Here

in Leviticus, in a lengthy passage about slaughtering animals

to atone for people’s sins, we find more imagery that points to

Jesus.

One

such image is the scapegoat. The word scapegoat

is still used in the English language today, meaning “someone who

bears the blame for ­others.” Usually, though, when people

today are looking for a scapegoat, they want to avoid admitting

wrong.

The

scapegoat image in Leviti­cus didn’t work that way. The people

were called to repent and acknowledge their guilt as the priest laid

his hands on the goat’s head and confessed over it all of the

people’s sins. This was not some magical mumbo-jumbo. God, in his

grace, was accepting a substitute for the people, taking away their

sin, sending it out into the wilderness for destruction, and

count­ing them righteous.

This

is a picture that points to the Savior, Jesus, who came to take on

himself the curse for all human sin. He became the scapegoat for us

all. As the apostle Paul put it later, “God made him who had no sin

to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of

God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).