Jesus,
Our Scapegoat
Aaron shall lay both his
hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities (sins)
of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions (rebellion), concerning
all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away
into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself
all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in
the wilderness -Leviticus 16:21-22
The Isaac Leeser
translation of Isaiah 53:4 tells us that Jesus took on our sicknesses and pains
as our substitute so you and I wouldn’t have to carry them: “But only our diseases
did he bear himself, and our pains he carried.”
But notice that in the King
James Version Isaiah used the words borne and carried. Those same words are
used in the book of Leviticus when referring to the role of the scapegoat. This
scapegoat gives us another portrait of redemption in the Old Testament.
When the nation of Israel
sinned, that sin had to be judged. (Remember, Israel was a type of the Church.)
But God didn’t want the people to suffer judgment; He wanted them to receive
mercy. So, He told them to find a spotless, perfect goat. The people were to
bring this goat to Aaron the priest. Aaron then laid his hands on the goat and
confessed the sins of the nation over it. Afterwards, someone of Israel then
fell on the scapegoat. In other words, God allowed the sins of the people to be
transferred through the hands of Aaron to that goat, and the goat bore the sins
of the people and carried them away.
When Jesus went to the
Cross, God lay upon Him all the sin, iniquity, sickness, suffering and pain of
mankind. Jesus was the ultimate scapegoat—taking our place in judgment, taking
the punishment we deserved.
CONFESSION:
Jesus is my substitute.
When I was separated from God and deserved to die, He died for me. He bore my
sickness and pain so I wouldn’t have to bear them. Because of Jesus, I am healed
and whole!
From: A Devotional for
Divine Health Prescription for a Miracle, Mark Brazee, 1999
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