SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service Theologian
REDEMPTION TRUTHS
CHAPTER 4
GODS PROVISION FOR THE WAY
"He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto,
God by Him." Hebrews 7:25
THE twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus,
though almost entirely ignored in the theology of Christendom, holds a large
and prominent place in the theology of the New Testament. Indeed, it is the key
to the exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, for it supplies the framework
on which the doctrine of that Epistle rests. For the Epistle to the Hebrews has
not to do with the redemption of the sinner, as redemption is popularly
understood, but with the life and service and worship of a sinner already
redeemed. The Passover, therefore, has no place in its teaching. It takes up
the typical story of redemption, not at the twelfth chapter of Exodus, but at
the twenty-fourth. And the twenty-fourth chapter is expressly quoted or
referred to again and again throughout? (See, ex. gr., chapters 1:3; 9:18-20;
10:29; 12:29; 13:12, 20.)
And one lesson of principal importance which
we learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews is that, in all that follows the
twenty-fourth chapter, the teaching is in part by contrast. The redemption
sacrifices were offered "once for all." The great blood shedding by which the
Covenant was dedicated and the people were sanctified was never repeated.
Neither was the Passover. For here we must distinguish between the redemption
in Egypt and the yearly commemoration of that redemption. But, with one notable
exception, repetition was a prominent characteristic of the sacrifices of the
law. They foreshadowed the great sacrifice which should put away sin. But the
repetition of them bore testimony that they had no real efficacy. Sin was not,
in fact, put away; "For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sins."
The words last quoted refer expressly to the
annual sin offering of the great Day of Atonement; and the rite is one which
claims special notice here. The ritual of it is unfolded in the sixteenth
chapter of Leviticus; and 21 for our present purpose we may confine our
attention to some of the principal features of the sin-offering for the whole
congregation. In the case of the lepers cleansing, two sparrows were
required; and so also here, two kids were needed for the offering. Of these,
one was killed, and its blood was sprinkled in the most holy place. The ritual
respecting the other victim is thus described;
"And Aaron shall lay both
his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all
their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the; goat, and shall send
him away by the hand of a fit man that is in readiness into the wilderness; and
the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land."
(Leviticus 16:21, 22, R. V.)
In the case of ordinary sin offerings the
laying on of hands was followed by the victims being led away to the
slaughter. We may presume, therefore, that in the symbolism of the chapter the
"solitary land" represents death. And the fulfilled merit of this is not
doubtful. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6.)
"His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." (1 Peter
2:24.)
But who are they that are thus blessed? The neglect of
systematic study of the types has led to much confusion of thought, and not a
little serious error, in regard to the truth of what is called "the simple
Gospel." The sin offering, as we have seen was only for the covenant people;
and if, ignoring the redemption sacrifices, we give to this an exclusive
prominence, we shall limit the efficacy of the death of Christ, and leave no
room for grace. The sins borne by the victim were the sins which had been
confessed over its head; and the laying on of hands betokened identification
with it. The offerer became identified with the victim, and the victim died in
his stead. The efficacy of the death was thus strictly limited; it could
neither be extended nor transferred.
Therefore it is that, in
Scripture, the Gospel for the unsaved is never stated in the language of the
sin offering.
But in the case of the Passover there was no laying on of
hands, no preceding identification of the sinner with the sacrifice. The victim
died, and it was by the sprinkling of its blood that the efficacy of its death
accrued to the sinner. Just as the protection of the "scarlet line" in Jericho
was extended to all the household of Rahab, and to all who came within her
doors, (Joshua 2:18, 19.) so in Egypt a believing Egyptian might have sought
the shelter of the blood. It is not that the Passover was the revelation of
grace - for "Grace came by Jesus Christ" - but it foreshadowed it. The Gospel
is to be preached to every creature. "Forgiveness of sins" is proclaimed to
all, without distinction; and "all that believe are justified." But they whose
Gospel is limited to the Passover can know nothing of oneness with the
Sinbearer nothing of the Divine provision for the wilderness journey with all
its difficulties and perils.
But what if the redeemed sinner fall by
the way? Will not sin thrust him back again under Egyptian bondage, and create
the need for a new redemption? Most emphatically, No. Sin might bring Israel to
Babylon; but a return to Egypt was for ever barred. (Deuteronomy 17:16.) The
only sin for which there can be no forgiveness is the sin of apostasy from
Christ and "doing despite" unto the Spirit of grace. (Hebrews 10:26-29, cf.
Mark 3:29.) It is an "eternal redemption" that Christ has obtained? (Hebrews
9:12.)
The new theology makes so light of sin that the question here
raised scarcely concerns it. And the old theology, owing to its neglect of the
types, gives an answer which is inadequate. When the Israelite sinned he
brought his sin offering. It was the definite acknowledgment (or "confession")
of his sin, and it obtained for him forgiveness. But as we have seen, a sinner
needs more than forgiveness, for God is holy. He must have a twofold cleansing,
and this was provided for in the ritual of the great Day of Expiation. His sins
were laid upon the head of the scapegoat. And further, atonement was made by
the blood of the slaughtered victim, carried within the veil and sprinkled on
the mercy-seat. Thus were the benefits accruing both from the Passover and from
the Burnt-offering of the Covenant renewed and continued to the Israelite.
And we have this twofold cleansing in the opening chapter of the First
Epistle of John. The blood upon the mercy-seat cleanses us from all sin. "And
if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." Sin is thus dealt with in a twofold aspect. Nor is this all,
for the word is added; "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins." (1 John
1:7-9; 2:1, 2.)
In dealing with truth like this, we need to keep
closely to the very words of Scripture. When we say that Christ has made
atonement or propitiation, we use the language of theology. According to the
passage last cited (and the statement is repeated in chapter 4:10) He is the
propitiation. In our English Bible a similar statement occurs in Romans in 25;
but the term there used is different; and our rendering of it, if not
erroneous, is at least inadequate. Of Christ it is said, "Whom God set forth to
be a mercy-seat through faith in His blood." It was by virtue of the blood of
atonement that the cover of the Ark was the mercy-seat - the place where God
and the sinner could meet. And it is because of His death on Calvary that the
Lord Jesus Christ is both the mercy-seat and the propitiation.
The
"merits" of the scapegoat were, as we have seen, strictly limited to those
whose sins had been confessed upon its head. But if a heathen stranger, on
hearing of the holiness and terribleness of the Jehovah God who "dwelt between
the cherubim," demanded whether it were safe to sojourn in the camp of Israel,
he would have been told of the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat. For the atonement of
the mercy-seat was for all. And so, to the words already cited - "He is the
propitiation for our sins" - the Holy Spirit adds, "And not for ours only, but
also for the whole world."
Treating the words "atonement" and
"propitiation" thus as synonyms is a concession to theology. And yet strict
accuracy in our phraseology is most important. Indeed, no amount of accuracy
can be excessive; nor need we shrink from insisting on it, in spite of the
censures or the sneers of "superior persons." For while the use of the literary
microscope is deemed "scholarship" and "modern criticism" - provided our
purpose be to discredit Scripture - it becomes "hyper-criticism" and
"hair-splitting" if we thus seek to bring out the hidden harmony of Scripture,
and to establish its truth and accuracy.
And no scholarship is needed
to enable us to mark the kinship between words that are closely related, or to
appreciate the significance of a change of terms.
The propitiation is
hilasmos. This word occurs only in 1 John 2:2, and 4:10. The
propitiation, or mercy-seat, is hilasterion, which word is used only in
Romans 3:25, and Hebrews 9:5.
To make propitiation is hilaskomai, a
word that occurs only in Luke 18:13 ("be merciful"), and Hebrews 2:17.
As
appears from the second passage, where this last word is used, making
propitiation is a part of our Lords present priestly work for His people.
The rendering of our Authorized Version is unfortunate; for the phrase "making
reconciliation" is elsewhere used to represent a wholly different Greek word.
And the confusion is increased by rendering the kindred noun of this other word
as "atonement" in Romans 5:11. Christ is the Propitiation, and as a continuing
work He makes propitiation. But reconciliation is a work past and finished.
In his "Synonyms of the New Testament," Archbishop Trench brackets "redemption"
with these two words, "reconciliation" and "propitiation "; and the opening
passage of his treatise respecting them may fitly close this chapter. He
writes:
"There are three grand circles of images, by aid of which it
is sought in the Scriptures of the New Testament to set forth to us the
inestimable benefits of Christs death and passion. Transcending, as these
benefits do, all human thought, and failing to find anywhere a perfectly
adequate expression in human language, they must still be set forth by the help
of language, and through the means of human relations. Here, as in other
similar cases, what the Scripture does is to approach the central truth from
different quarters; to seek to set it forth not on one side but on many, that
so these may severally supply the deficiency of one another, and that moment of
the truth which one does not express, another may. The words placed at the head
of this article, apolutrosis, or redemption; katallage, or
reconciliation; hilasmos, or propitiation, are the capital words summing
up three such families of images, to one or other of which almost every word
directly bearing on this work of our salvation through Christ may be more or
less remotely referred."
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