Post by Cindy on Nov 13, 2024 7:50:21 GMT -5
I'm going to post several devotionals here because they're all on the same theme and from the same book.
I will confess my transgressions to the LORD. (PSALM 32:5)
Put yourself in the shoes of a devout Jew on the Day of Atonement. He sees the high priest slay a goat as a propitiatory sacrifice. He watches as the priest disappears into the Tent of Meeting, to enter the Most Holy Place and to sprinkle the blood of the slain goat on and before the mercy seat. Only the high priest is allowed to enter that room (after ceremonial cleansing), and even then only once a year and only with the blood of the sacrificial animal.
The devout Jew waits with some degree of anxiety for the high priest to return, very conscious that atonement for his sins is conditioned on God’s acceptance of the high priest’s ministry.
Finally, the high priest comes out. He lays his hands on a live goat’s head and confesses over it all the sins of the people, symbolically transferring those sins to the goat. He solemnly confesses, perhaps with weeping, the people’s wickedness and rebellion. Then the goat is led away, bearing their sins into the desert.
Two things were necessary for this ritual to be meaningful to an individual Jew. First, he must identify with the sins the high priest was confessing. He must acknowledge them as his own personal sins. Then he must by faith believe that the goat did indeed carry those sins away. He probably didn’t understand how a goat could do this, but he believed God had ordained this rite, and somehow his sins were removed from God’s presence and no longer counted against him. His faith was not in the goat but in God, who had ordained this ritual.
The same attitudes of penitence and faith are necessary for all of us today—all who trust in Jesus as our scapegoat.
Holiness Day by Day
I will confess my transgressions to the LORD. (PSALM 32:5)
Put yourself in the shoes of a devout Jew on the Day of Atonement. He sees the high priest slay a goat as a propitiatory sacrifice. He watches as the priest disappears into the Tent of Meeting, to enter the Most Holy Place and to sprinkle the blood of the slain goat on and before the mercy seat. Only the high priest is allowed to enter that room (after ceremonial cleansing), and even then only once a year and only with the blood of the sacrificial animal.
The devout Jew waits with some degree of anxiety for the high priest to return, very conscious that atonement for his sins is conditioned on God’s acceptance of the high priest’s ministry.
Finally, the high priest comes out. He lays his hands on a live goat’s head and confesses over it all the sins of the people, symbolically transferring those sins to the goat. He solemnly confesses, perhaps with weeping, the people’s wickedness and rebellion. Then the goat is led away, bearing their sins into the desert.
Two things were necessary for this ritual to be meaningful to an individual Jew. First, he must identify with the sins the high priest was confessing. He must acknowledge them as his own personal sins. Then he must by faith believe that the goat did indeed carry those sins away. He probably didn’t understand how a goat could do this, but he believed God had ordained this rite, and somehow his sins were removed from God’s presence and no longer counted against him. His faith was not in the goat but in God, who had ordained this ritual.
The same attitudes of penitence and faith are necessary for all of us today—all who trust in Jesus as our scapegoat.
Holiness Day by Day
!!
