Sunday, May 31, 2015

May 31, 2015 … All We Like Sheep

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 151

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK  … Please take the time to take in a video of Steve Green singing the poignant song, People Need The Lord, reminding us that we ALL need the Lamb of God, Who shed His blood that we might be saved.


Highlight Passage Leviticus 16: 9-10 [ESV] … 
9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. 
… Two goats for atonement.
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Highlight Context - Leviticus 16: 5-22 [ESV]USE THIS LINK
… God establishes a system for the atonement of the sins of His chosen involving the blood sacrifice of one perfect Lamb and covering of another “scapegoat” so that mankind can live
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Reference Passage #1 - Isaiah 53: 6 [NKJV] … 
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. 
… The prophesy of the Messiah, the Lamb of God, Who would come to shed His blood for all who would receive His atonement and become the scapegoat.

Reference Passage #2 - Romans 3: 21-23 [ESV] USE THIS LINK … We ALL - everyone - need the blood of the Lamb to atone for our sinfulness. My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Julie Ackerman Link, took her readers (me) back to the elaborate system of sacrifice God established through Moses and Aaron to allow for the atonement of the sins of God’s chosen, the people of God. The atonement sacrifice involved the shedding of the blood of one perfect Lamb, the blood of which was placed on the neck of another lamb, designated as the “scapegoat,” which was allowed to be set free, by lot, and to go out into the world and live [see the passage from Leviticus 16 linked above].

 But God knew that this system would not really allow for His chosen ones to account for their sinfulness; so God prophesied through Isaiah (see Isaiah 53: 6) that one would come as the Lamb of God and shed His blood so that we, as the “scapegoat,” might be saved and set free from our sin. And that Lamb of God, of course, was (and IS) Jesus, The Christ. And ALL of us, as sinners [see Romans 3: 21-23], can become that “scapegoat” when, in faith, we repent and receive the blood covering, offered freely, to any/all who would receive God’s saving grace of forgiveness and eternal life.

 We sinful humans all too often point the finger of blame (see attached photo) at others when we see that one falling short of the mark (which WE impose). But in reality, all of us are that “scapegoat,” aren’t we? And we all need God’s saving grace to free us as HIS “scapegoat.” So, today I pray we all have been blessed to receive - in faith - the blood of the Lamb of God, which The Lord applies to us so that we can be freed to live in this world, as God’s blessed “scapegoats.”

My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … You came to shed Your blood so that I, as Your scapegoat, can be free forever, covered by the blood of the Lamb of God. Amen

Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

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