Today is Good Friday, and as Christians, this is the day we mourn the Loss of our Savior Jesus Christ, knowing that he will rise again on Easter! So grab your coffee, nestle in for the story of our God’s love for us and his final sacrifice.
Diving deeper into the meaning of this day, takes us into the book of Leviticus chapter 16 where we learn the history of the Scapegoat.
God instructed Moses and Aaron to select two goats every year for an offering. One was to be used as a sin offering to atone for the sins and transgressions of the people. Once killed, it’s blood was to be sprinkled on God’s mercy seat on the Ark of the Coveant. There God would view the blood of the sin offering and have Mercy on the people and forgive their sins. The high priest would then lay Hands on the second goat which was allowed to live. He would then confess the sins of the people laying them on the goat. The goat would then carry the burden of the sins for all the people and would be set free into the wilderness, to which God would clear the memory of the sins. The goat became known as the Scapegoat.
Skipping ahead to Loss of our King, the ultimate and final Scapegoat.
Matthew 27:46 English Standard Version (ESV)
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
John 19:30 English Standard Version (ESV)
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Hebrews 9:11-10:18 English Standard Version (ESV)
Redemption Through the Blood of Christ
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,[a] then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify[b] for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our[c] conscience from dead works to serve the living God. . .
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All
10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ[e] came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ[f] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
17 then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Thank you Jesus for saving us from ourselves, thank you God for giving us and sacrificing your own son, your flesh on this earth to keep us clean. Each and every single one of us are the nails that shed our dear Savior’s blood. Where our Lord’s blood ran red, ours ran white.
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