SCAPEGOAT AND SACRIFICE

‘He Himself bore our sins’ in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by His wounds you have been healed.’ For ‘you were like sheep going astray’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2: 24, 25).

Despite his own dismal failure during the time of Jesus’s trial, Peter must have been enthralled by the way Jesus conducted Himself when every false accusation and insult was hurled at Him. Peter was at the foot of the cross during those terrible hours when his Master hung there, writhing in agony and yet more mindful of those around Him than He was of Himself.

It was inevitable that his mind would stray to the familiar words of the prophet Isaiah:

“Surely, He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53: 4-6)

How often had Peter not been a part of the solemn Day of Atonement ceremony at the temple in Jerusalem. The high priest would press the sins of the nation onto the scapegoat which was driven out into the desert. Then he would repeat the procedure on the second goat, pressing the nations’ sins onto the sacrificial goat which was slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place.

How many times had he repeated that Scripture and puzzled over its meaning? Not even the learned rabbis of the past and present could understand to whom the prophecy referred until the Holy Spirit interpreted His own word to the sincere followers of Jesus.

Gradually the light came on! Of course! The man with whom they had lived so closely for three and a half years, listening to His teaching and watching His marvellous works, was the very person of whom Isaiah spoke. Who else fitted the scene more perfectly, which Isaiah described, than Jesus? The realisation must have sent waves of joy through Peter’s soul.

What better message could he share with these believers who were part of God’s own people and now a part of Christ’s body? He was the very one to whom all the ceremonies of Israel’s most holy day pointed. The implications were huge. Just as the scapegoat bore the sins of the nation away into the desert for another year and the blood of the sacrifice covered their sins and received the forgiveness of God, so the sacrifice of Jesus took away their sins, not for just another years but forever.

Animal sacrifices had no power to remove sin or cleanse their guilty consciences but they were pictures of the reality Jesus came to accomplish. He was God’s lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. He died at a point in history, but the effects of His death were so enormous that, from God’s perspective, He paid the debt of all sin for all people for all time.

God’s people in the old dispensation only had pictures in the form of ceremonies and sacrifices to point to that 0ne final sacrifice. Peter and his fellow disciples had the fulfilment as the Holy Spirit revealed it to them. It was up to them to make the bold declaration to everyone who would listen and everyone who would believe, that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

When the sinner is forgiven, sin removed and the conscience cleansed of all guilt and shame, the wayward son is free to return home. There is nothing left to separate him from his offended Father. He has an elder Brother who took his place. All he has to do is to admit his guilt and receive the forgiveness which has been freely offered to him.

This, dear readers, is the heart and power of the gospel. It must have filled Peter’s heart with joy to be able to write:

For ‘you were like sheep going astray’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.