THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

Lev 16:5
From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering
(NIV)

A  ‘type’ in Scripture is a prophetic picture in the Old Covenant pointing forward to an actual event that takes place in the New Covenant. Hence, on the ‘Day of Atonement’ (Lev 16) the 2 goats used as the sin offering point forward to the time when Christ on the cross, fulfilled the 2 stages for the forgiveness of sin.

The whole nation of Israel would gather at the gate of the Tabernacle on this the most important ceremonial day of the religious calendar. The High Priest would be given 2 goats:

1) THE GOAT FOR SIN- He would lay his hands on the head of the goat and confess over it all the sins of the nation that had been committed the previous year. This act transferred the nations sins onto the goat.

He would then sacrifice the goat on the altar and take some of it’s blood through into the ‘Most Holy Place’ and sprinkle it 7 times with his finger upon the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant; When God saw the blood, it was the evidence to Him that the death (punishment) for sin had been carried out.

The first stage of forgiveness had been fulfilled enabling God to release His mercy upon Israel in forgiveness of their sins.

When Jesus died on the cross as our ‘goat for sin’, His shed blood was the evidence to God that the punishment for sin (Gen 2:17) had been carried out. Jesus thus fulfilled the first stage of forgiveness enabling God to release His mercy upon  the world in forgiveness of their sins.

2) THE GOAT FOR ESCAPE – The High Priest now took the second goat and again laid hands on it’s head and confessed and transferred the sins of the nation for that year, upon it; But this goat, instead of being sacrificed was released and allowed to go free and ‘escape’ into the wilderness, never to return.

This fulfilled the second stage of forgiveness which was the carrying away of the nations sins. Signifying that their sins would never be called to remembrance again, ever.

When Jesus died on the cross as our ‘scapegoat’, He took our sins with him (carried them away) when He went down into the grave. When He rose from the dead, He left those sins  behind, buried forever in the grave and rose from the dead in resurrection life; Thus fulfilling the second stage of forgiveness.

Our sins can never be brought back again, ever, to accuse us of our past behaviour. One of God’s promises of the New Covenant, was that, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Heb 10:17. As Joseph Prince rightly points out, the word NO in the Greek is a double negative, strengthening the denial.

Thus Jesus has fulfilled in Himself the 2 stages of forgiveness. Because of His crucifixion, shed blood, death, burial and resurrection, our sins are not only forgiven, they are taken away for ever.

There are many Christians today who when they received Christ as their Saviour, never received their full forgiveness. They know God has forgiven them their sin, but they don’t know He has also taken away their sin.

Because of this ‘lack of knowledge’ they still carry the guilt, condemnation, shame, rejection and fear of sins they committed before they came to Christ, or  sins they have committed since they came to Christ. Consequently, satan has open access into their thought life and wreaks havoc in their lives.

My friend, if this is you, God wants to give you a revelation that your sin has not only been forgiven but has also been taken away. Our Father does not want you to suffer needlessly.

Meditating on these Scriptures will help you:

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who ‘takes away’ the sin of the world!  (NIV)

1 John 3:5 You know that Jesus came to ‘take away’ our sins, and there is no sin in him.  (NLT)

Ps 103:12 He has ‘taken our sins away’ from us as far as the east is from west.  (NCV)

2 Cor 5:19 It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, ‘not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses’ [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).  (AMP)

Meditation Point: God has both forgiven and taken away our sins. In Christ we no longer can be condemned (Rom 8:1)

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