John 11:25-27 English Standard Version

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Yesterday we discussed the scapegoat and the dismissive attitude we might take about it taking away sin. Then we saw Jesus and His sacrifice and how that is not so easy to dismiss. I ended that devotional with the word “My death He died.”

My sins make me worthy of a death sentence. Because I have placed my faith in Christ and His atoning work on the Cross I shall resurrected at a time appointed by the Father. Until then I live in Christ and Christ lives in me.

But I still sin. I have not escaped the presence of sin. If I take on the attitude of the scapegoat’s being put out on my mind and say “they are forgiven”, I am dismissive of Christ’s sacrifice. The fact that all I have to do is confess those sins and be forgiven is not a justification for willingly allow them to occur. Each and every temptation to sin should bear the weight of the Cross upon which these sins were sacrificed.

I have heard others say as they are about to sin, don’t worry, I am already forgiven. That is a disrespectful attitude towards His death. It might not condemn you to hell but it hurts the relationship. Will asking for forgiveness for a sin you are not sorry for committing heal that relationship?

Hebrews 10:26 English Standard Version (ESV) For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

This is a hard truth. Do we understand what it means?

Leviticus 16:7-10 English Standard Version

⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. ⁹ And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, ¹⁰ but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

The title of the episode of a show was “I need a goat”. Seeing this prompted me to think about the use of a scapegoat in Leviticus 16. As I studied the subject much attention was paid to Azazel and the meaning which is not determined. Many suppositions were made to the meaning whether a place or a person. Parallels were drawn but in doing so the importance of the scapegoat was diminished.

Who cares about the scapegoat? The sins of the people were place upon that animal and it was sent to a fate unknown. It was just a goat, what do we care? Putting it out of the encampment was literally the same as putting it out of our minds. Those sins are gone, we do not know where nor do we care. We put it out of our minds. It is just a goat.

John 1:29 English Standard Version (ESV) The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Now we see God’s eternal plan to take away the sins of the world but it is not a simple goat that we can dismiss without consideration. This is the Son of God, God in the form of man, and not one that is so easily dismissed in sacrifice. Now we do not put our sins out of our minds because we now see them as the reason for His death on the Cross.

My death He died.