2 Corinthians 5.21 - A Tale of Two Goats - Part 3
In continuing on with “He Made Him Sin,” we need to set the stage, so to speak, about the Day of Atonement. In a prior essay, we quoted D.R. McConnell’s criticism about the “Faith teachers’ gross misunderstanding” of the Levitical concept of substitution (read: Old Testament system of sacrifices). Peculiar to McConnell’s criticism was his lack of reference to the Day of Atonement. The Day, as it’s called, was a once-a-year sacrificial ritual where the high priest put on a special robe and engaged in a unique sacrifice for his sins and the sins of the people. What is so significant about the “Day” is that the writer of Hebrews explicitly ties it in as a shadow to Jesus’s own death. Below are some quotes from Hebrews about the Day:
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices Day after Day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once and for all when he offered himself. (Hebrews 7.27, Edersheim)
Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second [the Holy of Holies] only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. (Hebrews 9.6, 7, NASB)
and not through the blood of goats and calves … For if the blood of goats and bulls … (Hebrews 9.12, 13)
nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place [the Holy of Holies] year by year with blood that his not his own. (Hebrews 9.25, NASB)
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10.3, 4)
Since the writer of Hebrews specifically compares the Day with Jesus’s sacrifice, the better (and much more accurate) exegesis of 2 Corinthians 5.21 would come from an examination of the Day more than from a review of the ordinary sin offerings. For instance, only on the Day could the high priest go behind the veil and enter into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the sacrificial blood. These actions are direct shadows to Hebrews 10.20 (“… through the veil, that is, His flesh”) and Hebrews 9.12 (“he entered once for all into the Holy Place taking not the blood of goats and calves, but his own blood”). Also, only on the Day was the high priest presented two goats, one being the infamous “scapegoat” that was part and parcel of atonement (see Lev. 16.10 - “to make atonement upon”). This scapegoat has much to do with the fact that Jesus became sin and died apart from the Father (see our essays on Hebrews 2.9).
Our future essays will unpack the suitcase of “He Made Him Sin” (up to Azazel, the scapegoat) with the sacrificial sequence that we saw before:
presentation w/o defect ->
laying on of hands ->
death ->
al-Azazel (scapegoat) ->
blood on Mercy Seat
We suggest that you read our prior essay, The Resurrection and the Blood - Part 4, for a look at the entire Day of Atonement ceremony. (For the rest of the series, we’ll assume that everybody’s read it.)
[Note: We thought that we’d throw this little tidbit in. On way too many Sundays, we sit in our pews, theater chairs, or whatever, and hear the preacher tell us to turn to some story or passage in the Old Testament. The stories of David, Daniel, Elijah, Esther, or whoever is usually followed up by a three-point sermon that has more to do with psychological self-help, self-actualizing, or some kind of leadership tactics. If we go to the New Testament, we see that the Gospel and epistle writers never did such a thing.
When the New Testament writers referred to the Old Testament, they did so to flesh out the New Testament realities of what Paul calls the “mystery of Christ” and the age to come. As New Testament believers, our doctrine should derive from the epistles and the book of Acts (and to a lesser extent the Gospels). Old Testament preaching that is not grounded in New Testament realities tends to produce good-for-nothing fruit pierced with error on all sides (take a look at the various doctrines of Job today). In this series, while we are looking closely at the Day of Atonement, our feet are firmly grounded in 2 Corinthians and the Day is specifically referenced as a shadow of the crucifixion in Hebrews. That is good Old Testament/New Testament preaching.]