Saturday, September 14, 2013

Day of Atonement -The scapegoat

Today I woke up so full of joy.
I woke feeling so much lighter in a while not that I have been feeling particularly burdened. Yet there was a particular lightness and joy this morning.

Someone told me that today is the day of atonement. This day according to the Bible a priest would pray for the nation of Israel by placing all the sins of the people over a goat without defect. The word atonement means to "cover" or "covering". This means that people's sins are covered and forgiven. According to Leviticus 16 the goat that is a sin offering would be released outside of the city. It would be cast out. This is where the term scapegoat comes from.

I remember one day a few years ago, I said to the Lord: "Lord, I don't want to ask for forgiveness all the time. I don't want to make you my scapegoat." The Lord surprised me and interrupted my talk while the words had hardly left my mouth.
The Lord said to me: "But I AM your scapegoat."

I had not done any intense study of the old testament then. The old laws hardly made sense to me then. I also knew that my understanding of His grace was not fantastic at that time. One thing I immediately realised was...I didn't know the word "scapegoat" was a Biblical term. I knew what the Lord was telling me.

Our sins were placed upon Jesus Christ and He was used as a scapegoat for all our sins and was crucified outside of the city gates. Our sins have been atoned for. He is our scapegoat and we are free from our sins because the Son has set us free from all sin if we believe.

What joy I felt. What joy I feel now. This must be the reason I woke up full of joy. When your sins are no more all the weight if it is gone and the joy of living is revealed. The fountain of life causes life to flow out of our bellies.

"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Thank you Lord!

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