Let’s start with a reading of The Old Testament as it relates to atonement specifically the Hebrew Day of Atonement.
Leviticus 16:6-10
6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.
Leviticus 16:20-22
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, 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. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
In the New King James version the word “Scapegoat” is used. In the ESV, as well as some other translations, the original Hebrew word is used Azazel. A long long time ago a man named William Tyndale translated the phrase “for Azazel” to scapegoat.
In this blog we're going to focus on this second goat in this Leviticus 16 passage; “the scapegoat”. This is the banished goat.
Definitions:
Let’s start by defining a few theological terms before we dig in deep….Atonement:
Atonement summarizes the total activity of offering both goats. After all, these goats were offered on the Day of Atonement. By definition atonement is something done to make amends. To restore a relationship. Even in our earthly relationships we offer up acts of atonement to win back the favor of those who we have hurt. We don't sacrifice goats to offer recompense to those we have hurt, but We do things to show that we are sorry.So this “day of atonement” was to restore the relationship and the eternal condition of man as he stands before God.
This involves change on both sides of the equation. God's attitude and man's condition.
Now our next word is:
Propitiation
This word we might be more familiar with because it shows up in the New Testament 4 times.1 John 4:9-10
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation is the turning away of wrath.
If atonement summarizes the entire process of making amends, propitiation is what happens on God's side of the relationship. God's wrath is turned away. A blood sacrifice was offered as payment to make reparations for the punishment of sins, and that punishment of course is death. So, in propitiation, wrath and justice are satisfied and God's disposition is changed from anger to favor.
Propitiation is an awesome word… as we worship we can think about this word and how it relates to God changing his disposition towards us.
But today we're going to focus on a word that you may not have heard of.
Expiation
Expiation is what we see in the second goat; the scapegoat. Expiation is all about cleansing. It's the aspect of the atonement that affects man's condition and his experience. Through the transfer of our guilt to the scapegoat, man's sin is expiated... It's forgiven... It's covered... It's removed.So…Propitiation involves appeasing God. Expiation involves cleansing our sins.
The Lords goat is slain. The people’s goat is banished. God's wrath is satisfied. And our banishment is banished. Welcoming outcasts back to a place of love and honor.
Propitiation happened in God's domain; the Holy Place.
Expiation happened in man's domain; the banished realm.
Let's look back at the text... Leviticus 16:20
Leviticus 16
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.
The phrase "made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar” is getting at the one aspect of the atonement had been completed. That is propitiation… “made an end of” the atonement. That is the sacrifice of the first goat.
But although God’s disposition has been changed, mankind was still unclean… full of guilt… full of sin… and full of brokenness.
So then, the priest was to lay his hands on the live goat, confess iniquity ....transgressions.... and sins, every category of human guilt. This was all done over this “scapegoat”. This signified a transfer of guilt from the people onto the goat. The priest would lay his hands on both horns and confess; signifying our sin and guilt is transferred to the goat.
Now let's take a look at verse Leviticus 16:21-22...
Leviticus 16
21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, 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. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
"And shall send it away into the wilderness"....
And it goes on to say.... “the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land”..... or “a remote land”.
So once the goat got loaded up with the people's guilt, the goat became an outcast. It was shunned as a vile thing that could not remain in the presence of the Lord. It became unclean and it was sent into a barren desert to die in a remote mountain far away from civilization ... It was banished or it was cut off.
The goat’s fate was not just exclusion…. but death... It's not really that clear here in the text alone, but if we look at the tradition of how the goat was set free, it was not like it was set free in a nice green pasture to live out its rest of its days in a happy life. It was brought to a horrible desert wasteland and set free on a very steep rock face or cliff. The only thing that could really happen is the goat would fall and die. So in one sense it was set free, but it was not set free to live… It was set free in order to die on the side of a jagged cliff.
The scapegoat here is depicted as bearing the sins guilt and punishment of the people and being condemned to death in their place.
The last piece of text that I want to dig into right now is the location of where the goat was taken.
Leviticus 16:10
10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness (A remote place…. Azazel).
This term "Azazel" is really interesting but also really weird. Like a lot of the Old Testament, it's shrouded in mystery. It's probably important to understand that it was translated to “scapegoat”. The ESV does a better translation and leaves it as Azazel.
Leviticus 16:8
8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. (ESV)
And later on, in this chapter, Azazel is referred to as a place.
According to Jewish tradition Azazel is actually the name of a demon. He is usually depicted as goat like. In the Book of Enoch, which is part of the Apocrypha not part of the canon of Scripture, but still can be important to understanding Jewish tradition records God's supposed instructions to an angel. He was to bind Azazel and cast him under a particular mountain until the final judgment. It says “The whole earth has been corrupted by the works that were taught by Azazel. To him ascribe all sin.” So in this Apocrypha book, Azazel bore the blame for corrupting all of mankind. Once more, the Hebrew book called the Mishnah actually refers to this place at this mountain as the house of his piercing.
So, mentioning Azazel here in Leviticus would have immediately reminded the Jews of the story of this demon and what happened at this particular mountain. Whether or not the story is true is really not that important, but what is important is this place became associated with this demon. It was the place that represented the source and embodiment of all evil.
Okay, I've spent all this time taking you through these details of the scapegoat’s journey so you might have a new vantage point from which to see and appreciate the significance of Jesus's life and his death.
So now I want to show you three ways in which we see Jesus symbolized in this second goat in Leviticus 16.
- The biblical testimony that Jesus is the ultimate sin bearer. This is what the goat did…. it bore the sins of the people.
- The way that Jesus lived his life reveals how Jesus functioned as a scapegoat.
- The manner of Jesus's death reveals to us the true and ultimate scapegoat.
1. The biblical testimony that Jesus is the ultimate sin bearer.
Consider the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah.We're going to turn to one in Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53:6
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
See those words “laid on him”. This should remind us of the goat. Transfer our guilt...
Isaiah 53:12
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
Again, “He bore the sin of many”.
The New Testament makes it clear that this sin bearer is Jesus.
John 1:29
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
2nd Corinthians 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Galatians 3:13
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
Hebrews 9:28
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
1st Peter 2:24
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
Scripture makes it pretty clear that Jesus is the true and ultimate scapegoat.
2. The way that Jesus lived his life reveals how Jesus functioned as a scapegoat.
We see echoes of Jesus's role as the banished goat well before his crucifixion. Jesus seems to avoid all the holy places associated with Old Testament saints acting as one who was despised and rejected by men. He never went into the inner courts of the temple. He was not of the family of Levi. He was of Judah. This meant he did not have access to the holy places. He was more like the commoner not the elite. He became a banished man literally, he was born in Bethlehem but he fled to Egypt. After Egypt living then in the low brow town of Nazareth. Jesus went to mountains to pray instead of the temple. Ultimately he was put to death outside of the city. It seems as if Jesus seeks uncleanness out. He seems to look for lepers so that he can touch them. He heals the sick, he touches the dead. He associates with the lowlifes, the scum of society. As he headed to the cross, do you remember how he stood before the high priest, only to have accusations heaped upon him? Yet he remained silent, bearing the guilt for sin that was not his own.3. The manner of Jesus's death reveals to us the true and ultimate scapegoat.
Jesus's death shows his role of a scapegoat perhaps more clearly than his life.Hebrews 13:12
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
Here suffered outside the gate, can be understood as a place of defilement. Being moved outside the city for crucifixion meant that you were impure, corrupt, dirty, filthy, contaminated, rejected, and full of reproach. Anyone that was banished outside of the city was excluded, isolated and ostracized.
Consider even the geography of Golgotha....
Golgotha was the name of the place that Jesus was crucified. The traditional location for where this place is in the middle of a quarry. With man-made cliffs of quarry stone surrounding it. And actually the part that they crucified Christ on was the part that they decided wasn't worth quarrying. So they kind of took away all the rock around it and it left this jagged mountain.
So, at this point, I hope you have gotten the understanding of these implications of Jesus being the ultimate scapegoat. I hope it warms your soul with the truth of all that Jesus has accomplished for you; removing the guilt and shame of sin and brokenness.
But I know that everyone of us still suffers from guilt, shame and feelings of being an outcast in various areas of our lives. I know because I feel it. It's part of our Adamic nature. Even though Jesus has accomplished this for us, we still feel shame and guilt. There is a disconnect here.
Maybe it's an abuse you've never gotten over.
Or maybe it's a habitual sin that you keep on going back to.
There seems to be a giant disconnect. If Jesus has removed all of our shame then why do we still feel shame?
Let me offer an attempt at an explanation...
The root of your ongoing struggle to experience the cleansing that Jesus has accomplished for you, is a failure to believe and rest in the truth that your guilt and shame has been removed as one that stands in Christ. You forget that Jesus was your scapegoat.
I don't mean that you literally forget what Jesus has done for you. But I do mean that your attitudes and actions betray a deeper, subtle disbelief in Jesus's cleansing power in particular areas of your life. At some level, you think it's your suffering, your shame or your defilement that so great that even Jesus's banishment is not enough to heal you. Maybe it's enough for others, maybe it's enough for most of the things in my life, but it’s not enough for that one thing. This is how unbelief functions. Unbelief in Jesus's cleansing power can be really subtle.
Sometimes it manifests itself by our tireless efforts to become insiders... You have to become accepted by certain circles of people and ultimately by God. Maybe you get angry and judgmental, jealous and insecure when you see people flaunt their friendships on Facebook for instance. Sometimes we see people who write how about how wonderful their friendships are and that can make us jealous.
Other times unbelief can manifest itself by punishing ourselves. Sometimes we load up the burdens of our guilt and our own failures and maybe even the guilt and failures of others onto our own backs and we start our own quest into the wilderness believing the lie that we can get ourselves out of guilt by becoming our own scapegoats. Let me encourage you to call it what it is. This is pride. It can look like depression, but so often depression is rooted in pride. Your depression might be functioning as a refusal to admit that you do not have the power to sufficiently punish yourself for your own sins. So let me encourage you to cast your burdens onto the back of the only true scapegoat. The only one who can release you from your self-made dilemma… and that's Jesus.
If Jesus's cleansing power is made available to us through faith, by believing that he has cleansed our sins, where do we start, if we want freedom from a particular struggle with guilt and shame? It's not like I'm saying work, and counseling, and therapy is not of use. Where do we start?
Well, I'd like to follow what first John1:9 says...
1 John 1
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So why not start with confession? Whether it be your own sins or the sins of others; meaning, what has been done to you. Notice the two promises that we just read, the offer to us if we confess...
Forgiveness and Cleansing
It's not as if God does not forgive us positionally. We just read what Jesus accomplished for us. What this is getting to is our experience of forgiveness and of cleansing. Confession begins the process of experiencing the cleansing already won for us in Jesus. We can confess our sins and believe that he has taken it.
So talk to the Lord about your struggles. Even if it's all just a mess and you don't know if it's your sin, or the sins of others. Just bring it all to God and talk to him.
You can also talk to someone godly that you can confide in. James 5:16 says to confess our sins to one another.
I know that it is really scary to bring up these deep wells of shame. It’s easy to bring up the things that don't go really deep, but for those issues that we have struggled with for years, to believe that we can be cleansed, can be really really hard.
The word propitiation, that we defined earlier, can be very encouraging to entice you to reveal yourself. We defined propitiation as the turning away of God's wrath. Remember before the scapegoat was ever sent God's wrath was propitiated meaning that now his only disposition towards us is love. His love is a powerful incentive to confess, to stop hiding. Even if other people have turned away from you or condemn you because of what you have done, God has nothing but pity and tenderness in his heart towards you and He wants to hear about your sins because he wants to heal you from their power. Love was the reason for the expiation in the first place. There was no reason that Jesus was to become an outcast for you other than pure and powerful love for you. The “Scapegoat” should remind us that in God's arms is safety. Assurance of acceptance... and not rejection... No matter how unclean you might think you are, no matter how many times you have been rejected by others for the secrets, the shame and the guilt you shared, God will not reject you if you come to him in Christ.
So the expiation of Christ calls us to come to God unashamed. As children who God has been waiting for. Not with a shameful distance in our hearts.
So let us anchor our hearts in the expiation of Jesus.
Let me close by painting a mental picture…
As I studied the location of this mountain called Azazel and the geography of ancient Jerusalem. I ended up imagining Jesus on the Cross at Golgotha, and the mountains He could see because Golgotha was on the ridge of a hill. In fact, it was on the same ridge as the temple mount called Mount Moriah. Now the Mountains in the area are not like the jagged peaks like we think of Mountains here in the USA. They are more like ridges. So sometimes there is not a real defined peak like we might think when we hear Mountains and we compare in our minds to images we have of Mount Everest ect. So, Jesus was on a Mountain as he was crucified at Golgotha. This location was likely located just west of the temple mount at about the same elevation of the temple. It was high up above the city walls. From this point, Jesus must have had a panoramic view of the significant places of his people. As he hung on the cross, his head caught in thorn branches, bearing the burden of his people and banished to die as an outcast, He could see mount Moriah right in front of him. The same site that God provided Abraham with a ram, caught in the thicket by his horns, to sacrifice in place of his son Isaac. This was the same ridge on which the Temple was built, the place where God had come to dwell with his people. He could probably even see the pinnacle of the temple, at the southwest corner, where Satan urged Him to throw Himself down. Well that was not the time for the second goat to be cast down to die from a pinnacle. This was now the time. To Jesus' left stood the Mount of Olives, the place where Jesus wept over the plight of the city, and where he triumphantly entered as the Messiah just one week earlier. In the distance in front of Him and slightly to the left, He could probably see the mountain ridge of Azazel. I imagine as I was thinking, about all of this, that perhaps as Jesus was thinking of the weight of all that He was accomplishing...fulfilling, He formed his last view before symbolically being cast off the cliff to die as He proclaimed “It is Finished”.
Would you put your trust in Jesus as your Scapegoat today? He is the only one who can remove your guilt and shame.
Would you put your trust in Jesus as the only Scapegoat in those areas of sin you hold on to, disbelieving that God can actually cleanse you? He is the only one who can remove your guilt and shame.
Not a person, not a process, not a program, ultimately you have to put your trust in Jesus. Stop trying to bury your shame with man-made devices. Confess your sins, cry out for healing for the sins committed against you and believe they were transferred to Jesus as he stood before the high priest, banished back to the source of wickedness. Believe that they were finally and thoroughly defeated.
As a Christian you don't need to live in shame anymore. By drawing near to God by Jesus as your substitute, you have been set free from shame, so live as you actually are.
But if you are not in Christ your fate will be far worse that dealing with shame and guilt in this life you will end up walking the Scapegoat's road… perishing on the side of a desert mountain and buried under a mountain of your condemnation and cut off from all goodness forever.
What are you waiting for? Run to Jesus as your substitute. He is our only hope!
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