I would desire to call my reader's earnest attention to the precious and vital doctrine of the blood. I am anxious that he should see its true place. The blood of Christ is the foundation of every thing. It is the ground of God's righteousness in justifying an ungodly sinner that believes on the name of the Son of God; and it is the ground of the sinner's confidence in drawing nigh to a holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil. God would be just in the condemnation of the sinner; but through the death of Christ, He can be just and the justifier of him that believeth--a just God and a Saviour. The righteousness of God is His consistency with Himself--His acting in harmony with His revealed character. Hence, were it not for the cross, His consistency with Himself would, of necessity, demand the death and judgment of the sinner; but in the cross, that death and judgment were borne by the sinner's Surety, so that the same divine consistency is perfectly maintained, while a holy God justifies an ungodly sinner through faith. _It is all through the blood of Jesus_--nothing less, nothing more, nothing different. "It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." This is conclusive. This is God's simple plan of justification. Man's plan is much more cumbrous, much more roundabout. And not only is it cumbrous and roundabout, but it attributes righteousness to something quite different from what I find in the Word. If I look from the third chapter of Genesis down to the close of Revelation, I find the blood of Christ put forward as the alone ground of righteousness. We get pardon, peace, life, righteousness--all by the blood, and nothing but the blood. The entire book of Leviticus, and particularly the chapter upon which we have just been meditating, is a commentary upon the doctrine of the blood. It seems strange to have to insist upon a fact so obvious to every dispassionate, teachable student of holy Scripture; yet so it is. Our minds are prone to slip away from the plain testimony of the Word. We are ready to adopt opinions without ever calmly investigating them in the light of the divine testimonies. In this way we get into confusion, darkness, and error.
May we all learn to give the blood of Christ its due place. It is so precious in God's sight that He will not suffer aught else to be added to or mingled with it. "The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for _it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul_."