Building on the Foundation

There are many go-to verses that we are quite familiar with in the Church of God; verses for just about every situation you might come across, and to refute all kinds of modern pagan religion. The Bible is a sword, after all, and it is quite powerful in the real sort of warfare we engage in on a daily basis. For instance, people in the world will tell you to “follow your heart,” meaning that whatever desire might cross the screen of your heart should be followed. You should essentially let your desires and emotions rule your life rather than any form of discipline or written code as in the case of the Christian religion. Though the problem with this is obvious, many Christians buy into this false idea that the heart is something to be followed. Jeremiah said something about this when he said, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 (AFV) This is similar to the ideas that are echoed in Genesis and in Proverbs, the idea that the he...

  “[God] has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:10-12). The Day of Atonement includes just such a picture of sin being removed far away. Under the Old Covenant, there were two goats: one to die for the sins of the people, and one to carry those sins far away. Here’s Lev. 16:8: “Then Aaron [the high priest] shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat.” “Scapegoat” is a poor translation. The Hebrew word used here is azazel (Strong’s # H5799), which derives from two other Hebrew words: az (# H5795), or goat, and azal (# H235), “to go away.” So the azazel is the “goat to go away,” or, as some Bible translations render it, the “goat of departure.” The goat on which the lot of the LORD, or YHWH, fel...