[Aaron] is to cast sacred lots to determine
which goat will be sacrificed to the Lord and
which one will be the scapegoat.
Leviticus 16:8
Did you know that a "Scapegoat" was Biblical?!!
On the Day of Atonement, the priest was to take two goats. The first was to be sacrificed to cleanse the people for their sins (You've heard of that pattern repeatedly by now.) But the second goat, as another translation renders it, "will carry the sins of the people [in]to the wilderness." More simply put, the second goat will carry our guilt away!
Now, our natural tendency is to focus on the goat -- after all, we all like animals and we've all been somebody's scapegoat. But quit focusing on the goat! This lesson is an absolutely powerful symbol of how God hopes we'll deal with guilt!
I deal with people all the time who know in their mind that they've been forgiven -- that's the first goat -- but in their heart, they can't let go of the guilt. They feel dirty, stained, haunted, unworthy, and ashamed.
Therefore, God said, tie your guilt to a goat and watch it wander away from you. Step by step, know that when you have been forgiven, your guilt can disappear totally into the wilderness!
(And by the way, don't disappear into the wilderness again and again trying to hunt it back down!)
It's gone.
You're free.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who wants to eSCAPE
rather be a scape
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