The Scapegoat

Passage:  Leviticus 16:6-10

Main Point:  God, in His infinite wisdom, provided a scapegoat and a sin offering - which reveals the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ on the Cross - while WE are the scapegoat - set free. 

• Promise? Sin will be atoned for, but there is hope for the sinner, too!  Jesus is our scapegoat sacrifice, while we go free!
• Lesson  There is a great and wonderful truth that we need to consider.  Aaron, the High Priest, needs to offer atonement for himself and his own sins before offering a sacrifice for the sins of the people.  That makes sense.  But Jesus, being already perfect, did not need to do this in His High Priestly duties on the cross.  He, himself, was the sacrifice for the people's sins (yours and mine).  Not only was He the perfect sacrifice (without any sin-blemish), He was the perfect High Priest to offer it (being the Son of God, without any sins on His account).  Can you appreciate this truth about Jesus?  He makes the absolutely perfect Savior - for all of mankind, Jews and the rest of the world alike!
• Blessing?  Yes!! There is a huge blessing here!  The blessing is the blessing of life!  We live because Jesus died!  (The story does not end with the death of Jesus - for the resurrection followed, for sure!)  The death of Christ is the sin-offering for each person who ever lived.  Have you accepted Him as payment for YOUR sins?  Then you shall live if you have.  You go free - like the scapegoat.  You are blessed among men, for your sins are washed away, you have been set free.  Those whom the Lord sets free are free indeed!
• Revelation about God?  What does this say about God?  Simply, God has seen our need, and understood our remedy all along.  He provided for it by sending His Son as our sacrifice so we can go free!  That is love; that is mercy; that is grace; and that is freedom and forgiveness.  God's wisdom shines forth.  God's eternal provision shines forth.  God's ability to meet our need most impossible to meet is shown.  What is there that God cannot do?  What is there that God will not do to meet our temporal needs when He has so wonderfully provided for our spiritual needs?

Devotional:

We don't use the word "Scapegoat" the way the Bible does.  In our world, a scapegoat gets the punishment for someone else's sins.  In the Bible, the scapegoat is set free while another gets the punishment for the scapegoat's sins!  I like the Bible usage better - WE are the scapegoats, and Jesus paid for our sins!  WE are set free!  We are allowed to live forever because God sees the death of Christ as adequate payment for our sins!  What more can I say?  

I believe I will use this devotional portion to simply offer praise to the Lord for what He has done - and His character that moved Him to do it. 

Dear Lord, My God, and My Savior,

You are Sooooo wonderful, glorious, and awesome!  How could you have seen our need and met it so perfectly, except you be so Holy?  You are love.  You are patient, and you are just.  You have found the perfect way to take care of my sins while letting me spend eternity in a relationship with you!  Your Son has paid the price - and Lord Jesus, you have risen again that we both might have life together!  Thank you!  I look forward to that day when I can see you face to face, without the flesh to plague me with temptations, in a place where sin cannot wound my heart ever again, in a place  where you can personally heal me of the hurts sin has caused me - never to be hurt again.  Yes, Lord, you have set me free!  But you have left me here so others might know about this.  Please, Lord, by your mercy, touch someone else with this truth as you have me, that they might know the joy of forgiveness.  And help me to forgive others in the same way - freely!

In Jesus' Name,

Amen