Distance Devotions          –          April 15, 2020

Leviticus 16:21, 22          –          By the Hand of a Fit Man

Leviticus 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

If you are like me, I can sometimes get confused as I read about the ceremonial laws governing the offerings and sacrifices of the Jewish people.  The first seven chapters in Leviticus give a great overview of the extent of sin and the fact that no one offering could fully represent the Lord Jesus Christ.  For instance, in chapter one, we read of the burnt offering.  The Hebrew word is holocaust.  We readily recognize that as being connected with the genocide of the Nazis against the Jews.  In Leviticus, it is teaching us that the Lord had to be completely consumed, given over to pay our sin debt.  A good resource to study on these first several chapters is the book, The Law of the Offerings, by Andrew Jukes.

What struck me in chapter sixteen, verse twenty-one and twenty-two, was the term a fit man.  In this offering the goat was sent away.  It is called the scapegoat.  Symbolically all of the sins was laid on the goat and he carried it off.  The fit man was a man who was near and available at the moment to fulfill that service.  For us, the Fit Man is Christ.  He and He alone was available and able to fulfill the needed service.  Our sins were more than we could carry.  If we were to try to carry them, we would perish in the attempt.  Our Fit Man, the Lord Jesus was more than able to accomplish the bearing away of sin.  John the Baptist, upon seeing him, cried, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.  I am totally satisfied with the fit man that God provided.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…. (John 3:16)

Pastor F. J. Weems III