Holy of holies many times and with the blood of many victims, our LORD "once for all, at the close of the and ages, hath been manifested to disannul sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

This contrast is dwelt upon again and again and brought out by the use of ἅπαξ * and ἐφάπαξ, and excludes the possibility of any repetition of the One Sacrifice of our LORD.

all."

(b) That our LORD did not, like the high priest, (b) A place enter a Holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself.

(c) That whereas the high priest entered with (ev) ‡ blood not his own, our LORD entered through (Sia) His own Blood.

made with hands, and heaven.

(c) "With the blood of an

other," and through His

Thus the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews would own Blood. teach us that as under the Jewish Law things were atoned or reconciled by the application of the blood of a sacrifice which had been offered; so the application of the Precious Blood of CHRIST, shed and offered once for all upon the Cross, avails for ever as a propitiation, and for the cleansing of sin.

Having now clearly in view the significance of the entrance of the high priest into the Holy of holies, namely, to symbolize the access of man to GOD through the great High Priest JESUS CHRIST; and the means which were employed, the sin offerings for himself and for the people, showing that this access could only be obtained through the Precious Blood of CHRIST; we shall pass to the second part of this chapter, and at the

* άna, Heb. ix. 26.

† panas, Heb. vii. 27, ix. 12, X. 10.

tv with the dative in general use is applied to that with which one is furnished, which he brings with him. Cf. Winer, Part III., 48.

The interpretation of the type in the Epistle.

The contrast between the repeated entrance of the high priest, and our

risk of considerable repetition examine in detail the manner in which the writer of the Epistle interprets the type and shows how far it was fulfilled by CHRIST Himself.

"But CHRIST, having come a High Priest of the good things realized, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation, nor yet through blood of goats and calves, but through His own Blood, entered in once for all into the Holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" (ix. 11, 12).

In contrast with the repeated entrance of the Jewish high priest into the Holy of holies with the blood of the appointed victims, CHRIST once for all entered into the true sanctuary, the actual Presence of GOD, through His own Blood, and thus obtained, not a temtrance once for poral, but an eternal deliverance.

LORD'S en

all.

The means in
each case
"through
blood,"

blood."

Here we must carefully observe the force of the phrase οὐδὲ δι' αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος, εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ἅγια. There is not in this the slightest ground for the theory put forth by some of the Modern school, that as the but not " with high priest entered the Holy of holies with the blood of the victims, so CHRIST entered heaven with His own Blood, that is to say, carried it into heaven. The fact that the high priest entered the Holy of holies with the blood is not the point to which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews draws attention, since it was a mere detail of the ritual. The prominent idea connected with the blood is that it was the means through which the priest was enabled to enter the Holy of holies, by making an atonement. Indeed, it is extraordinary that such a theory as the one just mentioned should have been propounded by any one familiar with the

The chief

thought, that the blood was the means of access.

The preposi

never found in N. T. in con

blood as the

means of ac

Greek Testament, since not only would it have re- tion "μеrá "' is quired μera in this place instead of dia, but there are no less than eleven other passages in Holy Scripture nection with referring to the Blood as the means of access to GOD, and in not one case is μɛrά used. In one case we have οὐ χωρίς, in another διά, and in the other nine er. The passages are as follows: Heb. ix. 7, οὐ χωρίς αἵματος ; Eph. i. 7, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ; Heb. Ν.Τ. ix. 22, έv aïμatı; x. 19, ev tô aï'μarı 'Inσov; xiii.

cess to GOD. Examination

of the eleven

passages in

in which blood is thus referred

ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου; Rom. iii. 25, ἐν τῷ το αὐτοῦ αἵματι; ν. 9, ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ; Eph. ii. 13, ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ; Rev. i. 5, ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ; v. 9, ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου; vii. 14, ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἀρνίου.

From this it is
evident that
"instrumental

the Blood is the

means

access.

"of

A study of these passages shows that there can be no question that the blood, whether of the type or of CHRIST Himself, is always regarded as the instrumental means of access to GOD, under whatever name that access may be described, as reconciliation, redemption, etc. If, then, CHRIST, "having obtained eternal redemption, entered in once for all into the Holy place, through His own Blood," we are certainly to understand this expression, as in every other reference to the Blood, as indicating the condition of redemption; not as implying that the Blood accompanied our great High Priest, but that It was the means by which humanity in Him, its first-fruits and crown, entered into the Presence of GOD. The truth which was signified by The truth sigthe use of the blood on the Day of Atonement, was that which all the sacrifices alike signify, that without shedding of blood there is no remission.* And in its application to our Blessed LORD precisely the same idea is set forth, that our great High Priest, as the * Heb. ix. 22.

nified by the blood here is

that "without shedding of

blood there is no remission."

Representative of humanity, entered once for all into the Holy place, the Presence of GOD in heaven, having obtained eternal redemption, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own Blood. In the case of all the other Jewish sacrifices, which pointed to CHRIST just as much as that of the Day of Atonement, the sprinkling of the blood was the essentially sacrificial act, and indicated the means by which the world should be redeemed. But in none of these was the blood carried within the Holy of holies. We may therefore conclude our examination of this passage by remarking, what the majority of the Modern school admit, that "through His own Blood" perhaps Sadler implies only the instrumental means of the access of humanity to GOD, and affords no ground for the theory of Alford and Bengel, that the Precious Blood was carried into heaven, or, indeed, that apart from our LORD'S glorified Humanity It pleads in heaven.*

Most of the
Modern school
admit this:
Alford and

are exceptions.

In verses 13 and 14 the superiority of CHRIST'S

Blood to that of

animal sacri

fices is shown.

In verses 13 and 14 we have a very distinct reference to CHRIST'S Offering of Himself: "For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctifieth unto the cleanness of the flesh, how much more shall the Blood of CHRIST, Who through [His] eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to GOD, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to the end that we may serve a living GOD?"

* Mr. Brightman writes in a private letter: "In speaking of Him as presenting His Blood, I conceive one means that He is doing, or rather He is, what was symbolized by the presentation of the blood. In fact, His Blood is merely Himself in a certain relation resulting from His historical acts. Accordingly, I do not wish to find myself within measurable distance of the appalling view of Alford and Bengel."

ἄμωμον connects our

Here, from two typical examples of Levitical sacrifices, that of goats and bulls on the Day of Atonement, and the occasional sacrifice of the red heifer, † -the writer draws attention to the superior efficacy of CHRIST'S Blood, which cleanses not from the merely external impurity, but from moral defilement. The sacri- The word ficial term "without blemish" (aμoμov) carries our thought to the moment when the victim is handed over to the priest for sacrifice. And the fact that the aorist "He offered Himself" (πроσηνεуиεv) is so closely associated with it, certainly indicates that this priestly Offering of Himself took place in close connection with the initial act of His Sacrifice, and is inconsistent with the Modern view that this Offering did not take place until after His Ascension.

LORD'S S. with the

Cross.

Chap. ix. concludes by relating our LORD'S Inter

finished S.

This chapter concludes with a striking passage in regard to our LORD'S Intercession and Sacrifice: "For CHRIST entered not into a Holy place made with hands, like to the pattern of the true, but into the cession to His heaven itself, now to appear openly before the face of GOD on our behalf; nor yet [did He enter] in order that He may often offer Himself, as the high priest entereth into the Holy place year by year with blood not his own; since in that case He must often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once for all, at the close of the ages, hath He been manifested to disannul sin by the Sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men once to die, and after this [cometh] judgment; even so CHRIST also, having been once offered to carry the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation" (ix. 24-28). Here we are told that the purpose for which CHRIST * Lev. xvi. † Num. xix.