I was trying to talk to a friend this week about connecting the old and new testaments of the bible. Reading the bible is not always the most popular thing to do and the old testament is usually not my cup of tea.I can read the Psalms for some encouragement... and there are some good stories in Genesis and Exodus.... and I love the faith of Ruth. It can be easy to leave the old testament in the past... as everything that was part of the old covenant. I'm grateful for God sending Jesus.. and creating the new covenant. I'm not so fond of sacrificing animals and following all of the laws from Leviticus. I do love when I can see the connection from the old to the new testament, helping me put it all together.
I was reminded of the lesson I learned more than five years ago in a bible study when I was living in Tennessee. Our teacher was connecting the day of atonement from Leviticus 16 to Jesus' crucifixion in John 19 to Hebrews 10. I had never found any point in reading Leviticus 16, but loved seeing it play out in the new testament.
Check out Leviticus 16:20-22 first... 20 “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. 21 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. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
The whole chapter is talking about the Day of Atonement. Israel’s annual Day of Atonement was something like a spiritual spring cleaning. It was a day of national mourning and repentance. The whole ceremony is outlined through chapter 16. Aaron secured the necessary sacrificial animals: a bull for his own sin offering and two male goats for the people’s sin offering; two rams, one for Aaron’s and the other for the people’s burnt offering. In verses 20-22, it's talking about the second goat, the one which was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically laid on its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place, from which it must never return.
Azazel is the Hebrew word for "scapegoat." They say, the literal translation would be something along the line of “the going-away goat” or the “disappearing goat” or the “entire-removal goat”. Which is cool that it's not the goat that is "taking the blame," but really the entire removal.
Fast forward to John 19:15. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
The guy who taught me the lesson was talking about how this translation of "take him away" and the original goat being taken away is so similar. John 19 tells the story of Jesus' being put to death... really on account of our screw-ups and not just to take the blame, but to really remove the blame and the sins.
Hebrews 10:3-4. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. This marks the new covenant... where after Jesus, we don't have to keep sacrificing animals like they did in Leviticus. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice.
Then there's Hebrews 13:11-13. 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.
Here, it's telling us Jesus was taken outside the city to die... similar to the goat on the Day of Atonement taken outside the city.
It feels really wordy and intellectual and not very emotional or feel good... but I think there's a lesson in the scapegoat. Today, scapegoat is always just the person taking the blame. We mess up, we take the blame, feel guilty or bad about ourselves and we carry it around with us. Jesus didn't just take the blame. He took all of our mess-ups and has removed them. We can stop blaming ourselves... we can stop carrying them around... we just have to let Him remove them.
I was reminded of the lesson I learned more than five years ago in a bible study when I was living in Tennessee. Our teacher was connecting the day of atonement from Leviticus 16 to Jesus' crucifixion in John 19 to Hebrews 10. I had never found any point in reading Leviticus 16, but loved seeing it play out in the new testament.
Check out Leviticus 16:20-22 first... 20 “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. 21 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. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
The whole chapter is talking about the Day of Atonement. Israel’s annual Day of Atonement was something like a spiritual spring cleaning. It was a day of national mourning and repentance. The whole ceremony is outlined through chapter 16. Aaron secured the necessary sacrificial animals: a bull for his own sin offering and two male goats for the people’s sin offering; two rams, one for Aaron’s and the other for the people’s burnt offering. In verses 20-22, it's talking about the second goat, the one which was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically laid on its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place, from which it must never return.
Azazel is the Hebrew word for "scapegoat." They say, the literal translation would be something along the line of “the going-away goat” or the “disappearing goat” or the “entire-removal goat”. Which is cool that it's not the goat that is "taking the blame," but really the entire removal.
Fast forward to John 19:15. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
The guy who taught me the lesson was talking about how this translation of "take him away" and the original goat being taken away is so similar. John 19 tells the story of Jesus' being put to death... really on account of our screw-ups and not just to take the blame, but to really remove the blame and the sins.
Hebrews 10:3-4. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. This marks the new covenant... where after Jesus, we don't have to keep sacrificing animals like they did in Leviticus. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice.
Then there's Hebrews 13:11-13. 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.
Here, it's telling us Jesus was taken outside the city to die... similar to the goat on the Day of Atonement taken outside the city.
It feels really wordy and intellectual and not very emotional or feel good... but I think there's a lesson in the scapegoat. Today, scapegoat is always just the person taking the blame. We mess up, we take the blame, feel guilty or bad about ourselves and we carry it around with us. Jesus didn't just take the blame. He took all of our mess-ups and has removed them. We can stop blaming ourselves... we can stop carrying them around... we just have to let Him remove them.
No comments:
Post a Comment