“They will know that I am the Lord their God,who brought them out of Egypt
so that I might live among them.”
Exodus 29:46“
(In the Courtyard of the Tent of Meeting) “Aaron should bring forward the live goat.
He will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess all the sins and wrong-doings of the people of Israel.
He will lay them upon the head of the goat and send it away into the desert
by the hand of a man ready to help.
The goat will carry upon itself all their sins to a land where no one lives.
Leviticus 16:20-22
The fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
It was our sins that did that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him.
Isaiah 53:2-6
“Ends are what you are trying to achieve while means are how you get there.” (Harold Jarche) Point 1 is the end of Father’s enterprise on our behalf. Point 2 is the means by which Father accomplishes His goal. This is clearly illustrated above.
Though delivered from bondage, the people were prone to rebel – to wander off and do their own thing. “After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night. ‘Is the Lord leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed. We’d be better off in Egypt. Let’s choose our own leader and go back.’” (Numbers 14:1-4) Imagine! Israel wanted to return to bondage! This is the inclination of our hearts. We so easily regress to slavery!
So, how does Father live with people who sin … who miss the mark … continuously? (Romans 3:23) On the Day of Atonement Aaron displayed a live goat before the people. Laying his hands on the head of the goat, he confessed “all the sins and wrong-doings” of the people.” Then, the live goat was lead to a land where no one lives, bearing upon itself all the sins of the people. With their sins taken away the cleansed people could live in community with a Holy God.
Note the phrase: Day of Atonement. Hyphenate the word: AT-ONE-MENT! “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of AT-ONE-MENT, through the shedding of his blood.“ (Romans 3:25) Do you get it? On its shoulders the lamb, never to be seen again, carried all the sins of the people. “We—every one of us—have strayed away like sheep. We left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet, God laid on Jesus the guilt and sins of every one of us!” (Isaiah 53:6) “Christianity happens when men and women accept with unwavering trust that their sins have been not only forgiven, but forgotten, washed away in the blood of the Lamb.” Brennan Manning
“You will have mercy on us again; you will conquer our sins. You will throw away all our sins into the deepest part of the sea.” (Micah 7:19) “Someone said, ‘God threw our sins in the deepest sea and then put up a sign that said, ‘No Fishing’.’” So we’re not supposed to keep beating up on ourselves for our past mistakes; and we’re not to keep judging others for their past mistakes. There is no fishing for our own sins, nor for the sins of others. When we give our burdens to Christ, they are gone forever.” (What Does God Do with Our Sins?)