Author's Note: All previous volumes of this series are here. The first 56 volumes are compiled into the book "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible." "Part Two," featuring volumes 57-113, was published in December 2022.
Thanks for joining us today. If you are Jewish and plan on attending temple this week for a Yom Kippur service, I hope you will read and then pray about what I have written below.
I am always amazed when I ask my fellow Jews about the Yom Kippur scapegoat, and they have no idea what I am talking about. Most recently, it was my own temple-going sister.
For those who don’t know much about Judaism — the religion into which Jesus was born and actively practiced —Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Known as the “Day of Atonement,” it begins this year at sundown on Wednesday, October 1.
Besides its timeliness, I write about Yom Kippur because last week’s Vol. 286, featured the headline, “How Common Phrases Rooted in the Bible Can Encourage Bible Reading.” One of the phrases was “scapegoat,” among the most well-known biblical sayings not usually associated with the Bible. The complete story is found in Leviticus 16, when God spoke to Moses about how the Israelites must annually atone for their sins. Moses’s brother Aaron, the chief priest, was to perform the following ritual exactly as God commanded:
“Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
“When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head.
“He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:18-22).
In other words, the goat “escapes” into the wilderness carrying all the sins of the Israelites. Thus, a “scapegoat.”
If you are interested in my Yom Kippur experience growing up in a non-religious but culturally Jewish family, read Vol. 28. Decades later, I always think of my Dad and associate Yom Kippur with the temple’s “fall fashion show.” However, for many decades since, I have also associated Jesus with being the scapegoat. Because of his sacrificial death on the cross, He took on the sins of the world. Jesus on the cross was the ultimate fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as described in Leviticus 16.
Through his blood sacrifice, everyone who believes in Him will have direct access to God through Jesus. (That is why the curtain was torn in the Temple immediately upon His dying on the cross. See Vol. 229). And because of His Resurrection, He now offers us forgiveness of sin, and when we die, eternal life through and with Him.
Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, every day is a Day of Atonement; through His mercy, He forgives us as needed. Believing that Jesus is the Sacrificial Lamb means embracing faith on a scale that transcends recounting the annual scapegoat passage in Leviticus.
It is profound that when Jesus made his first adult appearance in the New Testament gospel, ready to begin His ministry, John the Baptist saw Jesus and called out His mission, proclaiming:
“‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29.)
Consider how Jesus’s mission connects with what the scapegoat did for the Israelites when it was released into the wilderness. The scapegoat took on all the sins of Moses’s people, but ultimately, Jesus takes away our sins, as proclaimed by John the Baptist. Then, at the Last Supper, Jesus makes it clear that He is the sacrificial Passover Lamb to be slaughtered to save His people from sin. (See Vol. 107.)
Jesus, the Passover Lamb, sheds “my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28). For that reason, Jesus gave us His marching orders:
“He told them, [his disciples] ‘This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:46-47).
Jesus replaced the Yom Kippur scapegoat. He came to earth to suffer and die, taking on and taking away our sins to be forgiven. We can accept that gift by believing in Him along with His gift of eternal life. However, Jesus makes it clear that to accept His gifts, we must repent of our sins and turn away from sinful behavior.
But we are human and therefore we are sinners and will continue to be sinners. And that is why St Paul wrote:
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-25).
Anyone reading this far who celebrates Yom Kippur, I ask that you pray about being open to what you have just read. As a Jew who loves Jesus, I know that it is The Truth. Talk to Jesus. He will hear your prayers and forgive your sins. You don’t need a once-a-year scapegoat. Amen to that!
Myra Kahn Adams is a conservative political and religious writer. Her book "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible" reprints the first 56 volumes of this popular study. "Part 2,” reprints Vols. 57 –113. Order it here.
She is also the Executive Director of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit. You can join our new effort in Orlando, Florida. Contact: Myraadams01@gmail.com