Blood Works - Second Order

The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Exodus 12: 5.

Second Order Regarding Blood Works   

Only the blood of lambs or goats will do. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  The Israelites had other animals also, such as oxen, donkeys, mules, cows, steer, fowl, birds, dogs and more. But as much as some of the other animals might be bigger, stronger, wiser, faster and even more valuable to the Israelites at that time, God’s order was for lambs and goats.

The question arises about the choice of animals and Jesus. The blood works could come from sheep, or lambs, and it could come from goats. So how do these animals give representations of Jesus? May I tell you that while I was preparing and being prepared, my mind went to the parable Jesus told of, The Sheep and the Goats. I thought of the distinct demarcation and separation of sheep and goats by the shepherd.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and goats on his left. Matthew 25: 32 – 33.

Then I thought of Jesus’ words to Peter and how Jesus, showing Himself as the Good Shepherd, spoke to Peter about feeding and tending His sheep and lambs. Jesus said, Feed my lambs. John 21: 15b. Jesus also told Peter, Take care of my sheep. John 21: 16b. Jesus never ever mentioned about His goats. In this parable, the sheep are believers who will know salvation and the goats are unbelievers, who will know damnation. So where do goats fit in? Jesus is known as the Lamb of God, not the Goat of God. 

I was stubborn in this, for there was a lesson and I refused to move, without being taught on this. This is what was shown to me. When God told Moses to tell the Hebrew families to take an animal, the Lord knew there were the poorer families who did not have sheep among their livestock. They would have a few goats, but sheep were mostly seen with the richer families. So God made this blood offering accessible to both the poor, or less well-off, in stating that a goat would be just as acceptable as a sheep or lamb.

This loving mercy of God is also evidenced with the bringing of offerings by mothers, after childbirth. If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring, two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her and she will be clean. Leviticus 12: 8. Clearly God considers the poor and allows them to offer and bring what they can afford. Goats are therefore seen as acceptable to God, as suitable for His blood works. Goats are therefore as the poor relation.

Does the Word tell us anything about Jesus as lamb and as goat? We are most familiar with the words of John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus, his cousin, coming toward him and exclaimed, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1: 29b. Perhaps, like me, some of you are not quite as familiar with the idea of Jesus in relation to goats. But we are being pointed to our Lord Jesus as being the scapegoat.

Listen to what is spelt out for us about the scapegoat. The Book of Laws informs us that after high priest Aaron had completed making atonement for himself and his household, he must bring two goats. One of these goats is to be sacrificed to God for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as a scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. Leviticus 16: 10. Further on, we are told what Aaron has to do. 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 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: 21 – 22.

Interestingly, the man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterwards he may come into the camp. Leviticus 16: 26.

Are we to see our Jesus as being used by God as a Scapegoat for us? It must be so, if He is the only One to atone for our sins. 1 John 2: 1 - 2 tells us this clearly. My dear children I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

We listen to what Peter makes open and public about the atoning Blood of Jesus. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2: 24 

We can safely and truthfully confess that God’s order for Blood Works was fulfilled in Jesus, as Sacrificial Lamb and as Scape Goat.