I have now an interesting fact to tell you, and I am sure you will think it
worth mentioning. Turn to Leviticus xxv. 9, and you will read: “Then shalt
thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the
seventh month, in the day of atonement shall yet make the trumpet sound
throughout all your land.” So that one of the effects of the atonement was
set forth to us in the fact that when the year of jubilee came, it was not on
the first day of the year that it was proclaimed, but “on the tenth day of
the seventh month.” Ay, methinks, that was the best part of it. The scapegoat
is gone, and the sins are gone, and no sooner are they gone than the silver
trumpet sounds,
“The year of jubilee is to come,
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.”
On that day sinners go free; on that day our poor mortgaged lands are
liberated, and our poor estates which have been forfeited by our spiritual
bankruptcy are all returned to us. So when Jesus dies, slaves win their
liberty, and lost ones receive spiritual life again; when he dies, heaven,
the long lost inheritance is ours. Blessed day! Atonement and jubilee ought
to go together. Have you ever had a jubilee, my friends, in your hearts? If
you have not, I can tell you it is because you have not had a day of
atonement.
One more thought concerning the effects of this great day of atonement, and
you will observe that it runs throughout the whole of the chapter-entrance
within the vail. Only on one day in the year might the high priest enter
within the vail, and then it must be for the great purposes of the atonement.
Now, beloved, the atonement is finished, and you may enter within the vail:
“Having boldness, therefore, to enter into the holiest, let us come with
boldness into the throne of the heavenly grace.” The vail of the temple is
rent by the atonement of Christ, and access to the throne is now ours. O
child of God, I know not of any privilege which thou hast, save fellowship
with Christ, which is more valuable than access to the throne. Access to the
mercy seat is one of the greatest blessings mortals can enjoy. Precious
throne of grace! I never should have had any right to come there if it had
not been for the day of atonement; I never should have been able to come
there if the throne had not been sprinkled with the blood.
IV. Now we come to notice, in the fourth place, what is our PROPER BEHAVIOUR
WHEN WE CONSIDER THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. You read at the 29th verse, “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.” That is one thing that we
ought to do when we remember the atonement. Sure, sinner, there is nothing
that move thee to repentance like the thought of that great sacrifice of
Christ which is necessary to wash away thy guilt. “Law and terrors do but
harden.” but methinks, the thought that Jesus died is enough to make us melt.
It is well, when we hear the name of Calvary, always to shed a tear, for
there is nothing that ought to make a sinner weep like the mention of the
death of Jesus. On that day “ye shall afflict your souls.” And even you, ye
Christians, when ye think that your Saviour died, should afflict your souls:
ye should say,
“Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?”
Drops of grief ought to flow, ay, streams of undissembled sympathy with him;
to show our grief for what we did to pierce the Saviour. “Afflict your
souls,” O ye children of Israel, for the day of atonement is come. Weep o’er
your Jesus; weep for him that died; weep for him who was murdered by your
sins, and “afflict your souls.”
Then, better still, we are to “do not work at all,” as ye find the same
verse, 29th. When we consider the atonement, we should rest, and “do no work
at all.” Rest from your works as God did from his on the great Sabbath of the
world; rest from your own righteousness; rest from your toilsome duties: rest
in him. “We that believe do enter into rest.” As soon as thou seest the
atonement finished, say, “it is done, it is done? Now will I serve my God
with zeal, but now I will no longer seek to save myself, it is done, it is
done for aye.”
Then there was another thing which always happened. When the priest had made
the atonement, it was usual for him, after he had washed himself, to come out
again in his glorious garments. When the people saw him they attended him to
his house with joy, and they offered burnt offerings of praise on that day:
he being thankful that his life was spared, (having been allowed to go into
the holy place and to come out of it) and they being thankful that the
atonement was accepted; both of them offering burnt offerings as a type that
they desired now to be “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.”
Beloved, let us go into our houses with joy; let us go into our gates with
praise. The atonement is finished; the High Priest is gone within the vail;
salvation is now complete. He has laid aside the linen garments, and he
stands before you with his breastplate, and his mitre, and his embroidered
vest, in all his glory. Hear how he rejoices over us, for he hath redeemed
his people, and ransomed them out of the hands of his enemies. Come, let us
go home with the High Priest; let us clap our hands with joy, for he liveth,
he liveth; the atonement is accepted, and we are accepted too; the scapegoat
is gone, our sins are gone with it. Let us then go to our houses with
thankfulness, and let us come up to his gates with praise, for he hath loved
his people, he hath blessed his children, and given unto us a day of
atonement, and a day of acceptance, and a year of jubilee. Praise ye the
Lord? Praise ye the Lord!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
