My Walk With Him: “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

Monday, October 25, 2021

“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. Leviticus 16:20-22

This morning, I continued my study of Leviticus using the Christ-Centered Exposition series commentary for this book - continuing chapter fourteen - God Forgives and Removes Sin - covering Leviticus 16:1-34, looking specifically at the fourth theme for the chapter - God Offers Removal of Sin. Here, the commentary zeroes in on v20-22 and the offering of the live goat, which is described as a sacrifice unique to the Day of Atonement as "[i]t appears only here in Leviticus 16." The commentary starts with a brief examination of "azazel" (which appears four times in Leviticus 16), and while we cannot walk away with anything definitive regarding the definition of azazel, we are encouraged to see how the live goat sacrifice served as a scapegoat - a term first used by 16th century Bible translator William Tyndale. The goat, according to the commentary in its discussion of v20-22, "would bear the sins of others....all of [the Israelites sin] was placed on the scapegoat when the priest laid his hands on his head." Of course, for believers Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The commentary wraps today by referring us to Psalm 103:12 as one of many scriptural examples of how Christ removes sin:

...[A]s far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who was a perfect sacrifice - taking all of my sin from me - thank You Jesus! I am not deserving of such amazing grace. My sin continues...worry, etc. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.