Hebraic Musing - What is the ultimate purpose of Life?
Or, maybe the
title should be “Donate your life” as suggested in Leviticus
16:8-10?!?! We are all familiar with the ‘scapegoat’
story and typically consider the scapegoat to be the lucky one who is allowed
to live. As the one-armed Rabbi used to say, “On the other hand”.
Let’s look at
Leviticus 16:8-10 from a different perspective.
“He is to
cast lots for the two goats — one lot for the Lord and the other for the
scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat
whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat
shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by
sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.” NIV
This sacrificial process was central to the Yom Kippur
service and message. Drawing ‘lots’
determines the fate of two identical goats. One of the two goats becomes an offering to
the Lord. The other would symbolically
be given the sins of Israel and sent off into the wilderness where it would
obviously die later. Which one was the
‘lucky’ one? What can we learn from
this? How is it relevant to us
today? Are there two different ways of
living, and dying?
We will all die at an unknown time someday. In the meantime, we get to decide how we
live. The goat that is sacrificed to the
Lord represents a life lived in service to God, full of purpose and meaning. The ‘scape goat’ represents a person who
wanders about aimlessly in this world without any clear sense of purpose,
contribution or meaning. Both goats die
in the end, but only one lived a worthy life.
The first goat’s life is deemed worthy because his life was an offering
to the Lord; and the second goat lived with sin all the while he wandered in
the desert for the rest of his days.
God has given us life, and all the blessings associated
with our ability to do things here on earth. The first goat, the one offered to God,
reminds us of our challenge as believers to die to ourselves and thus live our
lives as a living sacrifice. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Rom. 12:1 NKJV
In summary – We need to be giving our lives in service to
God, dying to self, so that others may live.
Unsaved, unredeemed or selfish folks have selected the option to live
their lives as the scapegoat – wandering around in a spiritual desert, still
living in the sins of the world and finally dying without having served God.
What does the NT say about this topic? “If we
live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we
live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
Romans 14:8 NIV And as Paul said
in Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live
is Christ and to die is gain.”
Points
to ponder
How can we be a living sacrifice to God now?
What is your purpose for living?
Are we still
living for ourselves?
Have we died to ourselves,
so we
can live for others?
L’Chaim
(to Life)
Yosef a.k.a.
Joe Brusherd
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our
faith”
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)” Weekly “Hebraic
Musings”
“Musings – Volume 1, God’s Original Plan for A Victorious Life”
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