3. But other points of analogy and contrast suggest themselves, some of which are partially supplied by the Ep. to the Hebrews.
(a) The high priest oflered a bullock for the atonement of his own sins. ' The law appoints as high priests men possessed of weakness,' He 7"' 5'-\ But the Son was 'such an high priest as was fitting for us, holy, guileless, undefiled,' 7"^ And the sinfulness of the high priest appears to have been the reason of his causmg a cloud of burning incense to hide the mercy-seat from his sight. He was unfit, until atonement had been made for his sins, to look upon the place of God's Presence. But now that Christ has ' procured eternal salva- tion for us,' not only our High Priest but we our- selves may ' come boldly unto the throne of grace.'
(6) An obvious contrast between the Jewish and Christian Atonement is aflbrded by the fact that the former was possible only in the case of un- witting ofl'ences {ay vo-rifi.aTa, He 9'), sins committed ' in ignorance ' (Lv. 4-- '^- --■ -', Nu 15-^'-", contrast Nu 15™'-). If Christ's Atonement were thus limited, our faith were vain, we should be yet in our sins.
(c) It is important to notice that the Jewish sacri- fice was very dift'erent from those of the heathen. Its purpose was not to appease — to buy the good- will of— a cruel and capricious deity. The oft'erings did not originate with men ; they are represented as commanded and ajjpointed by God Himself. They were due to His own loving initiative ; He showed the way by which men, who were hostile by reason of their sins, might be reconciled to Him. So likewise ' God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son ' (Jn 3"*). Nay more ; Christ the Victim voluntarily oflered Himself (Jn 10", Mt 20-* II Mk lO-""). Scripture nowhere speaks of God being reconciled to man ; see Ro 5'° 11'°, 2 Co 5i8-2o_ Qo(i ig j^g^ hostile to us, although by His very nature He must be angry with sin and punish it; but we are hostile to God (Lk 19", Ph 3", Col 1=1, Ja 4^).
(rf) The ceremonies performed by the high priest were not a mere opus operatam, the magic of a
420
DAY OF ATONEMENT
DAY or CHRIST
medicine man. The whole congregation liail morally to take an active part. Tlie Day of Atonement -was to be a day of cessation from ■work, like a SaMiatli, and a day when every man must .illlict (-:;■) lii^ >i>n]—i.e. render his soiil con- trileanil i»iiilinl li\ iinuns of fasting, self-Immilia- ti..n, nn.l n.iii.-M„; ,,f miis. It is true that Is SS-""' deuimiiii's 111.' (iiii«nril expressions of this 'afflic- tion of the soul ' when they are unaccompanied by the necessary moral fruits, as Christ Himself does (Mt 6"=) ; but Lv 2Tf-, Nu 29'"" clearly imply that real penitence is necessary for atonement. The Mishna also recognizes that, while the cere- monies of the day are effectual for Israel as a A\ hole, individuals must appropriate the results by repentnnrp. ' If amansays, "Iwill sin and (then) rcprnt, I \\\]\ sin and (then) repent," Heaven does iii.t '/\\r liiiii I lie means of practising repentance ; anil il \u: >:iys. " I will sin, and the Day of Atone- niuul ^\ill bring atonement," the Day of Atone- ment will bring no atonement' {YOtnd viii. 8, 9). And similarly a Christian's faith in the atoning death of Christ is not merely an intellectual ac- ceptance of the fact that He died for each and all. Faith, as the NT teaches it, involves a conscious co-operation with Christ's work. That work was not accomplished to free us from the necessity of doing anything. The atoning work of the God- Man is in living union with the longings and strivings of men for atonement, and thereby makes them effectual. But if a man does not repent, — does not wi-sh to be free from sin, — for him the Atonement brings no atonement. The results of Christ's death are ' a power of God, leading to salvation ' (Ro I"') ; but the energy remains poten- tial and useless until the human will renders it kinetic by deliberate appropriation.
(c) And this truth was foreshadowed in the Jewish atonement not only by the fasting of the people, but in the ceremony which formed the centre and kernel of it all. The killing of an animal and the shedding of its blood contained a meaning which far transcended that of mere death. The body is ' the expression of life in terms of its environment ' ; the blood represents the life set free from its limiting environment for higher uses (Lv 17"). When Christ, therefore, entered lu .imh 'with his own blood' (He 9'-), 'to appear in tlir presence of God for us' (v.^-*). He began 'tlir eternal presentation of a life which eternally is "the life that died."' But 'we reckon that' one died on behalf of all ; in that case all died ' (2 Co 5") ; and as the high priest offered the blood of the goat which symbolized the life of the whole people, so ' the life that died ' is our life, in complete union ■with Christ's (He 10>'). The same truth is e.x- pressed in another form in He 10'-". Christ's voluntary self-offering consisted in absolute obedi- ence to tlie Father's will, an obedience having its seat in a body prepared for Him. ' In which will we have been sanctified through the body of Jesus Christ once for all.' But that is rendered possible only because of His living union with us which makes us part of His body. ' The Church is the extension of the Incarnation.' And this vital union is strengthened and perpetuated by the faithfxil ap- propriation of it in the Sacrament of His body and blood.