How many goats are you worth?

“For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17

In a state of exasperation, I called my mother one Sunday evening in June 1981. “Mom, over the past ten years, I’ve prayed, read the Bible, gone to church, listened to testimonies, begged and pleaded with God, but I’m just not getting it.... I know the Bible teaches salvation comes through Jesus’ death and resurrection, but why?!? Why couldn't he just click his heels together three times and that be good enough?”

Well, Mom was a Bethel Bible Series teacher and she gave me that two-year course in about five minutes! She shared with me Leviticus 17:11, where God made it clear that “...the life of the creature is in the blood ... it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life” and also Hebrews 9:22, which says, “...without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Then, pulling it all together, she said, “In the Old Testament, it was the blood of bulls and goats that was shed for atonement. But how many goats are you worth? The life of the creature is in the blood and only God’s life is able to save your life.”

At that point, everything clicked. After saying our good-byes and hanging up the phone, I went to my room, knelt beside my bed and entrusted my life to Jesus and his atonement for my sins.

So what of this sacrifice of God Incarnate, this Christ who was “made like his brothers in every way” and sacrificed his life for ours?

Though we were made in Jesus' image, he became like us, so that he could suffer and die in our place. He was “made a little lower than the angels” and “suffered death, so that ... he might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9).”

Made “perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10),” Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for us.  While Jesus has always been perfect, he had to live a human life in perfect faith and obedience – tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin – so to fulfill the law and the prophets and ultimately to become an unblemished sacrifice for us.

Jesus destroyed Satan and his reign of death. The Son of God “shared in our humanity,” so that, dying a human death and rising again from it, he might forever “destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil” and free us from our fear of death (Hebrews 2:14).

Jesus became a priest who intercedes for us forever. He “had to be made like [us] in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people (Hebrews 2:17).” 

He died in our place.  He became our sacrifice.  He destroyed death.  He lives to intercede for us.

So I ask you, can your goat do all this?  Neither could mine.