Category Insights on Scripture

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

A View from the Nest
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor
Insight from the Journey across the Sky
By Allen Scott
Jn 3 (GW) When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, "They’re out of wine." 4 Jesus said to her, "Why did you come to me? My time has not yet come." 5 His mother told the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Six stone water jars were there. They were used for Jewish purification rituals. Each jar held 18 to 27 gallons. 7 Jesus told the servers, "Fill the jars with water." The servers filled the jars to the brim. 8 Jesus said to them, "Pour some, and take it to the person in charge." The servers did as they were told. 9 The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now." John 2:3-10
Wedding in Cana

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You"ve got to love this story in the bible. Jesus’ mother came to him to inform him that they were out of wine and by telling him she was basically putting the problem to him to solve. I do not know what she thought he was going to do, but she expected him to do something. So after questioning his mother’s motives he instructs the servers to fill 6 stone jars with water, pour some into a glass and take it to the person in charge to have him drink it. The servers knew that they poured water into these stone jars but when the person in charge tasted it he commented on how GOOD the wine was and complimented the groom for saving the best wine until last.

I had always wondered why Jesus provided more wine for a drunk audience. I am not one to continue to give drink to someone who is visibly intoxicated, or for that matter even provide drink to someone who is sober. I am not a drinker, I do not hang around with people who drink, I really do not like the whole idea of drinking with the intent of getting drunk. I know some in the church who like to drink beer, others enjoy a glass of wine, and I am sure there are some who may like a mixed drink. I just do not. I really see no value in drinking so much that you become impaired and unable to think clearly and function rationally. The bible teaches to be SOBER and live a godly life.

For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, Titus 2:11-12 (RSV)

Other than being obedient to his mother, I really do not know why Jesus would turn water into wine to be served to a drunken wedding crowd, but he did. I have to put myself in this scene and see what I would have done if approached about the wine situation. First I would not have thought about pouring water into stone pots to try to pass it off as wine. I would have had to see where I could procure wine to purchase for the bridle party. Or the more likely scenario I would say back to my mother, what do you expect me to do about it? I would not see it as my duty to provide wine to a drunken crowd. Or to paraphrase a famous quote, Let em drink water. So you see even when it comes to wine procurement I can not be like Jesus.

What can I learn from this, regardless of the theology of water to wine? What jumps out to me in this story is what happened when Jesus was called upon to make a contribution. First he questions his mother as to why she came to him to fix this problem because his time had not yet come to reveal himself to the people. He knew he had the ability and knew that he could do whatever it is that needed to be done, but he was also mindful of the reason why he came into the world and providing wine for a drunken wedding party was not high on his list of things to do before he died. His mother put him in charge by turning to the paid servants and told them to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Okay, again I have to ask myself, what would I do when presented with a paid staff looking to me for direction and instruction. What do you want us to do about this problem? The crowd is hollering for more wine and we are out! How do you want to handle this? Being in charge has it’s responsibilities. You can not say I don’t know, or do whatever you want to do. You have to have a solution or some plan to fix the problem. Now one thing I might have thought about doing was simply telling everyone the wine was gone and there would be no more. But any good host knows that when you are hosting a party it is your responsibility to make sure that the party goers are taken care of. It is a sign of a poor host who does not see to it that the guests are satisfied. That is just proper party etiquette.

Jesus tells the servants to gather up the ceremonial washing jars and fill them to the brim with water. There were 6 of them each holding almost 30 gallons of water would produce approximately 180 gallons of wine. That is a great deal of wine! The narrative does not say when exactly the water became wine it simply says that the servants were to fill the jars and then pour some out and give it to the person in charge of the party to taste. I do not know what the servants may have been thinking when taking a glass of water to the party host but they did as they were told and heard the host say that it was the best wine he had had that day. The servants perhaps looked at each other thinking this guy is drunker than we thought if he thinks water is good wine. Nevertheless the water filled ceremonial washing jars produced fine wine.

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Pass the Salt

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

clip_image002_thumb.jpgA View from the Nest

Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor

Insight from the Journey across the Sky

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matt. 5:13).

Snow Scenes in Falls Church
Image by ghbrett via Flickr

Well winter has finally arrived in  Western Pennsylvania. This morning as I traveled to church, or slid along the frozen roadway, I came to a short hill along which several cars where ditched along the sides. I knew from experience, continuing along this route would not be wise. I slowed to a stop and decided on my next move. I watched as a few cars passed the ditched vehicles with caution and determined that I could move forward rather slowly and find a nice place along the berm of the road to park until the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot) could salt the roadway.

I no sooner pulled off the road when my cell phone began to ring with messages from the church family asking how I was and how the roads where. I told them I was stopped along the road awaiting the arrival of the salt truck. Before long the phone rang again and the message this time was church was canceled and there was no need to continue on to church.

Okay at least I did not have to worry about getting to the church on time. But here I sat along the roadway awaiting the arrival of a salt truck.

Although the mixture of salty brine and de-icer wrecks havoc on a car’s finish, driving in winter in the northeast would be almost impossible without this wintertime road treatment. In fact the only time anyone wishes to be behind a slow moving salt truck, is when the roadways are hazardous and the driver knows that the salt solution being applied to the roadway is going to make their journey onward much safer. So they dutifully follow slowly behind the salt spreader, thankful for it’s arrival.

It was less than twenty minutes when the salt truck had arrived. I quickly fell in behind the truck and headed back toward home. The assurance of knowing the roadway beneath my wheels had been treated made the return trip less stressful. The closer I got to home the better the road surface became. Finally, back home, I was thankful that I was not involved in an accident and that no one was hurt along the stretch of highway I had traveled.

Anyone who lives in the frozen Northeast knows all too well the importance of proper road maintenance. We are very mindful of the road conditions once wintertime sets in. Our tax dollars are well spent in stockpiling the road crew’s depots with plenty of road salt. That is one expense I gladly pay for.

Salt’s Attributes

A salt mill for sea salt.

Salt has many useful purposes. For example did you know salt is essential for muscle movement, including that of the heart. It’s necessary for the digestive tract to function properly –crucial for the transmission of messages by the nerve cells, and regulated osmotic pressure and the movement of fluid to and from the cell. Salt is found in blood, sweat, and tears. Hotter climates increase the need for salt consumption. Chronic deprivation of salt causes loss of weight, loss of appetite, nausea, muscular cramps and even stunts growth.

In the food industry, it is used in flavoring and seasoning, pickling, canning, preserving, baking, dairying, curing meat and fish, and processing flour and other foods. Salt is a binder, a texturizer, and a fermentation control agent. Other useful applications include oil well drilling, and fertilizing!

And of course when applied to the roadways salt:

· Melts ice and snow

· Gives traction

· Leaves behind a residue

· Provides safe passage on the highways where applied

· Long lasting

· Proven to work at even very low temperatures

· Goes to work as soon as it is applied

So as you see salt has many useful purposes. However if salt looses those useful properties, then it becomes good for nothing.

Faith in Christ has much the same attributes as road salt, when you think about it a little. I mean faith, when applied to a life sliding along the slippery slope of life’s byways, provides sure-footedness, safe passage, has long lasting effects (it is eternal), is proven to work under the worst circumstances, starts to work as soon as it is applied, melts the sin hardened heart and thaws the coldest sin sick soul, and leaves behind evidence of it being applied to a life.

Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnets...
Image via Wikipedia

There are four “modern horsemen of the apocalypse,” according to Dr. Richard Land in remarks delivered to the annual Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, and they are “riding forth to wreak havoc and destruction in our society.” Land listed the four as the denial of the sanctity of human life, the rise of hardcore Internet pornography, the radical homosexual agenda’s attempt to undermine marriage, and radical Islamic jihadist.

The inactive, rudderless Church

If the church of Jesus Christ, whose congregations number in the hundreds of millions in America, was doing what it was supposed to be doing (“… created in Christ Jesus to do good works”), a whole host of problems would be taken care of in short order.  Indeed, instead of focusing on the four horsemen of the apocalypse, we may do well to concentrate heaviest on the salt supply.  An inactive and ineffective church, ignoring the call to be holy, is as bad as a culture can hope for.  Faith used only within the confines of worship but remains unreleased into the world, is really not faith at all.

Let’s face it, what good is a supply-yard full of salt, if there are no trucks to spread it on dangerous roadways? What good does a truck load of salt do a stranded motorist if the salt never gets applied to the roadway they are traveling? What good does the gospel do confined within the supply yard of the local church if it never gets carried outside to be applied to slippery byways of life? What good is a full salt shaker if it only sits on the tabletop and is never used?

Although there may be a plentiful supply of salt in the world, there seems to be a shortage of salt spreaders.

When the church isn’t the salt of the earth or the light of the world, disaster awaits.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

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No Boundaries

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

clip_image002_thumb.jpgInsight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest http://www.eagleviews.org
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor

Do not move an ancient boundary marker that your ancestors set in place. Prov 22:28 (GW)–

 

Many cell phone plans offer unlimited usage without occurring additional cost. You pay one fee each month and use your phone as much as you want throughout that month without any additional cost. I am not exactly sure how the phone companies figure usage costs in order to properly charge everyone for the use of their system, but in any case these plans are out there.

I however have a plan which offers me unlimited nights and weekends but during the day I am limited to the number of minutes I may use. My service provider recently came out with a plan that allows me to call any cell phone on any plan free. WOW that is almost like getting unlimited minutes without having to pay the additional monthly fee. Considering most of the people I actually call all have cell phones it would appear I hit the jack pot with this new pricing plan.

Not being a person who really spends a great deal of time talking or texting on the phone anyway I hardly ever used up my allowed minutes which kept my phone plan reasonably priced. However I recently purchased a new phone which required that I upgrade my service to an unlimited data plan in order to fully utilize the phone’s features. At first I was concerned about what the company meant by UNLIMITED. In today’s world we always need to define terms in order to be sure we are getting what we agreed upon.

I long for the days when a man’s word was his bond. You could actually trust the information people were giving you as factual and honest. Today it seems everything is subject to redefining. We have those who are attempting to redefine what marriage means and what freedom means. We have those in government who are determined to redefine what the limits of the constitution are. Free is not always free, and something for nothing usually has strings attached so you understand my hesitancy to accept, at face value, an unlimited plan from my phone service provider.

After reading most of the fine print I felt reasonably confident that my current service plan will provide me with the service that I need at a price I am comfortable paying. Until l actually get my first bill under this new plan I still reserve some trepidation.

No limits, a world without boundaries sounds good under certain circumstances but is a “no boundaries” policy a good one to implement across the board? Is it wise to bring up our children, for example, without giving them limits to what they can and can not do? Is it prudent to offer no money down and no interest financing plans for major purchases? Is it considered good financial policy to continue to rack up debt? Is it good policy to allow anyone and everyone to enter your home without permission? Does it seem prudent to allow strangers to enter into your home without some kind of verification that they mean you no harm? How can it be determined you are engaging in proper conduct if there are no limits or guidelines? How can you tell in what direction you are going if there are no landmarks?

Could it be said then that when it comes to cell phones, no limits may be a good thing but when it comes to life having limits, it is not only wise, but necessary?

How can a society function without the “Rule of Law “? The United States of America was established with the constitution being the LAW OF THE LAND. It was required that everyone, rich or poor, great or small, would all be subject to the rule of law. This principle can be found in the Judeo-Christian beliefs the founding fathers brought to the table when they drew up the plans for this country. Having grown up where the government had no boundaries or limits, they knew the dangers of limitless power held by a central government. Tyrants love it when there is chaos and confusion. They love to stir up factions within a society. They love passing restrictive rules and regulations upon the governed in order to control their every aspect of life.

Then there is the other extreme where lawlessness runs wild. We see this in Afghanistan, a nation that has been run by MOB RULE for many generations. Maintaining a civil society under such conditions is practically impossible. So which do you suppose is better? A society where there are no limits or one where there are agreed upon limitations? There exists a third way which is a mixture of the two extremes. A society where there are very restrictive limitations for a select few and a differing set of rules for those setting the rules.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees teach with Moses’ authority. So be careful to do everything they tell you. But don’t follow their example, because they don’t practice what they preach. They make loads that are hard to carry and lay them on the shoulders of the people. However, they are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Matt 23:1-4 (GW)–

 

Jesus addressed this issue when he preached against the Scribes and Pharisees of his day. To these ELITE he spoke most harshly primarily because they did not practice what they preached. They exempted themselves from the rules they imposed upon those who elected them as leaders. Sounds familiar does it not?

Christianity stands opposed to both extremes. In fact a truly moderate person could be considered a Christian. Of course the word moderate has a different meaning today then in Jesus’ day. To be moderate in Bible times meant to not go to any extremes. You set limits on yourself. You would not allow yourself to go without boundaries. You were in control of your passions and desires. You considered the welfare of others and not just your own.

But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Gal 5:22-23 (GW)–

 

 

All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life]. Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor]. 1 Cor 10:23-24 (AMP)–

 

Although I am permitted to use my phone for as long as I want without limits, I choose to place limits upon my own usage. I refrain from making unnecessary phone calls and keep text messages to a minimum. Without limits it is easy to get sucked up into the world of excess. It is easy to forget that somewhere, in someway, somehow, those excesses are going to have to be paid for. Whether they are paid for by you or by someone who comes after you, because the old adage still holds true, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Our actions affect others. For an example, when using a cell phone, just because you may have unlimited minutes it does not mean that the person you call has the same advantages you have. They may be on a limited plan to save money and every minute you talk to them counts against they own minutes. For every minute you use of their time the less time they have to use themselves.

Our actions affect those around us. Our excesses can overflow to our neighbors, that is why it is wise to do everything in moderation. Keep the excesses to a minimum, or better yet eliminate them. And remember that just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should. Set up some boundaries, God did, he called them commandments. His laws were not supposed to enslave us but rather steer us clear of the entrapments and allures of excess. His intent was to have a civil society set within reasonable boundaries. Remove these boundaries at your own risk.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

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Do You Have a Back-up?

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

clip_image002_thumb.jpgA View from the Nest
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor
Insight from the Journey across the Sky

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5,6

My work requires me to travel throughout Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. It is important that I get to my destinations on time every time. Therefore I invested in a GPS navigation system that I can take with me each day to make sure that I arrive on time. It has been over two years since I purchased this unit and it has pointed me in the right direction every time I called upon it. That was until this past Saturday.

Now to be fair I can not blame the unit for failing because it was working fine until the battery went dead. Even though I had the unit plugged into the cigarette lighter of the truck I was driving, I failed to notice that there was no power coming from that cigarette lighter outlet to keep the battery of the GPS unit charged. I am thankful that the battery lasted long enough to get me to my first destination at which time the CHARGE light came on and the unit shut down.

What was I going to do? How was I going to navigate from the first stop to the next stop? I had a general idea how to get to where I needed to go but I was not sure of the direction I was traveling and how to get from the first stop to the proper highway to head to the second. I had never been to the second location before so I was not sure I was going to be able to find the location without help from a map or the GPS unit which I have totally relied upon for two years.

It is amazing how dependent we become upon technology. The convenience these gadgets bring to our lives are both a blessing and a curse. I have never been known to be one who can not find my way around and it is difficult to get me lost but I have been lost on more than one occasion. It is not a problem if I am not pressed for time or being relied upon to be somewhere at a particular time and others are waiting on me. If I have all day to get somewhere then it is not as imperative that I stay on course.

Well I had to come up with a solution to my DEAD battery dilemma. It just so happened that I had another piece of technology with me on that trip, my cell phone. Being a SPRINT subscriber I had access to SPRINT NAVIGATION and I was happy to find out it worked. In fact it worked great. I was not sure it was going to work because I had all data and extra services deactivated on the phone because I only wanted it for making and receiving calls. My first thought was to call customer service and have the SPRINT navigation service activated so that I could use it to get to my second location. I called the customer service center only to find out it did not open until an hour past the time I needed to arrive at my next destination.

I simply prayed and tried the Sprint Navigation application that I had downloaded onto the phone 2 years prior and was pleasantly surprised to find it still worked. I programmed the unit for the address I needed to get to and it took me right to the location with little or no problems.

I was relieved to have had this back-up option. I really did not know what I would have done had I not had this option. This got me to thinking about other electronic devices that I own. Most I can live without’ but some I use regularly and would find life a little less convenient if they quit working. One of those devices is my computer. The computer has become such a huge part of my life and my work that it would be difficult to function without it. I use it to keep a journal, I use it for daily devotional work and study, I use it to compose letters and articles as well as maintaining this blog and others. I use it heavily for church work. And because I have used it so much I am always mindful of the need to back up often. It is only a matter of time before the computer will crash and data will be lost. If you do not maintain a backup of your work you are going to loose it.

When it comes to electronics it is wise to have a backup because all these gadgets will fail at one time or another as my GPS adventure demonstrated. Because I have been through computer crashes and dead cell phones I have learned how to deal with the eventuality of a malfunction. I have several copies of my most important files backed up and stored in several places. So far I have been able to recover from all major computer crashes without much difficulty. Although everyone who has ever had to undergo a restore knows it is not painless.

Having a backup plan for my GPS problem and having backup files for computer malfunctions is wise especially if those electronic devices are important in your day to day activities.

But what about your day to day life? Do you have an alternate plan for the times when things just do not go as you hoped or planned? I mean what do you do when you are faced with a loss? What do you do when you find yourself in a situation that you do not know how to handle? What do you do when you find yourself in a place that is uncomfortable and unfamiliar? What do you do when you find yourself at a loss for an answer to a problem, or faced with a life threatening circumstance? Do you have an emergency back up plan? What would you do? Who would you call? Where would you go for assistance?

In the world of electronics having a backup is not difficult. It certainly does require some forethought and will probably cost you some out of pocket expense but in the long run the little it costs is priceless to the piece of mind a back up plan provides.

When it comes to the matters of life however I fear that many people fail to plan for the eventuality of an unexpected disaster. They do not have a backup plan. They have no alternative to whatever life throws at them. Many live lives of quiet desperation, toughening it out without much hope of a solid solution. Apart from faith in God the world can be a heartless, cruel place. There are not many DO OVERS permitted in real life. IN fact most of us only get one chance to get it right.

There is hope however, there is a backup plan. There is a restore button you can press to get back up and running when life throws you a curve ball. There is a place you can go to get direction and navigational tips to get you back on course. That place is found in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. His word can provide comfort, hope, solace, joy, direction, instruction for daily living and even a do over when you find yourself gone astray. God’s love and forgiveness can restore a life that has crashed. His Holy Spirit can restore the broken hearted. God’s goodness can make up for life’s cruelties. He is life’s reset button.

However it is wise to not abuse God’s mercy by continuing to live recklessly. But if life throws you a curve ball and things seems to be spinning out of control, remember that He is as close as the whisper of His name.

Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved, restored, and set on the right path once again. Thank God for back-ups! Thank God for a navigational tool that never fails however it does require to be recharged from time to time. By praying and reading God’s word you keep God’s internal guidance system running at full power. Failing to plug into the power source daily weakens the navigational power of God’s Holy spirit.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

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The Scapegoat

Allen Frederick 4 Comments

clip_image002A View from the Nest

Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor

Insight from the Journey across the Sky

By Allen Scott

He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. Leviticus 16:7-10


1scape·goat Pronunciation: \’skap-?got\

Function: noun

1 : a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur

2 a : one that bears the blame for others b : one that is the object of irrational hostility http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scapegoat


(e)scapegoat
Image by mindfulness via Flickr

The scapegoat was a goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, in Judaism during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Yom Kippur is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and/or attend synagogue services on this day.

The name “Yom Kippur” means “Day of Atonement,” and that pretty much explains what the holiday is. It is a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year.

In Leviticus God instructs Aaron on how to observe this most Holy of Holy days. He was to select two goats and present them at the door to the temple of the Lord and one will be sacrificed to the Lord and the other will be released as a symbolic carrier of the people’s sins. The scapegoat was to be released into the wilderness and left there to die.

20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. Lev 16:20-22 NKJV


Since this goat, carrying the sins of the people placed on it, is sent away to perish, the word “scapegoat” has come to mean a person, often innocent, who is blamed and punished for the sins, crimes, or sufferings of others, generally as a way of distracting attention from the real causes.

Scapegoating is an important tool of propaganda; the most famous example in modern history is the singling out in Nazi propaganda of the Jews as the source of Germany’s post-World War I economic woes and political collapse.

“Scapegoated” groups throughout history have included almost every imaginable group of people: adherents of different religions, people of different races or nations, people with different political beliefs, or people differing in behaviour from the majority. However, scapegoating may also be applied to organizations, such as governments, corporations, or various political groups. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat

Scapegoating seems to be the method of choice, utilized by those in today’s political class. It would appear that in order to press forth unpopular policies and bills the politicians in charge look for a scapegoat to demonize. They wish to misdirect anger and blame away from themselves and onto another group, political party, race or social class. This is nothing new, and the practice is as old as time itself.

Even Adam and Eve looked for a “scapegoat” when confronted with their own failings. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent. (Gen 3:8-19). This is human nature. No one really wants to take responsibility for their own failings and usually attempt to find someone or something upon which to affix blame.

No matter how hard we try however, the guilt and blame can not be assuaged by a scapegoat. In fact this ritual, during the “Day of Atonement” mentioned in Leviticus, was only a temporary fix to a permanent problem. No amount of ceremony, ritual cleansing, or scapegoating could actual remove the stain of sin from a person’s life. The stain of quilt would still remain.

What started in the Garden of Eden (the missteps of Adam-sin) God finished in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus chose to be the ultimate scapegoat in order to carry away the stains of sin from the world. Jesus chose to be sent out to die as a scapegoat, to make the ultimate atonement for the people.

To a devote Jew, Yom Kippur is a necessary ritual that must be repeated each and every year in order to atone for sins they commit against God. To the Christian Yom Kippur is a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made in order to atone for our sins once and for all. It is therefore helpful to remind ourselves of this atonement day, but it need not be only on Yom Kippur.

Every time we feel the need to blame someone else or try to dismiss our own shortcomings by looking for a scapegoat, remember one has already been offered for you. So instead of pushing the blame onto unto another innocent party or group, why not simply acknowledge your need for the cleansing power of Jesus’ sacrificial offering and accept Him as your permanent scapegoat? Better yet why not accept Him as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world? (John 1:29)


But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)



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