Having recently come through the High Holy Day season, many important themes are likely to be fresh in our hearts. Of all the themes of this season, none is more important than the issue of sin and its affect on our relationship with God.
Every year during the High Holy Day season, Jewish people throughout the world come together in the synagogues, desiring to somehow deal with the issue of sin. Sin, of course is that power that has infected the very nature of mankind. We are born with a sin nature, and that sin nature separates us from the fellowship with God for which we have been created. Unless we receive the forgiveness of God, there is a constant barrier that keeps us from the life-giving presence of the Lord.
In biblical times, when God brought the children of Israel out from bondage in Egypt, He gave the Torah, His law or instruction, to serve as a guide for their lives. Included in the Torah was a whole system of sacrifices & offerings so that there could be atonement for sin. Atonement in Hebrew simply means a covering. The idea is that God, in His infinite mercy & love, would cover over our sins and forgive us. However, our sin nature remained unchanged. Man was, in essence, granted a pardon for the sins he was guilty of, but inwardly he was not changed.
Here is how the whole system of sacrifices & offerings worked. Atonement is based on a principle that we refer to as vicarious sacrifice. One without sin would take the place of those infected by sin, in order to pay the penalty on behalf of those who had actually sinned. To personalize this, we might put it this way. We had sinned. We deserved the punishment of death as God’s judgment of our sin. But one without sin was allowed to be a substitute for us to take our place in being judged. This is the principle that the sacrificial system was based on.
Atonement came through the shedding of innocent blood, as the animal sacrificed was a substitute in place of those who had sinned. Leviticus 17:11 tells us God’s view of all this. He tells us in that passage: “for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Here is where we see the principle of atonement or covering. Innocent blood covers over our own sin so that we can be forgiven rather than come under the judgment we deserve. We stand forgiven by the mercy of God, as He is willing to allow an innocent animal to die in our place.
In ancient times when the Temple was standing, various kinds of sacrifices were constantly brought throughout the year. But on one particular day, there was a special focus on atonement for the nation. That day was Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16 describes the two offerings made for the nation. First there was a sin offering, a goat slain to provide a covering for the sins of Israel. But then, there was a second offering referred to in Hebrew as azazel, or a scapegoat. This scapegoat would be brought before the priest, who would lay his hands on the head of the goat as he confessed the sins of the people. However, rather than sacrificing this goat, it would instead be sent away into the wilderness, symbolically taking away all the sins of the nation from their midst.
Why was this done, and why is it so important for us to note? Let’s consider a foundational issue to help us understand the importance of this practice. As Messianic believers, our faith revolves around a very crucial point. We believe that the sacrifices and offerings outlined in the Hebrew Scriptures were meant to be temporary. They were temporary because they were intended to point to a greater sacrifice that would forever fulfill all the previous sacrifices made. Of course, we believe that Yeshua (Jesus) fulfilled these sacrifices & offerings. He is the One all the sacrifices pointed to. How is it that we can say this? Why can we be confident that the animal sacrifices were meant to be temporary? There are a number of reasons, but I believe that a key is related to this issue of the scapegoat.
The scapegoat and its role in Yom Kippur points to the fact that God Himself was looking to do more than just forgive the people of their sins. If forgiveness of sins was the only goal of Yom Kippur, the one sin offering would have been sufficient. However, through the role of the scapegoat, God was showing the people that His ultimate intent was that sin would actually be removed from man. Remember that the scapegoat symbolically received upon itself the sins of the nations and was then sent out into the wilderness. This was meant to symbolize the idea of sin actually being taken away.
God’s intent has always been to provide man with something even beyond forgiveness. What could be greater than forgiveness? Deliverance from sin’s power was God’s ultimate goal! Clearly, the animal sacrifices could not provide such a deliverance. How could such a deliverance be provided? It could only be provided by the sacrifice of one whose life involved the conscious experiencing of temptation and a total freedom from all sin. Yeshua is the One who alone lived such a life.
The offering of His life as a sacrifice for sin is described in our own Hebrew Scriptures in Isaiah 53. The prophets describe the new covenant that would be established through His laying down of His life. Jeremiah 31:31-34 speaks of the new covenant that would result in God’s law being written upon our hearts. Ezekiel 36:25-27 describes God removing our heart of stone & giving us a heart of flesh, placing His own Spirit within us.
What a glorious truth this is! What God makes available to us through Yeshua goes beyond forgiveness, as the power of sin’s grip on our hearts has been broken. Our sins can be removed & our hearts can be made clean. May it be our daily experience to know the power of God’s salvation and the reality of His deliverance in our lives.
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