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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Second Goat
And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: (Leviticus 16:20,21)
God has promised to make an end of sin and to bring in everlasting righteousness. How He will accomplish this is portrayed in the activities of the Jewish Day of Atonement. Two goats were employed in this observance. First, an atonement was made for sin, using the blood of the first goat. Then there was a ceremony that portrayed the removal of the presence of sin from the camp. The ceremony of removal involved the second goat.
The perfect atonement for sin was made on the cross of Calvary. Any human being can have his or her sins forgiven by receiving the atonement made through the blood of Christ on the cross. Thus the guilt of sin has been taken care of completely.
However, the presence of sin itself has not as yet been removed from the creation. God has a plan whereby the ceremony involving the second goat, the scapegoat, will attain spiritual fulfillment. The purpose of these essays is to describe the program God will follow as He removes all rebellion and sin from His creation. "Whosoever will" may choose to avail himself or herself of the authority and power that God is ready to give to those who will decide to obey Him perfectly and sternly.
Having been a Christian for fifty-two years and a pastor for twenty-one of those years we are fairly well acquainted with church people. We are aware of the reluctance of God's people to move past the Pentecostal experience. They know we should obey God, but the idea of coming to God with the intention of obeying Him totally and without question seems unrealistic. In other words, the Christian churches are filled with disobedient children.
In the coming new world of righteousness the thought of disobeying God in the smallest detail will be unthinkable. But how do we get from here to there?
All sin is based ultimately in rebellion, in disobedience to God.
Two goats were employed in the ceremony of the Jewish Day of Atonement (Leviticus, Chapter 16). The blood of the first goat was used to make an atonement for Israel. It was sprinkled upon and before the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
The sins of Israel were confessed over the second goat and it was led away into the wilderness, portraying the removal of the presence of sin from the camp.
Sin and rebellion against the Father were atoned for by the blood shed on the cross of Calvary. The guilt of sin has been eternally removed. The Father's sense of justice and righteousness has been appeased.
But sin and rebellion have never been removed from the creation. Some of the most highly placed of the rebellious angels, including Satan himself, are still active in the heavens. The influence and resistance to righteousness of the wicked angels is revealed in the behavior of people on the earth.
To be continued.