It Really Gets My Scape-Goat

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters

“But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.” – Leviticus 16:10 (NASB)

 

So, it all begins with this infamous statement, “The woman You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” and voilà, a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others is created. This may not have been what God had in mind after He creates everything, declares it all good and begins to walk with His creation but it happened none the less. Ever since then, time has shown us all that it has become easier and easier to blame shift or, in a different term, “scapegoat” others, or even God for that matter, for what clearly is our wrong to own.

 

Today’s society doesn’t seem to have a problem finding ways of scapegoating itself outta troubles. It’s like those commercials on television that advertise lawyers who will help you find the person or persons responsible for YOUR accident when you’ve tripped and fallen on a sidewalk. They’ll hunt down the maker of the concrete used in the sidewalk, the city officials that didn’t put up the “Caution” sign on a post by the sidewalk, the maker of the shoes you were wearing and it’s all done in an effort to get you the monetary “justice” needed to help keep you from feeling like the klutz you actually are.

 

Now I’m not a guy who spends a great deal of time in the Book of Leviticus (who actually does) but there in the 16^th chapter we see how the scapegoat was actually used. There were two goats brought to Aaron, the high priest, and he was to cast lots to see which one was for the sacrifice and which one would be the scapegoat or what we could call the “goat of departing”. This is double-sided truth to help show us how God can be satisfied in the case of the sinner and how the sinner’s guilty conscience can be put to rest.

 

In the first case we are taught that God accepts a substitute to atone for our sin. If this wasn’t the case, we’d be in a world of hurt. Just like it had to be in The Garden, something had to be a covering over the sin that was brought into God’s sight. In the second case, however, something had to be done to relieve the guilt of the ones who brought that sin in the first place, namely us. Aaron would place his hands on the second goat’s head and then that goat was led out into the wilderness after the first goat was sacrificed. Folks were to look upon that goat, understanding that God removed their iniquity “as far as the east is from the west” and then watch it fade into the horizon…never to return.

 

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21

 

Whether we like it or not, we are a klutzy bunch of people and the only true way to remove that feeling is the person of Jesus Christ. You may not like me saying this but Jesus is our scapegoat and the coolest part of it is, since He is the High Priest, casting lots are no longer needed. He became a willful participate to shed His blood as a perfect atonement to satisfy the Fathers wrath and as He shouldered The Cross to Calvary He carries our sin away, “as far as the east is from the west” … never to return.

 

But we shouldn’t take this lightly. The Old Testament is full of stuff that happens when the reverence for the things of God aren’t taken seriously (maybe that’s why it’s a bit thicker than the New Testament). We never find out about what happened to scapegoat either, once it hit the horizon its pretty much gone but that’s not how it works with Jesus. On the contrary!! When we look to the horizon, we should see The Cross of Christ, set up on a hill, as an Ebenezer if you will, to help us keep in mind what it will cost to be made right with God.

 

With all that in mind we should be quite careful how we scapegoat others. As true as it is, we are nothing but a bunch of klutzy sinners who shouldn’t haphazardly cast our sin upon others and hope they, along with our sin, just go away “as far as the east is from the west” so we can redeem ourselves Once again, on the contrary!!

 

“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.” (Romans 2:1-2)

 

It is important to watch how we walk…sidewalks do have their cracks. Amen?

 

 

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, a husband, a father, and has recently become a grandpop. He has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy, 11/2003. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize:  “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; ⁶ For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” – Hebrews 12:5-6