So Christ was once offered— The comparison here used is this: "Whereas all men die once, and after this there is to be a judgment for them; so Christ died once, and, having offered himself to bear away sin, he too, as well as all others, shall appear a second time, but without sin, or, bearing away sin, as a Judge and Rewarder of those who have lived in expectation of him." As to the phraseology, the design of the apostle is, to represent what our Saviour did for us; and this he does under the character or image of the scape-goat. The scapegoat was to be presented before God, Leviticus 16:7 and then the sins of the people were to be put upon the head of it; Hebrews 9:21 and the goat was to take and bear upon him all their iniquities into a land uninhabited, Hebrews 9:22. In like manner our Saviour, once offered to God, shall take upon him the sins of the faithful, (ληψεται,) and shall bear, or carry them away. See Matthew 26:28. Romans 8:3. Limborch thinks that in the latter part of this verse there is an allusion to the high-priest's coming out to bless the people who were waiting for him in the temple, when the great day of atonement was over; and as he then appeared in his golden garments, whereas before he had officiated in the plain dress of a common priest; and as the trumpet of the jubilee on that year sounded to proclaim the commencement of that happy period, there is not perhaps an image which can enter into the mind of man, more suitable to convey the grand idea which the apostle intended to convey by it, than this would be to a Jew, who well knew the grand solemnity to which it referred. Dr. Heylin renders the last clause of this verse very well, shall appear the second time without sin, [or without an offering for sin, Blackwall,] for the salvation of those who wait for him.
Inferences.—The whole progress of the apostle's argument will lead us to reflect on the reason that we have for thankfulness, whose eyes are directed, not to an earthly sanctuary and its furniture, splendid indeed, yet comparatively dark, mutable, and perishing; but to the holiest of all, the way to which is now clearly manifested. What matter of solid and everlasting joy! that whereas those gifts and sacrifices were incapable of making those perfect who presented them, or attended upon them, and the ordinances of that sanctuary consisted only in meats and drinks, and corporeal purifications and ceremonies; we by faith behold an High-priest of a better and more perfect tabernacle, an High-priest who hath wrought out eternal redemption for all the faithful, and entered once for all into heaven for them! Eternal redemption! who has duly considered its glorious import? To him, and only to him, who has attentively considered it, is the name at the Redeemer sufficiently dear. But O, what short of the possession of it, can teach us the true value! What, but to view that temple of God above, where through his intercession we hope to be made pillars, and from thence, to look down upon that abyss of misery and destruction from which nothing but his Blood was sufficient to ransom us!
Let that blood which is our redemption, be our confidence. We know there was no real efficacy in that of bulls, or of goats, or in the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean. All that these things could do was to purify the flesh, and to restore men to an external communion with God in the Jewish sanctuary. But the blood of Christ can purify the conscience, and restore its peace when troubled, when tortured with a sense of guilt, contracted by dead works, which render us unfit for, and incapable of divine converse. To that Blood therefore let us look: let the death of Christ be remembered, as the great spotless sacrifice by which we draw nigh unto God: and let those virtues and graces which were displayed in it under the influences of that eternal Spirit, which was given unto him without measure, concur with that infinite benevolence which subjected him to it for our sakes, to recommend him to our humblest veneration, and our warmest affections.
What praise then do we owe to that voluntary victim, who made his blood the seal of that better covenant, of which he is the mediator! O, that as all the vessels of the sanctuary, and all the people, were sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices, on that day when Moses entered for them into solemn covenant with God; so our souls and all our services might be under the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus! By the efficacy of that were the heavenly places sanctified and prepared for all the faithful; by that our way into them is opened; let us daily be looking up to the Lord Jesus Christ, as gone to appear in the presence of God before us, and entered into heaven with his own blood. May his death be as efficacious to subdue the power of sin in our hearts, as it is to expiate guilt. Then, and then only, may we look forward with pleasure to the great solemnities of death and judgment, and expect that faithful Redeemer, who though he is to come no more as a sacrifice for sin, will then appear for the complete salvation of all, who have obediently received him under that character, and waited for him according to his word.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The apostle begins with an account of the tabernacle, where the chief part of the service under the Mosaic dispensation, or first covenant, was performed. It consisted of two parts:
1. The outward, where stood the candlestick of beaten gold, and the table, with the shew-bread laid thereon; and this was called the sanctuary, where the daily service of God was performed. The whole building was figurative of Christ's body; the candlestick pointed him out as the true light who should come into the world, where, without him, spiritual darkness must have been for ever spread abroad; and the table of shew-bread pointed him out as the living Bread that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world, upon whom his believing people, consecrated to be spiritual priests, feed, and maintain the most endeared communion thereby with each other.
2. The inward, which a second veil separated from the outer part of the tabernacle, and was called the holiest of all, the figure of heaven itself, into which none entered but the high-priest alone once a year on the great day of expiation, with the golden censer full of incense, which typified Christ's intercession in heaven for his faithful people; and there stood the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, which signified him who was to be the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, wherein were the tables of the law written with the finger of God, and, by the side of it, the golden pot that had manna, which was miraculously preserved from putrefaction, signifying the daily living bread with which Christ feeds his Israel in this howling wilderness; giving them meat to eat which the world knoweth not of. There also was Aaron's rod that budded, from a dry stick producing flowers and fruit, emblematic of him who rose as the rod out of the stem of Jesse, to be by divine appointment our High priest for ever. And over the ark were the cherubims of beaten gold, two winged figures, shadowing the mercy-seat, over which the glorious Shechinah dwelt, and on which the blood was sprinkled on the great day of atonement, intimating to us that Christ, as our propitiatory, interposes between the wrath of a holy God and the transgressors of his law, to save his faithful people from the eternal ruin which must otherwise necessarily ensue. But the consideration of the mystical meaning of these things the apostle waves, of which, says he, we cannot now speak particularly. Let us not therefore too curiously pry into them, nor affect to be wise above that which is written.
2nd, The tabernacle being prepared, we are told what service was performed in it.
1. In the outer part of the tabernacle the ordinary priests every day officiated, burning incense, trimming the lamps, and accomplishing all the service appointed them.
2. Into the second tabernacle, within the veil, went the high priest alone once a year, on one day only, and then not without blood, which he offered as an atonement for himself, and for the errors of the people; intimating hereby that there was no access to God but through the blood of atonement, even the Blood of him whom all the sacrifices represented, and whose intercession alone could be available for salvation.
3rdly, The apostle proceeds to declare the design of the Holy Ghost in these ritual services.
1. He signified hereby, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: under that dark dispensation, the way of access to a throne of grace and of admission into heaven itself through the blood and intercession of the Redeemer, was not so clearly and fully laid open, as should afterwards be under the gospel.
2. The tabernacle was a figure for the time then present, suited to that more obscure dispensation, and the shadow of good things to come, till he who was the substance of them should appear, and then it would become useless.
3. The gifts and sacrifices there offered could not make the worshippers perfect; but though they were available to the purifying of the flesh, and exculpated them from suffering the temporal punishments due to them as offenders against God considered as their political Sovereign, they could not purge the conscience from moral evil, appease the fears of guilt, or secure from eternal punishment, any farther than they led them to Christ, who was in these sacrifices prefigured, that so they might be justified by faith; for these sacrifices could little avail, standing only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, and rites which accompanied them, and may be considered as a burden imposed on them until the time of reformation, when Christ in his gospel should free his spiritual Israel from this heavy yoke.
4. Christ hath appeared and accomplished all that was here prefigured concerning him. But Christ being come an High-priest of good things to come, on purpose to procure all spiritual and eternal blessings for his faithful people, by, or in a greater and more perfect tabernacle above, not made with human hands, that is to say, not of this building, not making any part of this lower creation; neither by the blood of goats and calves, which was all that the Levitical priests could offer, but by a sacrifice infinitely more excellent; he has made the atonement, even by offering his own body on the tree; and with his own blood, of everlasting efficacy, he entered in once into the holy place; even into heaven itself, there for ever to abide and plead the merit of that sacrifice which he had offered, having obtained eternal redemption for all his faithful saints by this one oblation. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, and under the Mosaic economy re-admitted those who were unclean, and excluded from the public worship, to the congregation of Israel; how much more shall the blood of Christ, the efficacy of which is so infinitely greater, who through the eternal Spirit which dwelt in his perfectly pure human nature, offered himself without spot to God, a Lamb meet to bleed on God's altar, how shall not this, I say, much more purge your conscience from dead works, from all your sins, however great and aggravated, the wages of which must have been eternal death, and restore you to serve the living God, in all holy and willing obedience, regarding him now as your reconciled God and Father, through the Son of his love, Christ Jesus? Note; (1.) The excellence and availableness of Christ's sacrifice arises from the dignity of his person; he who offered his human nature upon the cross was very God, and that gave infinite value to the blood which he shed. (2.) Sin must eternally have destroyed all the human race but for this one oblation; nothing else could purge the sinner's conscience; but this is all-sufficient to save to the uttermost, and cleanse us from all sin. (3.) All whose consciences are purged by the Blood of sprinkling, experience also the power of changing grace upon their hearts, and are both inclined and enabled in righteousness and true holiness to serve the living God.
4thly, The gospel dispensation is considered under the nature of a covenant of grace, we receiving all spiritual blessings through this great Mediator between God and man.
And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, securing for his faithful people every blessing, that by means of death, whereby the covenant was ratified, and the full atonement made, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, the efficacy of his sacrifice reaching back to the beginning, as well as to the end of time, they which are called to faith in him, in whatever age they may have lived, might receive the promise of eternal inheritance, which promise will be infallibly fulfilled to all of them who are faithful unto death. For as among men where a testament is made, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, before the legacies bequeathed can be claimed, or paid; so was it necessary that Christ should die; for a testament is of force only after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Where-upon, neither the first testament was dedicated without blood of slain beasts, which typified the death and blood-shedding of the great Redeemer. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, which had been sacrificed, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, in token of the ratification of all that was contained in the sacred volume, and of the application of the blessings and benefits contained in the testament to the souls of the faithful; and this was figurative of that blood and water which flowed from the wounded side of the Redeemer, which in its virtue effectually cleanses the consciences of those who believe, from all guilt and defilement. And this Moses bade them particularly to observe, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you, whereby it is ratified, and his faithfulness engaged to all his saints, for the fulfilment of all the promises therein contained. Moreover he sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry, when they were made. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, wherein the sacrifice and death of Christ were constantly held forth to them as the alone meritorious cause of the sinner's acceptance; and that without the shedding of his blood there is no remission of sins.
[I have here, as I generally do in my Reflections, followed the common translation, but am still of opinion with Mr. Peirce, Dr. Doddridge, and other eminent commentators, that the word διαθηκη should be rendered covenant, and not testament; as it is, and must be, in every other part of the New Testament where it is used: and the mediator of a testament, as Dr. Doddridge observes, is a very improper expression. This does not at all affect the necessity and infinite merit of Christ's sacrifice; for the covenant was ratified solely by the shedding of the blood of the God-man and could not otherwise have been available in the least degree.]
5thly, From what he had advanced, the apostle argues,
That it was therefore necessary, by divine appointment, that the patterns of things in the heavens, the tabernacle and all the vessels, should be purified with these typical sacrifices and sprinklings of blood; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these, even the offering of Jesus himself, who by his own blood ratified the covenant of grace; and, being through his sacrifice consecrated to his office as the great High-priest, entered into heaven, there to present his blood before the throne, and prepare mansions for the reception of his faithful people. For Christ is not, like the Jewish high-priests, 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, and effectually to ensure to his faithful saints all the blessings which, by his blood-shedding, he hath purchased: nor was his sacrifice incomplete, as yet again to require that he should offer himself often, as the high-priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others, of the animals which were sacrificed: (for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, and the fall of man;) but now once in the end of the world, at the close of the Jewish economy, and at the beginning of the last and most excellent dispensation, under the gospel, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, suffering in the human nature, and, by the divine glory of his person, offering such a complete and all-availing sacrifice, as never needed a repetition, the efficacy thereof extending to every persevering believer to the latest ages of time. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, returning is the dust from whence they came, and but once, for after this bodily death is the final judgment, when all must appear at God's bar, and stand or fall to eternity: so Christ was once offered upon the cross to bear the sins of many, and made there a full atonement by his one oblation; and unto them that look for him, in faith and love, expecting his return, shall he appear, not as a suffering but a glorified Saviour, without sin, having taken it all away, and being now manifested to bring his faithful people unto that complete and perfect salvation in glory, which he hath obtained for them. Note; (1.) Die we must, such is the divine decree; highly therefore doth it import us to prepare for this awful change. (2.) Judgment follows close at the heels of death; and as the tree falleth, it must lie for ever. (3.) He that suffered upon a cross, shall shortly appear upon the throne, and a terrible Judge will he be found to those who have not embraced him as a Saviour. (4.) It is the character of his believing people, that they look for the day of his appearing, earnestly expecting his arrival, that they may obtain their perfect consummation both in body and soul in his kingdom of everlasting glory.