199: The Scapegoat

Jesus, our Scapegoat…the Substance of a shadow from the Old Covenant…

In the Old Covenant system, on the Day of Atonement once a year, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies to be in the presence of God and sprinkle the blood of bulls and goats on the Mercy Seat to cover the sins of God’s people. All of this was a foreshadowing of the once for all sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God to come.

There were two goats sacrificed on that day. The blood of one of the goats was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, but the other goat would be the “scapegoat.”¹ The high priest would lay both of his hands on the head of the goat and confess all of the sins of the people, and all of those sins would be transferred to the goat.² The “scapegoat” would then be driven into the wilderness carrying the sins of the people “as far as the east is from the west.”³

“As the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land.” (Leviticus 16:22, NLT)⁴

This scapegoat is a shadow of Jesus, our Scapegoat. All of our sins were laid upon Him, and He was led away to be crucified outside the gate of the city because all of our uncleanness was imputed to Him. He became our sin that we might become His righteousness.⁵ We were all like sheep who had gone astray, but all of our iniquity was laid on Jesus^.6 He was despised and rejected as the sinner of all sinners as He made intercession for us.⁷

Jesus is the superior substance of every Old Testament shadow.

(from page 296 of Unveiling Jesus)

Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!

Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.

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¹Leviticus 16:8-10
²Leviticus 16:21
³Psalm 103:12
⁴Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
⁵2 Corinthians 5:21
⁶Isaiah 53:6
⁷Isaiah 53:3, 12