Leviticus 16:5-10, 20-22
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"
(JOHN 1:29)
The ritual for Israel on the Day of Atonement involved the selection of two goats. One would be sacrificed, and the other, the live goat, would be banished to the wilderness after the High Priest laid the sins of the people on its head. This live goat was called "Azazel" which is the Hebrew word for "scapegoat." It was this scapegoat, although not guilty of any crime itself, which bore the penalty of the people and took away their sins.
What a wonderful "picture" for us! Jesus the Messiah fulfills the symbolism of both goats, and by doing so, He fulfills every aspect of the Day of Atonement for us and on our behalf. "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus was innocent and sinless, yet "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). He's our scapegoat and Savior!
INSIGHT
HE PAID A DEBT HE DID NOT OWE, AND PAID THE DEBT I COULD NEVER PAY.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Micah 5-7
Proverbs 23
Revelation 1-2
Leviticus 16:5-10
New International Version (NIV)
5 From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat.[a] 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
Footnotes:
a. Leviticus 16:8 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain; also in verses 10 and 26.
Leviticus 16:20-22
New International Version (NIV)
20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He 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 wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
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