V. 4.— For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. For it is not possible.— God does nothing in vain. It results from His infinite wisdom that the means which He employs are exactly adapted to the object He has in view, neither greater nor less. We may prove our folly by employing means inadequate to the end we have in view, or we may apply more strength than is requisite. But God is perfect in wisdom, and therefore the means He employs always exactly correspond with the end He has in view. Now, for fifteen hundred years, the blood of bulls and goats flowed on His altar, and their constant repetition proved their inefficacy. But, in the fulness of time, He sent forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem His people from the curse of the law; and no other proof is requisite to confirm the Apostle’ s assertion, that it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Had such sacrifices been sufficient, the Son of God would not have suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring sinners to God. Here is a demonstration that it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. God does nothing in vain; there is nothing superfluous in His conduct. Sacrifices bled on the Jewish altar fifteen hundred years, but still the fire burned as fiercely as ever. Should it, then, be asked, Did all the generations of Israel, from Moses to Christ, die in their sins? the reply is, By no means. They had before them an account of Abraham’ s justification through faith in Him whose day he saw afar off, and was glad. Moses wrote of the same exalted personage; and there was always a remnant in Israel whose heart God had touched, who looked for the coming of the Savior. As the virtue of the atonement of Christ extended not merely to those who believed during the days of His flesh, but to the end of the world, so it looked back to the fall of Adam, and, like righteous Abel, all who believed in Him who was to come were partakers of the great salvation. This is plainly declared by the Apostle. Speaking of the Savior, he says, " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [A propitiatory, or mercy-seat. There are two words rendered in our version "propitiation.” The one which is used in this passage is that by which the “ mercy-seat” is rendered in the Septuagint; the covering of the ark, the throne of the God of Israel, who sat between the cherubim.] through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:25-26. Believers who lived under the law were justified by faith in Christ, as well as those who live under the new dispensation. So that, while there was in Israel a remembrance again made of sins every year, the efficacy of the great atonement extended from the fall to the consummation of all things.