Two Words - Jerry Bridges

When the Jew of the Old Testament celebrated the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), he had to exercise
 (1) repentance, and (2) faith.

To repent is to acknowledge sincerely and humbly one's sins and desire to turn from sin and strive to lead a godly life - a life that pleases God.

Faith, on the Day of Atonement, is believing God's promise that his sins were transferred to the second goat (the scapegoat) and they no longer contaminated his life - they no longer hung over his head. They were removed - as far as the east is from the west, the Psalter said in Psalm 103.

(The blood of the first goat was sprinkled on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. The High Priest then laid his hands on the living second goat, symbolically transferring the sins of the Jewish people to that goat, and then led it out into the wilderness. That second goat is known as the scapegoat.)

From Jerry Bridges in The Gospel for Real Life:

''Of course the scapegoat could not itself carry away the sins of the people. It was only symbolic -- a type of the true scapegoat who was to come, Jesus Christ.

Today we see the reality of the symbol.

We see Jesus as the One who not only propitiated the wrath of God symbolized in the sacrifice of the first goat, but who also removed our sins from the presence of God, symbolized by the second goat led away into the desert, bearing the sins of the people."

              -- The Gospel for Real Life, by Jerry Bridges



The same two attitudes -- repentance and faith -- are still necessary for all of us today.

God's requirements have not changed. 

We come to Jesus and trust in Him as our Savior (the first goat) and our scapegoat, or sin-bearer/remover (the second goat).


In coming to Christ for salvation we must acknowledge ourselves as sinners before a holy God.

Just as the ancient Jews repented and trusted in God for salvation, so do we.

Repentance and faith - for them and for us.

We must repent of our sins, laying them on Jesus, and trusting Him to be true to His Word and take them away forever.

More from Jerry Bridges:

"But it is not just in coming to Christ that we must exercise penitence and faith. Rather, these two heartfelt attitudes should characterize our lives throughout every day.

We not only come to God through faith in Christ as both our propitiation and our scapegoat, we must live in his presence every day on the same basis.

Obviously, our sins have been put away...

Subjectively, however, we must believe the testimony of God that they truly have been put away.

We must believe that, just as the Old Testament scapegoat symbolically carried away the sins of the Jews from the presence of God, so Jesus actually carried away our sins."

                                        ~~~~~~~~~


What does propitiation mean? To appease God, to satisfy His holiness, to enable us (who are covered in sin) to come to Him.

Through the Old Testament sacrificial system we see the way by which how God taught that a sinful human being might approach Him.

Sin means death.

But the sacrificial system taught that there was a way of escape. Another may die in a sinner's place.

And that's the reality of the gospel - Old Testament for the ancient Jews - and New Testament for us.