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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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; but this scapegoat was a part of the sin-offering, and therefore, by combining the parts of the sin. offering, you have before you both the means and the effect: you have the means, the shedding of blood without which there is no remission; you have the effect, the removal of guilt, so that iniquity, though searched for, can nowhere be found. It seems certain that such was the view entertained by the Jews, who were wont to treat the scapegoat as actually an accursed thing. Though not commanded by the law, they used to maltreat the gnat Azazel — for by this name was the scapegoat known — to spit upon him, and pluck off his hair. Thus they acted towards the goat as they acted towards Christ, who, in a truer sense than the Azazel, was "made sin for us." And if further proof were needed of the idea which the Jews themselves attached to the ceremony of the imposition of hands on the head of the victim, it is to be found in the forms of confession which their writers have transmitted as used ordinarily in expiatory sacrifices. It appears, for example, that when an individual presented his own sacrifice, he laid his hands on the head of the offering, saying amongst other things, "Let this victim be my expiation" — words which were universally considered equivalent to an entreaty that evils which ought in justice to have alighted upon the offender might fall upon the sacrifice. And it is every way worthy of note, as marking the traditional idea of the great day of expiation, that the modern Jews, as well as the ancient, hold fast the notion of a strict propitiatory atonement. Where, then, can be the ground for doubting, that by "atonement," in our text, is to be understood what we understand by it in Christian phraseology; that there was effected a real removal of guilt and its consequences from the Jewish transgressor, when on the great and solemn day of expiation, in compliance with a Divine statute an atonement was made for the children of Israel for all their sins once every year?

III. And here we bring you back to the main argument we have all along had in hand — THE INFERRING FROM THE CHARACTER OF THE LEGAL SACRIFICE THAT OF THE CHRISTIAN. If you can once show that the sacrifices of the law typify the sacrifice of Christ, and that the sacrifices of the law were strictly propitiatory, it follows as an irresistible deduction — notwithstanding the cavils of philosophising sects — that the Lamb of God died truly as a Sin-offering, making, by His death, atonement for the world. Indeed, if no reference were made to the Old Testament, the language of the New is so explicit that nothing but the most determined prepossession could fail to find in it the doctrine that Christ's death was a propitiatory sacrifice. But the connection between the two dispensations, and therefore the two Testaments, is so strict in every point, that it were no just examination of the gospel which would keep the law out of sight; therefore we come to examine more definitely the correspondence between the sacrifice of the Saviour and those which have just been reviewed.

(H. Melvill, B. D.)

I. IT WAS TO THE HIGH PRIEST A DAY WHICH IMPOSED NUMEROUS INCONVENIENCES, ANXIETIES, AND HUMILIATIONS. And so was it with our great High Priest when He undertook to expiate the guilt of man. Separated from His heavenly home, He became a suffering, laborious, self-denying servant. No gold glittered upon His brow, or tinkled with His steps, or mingled its glory with royal colours to adorn His robe. No jewelry sparkled on his shoulders or on His breast. No chariots of grandeur bore Him to the place of His mighty deeds of love. And thus amid privations, humiliations, and anxieties which made Him sorrowful even unto death, did He go through with the services of the great day of the world's expiation.

2. It was to the high priest a day which imposed all its services upon him alone. Thus, when Jesus undertook the expiation of the world's guilt, "of the people, there was none with Him." Isaiah says, "I looked, and there was none to help." His "own arm brought salvation." He "His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree."

3. The Day of Atonement was to the high priest also a very oppressive and exhausting day. His duties, in his complete isolation, were really crushing. So laborious and trying was his work that after it was over the people gathered round him with sympathy and congratulation that he was brought through it in safety. But it was only a picture of that still more crushing load which was laid upon our great High Priest when making atonement for the sins of the world. None among all the sons of the mighty could ever have performed the work which He performed, and lived. All His life through there was a weight upon Him so heavy, and ever pressing so mightily upon His soul, that there is no account that He ever smiled. Groans and tears and deep oppression accompanied Him at almost every step. And when we come to view Him in His agonising watchings and prayers in the garden, and under the burdens of insult and wrong which were heaped upon Him in the halls of judgment, and struggling with His load along that dolorous way until the muscles of His frame yielded, and He fell faint upon the ground, and oppressed upon the Cross until His inmost soul uttered itself in cries which startled the heavens and shook the world; we have an exhibition of labour, exhaustion, and distress, at which we may well sit down and gaze, and wonder, and weep, in mere sympathy with a sorrow and bitterness beyond all other sorrow.

II. We come now to LOOK AT THE ATONEMENT ITSELF. Here we find that several kinds of offerings were to be made. The object was to make the picture complete, by bringing out in different offerings what could not all be expressed by one. They were only different phases of the same unity, pointing to the one offering of Jesus "Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God." There is a multiplication of victims, that we may see the amplitude and varied applications of the one great atonement effected by Christ Jesus. The most vital, essential, and remarkable of these atoning services was that relating to the two goats, as provided for in vers. 7-10, 15-17, 21, 22. One of these goats was to be slain as a sin-offering, and the other was to have the sins of Israel laid upon its head, and then to be taken away alive and left in the wilderness. The one typified the atonement of Christ in its means and essence; the other the same atonement in its effects.

III. A word now with REGARD TO THE PEOPLE TO BE BENEFITED BY THE SERVICES Of this remarkable day. That the services and offerings of this day were meant for the entire Jewish nation is very clear and distinct. But not all were therefore reconciled and forgiven. The efficacy of these services, in any given case, depended upon the individual himself. The atonement day was to be a day of contrition, of weeping, of soul-sorrow for sin, of confession, reformation, and return to God, a day of heart-melting and charity. Without these accompaniments its oblations were vain, its incense useless, its solemnities but idle ceremonies. And, as it was with the type, so it is with the Antitype. Would you, then, have Christ's atoning day to be a blessing to thy soul, come to it with a moved and melting heart; come to it with thy spirit bowed for thy many, many sins; come to it as the humbled prodigal came back to the kind father he had wronged; come to it as the poor heart-broken publican came, smiting thy guilty breast and crying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"

(J. A. Seiss, D. D.)

(F. E. Clark.)

(T. M. Morris.)

(F. E. Clark.)

(H. C. Trumbull.)

(W. Thompson.)

(J. Hamilton, D. D.)

(T. Adams.)

(J. Spencer.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

(J. Spencer.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

II. IN THE GOAT WHICH WAS KEPT ALIVE.

1. Over the head of this goat the sins of the people were confessed, and on it symbolically laid. Thus Jesus came to be our Surety and Substitute.

2. Iniquities, transgressions, and sins, were confessed, and laid on the scapegoat. Showing us here the extent of Christ's sacrifice for all kinds of guilt, whether arising from neglect of God's commands or the wilful violation of His righteous prohibitions. In the sacrifice of Christ there was an atonement for every kind of sin, and for all grades and classes of sinners.

3. The scapegoat was dismissed into the wilderness with the imputed iniquity of the people upon it. Thus has Jesus truly borne our guilt away. He has obtained for a world of transgressors the offer of pardon. For the polluted race of Adam the means of purity. For condemned and dying sinners the favour of God and the gift of eternal life. Notice —

III. HOW THE BENEFITS OF THE SCAPEGOAT WERE CONFERRED UPON THE PEOPLE. Aaron was to lay both his hands upon the head of the scapegoat, and there confess all the sins of the people. How clearly does this show us the appointed medium by which we enjoy the salvation of Christ.

1. There must be implicit faith or confidence in His person and sacrifice.

2. Faith in Jesus will ever be accompanied by sincere repentance. It will be connected with ingenious confession, deep contrition, entire self-abasement, and self-loathing before God, with earnest forsaking of the paths of impenitence and sin.Application:

1. We see here the connection between sin and death. Sin deserves death, exposes to death; where it is unforgiven it will involve in eternal death. "The soul that sinneth," &c.

2. In Christ's death is the only real sacrifice for sin: "He died for our sins." What a glorious truth! How precious! how momentous!

3. Faith is the only medium of securing to the soul the benefits of that death.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

2. Ministers should have a great care to govern their families.

3. Christ alone sufficient to save us.

4. Remission of sins not procured by any strength in man, but by faith in Christ.

5. Righteousness not by the words of the law, but by faith only in Christ.

(A. Willet, D. D.)

2. To approach and draw near before God with holiness and reverence.

3. Of the force and efficacy of prayer.

4. Of the profit and fruit of fasting.

5. Remission of sins only granted to the penitent.

6. Evil thoughts and lusts to be cast away.

(A. Willet, D. D.)

(F. E. Clark.)

(J. Cumming, D. D.)

1. AS typically exhibited under the law.

2. As actually fulfilled in Christ. He not only suffered on the Cross, but ascended; not on His own account, but ours. Illustrated by common analogies: as an advocate appears on behalf of his clients; a king on behalf of his subjects; a general as representative of his troops; a priest at the altar as representative of whole body of worshippers; so Christ appears as the representative of all His believing people. As our King He appears in beauty; as Captain of salvation appears victorious; as Elder Brother; as Priest, Counsellor, Advocate. Grand expression of His love. Not content to offer one life on the Cross. He consecrates His new existence. Though raised to the throne of reverence, does not overlook His little flock (John 17.).

II. THE BENEFITS WE DERIVE FROM IT.

1. The forgiveness of our sins. "If any man sin." After all done for us, we are guilty and undeserving. But while our sins are crying out against us on earth, Christ is pleading in heaven.

2. Relief of our sorrows. Christ possesses a capacity of sympathy, especially in mental distresses, tenderness of conscience, &c. Hannah prayed, but Eli's heart was not touched with feeling of her infirmity.

3. The acceptance of our duties. These are maimed and imperfect. Enough evil in them to render them offensive and displeasing to God. But Christ presents them (Revelation 8:2).

4. The frustration of spiritual enemies. Satan is the avenger, but Christ is our Advocate. "Peter, I have prayed for thee."

(S. Thodey.)

     7322   burnt offering

Leviticus 16:1-4

     7377   high priest, OT

Leviticus 16:1-22

     7316   blood, OT sacrifices

Leviticus 16:1-33

     6616   atonement, in OT

Leviticus 16:1-34

     1680   types
     7422   ritual

Leviticus 16:2-34

     5378   law, OT

Leviticus 16:3-4

     5190   thigh
     6750   sin-bearer
     8625   worship, acceptable attitudes

Leviticus 16:3-5

     4681   ram

Leviticus 16:3-34

     6648   expiation
     8629   worship, times

The Day of Atonement
'And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord, and died; 2. And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat. 3. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place; with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4. He shall put on the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Day of Atonement
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 …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Fact of the Redeemer's Return was Foreshadowed in the Ritual on the Annual Day of Israel's Atonement.
The order of events on the Day of Atonement are described in Leviticus 16, a chapter which is exceedingly rich in its typical signification. The Day of Atonement had to do with the putting away of Israel's sins, therefore, its dispensational application refers mainly to Israel though, as we shall see, the Church was also typically represented. We shall not now attempt anything more than a bare outline of the happenings of that most memorable day on Israel's sacred calendar. The order of its ritual …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

The Great High-Priest.
"Having then a great High-priest, Who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high-priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need. For every high-priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Fifth Sunday in Lent
Text: Hebrews 9, 11-15. 11 But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Parable of the Pharisee and Publican.
^C Luke XVIII. 9-14. ^c 9 And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought [It is commonly said that this parable teaches humility in prayer, but the preface and conclusion (see verse 14) show that it is indeed to set forth generally the difference between self-righteousness and humility, and that an occasion of prayer is chosen because it best illustrates the point which the Lord desired to teach. The parable shows that …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Intercession of Christ
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us! T he Redemption of the soul is precious. Fools make mock of sin (Proverbs 14:9) . But they will not think lightly of it, who duly consider the majesty, authority, and goodness of Him, against whom it is committed; and who are taught, by what God actually has done, what sin rendered necessary to be done, before a sinner could have a well-grounded …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Call of Matthew - the Saviour's Welcome to Sinners - Rabbinic Theology as Regards the Doctrine of Forgiveness in Contrast to the Gospel of Christ
In two things chiefly does the fundamental difference appear between Christianity and all other religious systems, notably Rabbinism. And in these two things, therefore, lies the main characteristic of Christ's work; or, taking a wider view, the fundamental idea of all religions. Subjectively, they concern sin and the sinner; or, to put it objectively, the forgiveness of sin and the welcome to the sinner. But Rabbinism, and every other system down to modern humanitarianism - if it rises so high in …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Sundry Exhortations.
HEBREWS xiii. Let love of the brethren continue. Forget not to shew love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are evil entreated, as being yourselves also in the body. Let marriage be had in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

The Cavils of the Pharisees Concerning Purification, and the Teaching of the Lord Concerning Purity - the Traditions Concerning Hand-Washing' and Vows. '
As we follow the narrative, confirmatory evidence of what had preceded springs up at almost every step. It is quite in accordance with the abrupt departure of Jesus from Capernaum, and its motives, that when, so far from finding rest and privacy at Bethsaida (east of the Jordan), a greater multitude than ever had there gathered around Him, which would fain have proclaimed Him King, He resolved on immediate return to the western shore, with the view of seeking a quieter retreat, even though it were …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Christ a Complete Saviour:
OR, THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST, AND WHO ARE PRIVILEGED IN IT. BY JOHN BUNYAN Advertisement by the Editor. However strange it may appear, it is a solemn fact, that the heart of man, unless prepared by a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, rejects Christ as a complete Saviour. The pride of human nature will not suffer it to fall, as helpless and utterly undone, into the arms of Divine mercy. Man prefers a partial Saviour; one who had done so much, that, with the sinner's aid, the work might be …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Leviticus
The emphasis which modern criticism has very properly laid on the prophetic books and the prophetic element generally in the Old Testament, has had the effect of somewhat diverting popular attention from the priestly contributions to the literature and religion of Israel. From this neglect Leviticus has suffered most. Yet for many reasons it is worthy of close attention; it is the deliberate expression of the priestly mind of Israel at its best, and it thus forms a welcome foil to the unattractive …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament