Verse for the Day, 9 January 2015.

Leviticus 16:20-22, “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.  (21)  And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.  (22)  The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.”

Thus far we have seen how the Day of Atonement teaches us about the sufficiency of Christ’s work as our high priest, the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement and how it points us to the Incarnation of Christ. These truths are greatly encouraging and comforting to us, they are also of critical importance to the truth of the Gospel.

There is one more aspect that we need to reflect upon before we leave this chapter. Once Aaron had offered up the sacrifices for himself, his household and then for the whole nation, he is given instructions as to what he should do with the second goat. These instructions may seem rather obscure, confessing the sins over the goat and then driving the goat out of the camp and into the wilderness, but they teach us two wonderful truths.

The first truth that we are taught is that Christ is the one who removes our sin, who takes our sin away from us, and not just a short distance from us but far away, to the point that it will not return. This goat functions as a symbol of this, for the sins of the people are laid and confessed upon the goat. This goat was then to be taken out in the wilderness, driven far out of the camp. That goat would never return to the camp, but would remain and even die out in the wilderness. In the same manner Jesus takes our sin from us, it is all laid upon him and he endures all of God’s wrath against it. He takes our sin away from us once and for, so far that it shall never return to us. We are completely, perfectly and entirely forgiven. We think of the words of David in Psalm 103 when he tells us that our sin has been taken from us as far as the east is from the west. We also think of the words of the prophet Micah in Micah 7:19 we are told that our sin has been cast into the very depths of the sin. Jesus is not just our sin-bearer, he also removes, takes away our sin from us.

Secondly, the goat serves to point us to the fact that Christ bore the curse of God, our sin and he did so outside of the camp, Jesus suffered outside of God’s city. Paul tells us in Galatians 3 that Christ delivered us from the curse, by becoming a curse. This truth that Jesus was cursed for our sake and suffered this curse outside of the city of God, so as to take away our sin and save us goes even further. Think for a moment, who is it that should suffer outside the city of God? The answer is us, we are the ones that do not deserve to be in God’s city and holy presence. We should be those who endure the curse, wrath and judgement of God, to us the city of God should be closed. Yet consider this, Christ, God the Son, who has every right to dwell in the city of God, He leaves the city of God in order to be cursed, to suffer for us, so that He might then open to us the city of God. Christ leaves the city of God, so that we might enter into the city of God. Christ leaves the city of God to suffer what we deserve, so that in the city of God we can receive what He deserves. Christ leaves the city so that he might unlock the gates of heaven and then lead us in as saved, children of God.

The Day of Atonement is rich in what it symbolises and how it clearly points us to the person and work of Christ, and the salvation that He would accomplish for us. We should be filled with thankfulness that we are not still waiting for all these signs and symbols to be fulfilled. For us the great Day of Atonement has come, Christ has come as a man, as our high priest, He has become our substitute, taken upon Himself our curse, He has suffered outside the city of God. He has made complete and full atonement for our sin, carrying them far from us to the point that they cannot return and now He leads us into the heavenly city of God, to live with Him for all eternity. Let us thank God for this chapter that reminds us of the depths, riches and wonder of our salvation.

Our most merciful God we agree whole-heartedly with the words of the Micah the prophet, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression…” Thank you for the great pardon, the full salvation, that You have given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. May You make it all the more precious to us today, and may we grow in thankfulness to You. How we long and look forward to that day when Christ shall lead us into Your and our eternal home. Amen.