Heb. ix. 7, &c.), and he shows, [1.] That heaven is the holiest
of all, but not of that building, and that the way into it by faith, hope, and
prayer, through a Mediator, was not then so clearly manifested as it is to us
now by the gospel. [2.] That Christ our high priest entered into heaven at his
ascension once for all, and as a public person, in the name of all his
spiritual Israel, and through the veil of his flesh, which was rent for that
purpose, Heb. x. 20. [3.] That he entered by his own blood (Heb. ix.
12), taking with him to heaven the virtues of the sacrifice he offered on
earth, and so sprinkling his blood, as it were, before the mercy-seat, where
it speaks better things than the blood of bulls and goats could do. Hence he
is said to appear in the midst of the throne as a lamb that had been slain,
Rev. v. 6. And, though he had no sin of his own to expiate, yet it was by his
own merit that he obtained for himself a restoration to his own ancient glory
(John xvii. 4, 5), as well as an eternal redemption for us, Heb. ix. 12. [4.]
The high priest in the holy place burned incense, which typified the
intercession that Christ ever lives to make for us within the veil, in virtue
of his satisfaction. And we could not expect to live, no, not before the
mercy-seat, if it were not covered with the cloud of this incense. Mere mercy
itself will not save us, without the interposition of a Mediator. The
intercession of Christ is there set forth before God as incense, as this
incense. And as the high priest interceded for himself first, then for his
household, and then for all Israel, so our Lord Jesus, in the 17th of St. John
(which was a specimen of the intercession he makes in heaven), recommended
himself first to his Father, then his disciples who were his household, and
then all that should believe on him through their word, as all Israel; and,
having thus adverted to the uses and intentions of his offering, he was
immediately seized and crucified, pursuant to these intentions. [5.] Herein
the entry Christ made far exceeded Aaron's, that Aaron could not gain
admission, no, not for his own sons, into the most holy place; but our Lord
Jesus has consecrated for us also a new and living way into the holiest,
so that we also have boldness to enter, Heb. x. 19, 20. [6.] The high
priest was to come out again, but our Lord Jesus ever lives, making
intercession, and always appears in the presence of God for us, whither as the
forerunner he has for us entered, and where as agent he continues for us to
reside.
2. Here are likewise typified the two great gospel duties of faith and
repentance, by which we are qualified for the atonement, and come to be
entitled to the benefit of it. (1.) By faith we must put our hands upon the
head of the offering, relying on Christ as the Lord our Righteousness,
pleading his satisfaction as that which was alone able to atone for our sins
and procure us a pardon. "Thou shalt answer, Lord, for me. This is
all I have to say for myself, Christ has died, yea, rather has risen again;
to his grace and government I entirely submit myself, and in him I receive
the atonement," Rom. v. 11. (2.) By repentance we must afflict our
souls; not only fasting for a time from the delights of the body, but inwardly
sorrowing for our sins, and living a life of self-denial and mortification. We
must also make a penitent confession of sin, and this with an eye to Christ,
whom we have pierced, and mourning because of him; and with a hand of faith
upon the atonement, assuring ourselves that, if we confess our sins, God is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Lastly, In the year of jubilee, the trumpet which proclaimed the liberty was
ordered to be sounded in the close of the day of atonement, ch.
xxv. 9. For the remission of our debt, release from our bondage, and our
return to our inheritance, are all owing to the mediation and intercession of
Jesus Christ. By the atonement we obtain rest for our souls, and all the
glorious liberties of the children of God.
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