"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God."



Dictionary,
scapegoat = =
1 a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings or mistakes of others.
2 (in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).


".....On the day of atonement, two goats without blemish were taken by the priest, upon which lots were cast, one for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat. The one upon which the Lord's lot fell, was then slain, and his blood carried into the sanctuary to make an atonement for the children of Israel. After which the sins of the people were confessed upon the head of the other, or scapegoat. And the scapegoat was set free, into the wilderness."

In the levitical atonement sacrifice, an innocent [substitute] was sacrificed, as atonement for the sins of the people.

Dictionary,
atonement = =
1 reparation for a wrong or injury.
2 (the Atonement) Christian Theology the reconciliation of God and mankind through the death of Jesus Christ.

In exchange for their sacrifice offering [symbolising their acceptance of their guilt], the guilty [of the children of Israel] were 'set free', but were [still, symbolically] separated from their God.

In the context of this Biblical analogy,
....Jesus Christ is our sacrifice for sin,
....and the 'chosen people', Israel were/are the 'scapegoat'.
....the 'wilderness', is symbolically, this world.

The guilty were set free, to wander in the world, until they found [their] redemption.
....or until they found their 'promised land'?

The 'scapegoat' type of Israel, was supposed to be, was intended, as a spiritual lesson [a 'witness'] to us 'heathens'/gentiles [and to Israel],
.....to do good, and no more evil!

The fate, of the children of Israel was predicted...

Deuteronomy 4:27
And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.



This sacrificial atonement type was prefigured in the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Genesis 22:1
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4  Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7  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?
8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.


The words could have said,
".....God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering."
or,
".....God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering."

But the words used were,
".....God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."





Persuing Biblical spiritual analogies...

Q.
In the world today, who is the scapegoat?

Q.
And today, who is being prepared as a 'sacrifice'?

Israel???

Do you really, really, think so?

Typically, in the 'atonement sacrifice' analogy, symbolically, Israel was/is always the 'scapegoat'.
....and not the one sacrificed, for the sin offering.

But to many today, to those who have eyes, it appears that this time, it is the nation state of Israel which is being prepared, as the sacrifice [offered by the guilty world community],
.....a sacrifice, which will be offered to placate the angry god of ISLAM.



But the God of Israel has a different agenda [i believe].
".....God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

Exodus 3:18
.....and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
19  And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20  And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

Exodus 4:22
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

Exodus 5:1
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
2  And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.i
MORE.....

CONTINUED FROM LAST POST.....




Yet another 'take' on this story...

Revelation 12:12
.....Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
.....
17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,...

Q.
Who is this woman in Revelation 12, with whom the dragon is 'wroth'?

Q.
And who are, 'the 'remnant' of her seed'?

Dictionary,
remnant = =
1 a small remaining quantity.
2 a surviving trace.

Revelation 12:1
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

"....and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

Q.
How many sons did ancient Jacob [Israel] have?

A.
Twelve.

Q.
Who today, are the last identifiable tribe, the 'remnant', of the twelve tribes of Israel?

A.
Jews.






Same story, a different account in Isaiah [below], of a woman with child, drawing near to her 'time of trouble'.

N.B.
Harking back to the Biblical 'atonement sacrifice' analogy,

The blood sacrifice for sin has been accomplished.

What remains today, is the punishment of those who are unrepentant, the punishment of those who continue to sin.

Isaiah 26:12
LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
13  O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14  They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
15  Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
16  LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17  Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
18  We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19  Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20  Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21  For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.


Isaiah 40:1
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.


Isaiah 43:1
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.


Isaiah 43:10
Ye [Israel] are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen:....




".....God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

Genesis 22:10
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12  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.
13  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.


If there is a God, and if God has declared to all that,
"....Israel is my son, even my firstborn.",
....will God stay the knife at the throat of modern Israel?




Deuteronomy 32:1
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2  My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
3  Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.



Seek your God.