These glosses being removed, I shall proceed unto the exposition of the words.
_ The apostle hath a double design in this verse and those two that follow: 1. To declare the dignity of the person of Christ in the discharge of his priestly office above the high priest of old. And this he doth, (1.) From the ewcellency of his sacrifice, which was his own blood; (2.) The holy place whereinto he entered by virtue of it,
278 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [OHAP. Ix.
which was heaven itself; and, (3.) The effect of 2t, in that by it he procured eternal redemption: which he doth in this verse, 2. To prefer the efficacy of this sacrifice of Christ for the purging of sin, or the purification of sinners, above all the sacrifices and ordinances of the law, verses 18, 14.
In this verse, with respect unto the end mentioned, the entrance of Christ into the holy place, in answer unto that of the legal high priest, described verse 7, is declared. And itis so, 1. As unto the way or means of it; 2. As unto its season; 3. As unto its effect: in all which respects Christ was manifested in and by it to be far more excellent than the legal high priest.
1. The manner and way of it is expressed, (1.) Negatively; it was “not by the blood of goats and calves,” (2.) Positively; it was “by his own blood.” 2. For the éime of it, it was “ once,” and but once. 3. The effect of that blood of his, as offered in sacrifice, was, that he “obtained” thereby “eternal redemption.”
The thing asserted is the entrance of Christ, the high priest, into the holy place. That he should do so was necessary, both to answer
the type and for the rendering his sacrifice effectual in the applica-
tion of the benefits of it unto the church, as it is afterwards declared at large. And I shall open the words, not in the order wherein they lie in the text, but in the natural order of the things them- selves. And we must show, 1. What is the holy place whereinto Christ entered. 2. What was that entrance. 3. How he did tt once; whereon will follow, 4. The consideration of the means whereby he did it, 5. With the effect of that means:—
1. For the place whereinto he entered, it is said he did so é¢ r& dysa,—*“ into the holies.’ It is the same word whereby he expresseth the “sanctuary,” the second part of the tabernacle, whereinto the high priest entered once a-year. But in the application of it unto Christ, the signification of it is changed. He had nothing to do with, he had no right to enter into that holy place, as the apostle affirms, chap. viii, 4. That, therefore, he intends which was signified thereby; that is, heaven dtself, as he explains it in chap. ix. 24. The heaven of heavens, the place of the glorious residence of the presence or majesty of God, is that where- into he entered.
2. His entrance itself into this place is asserted: “ He entered.” This entrance of Christ into heaven upon his ascension may be considered two ways: (1.) As it was regal, glo- rious and triumphant; so it belonged properly unto his kingly office, as that wherein he triumphed over all the enemies of the church. See it described, Eph. iv. 8-10, from Ps. Ixviii, 18. Satan, the world, death, and hell, being conquered, and all power com- mitted unto him, he entered triumphantly into heaven. So it was
> \ y Eis ra “yin.
Eicjadev,
YY a ae
VER. 12.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 279
regal. (2.) As it was sacerdotal. Peace and reconciliation being made by the blood of the cross, the covenant being confirmed, eternal redemption obtained, he entered as our high priest into the holy place, the temple of God above, to make his sacrifice effectual unto the church, and to apply the benefits of it thereunto.
3. This he did “once” only, “once forall.” In the foregoing de- scription of the service of the high priest, he shows how he went into the holy place “once every year;” that is, on one day, wherein he went to offer. And the repetition of this service every year proved its imperfection, seeing it could never accomplish perfectly that whereunto it was designed, as he argues in the next chapter. In opposition hereunto, our high priest en- tered once only into the holy place; a full demonstration that his one sacrifice had fully expiated the sins of the church.
4, Of this entrance of Christ it is said,—
(1.) Negatively, that he did not do it “by the blood of goats and calves.” And this is introduced with the disjunctive ,. 4
. 5 a A abbaros negative, ovd:, “neither;” which refers unto what was apdyov xat before denied of him, as unto his entrance into the 4x» tabernacle’made with hands. ‘He did not do so, neither did he make his entrance by the blood of goats and calves, A difference from and opposition unto the entrance of the high priest annually into the holy place is intended. It must therefore be considered how he so entered.
This entrance is at large described, Lev. xvi. And, [1.] It was by the blood of a bullock and a goat, which the apostle here renders in the plural number, “goats and calves,’ because of the annual repetition of the same sacrifice. [2.] The order of the institution was, that first the bullock or calf was offered, then the goat; the one for the priest, the other for the people. This order belonging not at all unto the purpose of the apostle, he expresseth it other- wise, “goats and calves.”