"This shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the
children of Israel for all their sins once a year."-Leviticus 16:34.
The Jews had many striking ceremonies which marvellously set forth the death
of Jesus Christ as the great expiation of our guilt and the salvation of our
souls. One of the chief of these was the day of atonement, which I believe
was pre-eminently intended to typify that great day of vengeance of our God,
which was also the great day of acceptance of our souls, when Jesus Christ
"died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." That day of atonement
happened only once a year, to teach us that only once should Jesus Christ
die; and that though he would come a second time, yet it would be without a
sin offering unto salvation. The lambs were perpetually slaughtered; morning
and evening they offered sacrifice to God, to remind the people that they
always needed a sacrifice; but the day of atonement being the type of the one
great propitiation, it was but once a year that the high priest entered
within the vail with blood as the atonement for the sins of the people. And
this was on a certain set and appointed time; it was not left to the choice
of Moses, or to the convenience of Aaron, or to any other circumstance which
might affect the date; it was appointed to be on a peculiar set day, as you
find at the 29th verse: "In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the
month;" and at no other time was the day of atonement to be, to show us that
God's great day of atonement was appointed and predestinated by himself.
Christ's expiation occurred but once, and then not by any chance; God had
settled it from before the foundation of the world; and at that hour when God
had predestinated, on that very day that God had decreed that Christ should
die, was he led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers he was dumb. It was but once a year, because the sacrifice should be
once; it was at an appointed time in the year, because in the fulness of time
Jesus Christ should come into the world to die for us.
Now, I shall invite your attention to the ceremonies of this solemn day,
taking the different parts in detail. First, we shall consider the person who
made the atonement; secondly, the sacrifice whereby the atonement was
typically made; thirdly, the effects of the atonement; and fourthly, our
behaviour on the recollection of the atonement, as well set forth by the
conduct prescribed to the Israelites on that day.
I. First, THE PERSON WHO WAS TO MAKE THE ATONEMENT. And at the outset, we
remark that Aaron, the high priest, did it. "Thus shall Aaron come into the
holy place; with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt
offering." 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, beloved, 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; he, and
he alone, must go within the vail; he must slaughter the goat and sprinkle
the blood; for though thanksgiving is shared in by all Christ's elect body,
atonement remains alone to him, the High Priest.
Then it is interesting to notice, that the high priest on this day was a
humbled priest. You read in the 4th verse, "He shall put on the holy linen
coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be
girded with a linen girdle, and with linen mitre shall he be attired: these
are holy garments." On other days he wore what the people were accustomed to
call the golden garments; he had the mitre with a plate of pure gold around
his brow, tied with brilliant blue; the splendid breastplate, studded with
gems, adorned with pure gold and set with precious stones; the glorious
ephod, the tinkling bells, and all the other ornaments, wherewith he came
before the people as the accepted high priest. But on this day he had none of
them. The golden mitre was laid aside, the embroidered vest was put away, the
breastplate was taken off, and he came out simply with the holy linen coat,
the linen breeches, the linen mitre, and girded with a linen girdle. On that
day he humbled himself just as the people humbled themselves. Now, that is a
notable circumstance. You will see sundry other passages in the references
which will bear this out, that the priest's dress on this day was different.
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; on his head 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 mighty and distinguished among men; he came out in his
simple body, ay, in his naked body, for they stripped off even the common
robe from him, and made him hang before God's sun and God's universe, naked,
to his shame, and to the disgrace of those who chose to do so cruel and
dastardly a deed. Oh! my soul, adore thy Jesus, who when he made atonement,
humbled himself and wrapped around him a garb of thine inferior clay. Oh!
angels, ye can understand what were the glories that he laid aside. Oh!
thrones, and principalities, and powers, ye can tell what was the diadem with
which he dispensed, and what, the robes he laid aside to wrap himself in
earthly garbs. But, men, ye can scarce tell how glorious is your High Priest
now, and ye can scarce tell how glorious he was before. But oh! adore him,
for on that day it was the simple clean linen of his own body, of his own
humanity, in which he made atonement for your sins.
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 atonement for his own sin before he could go in
to make an atonement for the sins of the people. In the 3rd verse you read,
"Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin
offering, and a ram for a burnt offering." These were for himself. In the 6th
verse it is said, "And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering,
which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house."
Yea, more, before he went within the vail with the blood of the goat which
was the atonement for the people, he had to go within the vail to make
atonement there for himself. In the 11th, 12th, and 13th verses, it is said,
"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 vail.
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." "And he shall take of the blood of the bullock (that is, the bullock
that he killed for himself), 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." This was before he killed the goat, for it says,
"Then shall he kill the goat." Before he took the blood which was a type of
Christ within the vail, he took the blood (which was a type of Christ in
another sense), wherewith he purified himself. Aaron must not go within the
vail until by the bullock his sins had been typically expiated, nor even then
without the burning smoking incense before his face, lest God should look on
him, and he should die, being an impure mortal. Moreover, the Jews tell us
that Aaron had to wash himself, I think, five times in the day; and it is
said in this chapter that he had to wash himself many times. We read in the
4th verse, "These are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in
water, and so put them on." And at the 24th verse, "He shall wash his flesh
with water in the holy place, and put on his garments." So you see it was
strictly provided for that Aaron on that day should be a spotless priest. He
could not be so as to nature, but, ceremonially, care was taken that he
should be clean. He was washed over and over again in the sacred bath. And
besides that, there was the blood of the bullock and the smoke of the
incense, that he might be acceptable before God. Ah! beloved, and we have a
spotless High Priest; we have one who needed no washing, for he had no filth
to wash away; we have one who needed no atonement for himself, for he, for
ever, might have sat down at the right hand of God, and ne'er have come on
earth at all. He was pure and spotless; he needed no incense to wave before
the mercy seat to hide the angry face of justice; he needed nothing to hide
and shelter him; he was all pure and clean. Oh! bow down and adore him, for
if he had not been a holy High Priest, he could never have taken thy sins
upon himself, and never have made intercession for thee. Oh! reverence him,
that, spotless as he was, he should come into this world and say, "For this
cause I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth."
Adore and love him, the spotless High Priest, who, on the day of atonement
took away thy guilt.
Again, the atonement was made by a solitary high priest-alone and unassisted.
You read in the 17th verse, "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." No other man was to be
present, so that the people might be quite certain that everything was done
by the high priest alone. It is remarkable, as Matthew Henry observes, that
no disciple died with Christ. When he was put to death, his disciples forsook
him and fled; they crucified none of his followers with him, lest any should
suppose that the disciple shared the honor of atonement. Thieves were
crucified with him because none would suspect that they could assist him; but
if a disciple had died, it might have been imagined that he had shared the
atonement. 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. O, glorious antitype of Aaron, no son of thine stood
with thee; no Eliezer, no Phineas, burned incense; there was no priest, no
Levite save himself. "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people
there was none with me." Then give all the glory unto his holy name, for
alone and unassisted he made atonement for your guilt. The bath of his blood
is your only washing; the stream of water from his side is your perfect
purification. None but Jesus, none but Jesus, has wrought out the work of our
salvation.
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. In the first place, there were
the two lambs, one offered in the morning, and the other in the evening; they
were never omitted, being a perpetual ordinance. On this day the high priest
killed those two lambs. Further, if you will turn to Numbers xxix. 7-11, "And
ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and
ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein: But ye shall
offer a burnt unto the Lord for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram,
and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish:
And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals
to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram. A several tenth deal for one
lamb, throughout the seven lambs: One kid of the goats for a sin offering:
besides the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and
the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings." Here, then, was one
bullock, a ram, seven lambs, and a kid of the goats; making ten. The two
lambs made twelve. And in the chapter we have been studying, it is said in
the 3rd verse: "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young
bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering;" which makes the
number fourteen. Then, after that, we find there were two goats, but only one
of them was killed, the other being allowed to go away. Thus, then, there
were fifteen beasts to be slaughtered, besides the burnt offerings of
thanksgiving which were offered by way of showing that the people now desired
to dedicate themselves to the Lord from gratitude, that the atonement of sin
offering had been accepted. He who 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. It
was a work more laborious than the treading of the wine-press, and his frame,
unless sustained by the divinity within, could scarce have borne such
stupendous labour. There was the bloody sweat in Gethsemane; there was the
watching all night, just as the high priest did for fear that uncleanness
might touch him; there was the hooting and the scorn which he suffered every
day before-something like the continual offering of the Lamb; then there came
the shame, the spitting, the cruel flagellations in Pilate's hall; then there
was the via dolorosa through Jerusalem's sad streets; then came the hanging
on the cross, with the weight of his people's sins on his shoulders. Ay, it
was a Divine labour that our great High Priest did on that day-a labour
mightier than the making of the world: it was the new making of a world, the
taking of its sins upon his Almighty shoulders and casting them into the
depths of the sea. The atonement was made by a toilsome laborious High
Priest, who worked, indeed, that day; and Jesus, thought he had toiled
before, yet never worked as he did on that wondrous day of atonement.
II. Thus have I led you to consider the person who made the atonement: let us
now consider for a moment or two THE MEANS WHEREBY THIS ATONEMENT WAS MADE.
You read at the 5th verse, "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 at the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th verses, "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." The first goat I considered to
be the great type of Jesus Christ the atonement: such I do not consider the
scapegoat to be. The first is a type of the means whereby the atonement was
made, and we shall keep to that first.
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. 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 5th verse. The public treasury furnished the goat. So,
beloved, 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 they fulfilled this when they
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