Hebrews 13:12

Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered outside the gate. He adapts what was prefigured in the New Testament to the figure of the Old Testament, so that there might be agreement between them. Hence he says, Wherefore, …

This is spoken to those who would still be at a loss, asking, "How do you say, 'you have an altar'? For what was offered on it?" It is Christ himself whom you neglect above and below and fail to see that he was sacrificed, …

Having shown that what the Jews venerated served as a foreshadowing of our worship, he says that the sacrifices in which the people could not participate were nothing; but in our sacrifice, even the high priests of the Old Testament law have no share, for …

); he then bespeaks their prayers for him, and offers up his prayers to God for them, gives them some hope of seeing himself and Timothy, and ends with the general salutation and benediction,

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Wherefore Jesus also,....

That he might sanctify the people - That he might consecrate them to God, and make an atonement for their sins, he suffered without the gate at Jerusalem, as the sin-offering was consumed without the camp when the tabernacle abode in the wilderness. Perhaps all this was typical of the abolition of the Jewish sacrifices, and the termination of the whole Levitical system of worship. He left the city, denounced its final destruction, and abandoned it to its fate; and suffered without the gate to bring the Gentiles to God.

IN one sense, sanctification is wholly the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but there is another meaning which is more usually affixed to the term, in which sanctification is rightly described as the work of God the Holy Spirit. Many disputes have arisen concerning this Doctrine of God, because all men do not distinguish between the two meanings of the same word. There is one kind of sanctification which signifies setting apart and, in that sense, God's people were sanctified from all eternity.

The fiery ordeal of His suffering on the cross, answers to the burning of the victims; thereby His mere fleshly life was completely destroyed, as their bodies were; the second part of His offering was His carrying His blood into the heavenly holiest before God at His ascension, that it should be a perpetual atonement for the world's sin.

IN one sense, sanctification is wholly the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but there is another meaning which is more usually affixed to the term, in which sanctification is rightly described as the work of God the Holy Spirit. Many disputes have arisen concerning this Doctrine of God, because all men do not distinguish between the two meanings of the same word. There is one kind of sanctification which signifies setting apart and, in that sense, God's people were sanctified from all eternity. They were sanctified in election, before they had a being, for they were even then set apart from the impure mass, to be vessels of honor meet for the Master's use. Further, as redemption has in it much of peculiarity and specialty, God's people were sanctified, or set apart, by the blood of Christ, when, on Mount Calvary He offered up Himself, an offering without spot or blemish, for the sins of His people. So it is true that Jesus is not only made unto us wisdom and righteousness, but also sanctification. You will remember that in one of my recent sermons, [Sermon #2634, Volume 45—"Jesus Only"—A Communion Meditation the text of which was, "Jesus only," I made the remark that it was "Jesus only" for sanctification. And I have not had any reason to retract that expression, for there is a sense in which sanctification, as far as it means setting apart, is an eternal work and is a work wholly completed for us by the election of the Father and the blood of Jesus Christ. Still, sanctification sometimes, and most generally, signifies another thing—it means the work of the Spirit within us.

Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood - That there might be a conformity between his death for sin and the sacrifices which typified it. It is implied here that it was voluntary on the part of Jesus that he suffered out of the city; that is, it was so ordered by Providence that it should be so. This was secured by his being put to death as the result of a judicial trial, and not by popular tumult; see the notes on Isa 53:8. If he had been killed in a tumult, it is possible that it might have been done as in other cases (compare the case of Zacharias son of Barachias, Mat 23:35), even at the altar. As he was subjected, however, to a judicial process, his death was effected with more deliberation, and in the usual form. Hence, he was conducted out of the city, because no criminal was executed within the walls of Jerusalem. Without the gate - Without the gate of Jerusalem; Joh 19:17-18. The place where he was put to death was called Golgotha, the place of a skull, and hence, the Latin word which we commonly use in speaking of it, Calvary, Luk 23:33; compare notes on Mat 27:33. Calvary, as it is now shown, is within the walls of Jerusalem, but there is no reason to believe that this is the place where the Lord Jesus was crucified, for that was outside of the walls of the city. The precise direction from the city is not designated by the sacred writers, nor are there any historical records, or traditional marks by which it can now be known where the exact place was. All that we know on the subject from the New Testament is, that the name was Golgotha; that the place of the crucifixion and sepulchre were near each other; that they were without the gate and nigh to the city, and that they were in a frequented spot; Joh 19:20. […]