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The Tabernacle The High Priest's Coming Forth from the Holy of Holies A Type of Christ's Return in Glory After Aaron came out from the presence of God, and before he appeared again unto the people, he took off the linen clothes of humiliation, and put on once more his robes of "glory and beauty." And when our Lord returns, when He appears once more to His people, Israel, He will come in all His glory, His "eternal glory" which He had with the Father "before the world was" (John 17: 5). He laid aside that glory, in order to become a merciful and a faithful High Priest; but He took it up again, after He had made a full atonement for sin. When He rose from the grave, He put on His robes of glory. And very soon per- haps He will come out of the Holy of Holies! "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him!" (Rev. 1 :7). Then the work which He did on that Feast of the Passover nearly two thousand years ago will find its com- plete fruition. At the first Feast of the Passover the Israelites sprinkled the shed blood upon his own lintel and door posts, but then there was no Holy of Holies; there was no sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat. The passover set forth the man-ward aspect of Calvary. Each sinner must, by his own volition, allow the Holy Spirit to apply the shed blood of the Lamb of God to his sinful heart. On the Day of Atonement, however, it was the high priest who sprinkled the shed blood in the presence of the Shekinah Glory. This is the God-ward aspect of Cal- vary, and shows us in a faint picture what Christ has done for the sinner. Thus the feasts of the passover and atone- ment dovetail perfectly, setting forth also Israel's special relation to Jehovah, in that Christ will appear on the Day
288 The Tabernacle blood; He rose again, and entered into heaven itself, bear- ing in His gloriiied body the marks of Calvary. He pre- sented His own blood before the mercy seat, which is the throne of God. He changed the judgment throne into the mercy seat, on the ground of the sprinkled blood! That is why the veil of the temple was rent in twain when He died on the cross; "the way into the holiest" was forever opened; and the weakest sinner was invited to "come bold- ly unto the throne of grace" (Heb. 10:19-22; cf. 9:8; 4:16). That is why we no longer need an earthly priest, before whom to confess our sins. We have an all-sufficient Great High Priest, and to Him we go in prayer! "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb. 10:19-22). In shedding His blood for our sins, the Lord Jesus bore them away into "the wilderness," as it were, "unto a land not inhabited." The place of no habitation is the grave. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53 :6). And in His death He has taken away our sins. "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103: 12). And His promise is sure, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17). God not only forgives; He forgets! "What a wonderful Saviour!"
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