---

In this summary we have the design of the statute.

I. ATONEMENT WAS MADE FOR THE TABERNACLE.

1. The work of Christ affects the material universe.

(1) The tabernacle, we have seen (see on verses 1-4), was a type of the universe, material and moral; and that the holy places represented the heavens. The sprinkling of the tabernacle and its holy places, therefore, teaches that the universe is affected by the atonement of Christ (verses 15-19, 33; Hebrews 9:12, 23, 24; Revelation 5:6).

(2) Aaron, as the type of Christ, entered into the holiest place, but then only once in the year, nor could he without dying open an entrance into it even for his son, who, in his turn, could only enter there as the type of Christ. This showed that, while the tabernacle stood, the way into the holiest was not made manifest. But the vail was not only rent in the torn flesh of Jesus, so that he himself became the Way, but he entered heaven himself once for all (Hebrews 10:19, 20).

(3) Do we avail ourselves of the privileges of our spiritual priesthood (Hebrews 10:21, 22)?

2. The work of Christ influences the moral universe.

(1) Angels, therefore, manifested interest in the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow (Exodus 25:20; Daniel 8:13; 1 Peter 1:11-13). The sprinkling of the holy places teaches that, through the atonement of Christ, holy angels are reconciled to us. By the sanctifying power of his grace we are brought into sympathy with them.

(2) They are now, therefore, interested in the welfare of the Church; and are themselves a part of the great family of Jesus (see Daniel 12:5, 6; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:10, 15; Philippians 2:9-11).

II. ATONEMENT WAS MADE FOR THE PEOPLE.

1. None were exempted from the need of it.

(1) Aaron and his house were in the same category with the people in this respect. Though types, they were yet sinful men.

(2) But through the blood-shedding of this day, all stood "clean from all sins before the Lord," i.e., he looked upon them and accepted them as clean. So in the great day of judgment will he look upon us and accept us as clean through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (Jude 1:24).

2. It was a general expiations.

(1) It occurred but once in the year. It was to atone for iniquities, transgressions, and sins, which, through ignorance, inadvertency, or perhaps neglect, had not been atoned for by ordinary sacrifices. Christ not only atones for particular sins, but for sin itself.

(2) It was repeated every year. The utmost the Jewish priest could do was to call sin to remembrance, and point to a greater than himself, who needed not to repeat his offering (see Hebrews 10:1-3).

III. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT WAS TO BE KEPT AS A SABBATH.

1. In it they were to afflict their souls.

(1) (See verse 31; also Psalm 35:13; Isaiah 58:6, 7, 13; Daniel 10:3, 12.)

(2) Resting from the toil of the world, with afflicted souls, while their sins were called to their remembrance, suggests that repentance towards God must accompany faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).

2. In it they were to rest.

(1) This suggested relief from the burden of sin. What a gracious sabbath in the soul is the sense of sins forgiven!

(2) This would be all the more expressive upon the year of jubilee, which, every forty-ninth year, came in on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9).

3. The time was the tenth day of the seventh month.

(1) Dr. Lightfoot computes that this was the anniversary of the day on which Moses came the last time down from the mount, bringing with him the renewed tables, and having the glory shining in his face.

(2) Jesus appears literally to have ascended into the heavens, as his type passed behind the vail, on the tenth day of the seventh month (see reasoning conducting to this conclusion in the appendix of Mr. Guinness's work on 'The Approaching End of the Age'). It was the time of the vintage, and maples the fullness of the atonement (see Mark 12:1-9; comp. Revelation 19:15).

(3) It may prove that, on some anniversary of this day, Jesus will come down from heaven, in a glory immeasurably brighter than that in which Moses descended from the mount, to set up his kingdom upon this earth (see Acts 1:11). The vintage of his wrath upon his enemies precedes the sabbath of his kingdom. - J.A.M.

---

---

KJV: And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

WEB: "It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no kind of work, the native-born, or the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you: