The Removal of Guilt

We just celebrated Resurrection Day this past week, remembering all that Jesus Christ has done for us in saving us from destruction, cleansing us from the stain of sin and removing our guilt from us.

A clear and beautiful picture of how God dealt with the guilt of His people is found in the OT book of Leviticus. The Bible says that ‘without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin‘ (Hebrews 9:22). Under the Old Covenant, animals were sacrificed as a graphic reminder to the nation of Israel how serious and grotesque and costly their sin really was by surrendering to God the very best of their flocks in a bloody act of sacrifice. The sacrificial system was God’s way for the people to appease the His wrath and at the same time ease their own guilty consciences.

Bear in mind, the people under the Old Covenant did NOT go to heaven or get saved because they sacrificed animals! They were saved the same way that we are saved: by grace, through faith in Christ. Nothing else! The difference being: they looked toward the FUTURE coming Savior, by faith; and we look BACK by faith in the Savior who died for us 2000 years ago.

So in Leviticus you see these detailed instructions about sacrificing bulls and lambs and doves and goats. But look in Leviticus 16 where we meet the ‘scapegoat’. In our modern vernacular, we know a ‘scapegoat’ as someone who unfairly takes the blame for someone else.

Aaron had 2 goats before him. He would sacrifice one as an atoning sacrifice for the people but look what happened to the remaining live goat. He would place both of his hands on the goats head, confess the sins of the people and then send the goat away into the wilderness.

Why do you suppose Aaron did this? He was symbolically transferring the guilt of their sins onto the goat. The sending the goat away… far away, by the hands of someone waiting to usher the goat away, into the wilderness (a solitary land). The scapegoat actually means ‘goat of removal’, taking the guilt of their sins as far away as possible, never to return. The goat was actually escorted to a place by the ‘ready person’, who ensured the goat was in such a remote area that it would eventually fall off a cliff and into a ravine where it would either die or be so wounded that it could never return back to the where the children of Israel dwelled.

It was a beautiful picture to them and to us about God’s certain removal of our guilt.