Today, on Day 4, we open the door to a big word with a beautiful meaning.
Expiation means the act of removing or extinguishing something.
In biblical terms, it has to do with taking away guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonement.
In Leviticus 16 God commands Aaron to sacrifice two goats: one goat is to be killed and sacrificed on the altar and a second goat is to become the scapegoat.
“The first goat was slaughtered for the sins of the people and its blood used to cleanse the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar (v. 20). After the cleansing, the live goat was brought to the high priest. Laying his hands on the scapegoat, the high priest was to “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 16L21-22). Symbolically, the scapegoat took on the sins of the Israelites and removed them (v. 10). For Christians, this is a foreshadowing of Christ.” (Source)
Through his death on the cross, Christ became the scapegoat for those who would believe in him, cancelling the eternal consequence of our sin even though sin is still present in the world. Believers are delivered from the penalty and power of sin, but not from the presence of it.
Our sins were laid on Christ – He bore our sins just as the scapegoat bore the sins of the Israelites.
Listen to this short episode where Bradley Cooper explaines The Day of Atonement on Simply Put below:
Did you learn anything new today about expiation?
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