And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle with his finger upon the front of the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood seven times with his finger.
On the Day of Atonement the high priest carried the bull's blood past the veil. He did two things with it. He put it once on the mercy seat, then seven times on the ground in front of it. Why the difference in number? And what did this one act settle, for God and for the people outside?
The mercy seat was the lid of the ark, the place where God met His people. What was placed on it decided the character of that meeting.
On the mercy seat God Himself was met. In fact that is what made it a mercy seat, for otherwise it was a throne of judgment. Now it is a throne of government in man's favour, instead of a throne of judgment against him.
The blood touches the mercy seat first, and the ground in front only after that. The order matters.
The mercy seat was the place of God's throne on earth, so the priest sprinkled the blood there first. God's throne had its claims, and those claims came first. On that day the making of propitiation came before all thought of the sinner's standing.
The two numbers answer two different needs.
Suppose a Jew had looked in through the torn veil, what was there to see? The blood on the mercy seat and the blood before the mercy seat. The blood sprinkled once "upon" the mercy seat was enough for God. But man needs every possible means to make him sure, and God graciously grants it. Seven times the priest sprinkled the blood "before" the mercy seat. That gives man full evidence that he may draw near to God in safety and certainty.
That patch of ground in front of the seat was where the priest himself stood, which is why the repeated sprinkling speaks to the one who approaches.
The blood was sprinkled there in testimony that propitiation had been made, and seven times so that it might be a perfect testimony... So whoever receives God's testimony in the gospel comes to the mercy seat — Christ — "through faith in His blood." In God's very presence he finds the perfect witness that propitiation has been made for his sins. He also finds that another has borne those sins, and borne them away for ever.
Seven, taken as the number of completeness, is read as covering every group and every sphere the atonement will ever touch.
In the sprinkling of the blood seven times before the mercy seat we learn that whatever the application of the atonement of Christ may be — whether to things, to places, or to persons — it is perfectly valued in the divine presence. The blood which secures the salvation of the Church... the blood which secures the salvation of the congregation of Israel; the blood which secures the final restoration and blessing of the whole creation. That blood has been presented before God. It was sprinkled and accepted according to all the perfectness, fragrance, and preciousness of Christ. The blood sprinkled on the believer's conscience has been sprinkled seven times before the throne of God.
The direction is not decoration. East was the side the worshippers came from.
He entered the immediate presence of the Lord, where He dwelt alone. There he sprinkled some of the blood on the throne, or mercy seat. He did this "once." He placed the blood "upon the mercy seat eastward" — on the part of it that faced the entrance gate into the sanctuary. That was the gate through which Israel approached the Lord. This was the foundation for all the purifications which followed. Because of the atoning blood, the throne of divine holiness could now look on the people with mercy.
The animal here is the bull, not the goat. Earlier in the chapter the bull belongs to Aaron and his household.
The bull had been for Aaron and his house (v. 6). This points to the Lord Jesus and the priestly family. Today that family is the Church of God, for all believers now are priests (1 Peter 2:5).
The priest had to repeat this act every year. That is where the picture gives way to the reality.
Let us remember that on the mercy seat of propitiation the blood was placed before the eye of God!... This had to be done again; the blood of a bull had to be sprinkled before God on that golden mercy seat once every year. And the blood of other victims often had to be shed. Not so the blood of Christ; that blood, once shed and sprinkled, can never be shed or sprinkled again.
- Once — for God. One touch of blood on the mercy seat met the claims of the throne. God needed only one witness that the sacrifice had been made.
- Seven — for man. The seven sprinklings mark the spot where the priest stood. They give the one who draws near the full assurance man is slow to take in.
- Eastward — toward us. The priest put the blood on the side facing the entrance, so the throne could look on the people with mercy.
- Wide — beyond us. The same perfect value of the blood reaches the Church, Israel, the whole creation — and the believer's own conscience.
- Final — once for all. The bull's blood came back every year. Christ's blood, once shed and sprinkled, is never sprinkled again.
And he shall slaughter the goat of the sin-offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat;
On the Day of Atonement the high priest first carried the bullock's blood inside the veil for himself and his house. Now he kills a second victim, the goat for the people, and puts its blood in the same place — the mercy seat.
Two animals do not mean two sacrifices. One writer sees in the doubling two purposes held together in one death.
It is not as if there were two offerings of our blessed Lord Jesus; but at least two objects of His work were in the mind of God here... The main picture before us now is the blood of the bullock put on the mercy seat and in front of it — once on it, seven times in front of it. Once was enough for God, where approach to Him was invited; man needed seven times. How slow man has proved to take in the fullest encouragement God gives! It was He who provided all of this in the picture. He despises no one.
The place matters. The mercy seat was the lid of the ark, where God sat enthroned among Israel. Blood on that spot made propitiation — God's holy claims fully met.
First, Aaron sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. That sprinkling is what made propitiation, because the mercy seat was God's throne in the middle of Israel... The Lord was holy, and as such He claimed holiness from His people... But as soon as God gave the law, Israel broke it and came under its righteous penalty of death. God would have had to carry out that penalty, unless a way could be found to satisfy the claims of a holy God upon a nation of sinners.
The bullock covered the priest's own household; this goat is named for the nation. One writer sees two groups in view, both reached by the same entry into God's presence.
Aaron's house, then, was the priestly family, which pictured the whole Christian family. For them the blood of the bullock was shed. For whom, then, was the blood of the goat? For the people... He has gone in, not with the blood of others, but with His own. He went in not only for us who believe, but for the people as well. And we now have the matchless privilege of entering in spirit into that sanctuary where the forerunner has entered for us.
This goat is only half of the picture. The live goat, sent away later in the chapter, does something different — and that difference shapes how the gospel is preached.
It is not substitution when I say to everyone, "The blood is on the mercy seat." I do not say "your sins are put away," because I do not know that they are. In detail, I can not only say, "Come, and welcome." I can say, "God begs you to come, for the blood is on the mercy seat." The scapegoat goes a step further. If a person does come, it declares that God can never speak to you about your sins again, for they are all put away.
Commentators differ on how far the two goats can be separated. Another writer holds that this goat already pictures one person standing in the place of another:
The goat which is the Lord's lot speaks just as plainly of substitution as it does of propitiation. The goat, the type of the sinner, is the very thing that says so; no figure could convey the thought more precisely. It proclaims that propitiation comes by substitution. So it is for the people in whose place the victim stood, and for no others.
The seven sprinklings in front of the seat carry their own meaning. One writer traces how far the worth of that blood reaches.
"Seven" is the perfect number. The blood sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat teaches us this: wherever the atonement of Christ is applied — to things, to places, or to persons — God values it perfectly in His presence. One blood secures the salvation of the Church, the house of the true Aaron. The same blood secures the salvation of the congregation of Israel. The same blood secures the final restoration and blessing of the whole creation. That blood has been presented before God, sprinkled and accepted according to all the perfectness, fragrance, and preciousness of Christ.
- Blood first. Blood on the mercy seat makes propitiation. That seat was God's throne among a people who had broken His law.
- Blood for God. Once was enough for God. The seven sprinklings in front of the seat were for man, who is slow to take in the encouragement God Himself gives.
- Blood for the people. The bullock covered the priest's household. This goat is named for the nation. One entry into God's presence reaches both.
- Blood, then the scapegoat. The blood on the seat lets God invite everyone to come. The live goat tells the one who comes that his sins will never be raised again.
- Blood beyond Israel. God values that blood perfectly. Its worth reaches the Church, Israel, and creation itself.