From the Pastor's Pen, March

Last month in our daily Bible reading schedule we read through the book of Leviticus. While it is not an easy one to stay with (lots of laws and sacrifices and stuff) there is an important picture that we should consider.

This picture comes from Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement. The priest was to take two goats for the sin offering; the first goat was sacrificed in the normal way and its blood sprinkled on the altar. With the second goat the priest was to lay both of his hands on its head and confess all of the sin of Israel, "and put them on the goat's head" (v. 21). Then he would drive the goat out into the wilderness and let it go, where it would "carry off on itself all their sins" (v. 22). This is where we get the term "scapegoat."

This is a great picture of what Christ has done for those who believe in Him.. "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 52:6b). Christ bore our sins on the cross. To "bear" sin means to be responsible for it, or to take the penalty for it. So Christ endured the consequences of our sin for us. The second part of the picture is this: "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). Like the "scapegoat," Jesus carried our sins far, far away from us and God remembers them no more.

This is just one of many beautiful pictures the Lord has given us in the Old Testament. I hope that you will consider this as you think about Easter!

Pastor Michael