Leviticus 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
The serious nature of the atonement made by Christ could be observed in the lengthy and detailed process involved in the eradication of sin, in order that we might be brought once again into harmony with God. The word "Atonement" basically means to be at oneness with God, or to put it in our modern vernacular, to be on the same page with Him. The atonement therefore was the means whereby the breach made by sin in our relationship with God could be permanently healed and resolved, and it is of the utmost importance that we understand what was involved in its accomplishment.
The two goats brought to the tabernacle on the day of atonement represented the manner in which our sins would be transferred from ourselves to Christ, from Christ to the Most Holy place, and from the Most Holy place onto the head of satan, who is the originator and instigator of all sin. One goat was referred to as "The Lord's goat" and the other was labelled the scape goat, two very interesting labels indeed. We want to focus our attention on The Lord's goat, for it is representative of Christ, who laid down His life for us on Calvary. What is most disturbing about this label is that goats in scripture are represented as those who will suffer the second death, from which there will be no recovery or resurrection whatsoever for any human being other than Christ, and as such, we must endeavor to understand what Jesus really suffered on the Cross in our behalf. Let's read:
Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father" ... 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment" .....
Obviously, it's not good to be labeled as a goats, for they suffer the second death, which is the real wages of sin. Many people do not realize this, and for this reason we often focus on the physical aspects of Christ's sufferings on the Cross, while the much weightier matter to be considered is the mental anguish he suffered, as The Father in heaven gradually separated from His Son, so that the full penalty for our sins could be administered. This anguish Christ felt, is what crushed out His life, and it will be the same that all those will feel, who despise the day of God's grace. The agony Christ endured could be understood in part by the words of anguish He uttered, as God's presence was being withdrawn. Let's read:
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying" ..... My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
In the movie, "The passion of The Christ" a whole lot of emphasis is put on the physical pain the Christ felt, which by contrast, is far less than what He endured mentally, as the weight of our sins was placed on His shoulders. As a matter of fact there is a song which says "He died of a broken heart", meaning that it was the separation from the Father that really killed Jesus, and not the physical crucifixion itself, for the other two thieves who were crucified the same time as Jesus, remained alive long after Christ had died, thereby teaching us that Jesus did not die from the physical terrors of the Cross, but from something much more ominous, and that is sin, which as stated before, causes separation from God. Let's read:
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs.
The question that must be answered by every son and daughter of Adam is, "What should be our appropriate response to what Christ suffered for us on Calvary? Some people do not care to know what then took place, and others who have accepted His sacrifice on our behalf often go on sinning as if the blood of The Son of God were a thing to be trifled with. Christ did not die in order that we may continue in sin, but rather that the cancer of transgression might be cut out by the roots. And any other gospel which accommodates sin, while claiming the merits of His grace, does real violence to the great Atonement made in our behalf, and thus crucifies Christ again, and puts Him to an open shame.
We therefore end with a passage which calls upon us to correctly value and understand the serious nature of the Atonement, and it is the will of God that the appropriate response of submitting ourselves for complete cleansing from all sin, may be done without delay. Let's read:
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
May God add His blessing to the study and practice of His word. "Good night" and God bless!