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Expositor's Bible Commentary Leviticus 16:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT Leviticus 16:1-34 IN the first verse of chapter 16, which ordains the ceremonial for the great annual day of atonement, we are told that this ordinance was delivered by the Lord to Moses "after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord, and died." Because of the close historical connection thus declared between this chapter and chapter 10, and also because in this ordinance the Mosaic sacrificial worship, which has been the subject of the book thus far, finds its culmination, it seems most satisfactory to anticipate the order of the book by taking up at this point the exposition of this chapter, before proceeding in chapter 11 to a wholly different subject. This ordinance of the day of atonement was perhaps the most important and characteristic in the whole Mosaic legislation. In the law of the offerings, the most distinctive part was the law of the sin offering; and it was on the great annual day of atonement that the conceptions embodied in the sin offering obtained their most complete development. The central place which this day occupied in the whole system of sacred times is well illustrated in that it is often spoken of by the rabbis, without any more precise designation, as simply "Yoma," "The Day." It was "the day" because, on this day, the idea of sacrificial expiation and the consequent removal of all sin, essential to the life of peace and fellowship with God, which was set forth imperfectly, as regards individuals and the nation, by the daily sin offerings, received the highest possible symbolical expression. It is plain that countless sins and transgressions and various defilements must yet have escaped unrecognised as such, even by the most careful and conscientious Israelite; and that, for this reason, they could not have been covered by any of the daily offerings for sin. Hence, apart from this full, solemn, typical purgation and cleansing of the priesthood and the congregation, and the holy sanctuary, from the uncleannesses and transgressions of the children of Israel, "even all their sins" ( Leviticus 16:16 ), the sacrificial system had yet fallen short of expressing in adequate symbolism the ideal of the complete removal of all sin. With abundant reason then do the rabbis regard it as the day of days in the sacred year. It is insisted by the radical criticism of our day that the general sense of sin and need of expiation which this ordinance expresses could not have existed in the days of Moses; and that since, moreover, the later historical books of the Old Testament contain no reference to the observance of the day, therefore its origin must be attributed to the days of the restoration from Babylon, when, as such critics suppose the deeper sense of sin, developed by the great judgment of the Babylonian captivity and exile, occasioned the elaboration of this ritual. To this one might reply that the objection rests upon an assumption which the Christian believer cannot admit, that the ordinance was merely a product of the human mind. But if, as our Lord constantly taught, and as the chapter explicitly affirms, the ordinance was a matter of Divine, supernatural revelation, then naturally we shall expect to find in it, not man’s estimate of the guilt of sin, but God’s, which in all ages is the same. But, meeting such objectors on their own ground, we need not go into the matter further than to refer to the high authority of Dillmann, who declares this theory of the post-exilian origin of this institution to be "absolutely incredible"; and in reply to the objection that the day is not alluded to in the whole Old Testament history, justly adds that this argument from silence would equally forbid us to assign the origin of the ordinance to the days of the return from Babylon, or any of the pre-Christian centuries for "one would then have to maintain that the festival first arose in the first Christian century; since only out of that age do we first have any explicit testimonies concerning it." Again, the first verse of the chapter gives as the occasion of the promulgation of this law, "the death of the two sons of Aaron," Nadab and Abihu, "when they drew near before the Lord and died"; a historical note which is perfectly natural if we have here a narrative dating from Mosaic days, but which seems most objectless and unlikely to have been entered, if the law were a late invention of rabbinical forgers. On that occasion it was, as we read, {Lev 5:2} that "the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat." Into this place of Jehovah’s most immediate earthly manifestation, even Aaron is to come only once a year, and then only with atoning blood, as hereinafter prescribed. The object of the whole service of this day is represented as atonement; expiation of sin, in the highest and fullest sense then possible. It is said to be appointed to make atonement for Aaron and for his house ( Leviticus 16:6 ), for the holy place, and for the tent of meeting ( Leviticus 16:15-17 ); for the altar of burnt offering in the outer court ( Leviticus 16:18-19 ); and for all the congregation of Israel ( Leviticus 16:20-22 , Leviticus 16:33 ); and this, not merely for such sins of ignorance as had been afterward recognised and acknowledged in the ordinary sin offerings of each day, but for "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins": even such as were still unknown to all but God ( Leviticus 16:21 ). The fact of such an ordinance for such a purpose taught a most impressive lesson of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, on the one hand, and, on the other, the utter insufficiency of the daily offerings to cleanse from all sin. Day by day these had been offered in each year; and yet, as we read, {Heb 9:8-9} the Holy Ghost this signified by this ordinance, "that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest"; it was "a parable for the time now present"; teaching that the temple sacrifices of Judaism could not "as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect". {Heb 9:9} We may well reverse the judgment of the critics, and say-not that the deepened sense of sin in Israel was the cause of the day of atonement; but rather, that the solemn observances of this day, under God, were made for many in Israel a most effective means to deepen the conviction of sin. The time which was ordained for this annual observance is significant-the tenth day of the seventh month. It was appointed for the seventh month, as the sabbatic month, in which all the related ideas of rest in God and with God, in the enjoyment of the blessings of a now complete redemption, received in the great feast of tabernacles their fullest expression. It was therefore appointed for that month, and for a day which shortly preceded this greatest of the annual feasts, to signify in type the profound and most vital truth, that the full joy of the sabbatic rest of man with God, and the ingathering of the fruits of complete redemption, is only possible upon condition of repentance and the fullest possible expiation for sin. It was appointed for the tenth day of this month, no doubt, because in the Scripture symbolism the number ten is the symbol of completeness; and was fitly thus connected with a service which signified expiation completed for the sins of the year. The observances appointed for the day had regard, first, to the people, and, secondly, to the tabernacle service. As for the former, it was commanded ( Leviticus 16:29 ) that they should "do no manner of work," observing the day as a Sabbath Sabbathon, " a high Sabbath," or "Sabbath of solemn rest," ( Leviticus 16:31 ); and, secondly, that they should "afflict their souls" ( Leviticus 16:30 ), namely, by solemn fasting, in visible sign of sorrow and humiliation for sin. By which it was most distinctly taught, that howsoever complete atonement may be, and howsoever, in making that atonement through a sacrificial victim, the sinner himself have no part, yet apart from his personal repentance for his sins, that atonement shall profit him nothing; nay, it was declared, {Lev 23:29} that if any man should fail on this point, God would cut him off from his people. The law abides as regards the greater sacrifice of Christ; except we repent, we shall, even because of that sacrifice, only the more terribly perish; because not even this supreme exhibition of the holy love and justice of God has moved us to renounce sin. As regards the tabernacle service for the day, the order was as follows. First, as most distinctive of the ritual of the day, only the high priest could officiate. The other priests, who, on other occasions, served continually in the holy place, must on this day, during these ceremonies, leave it to him alone; taking their place, themselves as sinners for whom also atonement was to be made, with the sinful congregation of their brethren. For it was ordered ( Leviticus 16:17 ): "There shall be no man in the tent of meeting when the high priest goeth in to make atonement in the holy place, until he come out," and the work of atonement be completed. And the high priest could himself officiate only after certain significant preparations. First ( Leviticus 16:4 ), he must "bathe in water" his whole person. The word used in the original is different from that which is used of the partial washings in connection with the daily ceremonial cleansings; and, most suggestively, the same complete washing is required as that which was ordered in the law for the consecration of the priesthood, and for cleansing from leprosy and other specific defilements. Thus was expressed, in the clearest manner possible, the thought, that the high priest, who shall be permitted to draw near to God in the holiest place, and there prevail with Him, must himself be wholly pure and clean. Then, having bathed, he must robe himself in a special manner for the service of this day. He must lay aside the bright-coloured "garments for glory and beauty" which he wore on all other occasions, and put on, instead, a vesture of pure, unadorned white, like that of the ordinary priest; excepting only that for him, on this day, unlike them, the girdle also must be white. By this substitution of these garments for his ordinary brilliant robes was signified, not merely the absolute purity which the white linen symbolised, but especially also, by the absence of adornment, humiliation for sin. On this day he was thus made in outward appearance essentially like unto the other members of his house, for whose sin, together with his own, he was to make atonement. Thus washed and robed, wearing on his white turban the golden crown inscribed "Holiness to Jehovah," {Exo 28:38} he now took ( Leviticus 16:3 , Leviticus 16:5-7 ), as a sin offering for himself and for his house, a bullock; and for the congregation, "two he-goats for a sin offering"; with a ram for himself, and one for them, for a burnt offering. The two goats were set "before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting." The bullock was the offering before prescribed for the sin offering for the high priest, {Lev 4:3} as being the most valuable of all sacrificial victims. For the choice of the goats many reasons have been given, none of which seem wholly satisfactory. Both of the goats are equally declared ( Leviticus 16:5 ) to be "for a sin offering"; yet only one was to be slain. The ceremonial which followed is unique; it is without its like either in Mosaism or in heathenism. It was ordered ( Leviticus 16:8 ): "Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel"; an expression to which we shall shortly return. Only the goat on whom the lot fell for the Lord was to be slain. The two goats remain standing before the Lord; while now Aaron kills the sin offering for himself and for his house ( Leviticus 16:11 ); then enters, first, the Holy of Holies within the veil, having taken ( Leviticus 16:12 ) a censer "full of coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord," with his hands full of incense ( Leviticus 16:13 ), "that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony ( i.e. , the two tables of the law within the ark), that he die not." Then ( Leviticus 16:13 ) he sprinkles the blood "upon the mercy seat on the east"-by which was signified the application of the blood God-ward, accompanied with the fragrance of intercession, for the expiation of his own sins and those of his house; and then "seven times, before the mercy seat,"-evidently, on the floor of the sanctuary, for the symbolic cleansing of the holiest place, defiled by all the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, in the midst of whom it stood. Then, returning, he kills the goat of the sin offering "for Jehovah," and repeats the same ceremony, now in behalf of the whole congregation, sprinkling, as before, the mercy seat, and, seven times, the Holy of Holies, thus making atonement for it, "because of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins" ( Leviticus 16:16 ). In like manner, he was then to cleanse, by a seven-fold sprinkling, the Holy place; and then again going into the outer court, also the altar of burnt offering; this last, doubtless, as in other cases, by applying the blood to the horns of the altar. In all this it will be observed that the difference from the ordinary sin offerings and the wider reach of its symbolical virtue is found, not in that the offering is different from or larger than others, but in that, symbolically speaking, the blood is brought, as in no other offering, into the most immediate presence of God; even into the secret darkness of the Holy of Holies, where no child of Israel might tread. For this reason did this sin offering become, above all others, the most perfect type of the one offering of Him, the God-Man, who reconciled us to God by doing that in reality which was here done in symbol, even entering with atoning blood into the very presence of God, there to appear in our behalf. Leviticus 16:20 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: AZAZEL Leviticus 16:20-28 "And when he hath made an end of atoning for the holy place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat: 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, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. And Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: and he shall bathe his flesh in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. And he that letteth go the gent for Azazel shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. And the bullock of the sin offering, and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be carried forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp." And now followed the second stage of the ceremonial, a rite of the most singular and impressive character. The live goat, during the former part of the ceremony, had been left standing before Jehovah, where he had been placed after the casting of the lot ( Leviticus 16:10 ). The rendering of King James’ version, that the goat was so placed, "to make an atonement with him," assumes a meaning to the Hebrew preposition here which it never has. Usage demands either that which is given in the text or the margin of the Revised Version, to make atonement "for him" or "over him." But to the former the objection seems insuperable that there is nothing in the whole rite suggesting an atonement as made for this living goat; while, on the other hand, if the rendering "over" be adopted from the margin, it may not unnaturally be understood of the performance over this goat of that part of the atonement ceremonial described as follows:- Leviticus 16:20-22 : "When he hath made an end of atoning for the holy place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness." And with this ceremony the atonement was completed. Aaron now laid aside the robes which he had put on for this service, bathed again, and put on again his richly coloured garments of office, came forth and offered the burnt offering for himself and for the people, and burnt the fat of the sin offering as usual on the altar ( Leviticus 16:23-25 ), while its flesh was burned, according to the law for such sacrifices, without the camp ( Leviticus 16:27 ). What was the precise significance of this part of the service, is one of the most difficult questions which arises in the exposition of this book; the answer to which chiefly turns upon the meaning which is attached to the expression, "for Azazel" (O.V, "for a scapegoat"). What is the meaning of "Azazel"? There are three fundamental facts which stand before us in this chapter, which must find their place in any explanation which may be adopted. 1. Both of the goats are declared to be "a sin offering"; the live goat, no less than the other. 2. In consistency with this, the live goat, no less than the other, was consecrated to Jehovah, in that he was "set alive before the Lord." 3. The function expressly ascribed to him in the law is the complete removal of the transgressions of Israel, symbolically transferred to him as a burden, by the laying on of hands with confession of sin. Passing by, then, several interpretations, which seem intrinsically irreconcilable with one or other of these facts, or are, for other reasons. to be rejected, the case seems to be practically narrowed down to this alternative. Either Azazel is to be regarded as the name of an evil spirit, conceived of as dwelling in the wilderness, or else it is to be taken as an abstract noun, as in the margin (R.V), signifying "removal," "dismissal." That the word may have this meaning is very commonly admitted even by those who deny that meaning here; and if, with Bahr and others, we adopt it in this passage, all that follows is quite clear. The goat "for removal" bears away all the iniquities of Israel, which are symbolically laid upon him, into a solitary land; that is, they are taken wholly away from the presence of God and from the camp of His people. Thus, as the killing and sprinkling of the blood of the first goat visibly set forth the means of reconciliation with God, through the substituted offering of an innocent victim, so the sending away of the second goat, laden with those sins, the expiation of which had been signified by the sacrifice of the first, no less vividly set forth the effect of that sacrifice, in the complete removal of those expiated sins from the holy presence of Jehovah. That this effect of atonement should have been adequately represented by the first slain victim was impossible; hence the necessity for the second goat, ideally identified with the other, as jointly constituting with it one sin offering, whose special use it should be to represent the blessed effect of atonement. The truth symbolised, as the goat thus bore away the sins of Israel, is expressed in those glad words, {Psa 103:12} "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us"; or, under another image, by Micah, {Mic 7:19} "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea." So far all seems quite clear, and this explanation, no doubt, will always be accepted by many. And yet there remains one serious objection to this interpretation; namely, that the meaning we thus give this word "Azazel" is not what we would expect from the phrase which is used regarding the casting of the lots ( Leviticus 16:8 ): "One lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel." These words do most naturally suggest that Azazel is the name of a person, who is here contrasted with Jehovah; and hence it is believed by a large number of the best expositors that the term must be taken here as the name of an evil spirit, represented as dwelling in the wilderness, to whom this goat, thus laden with Israel’s sins, is sent. In addition to this phraseology, it is urged, in support of this interpretation, that even the Scripture lends apparent sanction to the Jewish belief that demons are, in some special sense, the inhabitants of waste and desolate places; and, in particular, that Jewish demonology does in fact recognise a demon named Azazel, also called Sammael. It is admitted, indeed, that the name Azazel does not occur in the Scripture as the name of Satan or of any evil spirit; and, moreover, that there is no evidence that the Jewish belief concerning the existence of a demon called Azazel dates nearly so far back as Mosaic days; and, again, that even the rabbis themselves are not agreed on this interpretation here, many of them rejecting it, even on traditional grounds. Still the interpretation has secured the support of the majority of the best modern expositors, and must claim respectful consideration. But if Azazel indeed denotes an evil spirit to whom the second goat of the sin offering is thus sent, laden with the iniquities of Israel, the question then arises: How then, on this supposition, is the ceremony to be interpreted? The notion of some, that we have in this rite a relic of the ancient demon worship, is utterly inadmissible. For this goat is expressly said ( Leviticus 16:5 ) to have been, equally with the goat that was slain, "a sin offering," and ( Leviticus 16:10 , Leviticus 16:20 ) it is placed "before the Lord," as an offering to Him; nor is there a hint, here or elsewhere, that this goat was sacrificed in the wilderness to this Azazel; while, moreover, in this very priest code {Lev 17:7-9, R.V} this special form of idolatry is forbidden, under the heaviest penalty. That the goat sent to Azazel personified, by way of warning and in a typical manner, Israel, as rejecting the great Sin offering, and thus laden with iniquity, and therefore delivered over to Satan, is an idea equally untenable. For the goat, as we have seen, is regarded as ideally one with the goat which is slain; they jointly constitute one sin offering. If, therefore, the slain goat represented in type Christ as the Lamb of God, our Sin offering, so also must this goat represent Him as our Sin offering. Further, the ceremonial which is performed over him is explicitly termed an "atonement"; that is, it was an essential part of a ritual designed to symbolise, not the condemnation of Israel for sin, but their complete deliverance from the guilt of their sins. Not to speak of other explanations, more or less untenable, which have each found their advocates, the only one which, upon this understanding of the meaning of Azazel, the context and the analogy of the Scripture will both admit, appears to be the following. Holy Scripture teaches that Satan has power over man, only because of man’s sin. Because of his sin, man is judicially left by God in Satan’s power. {1Jn 5:19, R.V} When as "the prince of this world" he came to the sinless Man, Jesus Christ, he had nothing in Him, because He was the Holy One of God; while, on the other hand, he is represented {Heb 2:14} as having over men under sin "the authority of death." In full accord with this conception, he is represented, both in the Old and the New Testament, as the accuser of God’s people. He is said to have accused Job before God. {Job 1:9-11; Job 2:4; Job 2:5} When Zechariah {Zec 3:1} saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, he saw Satan also standing at his right hand to be his "adversary." So, again, in the Apocalypse {Rev 12:10} he is called "the Accuser of our brethren, which accuseth them before our God day and night," and who is only overcome by means of "the blood of the Lamb." To this Evil One, then, the Accuser and Adversary of God’s people in all ages-if we assume the interpretation before us-the live goat was symbolically sent, bearing on him the sins of Israel. But does he bear their sins as forgiven, or as unforgiven? Surely, as forgiven; for the sins which he symbolically carries are those very sins of the bygone year for which expiating blood had just been offered and accepted in the Holy of Holies. Moreover, he is sent as being ideally one with the goat that was slain. As sent to Azazel, he therefore symbolically announces to the Evil One that with the expiation of sin by sacrificial blood the foundation of his power over forgiven Israel is gone. His accusations are now no longer in place; for the whole question of Israel’s sin has been met and settled in the atoning blood. Thus, as the acceptance of the blood of the one goat offered in the Holiest symbolised the complete propitiation of the offended holiness of God and His pardon of Israel’s sin, so the sending of the goat to Azazel. symbolised the effect of this expiation, in the: complete removal of all the penal effects of sin, through deliverance by atonement from the power of the Adversary as the executioner of God’s wrath. Which of these two interpretations shall be accepted must be left to the reader: that neither is without difficulty, those who have most studied this very obscure question will most readily admit; that either is at least consistent with the context and with other teachings of Scripture, should be sufficiently evident. In either case, the symbolic intention of the first part of the ritual, with the first goat, was to symbolise the means of reconciliation with God; namely, through the offering unto God of the life of an innocent victim, substituted in the sinner’s place: in either case alike, the purpose of the second part of the ceremonial, with the second goat, was to symbolise the blessed effect of this expiation; either, if the reading of the margin be taken, in the complete removal of the expiated sin from the presence of the Holy God, or, if Azazel be taken as a proper name, in the complete deliverance of the sinner, through expiatory blood presented in the Holiest, from the power of Satan. If in the former case, we think of the words already cited, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us"; in the latter the words from the Apocalypse {Rev 12:10-11} come to mind, "The Accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." On other particulars in the ceremonial of the day we need not dwell, as they have received their exposition in earlier chapters of the law of the offerings. Of the burnt offerings, indeed, which followed the dismissal of the living goat of the sin offering, little is said; it is, emphatically, the sin offering, upon which, above all else, it was designed to centre the attention of Israel on this occasion. And so, with an injunction to the perpetual observance of this day, this remarkable chapter closes. In it the sacrificial law of Moses attains its supreme expression; the holiness and the grace alike of Israel’s God, their fullest revelation. For the like of the great day of atonement, we look in vain in any other people. If every sacrifice pointed to Christ, this most luminously of all. What the fifty-third of Isaiah is to his Messianic prophecies, that, we may truly say, is the sixteenth of Leviticus to the whole system of Mosaic types, -the most consummate flower of the Messianic symbolism. All the sin offerings pointed to Christ, the great High Priest and Victim of the future; but this, as we shall now see, with a distinctness found in no other. As the unique sin offering of this day could only be offered by the one high priest, so was it intimated that the High Priest of the future, who should indeed make an end of sin, should be one and only. As once only in the whole year, a complete cycle of time, this great atonement was offered, so did it point toward a sacrifice which should indeed be "once for all" {Heb 9:26, Heb 10:10}; not only for the lesser aeon of the year, but for the aeon of aeons which is the lifetime of humanity. In that the high priest, who was on all other occasions conspicuous among his sons by his bright garments made for glory and for beauty, on this occasion laid them aside, and assumed the same garb as his sons for whom he was to make atonement; herein was shadowed forth the truth that it behoved the great High Priest of the future to be "in all things made like unto His brethren" {Heb 2:17} . When, having offered the sin offering, Aaron disappeared from the sight of Israel within the veil, where in the presence of the unseen glory he offered the incense and sprinkled the blood, it was presignified how "Christ having come a High Priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place," even "into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us". {Heb 9:11-12; Heb 9:24} And, in like manner in that when the sin offering had been offered, the blood sprinkled, and his work within the veil was ended, arrayed again in his glorious garments, he reappeared to bless the waiting congregation; it was again foreshown how yet that must be fulfilled which is written, that this same Christ, "having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation". {Heb 9:28} To all this yet more might be added of dispensational truth typified by the ceremonial of this day, which we defer to the exposition of chapter 25, where its consideration more properly belongs. But even were this all, what a marvellous revelation here of the Lord Jesus Christ! The fact of these correspondences between the Levitical ritual and the New Testament facts, let it be observed, is wholly independent of the questions as to the date and origin of this law; and every theory on this subject must find a place for these correspondences and account for them. But how can anyone believe that all these are merely accidental coincidences of a post-exilian forgery with the facts of the incarnation, and the high priestly work of Christ in death and resurrection as set forth in the Gospels? How can they all be adequately accounted for except by assuming that to be true which is expressly taught in the New Testament concerning this very ritual: that in it the Holy Ghost presignified things that were to come; that, therefore, the ordinance must have been, not of man, but of God; not a mere product of the human mind, acting under the laws of a religious evolution, but a revelation from Him unto whom "known are all His works from the foundation of the world"? Nor must we fail to take in the blessed truth so vividly symbolised in the second part of the ceremonial. When the blood of the sin offering had been sprinkled in the Holiest, the sins of Israel were then, by the other goat of the sin offering, borne far away. Israel stood there still a sinful people; but their sin, now expiated by the blood, was before God as if it were not. So does the Holy Victim in the Antitype, wh

I will appear in the cloud . Leviticus 16:2, 3 Jehovah appearing in a cloud J. Irons. I. THE CLOUDY DISPENSATIONS. By a cloud I understand a density approaching to darkness and gloom; and yet that very density and darkness inhabited by the glory of God. If the glory of God were to burst upon us without a cloud, it would be nothing less than a consuming fire. The Church of God has to pass through dispensations that are cloudy in her public capacity, in God's providential dealings with her individual members. Look, for instance, at the Church of God as a body at the present time. Is she not beclouded? Are there not clouds of ignorance, superstition, idolatry, despotic power — clouds of carnal wickedness under the name of Christianity, overspreading Zion? The cloud is still more dense when it overwhelms the soul, as it regards its conflicts when darkness overspreads the mind, and the poor believer cannot pray, cannot sing, nor cannot believe. II. THE APPEARANCE THAT IS PROMISED. "I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat." He appears as a wonder-working God; and when in any of the dispensations to which I have referred, the hand of God is seen, how are the souls of God's people filled with awe! "I will appear." Is it the Church that is overwhelmed with a cloud? I will appear for her deliverance, though I may suffer her to pass through fire and through water first. Is it Providence that is mysterious — every hope cut off, all prospects darkened? "I will appear," says Jehovah. Mark the promise — it is positive — "I will appear." The cattle upon a thousand hills are His property; the gold and the silver He declares are all His own; the hearts of kings are in His hands, and He turns them as rivers of water as He pleases. So that He appears working wonders frequently in the world, and those very things which were most threatening appear to be the very things that God was making use of for the real advantage of His people. III. THE MERCY DISPLAYED. It is the mercy of the Triune Jehovah, the gift of mercy from God the Father — immutable, eternal, covenant mercy — the mercy of God. That mercy is fully and freely displayed in the person of Christ; yea, more, so far as regards our view of it — the mercy of God the Father laid up from everlasting, recorded in the covenant, fixed in decree, is, to a certain extent, concealed from us, until we discover it in the person of Christ. But when we are brought to view Him as the mercy promised, and then mark the display of that mercy in His incarnation, in His obedience, in His merit, in His blood, in His sufferings, in His victories, in His present employment before the throne, why He is all mercy — mercy embodied in the person of the glorious Mediator. And then, if we look at the merciful dealings of God the Holy Ghost with His people, in melting their hearts, making them new creatures, giving them life Divine, perfecting the work He has first commenced in personal experience — why we come to this conclusion that our God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the God of mercy, a merciful God. Then mark the transcendent glory of this mercy, how it is displayed in the face of misery, and rebellion, and ingratitude, and all our wanderings, and all our wants. IV. THE EFFECTS WHICH FOLLOW WHEN JEHOVAH COMES DOWN AND APPEARS IN THE MIDST OF THE CLOUD. It is not merely for a momentary interposition, but for a permanent deliverance, and mercies may be expected by all the praying seed of Jacob. Now allow a familiar illustration here. If a benevolent individual, very wealthy, were accustomed to take a seat, as they used to do in olden times, at the gate of the city, or in any other place of public concourse, and to do so for the very purpose of distributing his bounty, would not that gate be crowded? Who would not go there? Even if we did not want pecuniary alms, if honours, jewels were to be distributed by this person, who would not be there? Who would not receive some token of the kindness and favour of such an one? My hearer, is it not grievous that you and I are not oftener at the mercy-seat? ( J. Irons. ) The concealing cloud J. Cameron. I once visited an invalid woman. She had been confined to bed for a long time, and when I spoke to her, she said: "I think the Lord has forgotten me altogether." The eye of faith had grown dim through bodily weakness, and I replied to her, "Did you ever go down the river and see the lighthouse?" She said she had. "Well, suppose you lived on the opposite side from it, and one day the mist came down, and it grew so thick that you could not see the lighthouse on the other side; would you believe it was there?" "Oh, yes," she said, "because I had seen it before." "And there is another thing would make you believe, I said; "you would hear the shrill whistle coming from the lighthouse warning mariners of the danger that was near. In the same way you should believe that the Lord is still near you; that He has not forgotten you, although a cloud has come between you and God; if you will but listen, you will hear His voice speaking to you; the mist will soon roll away if you look right at Him with the eye of faith." She did look, and beheld Jesus as precious to her as ever. ( J. Cameron. ) Make an atonement. Leviticus 16:3-34 The annual atonement Before Adam transgressed he lived in communion with God, but after he had broken the covenant he could have no more familiar fellowship with God. Under the Mosaic dispensation, in which God was pleased in His grace to dwell among His people and walk with them in the wilderness, it was still under a reserve: there was a Holy Place wherein the symbol of God's presence was hidden away from mortal gaze. No man might come near to it except in one only way, and then only once in the year, "The Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing." Our subject illustrates the appointed way of access to God. This chapter shows that the way of access to God is by atonement, and by no other method. I want you to notice that, of course, this was only a type. The great Day of Atonement did not see an actual atonement made, nor sin really put away; but it was the figure of heavenly things to come. The substance is of Christ. I. Now, then, let us come to the text, and note, first, WHAT WAS DONE on that particular day. The text tells us what was done symbolically — "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." 1. The persons themselves were cleansed. If any of them had become unclean so as to be denied communion with God and His people, they were made clean, so that they might go up to the Tabernacle, and mingle with the congregation. All the host were that morning regarded as unclean, and all had to bow their heads in penitent sorrow because of their uncleanness. After the sacrifice and the sending away of the scapegoat the whole congregation was clean and in a condition to rejoice. It is a far simpler thing to remove outward stains than it is to purge the very substance and nature of man; yet this is what was done on the Day of Atonement typically, and this is what our redeeming Lord actually does for us. We are outlaws, and His atonement purges us of outlawry, and makes us citizens; we are lepers, and by His stripes we are so healed as to be received among the clean. 2. Their persons being made clean, they were also purged of all the sins confessed. Sin that is confessed is evidently real sin, and not a mere dream of a morbid conscience. There is a certain mythical cloud of sin which people talk about, and affect to deplore, and yet they have no sense of the solid heinousness of their actual iniquity. Sin confessed with tears, sin which causes the very heart to bleed — killing sin — this is the kind of sin for which Jesus died. Sin which you dare not confess to man, but acknowledge only as you lay your hand upon the Divine sacrifice — such sin the Lord removes from you. The passage is very particular to mention "all sins." "The goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities." This includes every form of stir, of thought, of word, of deed, of pride, of falsehood, of lust, of malice, of blasphemy. This comprehends crimes against man, and offences against God, of peculiar blackness; and it does not exclude sins of inadvertence, or carelessness, or of omission. Transgressions of the body, the intellect, the affections are all blotted out. 3. It seems that the Divine atonement puts away the sin of sin — the essence and heart of sin. Sin has its core, its mortal spot, within each iniquity there seems to lie a something more essentially evil than the act itself: this is the inner hate of the mind. Whatever may be the sin of the soul, or the soul of the sin, atonement has been made for it all. The Lord Jesus has not left upon those for whom He has made atonement a single spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, so far as their justification is concerned. He has not left an iniquity for which they can be condemned before the bar of judgment. "Ye are clean every whit" is His sure verdict, and none can contradict it 4. Not only were all the sins that they had committed put away, but also all their holy things were purged. I do feel so glad that our Lord has atoned for the sins of our holy things. I feel so glad that Jesus has purified our prayers. Many saints spend much time in hearty, earnest cries to God; but even on your knees you sin; and herein is our comfort — that the precious blood has made atonement for the shortcomings of our supplications. We need pardon for our psalms and cleansing for our hymns. Jesus puts away not only our unholy things, but the sins of our holy things also. 5. Once more, on that day all the people were cleansed. This gives great comfort to those of us who love the souls of the multitude. All who believe are justified from all things. II. Now we notice, in the second place, HOW IT WAS DONE. 1. The atonement was made first of all by sacrifice. We know that the blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sin; but very distinctly do these point to the sufferings of our Redeemer. The woes He bore are the expiation for our guilt. 2. Notice, next, that the atonement was made not only by the blood of sacrifice, but by the presentation of the blood within the veil. With the smoke of incense and a bowl filled with blood Aaron passed into the most Holy Place. Let us never forget that our Lord has gone into the heavenly places with better sacrifices than Aaron could present. His merits are the sweet incense which burns before the throne of the heavenly grace. His death supplies that blood of sprinkling which we find even in heaven. 3. Furthermore, atonement was made effectual by its application to the thing or person cleansed. The atonement was made for the Holy Place: it was sprinkled seven times with blood. The same was done to the altar; the horns thereof were smeared seven times. So to make the atonement effectual between you and God the blood of Jesus must be sprinkled upon you by a lively faith. 4. Further, inasmuch as no one type was sufficient, the Lord set forth the method of the removal of sin, as far as we are concerned, by the scapegoat. One of two goats was chosen to live. It stood before the Lord, and Aaron confessed all the sins of Israel upon its head. A fit man, selected for the purpose, led this goat away into a land not inhabited. What became of it? Why do you ask the question? It is not to edification. You may have seen the famous picture of the scapegoat, representing it as expiring in misery in a desert place. That is all very pretty, and I do not wonder that imagination should picture the poor devoted scapegoat as a sort of cursed thing, left to perish amid accumulated horrors. But please observe that this is all mere groundless fancy. The Scripture is entirely silent as to anything of the kind, and purposely so. All that the type teaches is this: in symbol the scapegoat, has all the sin of the people laid upon it, and when it is led away into the solitary wilderness, it has gone, and the sin with it. We may not follow the scapegoat even in imagination. It is gone where it can never be found, for there is nobody to find it: it is gone into a land not inhabited — into "no man's land," in fact. Stop where the Scripture stops. Sin is carried away into the silent land, the unknown wilderness. The sins of God's people have gone beyond recall. Where to? Do not ask anything about that. If they were sought for they could not be found; they are so gone that they are blotted out. Into oblivion our sins have gone, even as the scapegoat went out of track of mortal man. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" 5. Yet the ceremony was not quite finished; for now everybody who had had a hand in it must needs be washed, so that everybody might be clean. Everybody becomes purged; the whole camp is clean right through. No sin remains upon Him on whom the Lord once .laid the iniquities of us all. The great atonement is made, and everything is cleansed, from beginning to end. Christ hath put it all away for ever by the water and the blood which flowed from His riven side. All is purified, and the Lord looks down on a clean camp; and soon He will have them rejoicing before Him, each man in His tabernacle, feasting to the full. III. In the third place, I ask your attention, for a brief interval, to this special point — WHO DID IT? The answer is, Aaron did it all. Now fix your eye on the great Antitype of Aaron. There was none with our Lord: He trod the winepress alone. He His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. He alone went to where the thick darkness covered the throne of God, and none stood by to comfort Him. "All the disciples forsook Him, and fled." Worship our Lord as working salvation by His own single arm. Let that truth abide in your hearts — our High Priest alone has made reconciliation. IV. Lastly, WHAT WERE THE PEOPLE TO DO for whom this atonement was made? There were two things they had to do that day, only I must add that one of them was doing nothing. 1. For the first thing, they had to afflict their souls that day. It was a day of confession of sin. And should not confession be made with sorrowful repentance? To acknowledge sin without grieving over it is to aggravate sin. 2. Not only was it a day of confession, but it was a day of sacrifice. No tender-hearted Israelite could think of that bullock, and ram, and goat dying for him, without saying, "That is what I deserve." When we think of our dying Lord our emotions are mingled: we feel a pleasing grief and a mournful joy as we stand at Calvary. 3. Once more, it was a day of perfect cleansing, and hence, by a strange logic, a day of the affliction of the soul; for, oh 1 when sin is forgiven, when by Divine assurance we know that God has blotted out our sins like a cloud, then it is we mourn over our iniquities. Afflict your soul when you remember what you once were. 4. On the Day of Atonement they were to afflict their souls, and yet they were to rest. Can these things come together — mourning and resting? I never am so truly happy as when a sober sadness tinges my joy. Nothing is more really sweet than the bitterness of repentance" Nothing is more healthful than self-abhorrence, mixed with the grateful love which hides itself in the wounds of Jesus. The purified people were to rest; they were to rest from all servile work. I will never do a hand's turn to save myself by my own merits, works, or feelings. I have done for ever with all interference with my Lord's sole work. They were assuredly to cease from all sinful work. How can the pardoned man continue in sin? We have done with toiling for the devil now. We will no more waste our lives in his service. We are slaves no longer: we quit the hard bondage of Egypt and rest in the Lord. We have also done with selfish work; we now seek first the kingdom of heaven, and look that all other things shall be added unto us by the goodness of our Heavenly Father. Henceforth we find rest by bearing the easy yoke of Christ. We joy to spend and be spent in His beloved service. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The Day of Atonement I. First, THE PERSON WHO WAS TO MAKE THE ATONEMENT. And at the outset we remark that Aaron, the high priest, did it. Inferior priests slaughtered lambs; other priests at other times did almost all the work of the sanctuary; but on this day nothing was done by any one, as a part of the business of the great Day of Atonement, except by the high priest. Old rabbinical traditions tell us that everything on that day was done by him, even the lighting of the candles, and the fires, and the incense, and all the offices that were required, and that, for a fortnight beforehand, he was obliged to go into the Tabernacle to slaughter the bullocks and assist in the work of the priests and Levites, that he might be prepared to do the work which was unusual to him. All the labour was left to him. So Jesus Christ, the High Priest, and He only, works the atonement. There are other priests, for "He hath made us priests and kings unto God." Every Christian is a priest to offer sacrifice of prayer and praise unto God, but none save the High Priest must offer atonement. 1. Then it is interesting to notice, that the high priest on this day was a humbled priest. As Mayer tells us, he wore garments, and glorious ones, on other days, but on this day he wore four humble ones. Jesus Christ, then, when He made atonement, was a humbled priest. He did not make atonement arrayed in all the glories of His ancient throne in heaven. Upon His brow there was no diadem, save the crown of thorns; around Him was cast no purple robe, save that which He wore for a time in mockery; in His hand was no sceptre, save the reed which they thrust in cruel contempt upon Him; He had no sandals of pure gold, neither was He dressed as king; He had none of those splendours about Him which should make Him distinguished among men. Oh! my soul, adore thy Jesus, who when He made atonement, humbled Himself and wrapped around Him a garb of thine inferior clay. 2. In the next place, the high priest who offered the atonement must be a spotless high priest; and because there were none such to be found, Aaron being a sinner himself as well as the people, you will remark that Aaron had to sanctify himself and make an atonement for his own sin before he could go in to make an atonement for the sins of the people. We have a spotless High Priest; we have one who needed no washing, for He had no filth to wash away, 3. Again, the atonement was made by a solitary high priest — alone and unassisted. No other man was to be present, so that the people might be quite certain that everything was done by the high priest alone. God kept that holy circle of Calvary select to Christ, and none of His disciples must go to die there with Him. O glorious High Priest, thou hast done it all alone! 4. Again it was a laborious high priest who did the work on that day. It is astonishing how, after comparative rest, he should be so accustomed to his work as to be able to perform all that he had to do on that day. I have endeavoured to count up how many creatures he had to kill, and I find that there were fifteen beasts which he slaughtered at different times, besides the other offices, which were all left to him. He was ordained priest in Jeshurun, for that day, toiled like a common Levite, worked as laboriously as priest could do, and far more so than on any ordinary day. Just so with our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a labour the atonement was to Him! It was a work that all the hands of the universe could not have accomplished; yet He completed it alone. II. THE MEANS WHEREBY THIS ATONEMENT WAS MADE (see vers. 5, 7-10). The first goat I consider to be the great type of Jesus Christ the Atonement; such I do not consider the scapegoat to be. The first is the type of the means whereby the atonement was made, and we shall keep to that first. 1. Notice that this goat, of course, answered all the pre-requisites of every other thing that was sacrificed; it must be a perfect, unblemished goat of the first year. Even so was our Lord a perfect Man, in the prime and vigour of His manhood. 2. And further, this goat was an eminent type of Christ from the fact that it was taken of the congregation of the children of Israel, as we are told at the fifth verse. The public treasury furnished the goat. So Jesus Christ was, first of all, purchased by the public treasury of the Jewish people before He died. Thirty pieces of silver they had valued Him at — a goodly price; and as they had been accustomed to bring the goat so they brought Him to be offered, not indeed with the intention that He should be their sacrifice, but unwittingly. Indeed, Jesus Christ came out from the midst of the people, and the people brought Him. Strange that it should be so! "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not"; His own led Him forth to slaughter; His own dragged Him before the mercy-seat. 3. Note, again, that though this goat, like the scapegoat, was brought by the people, God's decision was in it still. Mark, it is said, "Aaron shall east lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat." I conceive this mention of lots is to teach that although the Jews brought Jesus Christ of their own will to die, yet, Christ had been appointed to die; and even the very man who sold Him was appointed to it — so saith the Scripture. Christ's death was fore-ordained, and there was not only man's hand in it, but God's. 4. Next, behold the goat that destiny has marked out to make the atonement. Come and see it die. The priest stabs it. Mark it in its agonies; behold it struggling for a moment; observe the blood as it gushes forth. Ye have here your Saviour. See His Father's vengeful sword sheathed in His heart; behold His death agonies; hear His sighs and groans upon the Cross; hark to His shriek, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," and you have more now to think of than you could have if you only stood to see the death of a goat for your atonement. As the blood of the goat made the atonement typically, so thy Saviour dying for thee made the great atonement for thy sins, and thou mayest go free. 5. But mark, this goat's blood was not only shed for many for the remission of sins as a type of Christ, but that blood was taken within the veil, and there it was sprinkled. So with Jesus' blood, "Sprinkled now with blood the throne." III. We now come to the EFFECTS. 1. One of the first effects of the death of this goat was the sanctification of the holy things which had been made unholy. Is it not sweet to reflect that our holy things are now really holy? 2. But observe, the second great tact was that their sins were taken away. This was set forth by the scapegoat. 3. One more thought concerning the effects of this great Day of Atonement, and you will observe that it runs throughout the whole of the chapter — entrance within the veil. Only on one day in the year might the high priest enter within the veil, and then it must be for the great purposes of the atonement. Now the atonement is finished, and you may enter within the veil: "Having boldness, therefore, to enter into the holiest, let us come with boldness unto the throne of the heavenly grace." The veil of the Temple is rent by the atonement of Christ, and access to the throne is now ours. IV. Now we come to notice, in the fourth place, what is OUR PROPER BEHAVIOUR WHEN WE CONSIDER THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. YOU read at ver. 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." That is one thing that we ought to do when we remember the atonement. "Law and terrors do but harden," but methinks the thought that Jesus died is enough to make us melt. Then, better still, we are to "do no work at all," as ye find in the same verse (29th). When we consider the atonement, we should rest, and "do no work at all." Rest from your own righteousness; rest from your toilsome duties: rest in Him. "We that believe do enter into rest." As soon as thou seest the atonement finished, say, "It is done, it is done!" Then there was another thing which always happened. When the priest had made the atonement, it was usual for him, after he had washed himself, to come out again in his glorious garments. When the people saw him they attended him to his house with joy, and they offered burnt-offerings of praise on that day: he being thankful that his life was spared, and they being thankful that the atonement was accepted; both of them offering burnt-offerings as a type that they desired now to be "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God." The atonement is finished; the High Priest is gone within the veil; salvation is now complete. He has laid aside the linen garments, and He stands before you with His breastplate, and His mitre, and His embroidered vest, in all His glory. Hear how He rejoices over us, for He hath redeemed His people, and ransomed them out of the hands of His enemies. Come, let us go home with the High Priest; let us clap our hands with joy, for He liveth; the atonement is accepted, and we are accepted too; the scapegoat is gone, our sins are gone with it. Let us, then, go to our houses with thankfulness, and let us come up to His gates with praise, for He hath loved His people, He hath blessed His children, and given unto us a day of atonement, and a day of acceptance, and a year of jubilee. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Moses and Christ; the Day of Atonement W. Clarkson, B. A. I. THE DIVINE REDEEMER. 1. His humiliation. 2. His sinlessness. II. THE DIVINE SACRIFICE. 1. God admits vicarious suffering into His righteous rule.(1) Involuntarily we suffer for one another.(2) The finer instincts of the animal world lead the parent to endure suffering and death to shield and save the young.(3) Voluntarily, man interposes to rescue his brother by his own loss and suffering.(4) In proportion to the spiritual nobility of men we find voluntary vicarious suffering in their hearts and lives. 2. The sacrifice of Christ avails to remove all condemnation. III. THE HUMAN WORSHIPPER — Our sinning, seeking selves. 1. Without personal participation everything will be as nothing. 2. The spirit in which we must participate is that of penitence and faith. ( W. Clarkson, B. A. ) The Day of Atonement D. O. Mears. Now, what did such a ritual mean? If it be said that the Divine forgiveness depended upon such a day, then why did the world wait twenty-five hundred years before its appointment? If absolutely necessary, why was it not enjoined upon Abraham, and especially upon Adam in Paradise? What is the meaning of sacrifice? What relation does it bear to forgiveness of sin? We observe — 1. God's character is not changed by sacrifices. He neither regards sin with less hatred, nor loves the sinner more because of these. The Sacrifice of Calvary — compared with which all others are as shadows to the light — was the natural outcome of the Divine nature, rather than the means of changing that nature ( Romans 5:8 ; 1 John 4:9, 10 ). 2. These mere sacrifices possessed no intrinsic value. If there were a value in these, it must have been either to Him in whose name they are offered, or to man for whom they were offered. Happily for us the Scriptures settle both points ( Isaiah 1:13 ; Micah 6:6-8 ; Psalm 40:6 ; Psalm 51:16, 17 ). Thus much, therefore, follows: these sacrifices were not transactions of any intrinsic value to God, in themselves considered. Every part of that ceremonial for the childhood age was a Divine lesson, pointing to a greater offering and sacrifice to come. While God accommodated His laws to the perception of childhood, He made use of them to proclaim eternal truths — a fact we shall see illustrated in the lessons of the Day of Atonement. In it we have — I. THE DIVINE TESTIMONY AGAINST SIN. II. THE BASIS OF ATONEMENT. III. THE NECESSITY FOR A PERFECT HIGH PRIEST. ( D. O. Mears. ) The climax of sacrificial worship R. M.,Edgar, M. A. I. THERE IS THE VOLUNTARY HUMILIATION OF THE HIGH PRIEST. The Day of Atonement was the high priest's day: he undertook the atoning work, and no man was to venture near the Tabernacle (ver. 17) while he was engaged in it. The first thing required of him was humiliation. II. THE HIGH PRIEST WAS REQUIRED NEXT TO PERFUME THE AUDIENCE-CHAMBER WITH INCENSE. Prayer is the beginning, middle, and end of the redemptive work. It seems evident from this that we must put away those business-like illustrations of atonement as a hard bargain driven on the one side and paid literally and in full on the other. We must allow a sufficient sphere in our conceptions for the play of intercession and appeal, and remember that while it is a God of justice who is satisfied, He proves Himself in the transaction a God of grace. III. AFTER THE INCENSE THERE IS BROUGHT IN THE BLOOD, FIRST OF HIS OWN SIN-OFFERING AND THEN OF THE PEOPLE'S. The blood of Jesus Christ is symbolised by both, and the act of sprinkling it before God is also to be attributed to our great High Priest. The law of mediation is that self-sacrifice stimulates the element of mercy in the Judge. And if it be objected that surely God does not require such an expensive stimulant, the reply is, that the self-sacrificing Son and the stimulated Father and Judge are in essence one. The act is consequently a Divine self-sacrifice to stimulate the element of mercy towards man and make it harmonise with justice. IV. BUT THE HIGH PRIEST WAS EXPECTED NOT ONLY TO SECURE THE PARDON OF SIN, BUT ALSO TO PUT IT AWAY BY THE DISMISSAL OF THE SCAPEGOAT. For the pardon of sin is not all man needs. He requires sin to be put away from him. Now this putting away of sin was beautifully represented in the dismissal of the scapegoat. This second sin-offering, after having the sins of the people heaped upon its head by the priestly confession, is sent away in care of a faithful servant in the wilderness, there to be left in loneliness either to live or die. Here again we have a type of Jesus. V. THE HIGH PRIEST HAVING THUS DISPOSED OF SIN, RESUMED HIS GLORIOUS GARMENTS AND OFFERED THE BURNT-OFFERINGS FOR HIMSELF AND THE PEOPLE. It is Christ who offers this burnt-offering, and is the Burnt-offering. That is to say, He has offered for men a perfect righteousness, as well as afforded us a perfect example. Our consecration to God is ideally to be a perfect one — but really how imperfect! But Christ is made unto us sanctification; we are complete in Him; we are accepted in the beloved; and we learn and try to live as He lived, holy as He was holy. Moreover, upon the burnt-offering was presented the fat of the sin-offering, the Lord thus emphasising His satisfaction with the atonement, and His acceptance of it. VI. THE WASHING OF THE THREE MEN OFFICIATING ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT CONVEYS SURELY THE IDEA OF THE CONTAMINATING POWER OF SIN. ( R. M.,Edgar, M. A. ) The Day of Atonement D. C. Hughes, M. A. I. THE AUTHORITY FOR THE DAY AND ITS MEASURES. 1. Both authorised of God (vers. 1, 2). 2. Both, then, Divinely important. (1) In regard to the definiteness of the day. (2) In regard to the meaning and order of its ceremonies. II. THE TYPICAL MEANING OF THE JEWISH ATONEMENT-DAY. 1. The Divinely stated reason for its appointment (ver. 16). (1) The fact of sin and the necessity for its expiation by blood. (2) Sin necessitates atonement if it is to be pardoned. (3) This fact bespeaks the antagonism of sin against the Divine will, and the holiness and righteousness of the Divine character. 2. The Divinely appointed measures for its observance. (1) In respect to the agent. (2) In respect to the measures themselves.Lessons: 1. The hatefulness, heinousness, and guiltiness of sin are here shown. 2. God's desire to provide for the removal of its guilt, and the prevention of its consequences, demonstrated. 3. The comprehensiveness of the provision in the atonement. ( D. C. Hughes, M. A. ) The Day of Atonement H. Melvill, B. D. I. NOTE THE CHIEF SERVICES OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. II. SHOW THAT THE SACRIFICES THEN OFFERED WERE STRICTLY PROPITIATORY. When you consider the two goats as together constituting the sin-offering, you must receive as the only satisfactory account of the transaction that which sets forth the scapegoat as exhibiting the effects of the expiation which was represented by the death of the other. The sins of the people were laid upon the head of the scapegoat, and borne away to the wilderness;

16:1-14 Without entering into particulars of the sacrifices on the great day of atonement, we may notice that it was to be a statute for ever, till that dispensation be at an end. As long as we are continually sinning, we continually need the atonement. The law of afflicting our souls for sin, is a statue 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 a proof that the sacrifices could not take away sin, and cleanse the conscience from it, that in them there was a remembrance made of sin every year, upon the day of atonement, Heb 10:1,3. The repeating the sacrifices, showed there was in them but a feeble effort toward making atonement; this could be done only by offering up the body of Christ once for all; and that sacrifice needed not to be repeated. 16:15-34 Here are typified the two great gospel privileges, of the remission of sin, and access to God, both of which we owe to our Lord Jesus. See the expiation of guilt. Christ is both the Maker and the Matter of the atonement; for he is the Priest, the High Priest, that makes reconciliation for the sins of the people. And as Christ 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 figured by the two goats. The slain goat was a type of Christ dying for our sins; the scape-goat a type of Christ rising again for our justification. The atonement is said to be completed by putting the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat, which was sent away into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and the sending away of the goat represented the free and full remission of their sins. He shall bear upon him all their iniquities. Thus Christ, the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world, by taking it upon himself, Joh 1:29. The entrance into heaven, which Christ made for us, was typified by the high priest's entrance into the most holy place. See Heb 9:7. 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. Here are typified the two great gospel duties of faith and repentance. By faith we put our hands upon the head of the offering; relying on Christ as the Lord our Righteousness, pleading his satisfaction, as that which alone is able to atone for our sins, and procure us a pardon. By repentance we afflict our souls; not only fasting for a time from the delights of the body, but inwardly sorrowing for sin, and living a life of self-denial, 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. By the atonement we obtain rest for our souls, and all the glorious liberties of the children of God. Sinner, get the blood of Christ effectually applied to thy soul, or else thou canst never look God in the face with any comfort or acceptance. Take this blood of Christ, apply it by faith, and see how it atones with God.