The Goat Has Left The Building

  

Feasts were times when God said:

"I will meet with you and you will experience and understand me.”

  

You will grow in your knowledge and understanding of God.

Feasts were rehearsals for something to come!

The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: 'Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark.'

-Leviticus 16:1-2a

He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

-Leviticus 16:3-5

It was an occasion of great amazement to us when we saw Eleazar, the High Priest, engaged in his ministry and all the glorious vestments including the wearing of the garment with precious stones upon it in which he is vested. There the priest’s appearance makes one awestruck and dumbfounded. A man would think he had come out of this world into another. I emphatically assert that every man who comes near this spectacle of what I have described will experience astonishment and amazement beyond words. There was something about the high priest, the temple, the arrangement, the ritual that when you saw it transported you somewhere else.

-Aristeas

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

-Psalm 121

Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering.

-Leviticus 16:9

One goat for Atonement = "Covering over of Sin.”

Sacrifice. Pronouncement. Transference.

One goat for Scapegoat = "Removal of Sin completely.”

Sent Away. Visual.

But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

-Leviticus 16:10

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

-Psalm 103:11-14

 

The Day of Atonement was a communal affair!

When the people of God came to the Day of Atonement, they had engaged in ten days of introspection:

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. 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. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

-Leviticus 16:20-22

The Goat has left the Building!

'Come now, let us settle the matter,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

-Isaiah 1:18

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

-Psalm 103:13

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

-John 18:19

It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. 'Here is your king,' Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, 'Take him away! Take him away! (Azazel) Crucify Him.'

-John 18:14-15

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

-Isaiah 53:5

The Lamb of God has been slain before the foundations of the world and all who call on His name shall be saved. Jesus is the ultimate High Priest!

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Then he adds: 'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.'

-Hebrews 10:11-14, 17

The Goat has left the Building!

Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'

-Acts 2:38

Today is the day of salvation!

Tomorrow is the Day of Judgment!

Repent and be Baptized

Come clean into the Presence of the Lord!

Make A Decision Schedule A Baptism