Route 66: Day 37; Leviticus 16-18

Route 66: Day 37; Leviticus 16-18

God has really thought of everything. Here in the middle of the 'Schedule of Sacrifices' he has placed the scapegoat, a loophole for the people of Israel to escape the guilt and shame of their sins.  Bring in the goat, pile all their wrong doings on him and run him out in to the wilderness never to be seen again. I love it! It such a great illustration of what happens to our sin when we confess it to God but I'm getting ahead of myself.

All to often we come up with a variety of excuses for why we just couldn't do the right thing. We're too busy, we don't want to go against the flow of popular thinking, too tired, it didn't seem so bad at the moment, or I just wanted what I wanted (probably the most truthful one of the bunch). Everyone has they own set of reasons why they do the things they do. Many times we blame others or our circumstances  by placing the wrong onto their backs trying to free our own conscience of guilt. We comfort ourselves saying, "It wasn't really my fault. If it hadn't been for _________ I wouldn't have been forced to ________."  In reality, our sin is still with us either to be repeated over and over because we have convinced ourselves we aren't really doing anything wrong. It's that other guys fault. Or it lingers and festers and eventually becoming disease in our souls causing us to feel hopeless, worthless and devastated.

This is where the true Scapegoat comes in. God really did think of everything when it comes to freeing us from sin. When Jesus took on the sin of the world he not only paid the price with his life, no more penalty to be paid, but he also removed it, taking it away 'into the wilderness' to be seen no more. It's gone. We need to quit blaming other people or things for our bad behavior, face the facts that WE did wrong and confess it to God. (See 1 John 1:8-10)

Confession, the owning of our own wrong, is the key. If we own our sin then we also have the power to release it onto the Lord who can then carry it away.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;  as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12

Later in the day--
All morning this idea has been returning to me so I want to share it. It may be a little tough to think about but important all the same--

There are two synonyms for scapegoat that cause me to pause. They are 'fall guy' and 'whipping boy'. Now, we know 'fall guy' is someone who takes that blame for crimes he had no part it. Jesus certainly fits this definition.  But it's the term 'whipping boy' that really gets to me. For you who may not know the term 'whipping boy' comes the practice in the English court during the 15th and 16th century of assigning a young boy to a monarch's son to take the punishment when the prince misbehaved. Yikes! How would you like to have that job? And again, I realized Jesus also plays that role in my life. The term 'whipping boy' really gets to me. God has done what always he does and has flipped everything upside down to challenge our perspective. Roles have been reversed and the King's Son has taken my beating. Who does that? Only Jesus. How can I not give my whole life to him?