In the Old Testament, two goats were offered during the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). The sinner was commanded by the Lord through Moses that he should bring his best and blemishless goat from his herd to give it as an offering for his sins. The sinner would identify with the ‘sacrificial goat’, whose blood was for the remission of his sins. In the New Testament, we identify with Jesus the Lamb of God for the remission of our sins!

When it came to the second goat, all the people of Israel would lay their hands to transfer their sins to this goat and send it away to the wilderness to Aza’zel – the desert demon (Lev 16:26 RSV) This goat which was actually called the ‘escape goat’ later became the ‘scapegoat’.

When Jesus said, “It is finished” on the cross of Calvary, He meant that He had accomplished the work of the two goats, by taking all the sins of mankind upon Himself like the scapegoat, and shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sins like the sacrificial goat.

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me” is the cry of the scapegoat to its master after being totally separated from him in the wilderness, while Jesus also echoed the same sentiments when He felt forsaken on the cross. The Psalmist  in referring to Jesus’ work as the scapegoat, rejoices that, ‘As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us’ (Ps 103: 12).

Thought for the day: God forgives our sins and forgets it, but satan reminds it.