Heb. ix. 11, 12. Christ being come an High-priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building ; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
THOUGH there are a multitude of types, besides those which were instituted by Moses, yet the most direct and complete representations of Christ are certainly to be found in the Mosaic ritual. Amidst the various ordinances Relative to the priests and the temple, there is perhaps not any one point, however minute, which has not a typical reference, though, for want of an infallible instructor, we cannot pre- cisely ascertain the meaning in every particular. The Epistle to the Hebrews, however, affords us great assistance in our inquiries into this subject, inasmuch as it declares the exact relation between the types and the one great Antitype in all the prin- cipal and most important points. The text especially, connected as it is with the whole preceding and fol- lowing context, leads us to consider,
I. The resemblance between Christ and the Aaronic priests —
It would be endless to enumerate all the points of agreement between them : we shall rather confine our attention to those referred to in the text.
1. The high-priests were taken from among men to mediate between God and them —
[This is expressly declared to be the end of their institu- tion^ Aaron and his descendants were called to this office^; and, in all the transactions between the Israelites and their God, they performed that office according to the command- ment. Thus our blessed Lord was taken from among men ; he was bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He assumed our nature for that very purpose, that he might be capable of
a Heb. V. 1. ^ Heb. v. 4.