Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Scapegoat
By Ramone - May 26, 2008
As far as the east is from the west,Sacrifices, Shadows, and Fulfillment
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
- Psalm 103:8-12
There are just so many sacrifices in the Old Testament! It's incredible, mind-blowing, and beyond fathoming. Growing up I knew Jesus was the "lamb", but I was woefully ignorant of how rarely it was actually a "lamb" that was sacrificed. Most often it was a bull, goat or a ram. Sometimes a heifer. Sometimes a calf. Sometimes a lamb. Sometimes a dove, etc. As I look through the book of Leviticus, it becomes obvious that each one of these sacrifices in some way represented Jesus. I can't always understand exactly how each one points to Him, but I know that each one does.
Resting in Him, you'll see that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega of everything. He is the beginning and the end of every prophecy. He is the beginning and end of every type. Every service and shadow and type was of Him. He was there before they were written and began, and He is their fulfillment.
In seeking to understanding shadow and type, ask Him first to guide you. And then start with the Light, not with the shadow. Don't force the Light to fit in the shadows. In other words, don't force something in Christ's life to fit every aspect of the ceremonies. It's the other way around. Start backwards instead. Start with Christ who is the fulfillment, and then the things of the shadows will become clear.
Almost every aspect of the Old Covenant tabernacle/temple prefigured Christ. This is especially true and clear for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the highest and most important day of the Hebrew year. Not only did He represent each one of the five sacrifices on that day, but He was also the Priest, the Burned Incense, the Curtain, the Mercy Seat, etc. While each detail and aspect points to Him, it is the sacrifices which are perhaps the easiest to recognize Him in.
This is addressed in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10:
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming [that is, a shadow of Christ] --not the realities themselves [compare this verse with Colossians 2:16-17]. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship... But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.Each sacrifice that the Law required was a shadow of the One Sacrifice. Each bull, each goat, lamb, ram, heifer, dove and pigeon -- each of these were a shadow of the One sacrifice, the body of Jesus Christ. None of those animals actually took away sin. They were each shadows of the One who would "take away" our sins, never to be seen again:
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said:"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,First He said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
but a body You prepared for Me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
You were not pleased.
Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about Me in the scroll・
I have come to do Your will, O God.' "
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God... because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"Why were so many sacrifices necessary? Because there are so many aspects of what Christ did that we could not understand His sacrifice any other way. One innocent animal sacrifice would not be sufficient enough to shadow everything that the perfect, spotless, innocent and loving Creator Jesus Christ did for us in His death.
- John 1:29
He appeared so that He might take away our sins.
- 1 John 3:5
Sins Taken Away!
The concept of "taking away sin" is one that simply blows me away. Not only did He "forgive" us for our sins, but He took them away! Think about this. If He had merely forgiven our sins, the root of original sin & rebellion inside us would still be there. We would still be stuck with this iniquity, this propensity to sin. He would have forgiven us, but we would mess up again and we would worry that His sacrifice wouldn't cover us anymore.
But His mission was not only to grant us forgiveness, but to take away our sins. This is part the very name He was given before He was born! The angel told Joseph,
"You are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins."Not only would He "forgive" us (as wonderful as that is!), but, He would save us from our sins! That means He would take our sins away from us. He would take our original sin away from us. He would take away our iniquity, our soul's propensity to sin and bent-on-rebellion nature. He would take away "sin itself" by becoming our sin for us (2 Cor.5:21).
- Matthew 1:21
Lord, when I think of this, I am blown away and struggle to believe it. I've faced my own sins for so long, so often, and sometimes it's hard to believe that You've taken my sin away. You've taken away my propensity to sin. You've taken away my divided heart. Oh, God, You make me weep! You've taken away my bent toward rebellion. You've taken away my lawlessness.
You not only saved me from punishment -- You not only saved me from Your wrath against sin -- but You have saved me from sin itself. Thank You, Lord. Bury this truth deep, deep in my heart, Lord, and help me understand that I may see I have truly been set free from sin in You. Thank You, Lord Jesus. In Your name I praise You and thank You! Amen!
The Scapegoat
This is pictured for us in the sacrifice of the "scapegoat" on the Day of Atonement. Two identical, perfect, defect-less goats for a sin offering would be brought to the high priest to make atonement with. Lots were cast over them, and one would be slain. Its blood would be taken into the Most Holy Place. We know this represented Jesus, the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins.
But what happened to the other goat? This one had all of Israel's sins confessed on its head by the high priest. It was then taken into the desert away from Israel and either released or pushed off a cliff. This was the "scapegoat". Both goats were part of the same picture of Christ's atonement. The picture is not complete without both goats.
In Isaiah 53 it says that Jesus was "cut off" and "taken away"... this is the punishment mentioned throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy for certain sins and for breaking the covenant. For certain things the punishment was being "cut off" from the people. For example, transgressing the commands of Sabbath or Circumcision each resulted in two punishments:
1) death
2) being "cut off"
After "death", of course, it seems like "cut off" is moot! But because the Jews saw being "gathered to one's people" as something that happened after you died, being "cut off" would not only mean being cut off from the living covenant community, but also losing your inheritance in the afterlife -- not being gathered to your fathers when you died. Yet it's more than that still, because "living" in the afterlife meant that God accepted you when you died. So being "cut off" ultimately meant being cast out of God's presence after you died.
The first goat of Yom Kippur was the sacrifice that represents the first punishment -- death. The second goat of Yom Kippur (the scapegoat) is the sacrifice that represents the second punishment -- being cut off from the presence of the covenant community, and being cut off from the presence of God.
In the same way, Adam was "cut off" by having to leave the Garden of Eden. He was driven out & cut off because he ate the fruit. It was part of his curse. And in the same way, his son Cain was "cut off" after he killed his brother Abel. He was driven away and had to leave God's presence as his punishment, as his curse. He became "accursed". Both Adam and Cain were guilty and were "cut off" because of it in respectively different degrees. However, in contrast...
Christ, my 'Scapegoat'
Christ was innocent of sin. Like the innocent scapegoat, an animal that had done nothing wrong. Think of what "scapegoat" means in English! "One that is made to bear the blame of others." We say someone is made a "scapegoat" when others put the blame the person for bad things that they did. We say someone is a "scapegoat" when the punishment falls unjustly on an innocent person instead of on the guilty people who were responsible.
In the same way, Jesus became accursed for us (Galatians 3:13). Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anyone hung on a tree is "accursed." This could explain why the religious leaders were so intent on having Jesus crucified -- they wanted Him to be hung on a tree so that everyone would see Him as being accursed by God.
Yes. Exactly. That was God's plan. I believe that in a sense He became every curse for us -- that is, all the curses of transgressing the Law fell upon Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says,
"He became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."Thank You, God! My heart is torn again with Your love, Your sacrifice! Thank You! I can't stop crying as I write these and praising and thanking You! Thank You!
In Isaiah 6:7 an angel touches Isaiah's lips with a coal from the altar and says,
"See, this has touched your lips;Many Christians historically see this as a picture of partaking of Christ's body (the sacrifice on the altar). This shows the two-fold result of being touched by the Holy, by Christ's sacrifice:
your guilt is taken away
and your sin atoned for."
1) sin is atoned for
2) and taken away
Aaron is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites--all their sins--and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert... The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place.Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, my Lord! Thank You for doing this, for becoming this for us! Merely recognizing You and calling You the "scapegoat" wrings my heart and makes me choke up and cry, Lord! You are the one who did not deserve this! We deserved this, I deserved this, Lord, not You! The Scapegoat. The Scapegoat for me. My Scapegoat, Lord.
- Leviticus 16:21-22
John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
- John 1:29
My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities...
He was taken away... He was cut off... for the transgression of My people
...We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
- Isaiah 53:11,8,6
So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
- Hebrews 9:28
It hurts to call You 'my' scapegoat, Lord! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Lord! But I recognize You did this of Your own free will, You did this out of love for me. Thank You, Lord, the Willing Scapegoat for me, for us all. Thank You. It was not fair in my eyes, but in Your eyes it is holy. It is Your love. It is Your grace. Thank You, Lord. Teach me Your love, fill me with Your heart, Jesus. Amen.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!
It's just wonderful and humbling to hear Christ saying through the Scriptures,
"I am the scapegoat. I am the innocent one who took the blame, who took the fall. It was your sins, but I accepted them and took them away from you so that you may have life and live with Me forever."Jesus, I don't know what to say! Thank You for taking our sins, for taking our blame, for taking our punishment. For being "cast out" and "cut off" for us, for being "driven out" and forsaken as we should have been. Just as we (in Adam) were driven out from the Garden, You as our Scapegoat were driven out of Your Father's presence because of our sins, not Yours. You were without sin, a holy offering. Thank You, Lord, for taking this "cutting off" for us. Thank You, Jesus. You are the scapegoat, You are the one who was cut off for us. I bless Your name, Jesus. Amen.
About the picture...
The goat is "white" representing His purity. The dirty yellowish color is the "desert" of our sins where the goat was taken to and died. The "red" is His blood poured out for us because of our sins, our blood-guilt, that He carried on Himself, that He bore away as far as the east is from the west, never to be seen again.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, our Scapegoat, because You went to the dry and barren place for us so that we don't have to go there. Thank You.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,----------------------------------
slow to anger, abounding in love...
He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His love for those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
- Psalm 103:8-12
Update, October '09: Ironically, on Yom Kippur during a prayer meeting, I received a second picture of Christ the Scapegoat.
# posted by Ramone @ 11:01 AM 
Comments:
<< Home
Here is a link to this picture and article on my "Former Adventist Japan" blog:
Who is the Scapegoat?
The article contains an added section at the beginning introducing my Adventist background and it's very, VERY mistaken belief about the scapegoat.
Who is the Scapegoat?
The article contains an added section at the beginning introducing my Adventist background and it's very, VERY mistaken belief about the scapegoat.
The bulk of the writing here comes from some things that I wrote on an FAF thread here (as "Agapetos") and in a follow-up thread here.
A blogger wrote a short article on Yom Kippur here, which really describes what is meant by "scapegoat" and the process in our hearts that occurs as we make someone a scapegoat:
http://scrivenblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/yom-kippur.html
What gets me the most is the picture of the goat near the end of the post. It guts me.
Blessings in Jesus, who took our sins, our arrows, our darkness!
Ramone
http://scrivenblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/yom-kippur.html
What gets me the most is the picture of the goat near the end of the post. It guts me.
Blessings in Jesus, who took our sins, our arrows, our darkness!
Ramone
Hi Ramone,
I like the way you explained my sins are both "forgiven" and "taken away" and how that ties in with suffering "death" and being "cut off" from God when we are without Christ. Thanks for your insights and post.
Your Friend and Brother,
Dave Scriven
www.wordtraveler.org
I like the way you explained my sins are both "forgiven" and "taken away" and how that ties in with suffering "death" and being "cut off" from God when we are without Christ. Thanks for your insights and post.
Your Friend and Brother,
Dave Scriven
www.wordtraveler.org
Wow! This is so amazing of God to totally give Himself for us! Reading your post today brought me such joy as I am reminded again of what He has done, and how I can never thank Him enough for His sacrifice for me... for everyone!
<< Home
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting! Please leave a message if you were blessed or have any questions. Additionally, please sign your name! I would love to reply and explain everything. If you have disagreements or would like to discuss something, please leave contact information so I can email you. Unsigned comments may be deleted.
Be blessed in His heart today! His heart is for you!