Double Jeopardy
Leviticus 16:15-16, 20-22
“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness...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. 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. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”
Each time the enemy launches an accusation against you, it is to get you to forget that your case has already been settled. You’ve been acquitted. Jesus has already taken your punishment. You are loved: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment (punishment). But he who fears has not been made perfect (matured in understanding) in love (God’s love for you)” 1 John 4:18. The Judge has already passed sentence, and it was fulfilled in His Son, the LORD’S chosen scapegoat (Lev. 16:7-10). He has carried our sins far away from us outside the camp-- outside the city to the Cross of Christ, never to return. The accusation comes to get you to believe a lie, doubt your freedom and distrust the word of your Defense Attorney. And this is the lie: “God does not love you. God does not care about you, and you are on your own.” The liar wants you to forget that your case has already been tried, and you were found not guilty because of the finished work of the Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ. satan, brings up old, dropped, charges and tries to indict you again (with your cooperation), but justice for your sin and rebellion is and was satisfied in the eyes of the true Judge of Righteousness. The devil can’t put you on trial for something you’ve been declared innocent of. Jesus at the cross exchanged His righteousness for our sin: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).
The sacrificial system given to Israel by God under Moses’ leadership was a type and shadow of what was to come. Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless, unblemished Lamb of God, was the sacrifice chosen to bear the punishment for our sin to satisfy God’s wrath. He is the scapegoat chosen to carry our sins away from us so that God can be with us. Jesus did this so that we too could know the Father intimately. He is the Great High Priest and Mediator who represents mankind before God, and God before us, bringing peace. God holds nothing against you. The LORD, in His holiness and enormous compassion, has done away with everything that separates us from experiencing His fellowship and love, through faith in Jesus Christ. But do we believe that?
Christ’s love and compassion for us is the accuser’s true point of contention. This is the crux of the enemy’s argument, and he shrewdly shrouds it in deceptions by tempting you to turn your focus and faith away from the saving grace of the Father and onto your inability to measure up to it in your own strength, power, and intellect. This tactic is a distraction designed to lure you away from the Cross of Christ and the victory we have in His resurrection, so that you reject God’s free gift of salvation and try to save yourself by putting yourself in bondage again. It’s a whole trap. BUT GOD!! You are a new creation, your old life is dead and gone, and your new life is hidden in Christ in victory over every strategy and weapon that forms against you. Jesus has overcome them all. This is why it is important to study the Word of God to know what the Father has spoken and ordained before the foundation of the world, fortifying your spirit by the Spirit, against the fiery darts of the evil one.
The moment the enemy tries to drag you back into a courtroom, he is already at a great and insurmountable disadvantage. He is defeated and himself deceived. This is a fact. It is God’s courtroom. He’s walking into a holy setup!! God is Judge and Jury and has justified us through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself, is a witness to the finished work of His own Son, attaining for you Christ’s own righteousness and favor and the Holy Spirit testifies that we are sons and daughters of the Most High God. The Lord Jesus is your Defense Attorney silencing every argument that rises to prosecute you by interceding for you. His sinless blood sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven declares you not guilty. The verdict handed down before the world began was settled and not because you are good, but because God is good and His mercy endures forever. ‘What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:31-39).
The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen.