Horns of Salvation

Leviticus 16:11-22

1 “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. 12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.

15 “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.

18 “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

I think that I misunderstood the meaning of the scapegoat, which was sent to the wilderness alive, after having making atonement for the sins that people had made. It was totally opposite to the turkey about which I told as one of escaper from sins. Rather, that means Jesus, who took all the sins for all human beings. Making it set in the wilderness symbolizes His perfect sacrifice for us all.

One more thing that catches my eyes is the horn of the altar, on which blood of a bull and a goat was spread, and I am curious about it. In Genesis 22:13, Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a  burnt offering instead of his son. Here are the horns that are shown at first in the bible, which represents the salvation through the greatest sacrifice of Jesus. In Psalms 18:2, the power of the horn is described like this: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

The blood of the four horns means His total dedications to make atonement for all. Finally, I've got the idea of the meaning of the horn itself. In Exodus 19:13, "Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain." Without it, I can't move up to the mountain, which means that I can't win over the world. Without the faith in Jesus, holing His hand, I can't move on even today. I appreciate that  Holy Spirit helps me identify myself well enough to depend on Jesus in many ways. 

Now, I pray that His horn of my Salvation may sound a long blast, saying "Go for it!" and "Move on to do whatever I give you as dreams."