Schoolmaster to Christ
LEVITICUS CHAPTER 16

Scripture Reading: Leviticus 16 (KJV)

This chapter unfolds some of the weightiest principles of truth that can possibly engage a renewed mind. It presents the teaching of atonement with uncommon fullness and power. In short, if it is allowable to make Biblical comparisons, we must rank this chapter of Leviticus among the most precious and important sections of Inspiration.

Looking at this chapter historically, it furnished a record of the transactions of the great Day of Atonement in Israel, through which Jehovah's relationship with the assembly was established and maintained, and all the sins, failures, and infirmities of the people were fully atoned for, so that the Lord God might dwell among them. The blood that was shed on this solemn day formed the basis of Jehovah's throne in the midst of the congregation – allowing a holy God to take up His abode in the midst of the people, notwithstanding all their uncleanness. "The tenth day of the seventh month" was a unique day in Israel. There was no other day in the year like it. The sacrifices of this one day formed the ground of God's dealing in grace, mercy, patience, and forbearance.

Furthermore, we learn from this portion of inspired history, "that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest." God was hidden behind a veil and man was at a distance.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died; and the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times unto 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."

The way was not open at all times for man to approach into the divine presence, nor, in the entire range of the Mosaic ritual, was there any provision for him to abide there continually. God was shut in from man; and man was shut out from God – "the blood of bulls and goats" could not open a permanent meeting place; "A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood" was needed to accomplish this.

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:1-4).

Neither the Levitical priesthood nor the Levitical sacrifices could yield perfection. Insufficiency was stamped on the latter, infirmity on the former, imperfection on both. An imperfect man could not be a perfect priest; nor could an imperfect sacrifice give a perfect conscience. Aaron was not competent or entitled to take his seat within the veil, nor could the sacrifices he offered rend that veil.

Let us now leave a historical consideration of this chapter, and view it typically. "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering" (v 3). Here, we have the two grand aspects of Christ's atoning work: that which perfectly maintains the divine glory, and that which perfectly meets man's deepest need. Throughout all the services of this unique and solemn day, there is no mention of a meat offering, or a peace offering. The perfect human life of our blessed Lord is not here foreshadowed, nor, consequent on His accomplished work is communion of the soul with God unfolded. In other words, the one grand subject is 'atonement' in a double way: first, as meeting all the claims of God; the claims of His nature; the claims of His character; the claims of His throne; second, as meeting all man's guilt and necessities. If we are to have a clear understanding of the truth presented in this chapter, we must bear these two points in mind regarding the teaching of the great Day of Atonement. "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place," with atonement, as securing the glory of God in every possible way whether in reference to His counsels of redeeming love toward the church, toward Israel, and toward the whole creation, or in reference to all the claims of His moral administration; and with atonement as fully meeting man's guilty and needy condition. These two aspects of the atonement will continually present themselves to our view as we ponder the precious contents of this chapter. Their importance cannot be overestimated.

"He shall put on the holy linen coat, and be shall have the linen breeches upon his Flesh, and he shell 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" (v 4).

Aaron's person, washed in pure water and robed in white linen garments, furnishes a type of Christ entering on the work of atonement. He is seen to be personally and characteristically pure and spotless. "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (Jn. 17:19). It is wonderful to be able in this way to gaze on the Person of our divine Priest in all His essential holiness. The Holy Spirit delights in everything that unfolds Christ to the view of His people; and wherever we behold Him, we see Him to be the same spotless, perfect, glorious, precious, peerless Jesus, "the fairest among ten thousand, yea, altogether lovely." He did not need to do or to wear anything in order to be pure and spotless. He needed no pure water, no fine linen. He was, intrinsically and practically, "the holy One of God." What Aaron did, and what he wore – the washing and robing are faint shadows of what Christ is. The law had only a "shadow," and "not the very image of good things to come." Blessed be God, we have not only the shadow, but the eternal and divine reality – Christ Himself.

"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. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, Which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house" (vv. 5, 6).

 Aaron and his house represent the Church, not as the "one body," but as a priestly house. It is not the Church as we find it developed in Ephesians and Colossians, but rather as we find it in the First Epistle of Peter, in the following well-known passage: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5). So also in Hebrews: "But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb. 3:6). We must always remember that there is no revelation of the mystery of the Church in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Types and shadows are there, but no revelation. That wondrous mystery of Jew and Gentile forming "one body," "one new man," and united with a glorified Christ in heaven, obviously could not be revealed until Christ had taken His place above. Of this mystery, Paul was pre-eminently made a steward and a minister, as he tells us in Ephesians 3:1-12, passages we commend to the prayerful attention of the serious student of God's Word.

"And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 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" (vv. 7-10).

In these two goats, we have the two aspects of atonement. “The Lord's lot fell” on one; the people's lot fell on the other. In the case of the former, it was not a question of the persons or the sins to be forgiven. These things are of infinite importance; but are not involved in the case of "the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell." The latter typifies the death of Christ – that wherein God has been perfectly glorified with respect to sin in general. This great truth is fully set forth in the remarkable expression, "the Lord's lot." God has a peculiar portion in the death of Christ – a portion quite distinct; a portion that would hold eternally good though no sinner was ever saved. In order to see the force of this, it is needful to bear in mind how God has been dishonored in this world – how His truth has been despised; how His authority has been contemned; how His majesty has been slighted; how His law has been broken; how His claims have been disregarded; how His name has been blasphemed; and how His character has been traduced.

The death of Christ made provision for all this. It has perfectly glorified God in the very place where all these things have been done – perfectly vindicating the majesty, truth, holiness, and character of God. Our Lord's death divinely met all the claims of His throne. It atoned for sin. It furnished a divine remedy for all the mischief that sin introduced into the universe, affording a ground on which the blessed God can act in grace, mercy, and forbearance toward all. It furnishes a warrant for the eternal expulsion and perdition of the prince of this world. It forms the imperishable foundation of God's moral government. Because of the cross, God can act according to His own sovereignty. He can display the matchless glories of His character, and the adorable attributes of His nature. In the exercise of inflexible justice, He might have consigned the human family to the lake of fire, together with the devil and his angels. But, in that case, where would His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His long-suffering, His compassion, His patience, His perfect goodness be?

On the other hand, had these precious attributes been exercised in the absence of atonement, where would the justice, the truth, the majesty, the holiness, the righteousness, the governmental claims, yea, the entire moral glory of God be? How could "mercy and truth meet together" or "righteousness and peace kiss each other"? How could "truth spring out of the earth" or "righteousness look down from heaven"? Nothing save the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ could have fully glorified God; thanks to our Savior, it has glorified Him. It has reflected the full glory of God's character, as it never could have been reflected amid the brightest splendors of an unfallen creation. By means of that atonement, in prospect and retrospect, God has been exercising forbearance toward this world for thousands of years. As a result of that atonement, the most wicked, daring, and blasphemous of the sons of men "live, move, and have their being" – they eat, drink and sleep. The very morsel the blaspheming infidel puts in his mouth, he owes to the atonement he knows not, but impiously ridicules. The sunbeams and showers that fertilize the fields of the atheist, reach him as a result of the atonement of Christ. The very breath the infidel and atheist spend in blaspheming God's revelation, or denying His existence, they owe to the atonement of Christ. Were it not for that precious atonement, instead of blaspheming on earth, they would be weltering in hell.

Forgiveness and salvation are not here considered. This is quite another thing, and as every true Christian knows, stands connected with the confession of the name of Jesus and the hearty belief that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10). Remember the question asked the Apostle Peter, and his God-inspired answer in Acts 2? This is plain enough; but it is in no wise involved in that aspect of the atonement that we are presently contemplating; the aspect that is so strikingly foreshadowed by "the goat on which the Lord's lot fell." God's pardoning and accepting a sinner is one thing; His bearing with that man, and showering temporal blessings on him is quite another. Both result from the cross, but in a totally different aspect and application.

This distinction is by no means unimportant. Quite the opposite. It is so important that if overlooked, there will be confusion regarding the full teaching of atonement. And that is not all. A clear understanding of God's ways in government, whether in the past, the present, or the future, will be found involved in this profoundly interesting point. Finally, in it will be found the key to understanding a number of texts in which some Christians find difficulty. We will consider two or three of these passages as examples.

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). With this we may connect a kindred passage in John's first epistle, is which the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as "the propitiation for the whole world" (1 Jn. 2:2).¹ In both these passages the Lord Jesus is referred to as the One who has perfectly glorified God with respect to "sin" and "the world," in their broadest acceptation. He is seen here as the great Antitype of "the goat on which the Lord's lot fell." This gives us a most precious view of the atonement of Christ, and one often overlooked or not clearly apprehended. Whenever the question of people and forgiveness of sins is raised in connection with these and kindred passages of Scripture, the mind is sure to get involved in insuperable difficulties.

Also, those passages in which God's grace to the world at large is presented are founded on that special aspect of the atonement with which we are immediately occupied. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mk. 16).

"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (Jn. 3:16, 17).

"I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Tim. 2:1-6).

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11). "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man (Heb. 2:9). "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).

Avoiding the plain sense of the above, and similar passages, makes no sense. They bear a clear and unequivocal testimony to divine grace toward all, without the slightest reference to man's responsibility on one hand, or to God's eternal counsels on the other. These things are just as clearly, just as fully, just as unequivocally, taught in the Word. Man is responsible, and God is sovereign. All who bow to Scripture admit these things. But, at the same lime, it is important to recognize the wide aspect of the grace of God, and the cross of Christ. It glorifies God and leaves man wholly without excuse. Men argue about God's decrees and man's incompetence to believe without divine influence. Their arguments prove that they do not want God; for if they truly want Him, He is near enough to be easily found. The grace of God and the atonement of Christ are as wide as they could desire. "Any"; "every"; "whosoever" and "all" are God's own words; and no one is shut out. If God sends a message of salvation to a person, He surely intends it for him. What could be more wicked and impious than to reject God's grace, making Him a liar, and then giving His secret decrees as the reason? In one sense, it would be honest for a person to say, "The fact is, I do not believe God's word, and I do not want His grace or His salvation." One could understand this; but for a person to cover their hatred of God and His truth with the drapery of a false one-sided theology is the highest form of wickedness. Truthfully, the devil is never more diabolical than when he appears with the Bible in hand.

If it is true that men are prevented from receiving the Gospel He has commanded men to receive as a result of His own secret decrees and counsels, then on what principle of righteousness will they be "punished with everlasting destruction" for not obeying that Gospel (2 Thess. 1:6-10)? Is there a single soul throughout all the gloomy regions of the lost who blames God's counsels for his being there? No; God has made ample provision in the atonement of Christ, not only for the salvation of those that truly believe, but also there is no excuse for the aspect of His grace toward those who reject the Gospel. It is not because a man cannot, but because he will not believe that he "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." Never was there a more fatal mistake than for a man to ensconce himself behind God's decrees while deliberately and intelligently refusing God's grace; and this is all the more dangerous when supported by the dogmas of a one-sided theology. God's grace is free to all; and if we ask how, the answer is "Jehovah's lot" fell on the true victim in order that He might be perfectly glorified regarding sin in its widest aspect, and be free to act in grace toward all and "preach the gospel to every creature." This grace and preaching must have a solid basis, and that basis is found in the atonement. Though man might reject, God is glorified in the exercise of grace and in the offer of salvation, because of the basis on which both repose. He is glorified, and He shall be glorified, throughout eternity's countless ages.

"Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again . . . Now is the judgement of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me" (Jn. 12:27-32).

Thus far we have been occupied only with one special point: "the goat on which the Lord's lot fell;" and a cursory reader might suppose that the next thing in order would be the scape-goat, which gives us the other great aspect or application of the death of Christ to the sins of the people. But no: before we come to that we have confirmation of that precious line of truth that has been before us in the fact that the blood of the slain goat, together with the blood of the bullock, was sprinkled on, and before, Jehovah's throne, in order to show that all the claims of that throne were answered in the blood of atonement, and full provision made for all the demands of' God's moral administration.

"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. 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 veil. 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."

Here we have a vivid and striking presentation. The blood of atonement is carried within the veil, into the holiest of all, and there sprinkled on the throne of the God of Israel. The cloud of God’s presence was there; and in order that Aaron might appear in the immediate presence of the glory, and not die, "the cloud of incense" ascends and "covers the mercy-seat," on which the blood of atonement was to be sprinkled "seven times." The "sweet incense beaten small" expresses the fragrance of Christ's Person – the sweet odor of His most precious sacrifice.

"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. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before tile mercy-seat" (vv. 14, 15).

"Seven" is the perfect number; and in the sprinkling of the blood seven times before the mercy-seat we learn that whatever be the application of the atonement of Christ, whether to things, to places, or to people, it is perfectly estimated in the divine presence. The blood that secures the salvation of the Church – the "house" of the true Aaron; the blood that secures the salvation of the "congregation" of Israel; the blood that secures the final restoration and blessedness of the whole creation – that blood has been presented before God, sprinkled and accepted according to all the perfectness, fragrance, and preciousness of Christ. In the power of that blood God can accomplish all His eternal counsels of grace. He can save the Church and raise it into the loftiest heights of glory and dignity, despite all the power of sin and Satan. He can accomplish all the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He can save and bless untold millions of Gentiles. He can restore and bless the wide creation. He can allow the beams of His glory to lighten up the universe forever. In the view of angels, men, and devils, He can display His own eternal glory – the glory of His character; the glory of His nature; the glory of His works; and the glory of His government. All this He can do, and will do; but the one solitary pedestal on which the stupendous fabric of glory will rest forever is the blood of the cross – that precious blood which has spoken peace, divine and everlasting peace, to the heart and conscience in the presence of Infinite Holiness. The blood sprinkled on the true believer's conscience has been sprinkled "seven times" before the throne of God. The nearer we get to God, the more importance and value we find attached to the blood of Jesus. If we look at the brazen altar, we find the blood; if we look at the brazen laver, we find the blood; if we look at the golden altar, we find the blood; if we look at the veil of the tabernacle, we find the blood: but in no place do we find more about the blood than within the veil, before Jehovah's throne, in the immediate presence of His glory.

"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."

The same truth meets us along the way. The claims of the sanctuary provided for Jehovah's courts, as well as His throne, must bear witness to the blood. In the midst of Israel's uncleanness, around the tabernacle must be fenced by the divine provisions of atonement Jehovah provided in all things, for His own glory. The priests and their priestly service, the place of worship, and all therein, must stand in the power of the blood. The Holy One could not have remained in the midst of the congregation, were it not for the power of the blood. It was the blood that left Him free to dwell, and act, and rule, in the midst of an erring people.

"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" (v 17).

Aaron needed to offer up sacrifice for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. He could only enter into the sanctuary in the power of the blood. In verse 17, we have a type of the atonement of Christ in its application both to the church and to the congregation of Israel. The church now enters into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus (Heb. 10). As to Israel, the veil is still on their hearts (2 Cor. 3). They are still at. a distance, although full provision has been made in the cross for their forgiveness and restoration when they shall turn to the Lord. This entire period is perhaps the Day of Atonement. With His own blood, the true Aaron has gone into heaven itself, appearing for us in the presence of God. By and by, He will come lead to lead the children of God into the full results of His accomplished work. Meanwhile, His house, i.e., all true believers, are associated with Him, having boldness to enter into the holiest, being brought close by the blood of Jesus.

"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. 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" (vv. 18, 19).

Thus the atoning blood was sprinkled everywhere, from the throne of God within the veil, to the altar that stood in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world (at the end of everything earthly, everything human) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation" (Heb. 9:23-28).

There is one blood-sprinkled way into the holiest of all. It is vain to strive to enter by any other. Men may attempt to work themselves in, to pray themselves in, to buy themselves in, to get in by a pathway of ordinances, or perhaps of half-ordinances, half-Christ; but it is of no use. God speaks of only one way, and that way has been thrown open through the rent veil of the Savior's flesh. Along that way the millions of saved have passed from age to age. Patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, martyrs, saints in every age, from Abel downward, have trod that blessed way, finding sure and undisputed access. The one sacrifice of the Cross is divinely sufficient for all. God asks no more, and He can take no less. To add anything is to cast dishonor on that with which God has declared Himself well pleased, yea, in which He is infinitely glorified. To diminish anything is to deny man's guilt and ruin, and offer an indignity to the justice and majesty of the eternal Trinity.

"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. 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. 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."

Here, then, we have the other grand idea attached to the death of Christ: the full and final forgiveness of the people. If the death of Christ forms the foundation of the glory of God, it also forms the foundation of the perfect forgiveness of sins to all who put their trust in it. This latter is a secondary, inferior application of the atonement, though our foolish hearts would fain regard it as the highest view of the cross to see in it, that which takes away all our sins. This is a mistake. God's glory is first; our salvation second. To maintain Gods glory was the chief, the main object of the heart of Christ. This object He pursued with an undeviating purpose and unflinching fidelity from first to last. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again" (Jn. 10:17). "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him" (Jn. 13:31, 32).

"Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people from far: the Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft: in his quiver hath He hid me; and said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (Is. 49.1-3).

Yes, in life and in death, the glory of God was the paramount object of the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived and died to glorify His Father's name. Does the Church lose anything by this? No! Does Israel? No! Do the Gentiles? No! In no way could their salvation and blessedness be so perfectly provided for as by being made subsidiary to the glory of God. Hearken to God's response to Christ, the true Israel, in the sublime passage just quoted.

"It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth."

It is a blessed thing to know that God is glorified in the putting away of our sins? We may ask, "Where are our sins?" They have been taken away. By what? By that act of Christ on the cross, in which God was eternally glorified. Thus it is. On the Day of Atonement, the two goats give the double aspect of the one act. In one, we see God's glory maintained; in the other, sins put away. One is as perfect as the other. By the death of Christ, we are as perfectly forgiven as God is perfectly glorified. Was there one single point in which God was not glorified in the cross? No; not one. Neither is there one single point in which we are not perfectly forgiven. We use the word "we", because even though the congregation of Israel is the primary object contemplated in the beautiful and impressive ordinance of the scape-goat; yet, it is also true with respect to every soul that truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ – he, too, is as perfectly forgiven as God is perfectly glorified by the atonement of the cross. How many of the sins of Israel did the scape-goat bear away? "All;" not one left behind and where did he bear them? "Into a land not inhabited" – a land where they could never be found, because there was no one there to look for them. Could any type be more perfect? Could we possibly have a more graphic picture of Christ's accomplished sacrifice, in its primary and secondary aspects? We can hang with intense admiration over such a picture, and, as we gaze, exclaim, "Of a truth, the pencil of the Master is here."

We should pause here and ask if we know that our sins are forgiven, according to the perfection of Christ's sacrifice? If one simply believes that is not enough because the devil believes and trembles, but he is not saved. However, the sins of a true believer are gone forever. Say not, as so many anxious souls do, "I fear I do not realize." There is no such word as "realize" in the entire Gospel. We are not saved by realization, but by Christ; and the way to get Christ in all His fullness and preciousness is to truly believe. And what is the result of true belief? "The worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins." Observe: "No more conscience of sins." This must be the result, because Christ's sacrifice is so perfect, that God Himself is glorified. Surely, it must be obvious that Christ's work does not need our realization in order to be added to it; to make it perfect. This could not be. We might as well say that the work of creation was not complete until Adam realized it in the Garden of Eden. True, he did realize; but what did he realize? A perfect work. We pray that it will be so with many precious souls this very moment. May God’s people repose now and evermore in artless simplicity, on the One who by one offering, has forever perfected forever those who are sanctified by the perfect work of Christ.

Having freely sought to unfold the teaching of this marvelous chapter, as far as God has given us light to do so, there is just one point further to which we will merely call attention, before closing this lesson. It is contained in the following quotation: "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. 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. It shall be a Sabbath of rest and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever" (vv. 29-31).

What a day that will be. It will be a bright and blessed "Sabbath of rest" when the redeemed shall gather round the open fountain in the spirit of true penitence, and enter into the full and final results of the great Day of Atonement. They will no doubt "afflict their souls" – how could they do otherwise, when fixing repentant gaze on the Lord Jesus Christ. What a "Sabbath of rest" the redeemed will have. Blessed be God, the time is at hand. Every setting sun brings us nearer to that blissful "Sabbath of rest."

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