Eph. ii. 18. Through him we both have access by one Spirit
unto the Father.
AS there is no question more important, so there is none more beyond the reach of unassisted reason, than that which Balak put to Balaam, " Wherewith shall I come before the Most High God?" Many are the expedients which have been devised for
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obtaining acceptance with God : but there has been only one true way from the beginning, namely, through the sacrifice of Christ. This has been gra- dually revealed to man with increasing clearness; but was never fully manifested till the days of the Apostles. The sacrifices of the Mosaic law threw considerable light upon this interesting subject : yet, while they revealed, they tended also to obscure, it : for the Gentiles were forbidden to enter into the sanctuary; and had a court assigned them, called the court of the Gentiles a. If they became proselytes to the Jewish religion, they were, together with the Jews, received into the sanctuary, or outer court of the temple. The priests and Levites were admitted into the inner court; and the high-priest into the holy of holies ; but that only on one day in the year. Now the Apostle tells us, that by these distinctions " the Holy Ghost signified, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest." But in due time Christ himself appeared ; and by his death, both fulfilled and abrogated the ceremonial law: since which period the difference between Jew and Gentile has no longer subsisted ; the partition wall was thrown down ; and the vail of the temple was rent in twain, in token that all, whether Jews or Gentiles, were henceforth to have an equal access to God through Christ.
It is our present intention to shew, I. The way of access to the Father —
The text contains a brief summary of all that God has revealed upon this subject : it informs us that the way to the Father is,
1. Through the Son — [The high-priest under the law was the mediator through whom the people drew nigh to God : and by his typical media- tion we see how we are to approach our God. He entered into the holy place with the blood of the sacrifices, and afterwards burnt incense before the mercy-seat ; representing, by the former, the sacrifice of Christ; and, by the latter, his prevailing
a p]zek. xlii. 20.