There was a special ritual in which two goats were selected from the herd. One goat was sacrificed to God, and it's blood sprinkled in the holiest place on the Ark of the Covenant. The other goat was released alive into the wilderness. The second goat has been called a scapegoat because he escaped death–but to be driven into the wilderness, away from all the people, away from all the other goats was hardly better than death.
This is an Old Testament prophetic picture of the death of Christ to come, when he would make atonement for all of our sins. Before releasing the goat, the high priest would lay his hands on the goat's head and put all of the people's sins on that goat, then send it away and the nation would become blameless in God's sight!
Why did God require two goats for atonement? We know that Jesus died more than one death that day. His physical body was sacrificed, and then his soul (passing through Paradise) went into the deepest part of the earth, where disobedient souls of men go when they are unforgiven.
Jesus predicted this before it happened. He said “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Mat 12:40)
Jonah was swallowed by a fish (whale?) because of his disobedience. You can imagine it was dark and putrid in the belly of the fish. He couldn't eat or drink. He could barely move around. He was cut off from every other living creature. He could only pray (read his mind-blowing prayer in Jonah chapter 2)!
Christ was completely cut off from God and men to suffer alone in the heart of the earth for three days, not for his disobedience, but for OUR disobedience.
Father God accepted the sacrifice of his Son's blood for the sins of all mankind, but Jesus had to carry our sins into the pit to fulfill Micah 7:19, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” and Psalm 103:12,“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
He left them there and rose on the third day just like Jonah came out of the fish. Ephesians 4:9-10 describes how Jesus, once he had fully defeated sin, was taken from the lowest place in the foundation of the Earth to the highest Throne in Heaven, becoming Universal King.
Importantly, Christ not only COVERED our sins, he removed every trace of them, ETERNALLY, for everyone who puts their trust in him!
QUESTIONS
What does Yom Kippur mean?
What do you think two goats were necessary to atone for the sins of the people?
How was Jonah being swallowed by a fish actually a prophecy about Christ?
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