(c) The sacrifice of Christ had these notes, (i. ) It was the expression of the perfect obedience of His toill to the will of the Father. No animal sacrifices can take away sins. They rather bring sins to remembrance than purge them away. Bulls and goats cannot give to God a conscious, voluntary, moral sacrifice. This the Son gave ; He satisfied the will of God by .so doing : ' When he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wonkiest not, but a body did.st thou prepare for me. . . . Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God ' (10^"''). By the offering of Christ's body, whicli was prepared by God to make this great sacrifice possible, the will of God Avas satisfied, and by that will we are 'sanctified.' — (ii. ) It is one, and need not be repeated yearly. Every day the Levitical priests offer sacrifices which cannot cancel sin. In contrast with the ineffectiveness of those sacri- fices, offered by priests still standing day by day,
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Christ ofl'ered one sacrifice on the cross, and then the adequacy of His otiering was proved Vjy His sitting down on the right hand of God (10^-). His offering is valid for both jjast and future, and delivers men from ' the transgTessions that were under the first covenant ' (9''), in addition to giving a new jjower to those who live after the Incarna- tion has taken place. — (iii.) It is the basis of a ■ new covenant^ hcticecn God and man.
The best commentatoi-s differ somewhat with regard to the meaning of 915- 16. But the natural explanation is that since the word >>ia.&y.x% meant both covenant or alliance and testa- iiti'iit or will, the word is used in both senses, and the author was conscious of no logical difficulty in so using it. He means that God's people, their sins having been taken away b\' Christ, are able to enter upon that inheritance, that rest of God, bequeathed to them by Christ, who Himself removed the en- cmnbrance of past sins which barred access to it. But the idea of covenant is more fundamental. The only sacrifice of the Old Covenant which the Jews never repeated was that which established the original relation between God and the Hebrew people (Ex 24'"-). This was dedicated with blood. So was the New Covenant, the blood of the Son being ' the blood of the covenant ' (10®). And by it the whole region of man's approach to God, the s\ stem of ' the heavenly things ' themselves, was cleansed from the taint of sin. In 10^ the writer has in mind the words spoken b3" our Lord in instituting His Supper.
{d) The effect of Christ's death on man is specially described by the ritual words ' purify ' {Kadapi^eiv), 'sanctify' {ayid^eiv), and 'make per- fect' {reXeLovv). These words do not exactly cor- respond with the terms of later theology. They are primarilj' ritual words, though they involve a truly ethical conception as used in this Epistle. They mean to remove the sense of guilt (9^^) or ' evil conscience,' to dedicate to God (10'"-^ 13^^), to bring to that full enjoyment of spiritual privi- leges which the Levitical priesthood could not effect (7^^). The result of this work done by Christ is our sense of forgiveness and free access to God 'hrough Christ {i^%
(f) The Ascension is the culminating point of tlie Atonement as offered by Christ to God. As a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, i.e. with an eternal priesthood which belongs to the world to come, Christ ottered Himself upon the cross (1'-^ 9-"''^). But as the Aaronic high priest carried the sacrificial blood on the day of Atone- ment into the Holy of Holies, so Christ entered heaven ' through his blood ' having obtained ' eternal redemption ' (9^-). He now exercises a priesthood which is after the order of Mel- chizedek, but at the same time fulfils the type of the Aaronic high priest's action within the veil. He still remains High Priest and acts as such (6"^). Because He abideth for ever He hath His priest- hood unchangeable (7-''). He manifests Himself to God for us (9^''), continuously interceding on our behalf (7'-'). Into all His intercession the value of His offering is put, so that He is ' the minister of the sanctuary ' alx)ve. His work is still of a sacerdotal natiu'e, ' it is necessary that this high l>riest also have somewhat to offer' (8^"^). The ' somewhat ' is His blood or life. His blood retains its sacrificial efficacy, pleads to God for pardon, and speaks peace to man.
'We have an altar' (13^"). Unlike the Jews, even the Jewish priests, who were unable to par- take of the sin-ottering offered on the Day of Atonement, Christians may partake of Christ.
The ' altar ' of which they eat has been variously interpreted as the cross, the altar in heaven, and the Lord's table. The first seems to be excluded by the fact that according to the writer's argument the cross corresponds with the place outside the camp where the sin-offering was burnt, not with the altar in the tabernacle. Whether the altar here is the heavenly altar or the Lord's table (cf. Mai I"- i'-, Ezk 44i6 4122), a reference to the Eucharist is included. And in that rite the pleading of Christ's death by the Church is joined with the present inter- cession which He makes in heaven.