“He (Aaron) shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some blood with his finger seven times.” (Lev 16:14)

“And it was only a few days thereafter that he ascended on high and approached the Mercy Seat, there to appear in the presence of God for us, as the Scriptures declare. Bear in mind that he did not appear for the world, but for us, for believers. He is NOT the world’s advocate before the Father, but rather ours, the consecrated, however in due time we along with him (if proven worthy) shall jointly compose the world’s mediator.

We have an advocate with the Father, he is our representative, and now speaks for us alone. (1 John 2:1)

In the type this is shown by the statement that the priest sprinkled the blood upon the Mercy Seat and before the Mercy Seat in the shape of a cross, the head of the cross being on the Mercy Seat, the lower end of it pointing and extending toward the veil.

The Apostle tells us that Christ offered up his own blood, but by this we do not understand him to mean that any of the literal blood of Jesus was taken into heaven, but rather as the bloodshed represented the sacrificed life of the Lord, so in the antitype our Lord presented before the Father the evidences of his death, applying a measure of that benefit, a measure of the merit of his sacrifice on behalf of the church, his body, and all the household of faith, but none of it on behalf of the world, none of it outside the household of faith. This is clearly shown in the type, for the priest, we are told, made an offering for himself and his house (Verse 11). His house, the Levites, typified the household of faith, himself represented his sons the under priests, and in the antitype represented the Church, the members of the body of Christ under Jesus as the Head, as it is written, `God gave Jesus to be the Head over the Church, which is his body‘.

The statement of the type is most explicit; that the atonement made for this sacrifice, by the sprinkling of the blood of the bullock, was atonement NOT for all the people but merely for a limited, special class of them, all belonging to one tribe, the Levites, who represent here the household of faith. (Lev 16:6, 17)” R 3708:5, 6

“The type shows that the great Priest not only sacrificed, but additionally that he made appropriation of the merit of that sacrifice in the `Most Holy’ before he offered the second sacrifice—the `Lord’s goat.’

How was this fulfilled?

We reply that forty days after our Lord completed his sacrifice at Calvary and rose from the dead, he ascended on high, appeared in the presence of God for us (his members or body and for his house). He applied the merit of his sacrifice on our behalf, and secured for all fully consecrated believers of this Gospel age full reconciliation with the Father (justification), and full privilege to become dead with him to earthly interests and restitution favors, and alive with him to the glories, honors and immortality of the Spirit nature.” (R 4546:2)

“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin-offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.” (Lev 16:15)

“Both of these animals [the bull and the goat] represented the High Priest; the bullock our Lord and Head, and the goat, his body, the church. When the high priest sprinkled the blood of the bullock, it represented, ‘his own blood’, the merit of his own sacrifice. He applied it for us, NOT for the world; hence only believers (those fully consecrated), and not the world in general have received the blessing secured by our Lord’s sacrifice, thus far, (those blessings consisting of the At-one-ment with God, and the rights to restoration and restitution).

Meantime, according to divine intention the church has gradually been in the process of selection, this according to each ones willingness in sacrificing (foregoing) earthly interest (both the interest of the present earthly life and that of the future, secured through Christ sacrifice, i.e. their earthly life rights or restitution rights). These choose rather to walk in the footsteps of their master; filling up the sufferings of Christ; laying down their lives for the brethren.

Our presentation of ourselves (our consecration) to the Lord was at the door of the Tabernacle, as represented by the tethering of the goat there, thus we offered ourselves (Rom 12:1), and when we were accepted our sacrifice as the Lord’s goat class begun. This acceptance was indicated by the killing process. Henceforth we ceased to be men and were recognized on a new plane (of existence) as ‘members of the body of Christ’, without any headship of our own. Consequently when at the end on the Day of Atonement, the antitypical high priest shall make a further presentation of the blood of the goat upon the mercy seat, it will be ‘his own blood’ in two senses of the word;

1) It will be his own in the sense that all the merit was originally his and only appropriated to us in order that we might have the opportunity to share with him in sacrifice, the sacrificial merit merely passed through us, ‘the Lord’s goat’ class. We were favored by privilege accorded of ‘suffering with him that (in due time) we might be also glorified together with him’.

It is not necessary to question whether our sacrifice could add anything to the merit of the transaction, because no more merit was necessary than that which our Lord had and which he applied on our behalf.

2) The blood (merit) which our Lord will apply as soon as the church shall have finished her share in his sacrifice will be ‘his own blood’, in the sense that he accepted or adopted us as his members, we losing our personality in the transaction in the same manner that a bride loses her name and her individuality at marriage. All that we have and are belong to the great bridegroom, and we are delighted that he is pleased to count us in with himself in any sense of the word in connection with his sufferings of this present time, and the glories which shall follow.” (R 4493:2-4)

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