The value of the ransom of Jesus as applied toward the rest of mankind, who are thereby given earthly hopes, is next represented by the killing of Jehovah’s goat and the sprinkling of its blood. This the high priest does by entering into the Most Holy the third time. (Vs. 15) But there is another feature in connection with the sacrifice of the goat that was mentioned earlier and with which we are particularly interested because it demonstrates how Jesus was legally able to forgive this man’s sins, even though his own life blood had not yet been poured out. This is in connection with the scapegoat.

It is noticed in the account of the atonement that “the goat, on which the lot fell for Azaʹzel, shall be set alive before Jehovah, to make atonement for [or, “over,” margin] him, to send him away for Azaʹzel into the wilderness”. (Vs. 10, AS) This means that atonement for the “alive” goat was derived from its equal, Jehovah’s goat, just slain and, since the sin-atoning merit of Jehovah’s goat was thereby transferred to it, it could carry merit for sin atonement as though its own blood had actually been spilled and yet it could remain alive to serve for Azaʹzel.—Vss. 21, 22.

This was exactly the position of Christ Jesus at the Jordan. Having voluntarily given up all right to life on the earth by surrendering his human life right in sacrifice, Jesus was accounted as already dead although his sacrifice must be consummated by his death on the torture stake, Nisan 14, three and one-half years later. Therefore, although still alive in the flesh as was the “alive” goat, Jesus carried with him throughout his ministry in the wilderness of Satan’s world the value of this sacrifice and, along with incense of praise in integrity, could use it as a sign in further praise to Jehovah by demonstrating this power and authority he had received from the great Giver of Life, Jehovah God.

Truly is this an arrangement of the Most High, and while those men that were cured of their sicknesses in Jesus’ day eventually died, the time is now very near at hand when Jesus as the Lord of the Sabbath will bring in permanent cures and will heal the people and set them on the road to everlasting life, all of which is made possible through the atonement sacrifice of Jesus and the forgiveness of man’s sins.—See “Atonement for the New World” (3 parts), The Watchtower of August 1 to September 1, 1942.

Tolerant or Apathetic?

● Time magazine, May 26, 1952, considered these the “Words of the Week”:

“In nine cases out of ten what goes by the name of tolerance is really apathy. There are too many easy-going Americans who are up in arms against nothing because they have no fixed standards of right and wrong. They do not come out positively and wholeheartedly on the side of anything because, unlike their fathers, they have no robust convictions. Tolerance is a virtue, but it is not the supreme virtue.”—Robert J. McCracken, of Manhattan’s Riverside church.