When I think of goat, I inadvertently think of scapegoat.
The idea of the scapegoat originates in Leviticus chapter 16 where God explains to the people of Israel the necessity for an annual Day of Atonement, which is also known as Yom Kippur.
God directed Aaron the High Priest to select two goats. These two animals constituted one sin offering.
Aaron placed his hands on the head of the one that was slain, transferring the sins of the people. Then the blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle.
The goat that escaped death was then released into the wilderness, never to be seen again.
The Hebrew word for scapegoat is “azazel,” which comes from two words “goat” and “banish.”
Even though the people could not see the blood sprinkled in the Holy of Holies yet the banishing of the scapegoat is an act everyone could see with their very eyes.
It is a powerful picture that tells the people their sins are being carried away and never to be seen or held against them again.
It is a precursor of the death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Jesus is our Scapegoat our Sin Substitute.
II Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
Psalm 103:13 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us.”
As we welcome the Year of the Goat, be reminded of Jesus Christ our Scapegoat who has paid-in-full the debt we owe.
Have a Joyous New Year this year and always, for Christ our Scapegoat has made us fit for Heaven.
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