(15) And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (16) For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. (17) For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. (18) Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. (19) For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, (20) Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. (21) Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. (22) And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (23) 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.
We enter at the first of these verses, on a most interesting subject, in which Christ is considered, as the Testator of all the blessings, purchased by him in the Covenant, for his people; and the Testament he hath made, in the blessings Covenanted for, of grace here, and glory forever. I beg the Reader to attend to the subject, with that attention its importance demands. Christ hath made his Testament or Will in which all the several legacies are mentioned, in relation to temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings; the things themselves are registered in the word of God; the blood of Christ is said to be the purchase; God the Father is pledged for the performance by word and oath, and is a party witness to the great transaction; and God the Spirit hath sealed the writings with his broad seal of heaven, in the charter of grace. So that it hath every confirmation to make it sure and binding.
But as all testamentary writings become of force after men are dead, and are of no value before, Christ the Testator to his Will, dies also, to give efficacy to his. And as Christ is both the Testator, Administrator, and Executor of his own will; it became necessary that he should arise from the dead, and enter into glory, that he might pay all the legacies himself; with his own hand. This was strikingly set forth, under the law, by the shedding of blood; to intimate the Covenant or Testament being confirmed; and by the sprinkling the blood, to intimate the application. Indeed here were four distinct services, in the Old Testament dispensation of shedding of blood, as one alone could not have set forth in shadowy representations, those several grand and momentous truths, in the death of Christ. The first was that of the Passover, Exodus 12:1, teaching, that Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us, to deliver from the wrath to come, 1 Thessalonians 1:10. But the Church of Christ, when in the Adam-state of a fallen nature, needed somewhat more than a deliverance from wrath; and therefore the atonement of sin, became the second, and which was also shadowed out, in the great day of the sin offering, Leviticus 16:1. Here was shewn, how the Church being delivered from wrath, was also brought into a state of reconciliation, and favor, by the offering of the body of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21. But we must not stop here. For even a deliverance from wrath, and an atonement for sin, to bring into reconciliation and favor, need also, a qualification in the Lord's people, to partake of those rich mercies. Our souls, while unregenerated by the Holy Spirit, and on sanctified in the Adam-nature, are not made meet partakers, of the saints in light. Hence, a third service, in the Jewish Church, typified the great blessings, to be enjoyed from the Lord Jesus in the Christian; and by the service of the slaying of one bird, and the flying away of another in the air, was set forth, Christ giving himself for his Church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water, by the word, and to present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And thus Christ was set forth, by the sacrifice of the one bird that was killed over the running water; and the Lord's entrance into heaven, in his own blood was also represented by the other bird being sprinkled with blood, and being let loose in the open field. Compare Leviticus 14:6-7 with Ephesians 5:26-27. And, lastly, as a ratification of the whole, this of the Testament, as here set forth, is in conformity to the Lord's appointment under the law, Exodus 24:8
I will only detain the Reader, with a short observation on this whole passage, just to remark, that if the Lord Jesus Christ, thus died, to confirm and make sure, all his testamentary gifts to his Church and people, how necessary it must be, for every one of his redeemed ones, to prove their relationship to Christ, by which alone they can lay claim to all the blessings of the Covenant. When Christ was in the full prospect of death, he instituted the Holy Supper, as a memorial to be observed, by his people forever. And, as he delivered them the sacred Cup, he said; This cup is the new testament in my blood. Take this, and divide it among yourselves. Luke 22:19; Luke 22:19. Nothing could more strikingly illustrate, than the original institution of Moses sprinkling the book, and the people, in the Old Testament dispensation, was, in direct allusion, to this of Christ in the New, for Jesus hath nearly made use of the same words, verse 20. It will be our mercy, if we can prove our heir-ship in Christ, and our relationship to Christ, for then, all the legacies Jesus hath left his Church are our own. Reader! see to it, that as the Apostle saith, you make your calling and election sure; for so all temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings, are in Christ, and from Christ, and an entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:10-11.