Mon.’s Devo - Jesus, Our Scapegoat

Read Lev. 15:1-16:28, Mark 7:1-23, Ps. 40:11-17, Pr.10:13-14 The interpretation of the Old Testament is found in the New and we have them both today. In Leviticus we read about the unclean bodily discharges and how they make the man or woman unclean. Jesus explained in Mark that it wasn’t what went into the body that made it unclean, but what came out of the body. Out of man’s body comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy slander, arrogance and folly. These are the things that make us unclean. God told Moses to warn the people to keep separate from these things that make them unclean. After what happened to Aaron’s two sons when they wrongfully entered the Holy of Holies, God instructed them how to enter. It was to be once a year and they had to have a young bull for the sin offering and two ram for the burnt offering. The priest was to wear sacred garments with the linen sash around him and the linen turban on his head. (He was to be totally covered in white.) There had to be two goats that the priest used in the sin offering. One was to be sacrificed and the other was to be the scapegoat that was set free. The definition of a scapegoat is “one that bears the blame for others”. This ceremony is performed during Yom Kippor. Jesus was both goats: the one sacrificed and the one that the sins were imputed to and sent away. Jesus bore our sins like the scapegoat and took them as far as the east is from the west. Tradition says that they would tie a scarlet strip of cloth around the neck of the scapegoat and by the time it had gotten a certain distance away from Jerusalem it had eventually turned white. Though our sins be as scarlet, He shall make them white as snow. (Is. 1:18) Lord, Your laws are perfect and they convert the soul. Thank You for Your amazing grace that covers all our sins and removes them from us.