Scapegoat Needed No More!

“But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness..And he who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.”-Leviticus 16:10, 26. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins...then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” –Hebrews 10:4, 9-10 (references from NKJV).

In the ancient customs of Hebrew worship, it was necessary for the priest to offer sacrifices for sins. A bull sacrificed in a certain way assured the taking away of the priest’s sins. Two goats, one for a blood sacrifice, and one upon which the priest ceremoniously placed the sins of the people by the laying of his hands on the goat’s head, was to be released into the wilderness, thus taking far away the sins of the people. A full account of this custom and how it was carried out according to law is described in Leviticus 16. This was done on the Day of Atonement, once a year, when the priest led this solemn, serious duty.

Jeremiah began to realize that a new day was coming when this yearly sacrifice and the releasing of the scapegoat would not be necessary. We read in Jeremiah 31:33-34: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord, ' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them' says the Lord. 'For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'" (NKJV)

The letter to the Hebrews makes clear that the “new day” Jeremiah prophesied about has truly come. Read Hebrews 1:1-3 to be assured that Jesus Christ indeed came to purge our sins and to sit down at the right hand of the Father, victorious and exalted. There is no more need for the scapegoat of old who was ceremoniously released to take the people’s sins into the wilderness. Hebrews 10 reemphasizes that animal sacrifices are insufficient, and, moreover, are no longer needed. The writer of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 40:6-8 that states God did not desire nor take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices. “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14). Praise be to God, Jesus is our sacrifice, our offering, the One Who “bore the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12).

The hymn written by Philip Paul Bliss in 1873, “Once for All” is hardly ever heard any more—in fact, may not be published in modern-day hymnbooks. But in the country church where I grew up, we used to sing it, thinking about the depth and truth of the theology in the words of the hymn:

“Once for all, O happy condition,

Jesus has bled and there is remission,

Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,

Grace hath redeemed us once for all.”

Chorus:

“Once for all, O sinner, receive it;

Once for all, O brother, believe it,

Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,

Christ hath redeemed us once for all.”

I had a wonderful worship experience by accessing this hymn online, hearing a beautiful piano rendition of it played the way we sang it in past years, and thanking God that the scapegoat sacrifice of old is no longer needed. Thanks be to God