Live long enough on this lovely chunk of rock hurtling through space and you will find yourself in a jam.  Get into enough jams and sooner or later, you’ll stumble into one you can’t get out of—at least, not on your own.  In that moment, what you rely on and who you call on for help can mean the difference between survival and a really bad day for your life insurer.

If you could choose a guard dog to defend you in that situation, what kind would you choose?  How about a Chihuahua?  A Dachshund?  Or maybe one of those cute little Yorkies?  

Fat chance.  You’d whistle up the ‘A’ team, wouldn’t you?  A German Shepherd, perhaps?  Possibly a Doberman?  Did someone say, “Rottweiler?”  Or would you prefer an enraged Pit bull, with an attitude, and a mean streak a mile wide?

But why stop there?  What about a fearless and ferocious lion?  Yeah, that’s it—go right for the king of beasts—500 pounds of muscle, 10-feet long, razor-sharp claws, that terrifying and insanely loud roar…If you need someone to come to your rescue, He’s your guy, right?  Right?

Not always, no.  It seems that there are times when a lowly goat will do.  As in “scapegoat.”  We all know what that is—the innocent party who gets blamed for everything others actually did.  A scapegoat comes in really handy when you need one.  And surprisingly, it’s a biblical concept. This is God speaking to Moses and laying out for him a ritual that clearly pointed to Jesus Christ:

“And he [Moses’ brother, Aaron] shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.  And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.  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.”  (Leviticus 16:7-10)

“Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.”  (Leviticus 16:15-17)

“And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”  (Leviticus 16:20-22)

The problem?  Sin, which brings the death penalty.  The solution?  Blood sacrifice.  The symbol: two goats.  One has the sum total of sin placed on its head, and then is set free to carry those sins far away, where all track of them is lost.  The other goat, which has no sin, takes the place of the “guilty” goat and is sacrificed, to make temporary atonement.

The second instance in which a lion is not what you need comes from the story of Abraham, in which he is commanded to offer his son, his only son, as a sacrifice.  Imagine the heartbreak—especially during this exchange:

“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:7-8)

There is a Lamb for sacrifice, and God will provide it.  Abraham trusts in God.  He believes in God’s power to resurrect his son, and prepares to obey God.  Then a ram (male sheep) comes into the picture:

“And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.  And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.” (Genesis 22:11-13)

God sends a substitute (the ram) and Isaac is set free.  The imagery gets clearer.

Then of course, there is the Feast of Passover (Exodus 12), in which God sends the Angel of Death throughout the land of Egypt for Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to free the Hebrews enslaved there for four centuries.  But first, there is the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, the blood of which was used to mark the homes of the Israelites, so that the angel would pass over their houses and spare them from the judgment of the death of the firstborn.  The lamb was to be a young male, without blemish (symbolizing Jesus’ sinlessness).

Finally, God’s provision of the Lamb who would be the atoning sacrifice for the whole world makes His appearance in human flesh.  Scripture reveals Jesus to be “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  He is our substitute, chosen and provided by God and meeting the righteous requirements of God’s law, to qualify as the only acceptable and permanent sacrifice for sin.

Jesus committed no sin of His own, and having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, He did not inherit a sinful nature—so-called “original sin”—from human parents.  “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21).  The perfectly holy and innocent Son of God suffered, died on the cross and was buried to pay the penalty that our sins had earned for us.  The Bible reveals that this was God’s plan for dealing with sin before He made the world:

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” (I Peter 1:18-21)

Where have you placed your faith and hope?  If not in Jesus, sad to say, it is in the wrong place.  If not in Jesus, it is in the wrong Person.  This is that fork in the road on which everything depends.  We must get this right or there is nothing to believe in and nothing for which to hope.

Safety and freedom come only through the provision God made before creation for legally, justifiably and graciously erasing sin and its deadly effects.  If your sins have not been confessed and covered by the blood of the Lamb, there is nothing whatever between you and the righteous wrath of Almighty God.  But now, in these closing moments of history as we knew it, God stands ready to forgive your sins and willing to receive you into His family.  If you want to come to Him His way and on His terms, you can become a child of God TODAY.  Here’s how.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…” (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)