We invite you to encounter more of Christ by reflecting on his marvelous names in Scripture. This page features daily selections from the book, I Want to Know More of Christ, by Steve Hall. As you listen to the audio or read the text versions (which are updated every day) may you become increasingly captivated by the fullness of Christ! You can also receive a free daily email reminder to visit this page by signing up below.
Jesus is…
The Scapegoat
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SCRIPTURE READING:
Leviticus 16:6-10, 20-22
“Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 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.
“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. 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. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
SIGNIFICANCE:
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, like the scapegoat, has borne all sins and carried them far away.
Dear Father, I am so grateful that You sent Jesus to earth 2000 years ago to be the Scapegoat for me and all people. Thank You that like the scapegoat carried the sins of Israel far into the wilderness once a year to remove them from the people, Jesus, Your perfect Scapegoat, takes our sin completely and forever upon Himself and away from us “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). I am very humbled by Isaiah 53:6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” I rejoice over John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” I pray that Christians today will awaken to the greatness of the Scapegoat and devote themselves completely to Him. May large numbers of people who are currently lost in sin receive Him as their Scapegoat. In His sacrificial name I pray. Amen
