"The Great Escape is a 1963 American World War II epic film that depicts an escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from a German POW camp. The film stars Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough....The film is based on Paul Brickhill's 1950 book of the same name, a non-fiction first-hand account of the mass escape from Stalag Luft III in Sagan (now Żagań, Poland), in the province of Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany. A heavily fictionalised version of the escape is depicted in the film." The Leviticus 16 account of the escape made possible by the scapegoat however is not fiction, but is the immutable Word of God given to sinners (all of us Ro 5:12+) in danger of eternal punishment in a "divine POW (prisoner of war) camp " not named Stalag Luft III but the Lake of Fire!
But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat ('aza'zel) fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement (kaphar; Lxx = exilaskomai) upon it, to send (shalach; Lxx - aphiemi means to send away, forgive! Same verb used in 1Jn 1:9+!) it into the wilderness as the scapegoat ('aza'zel) This verse describes the second of the two goats used in the Day of Atonement ritual. The first goat was slain, its blood sprinkled within the veil. The second, the scapegoat('aza'zel), was kept alive, symbolically bearing the confessed sins of the people, and sent into the wilderness. Together, the two goats form one atoning act: one displaying propitiation (satisfying God’s wrath by blood) and the other expiation (removing sins far away). This verse emphasizes that atonement is not complete without both forgiveness and removal of guilt. In Christ, these dual aspects are perfectly fulfilled—His blood satisfies God’s justice, and He removes our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps 103:12).
Christ became our scapegoat
that we might escape sin's penalty.
-- D C Egner
🙏 THOUGHT - If you add an "e" to "scapegoat" ('aza'zel) you would get a non-word but you would get a great word picture of what Christ's atonement accomplished for us on the old rugged Cross. His death enabled our GREAT ESCAPE! The writer of Hebrews warns his readers by asking a question "how will we ESCAPE if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard." (Hebrews 2:3+). The "ESCAPE" provided by the (E)Scapegoat is "so great" an answer to Jesus' probing question to all who think that "religion" can save them "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you ESCAPE the sentence of hell?" (Mt 23:33+). And it also answers Paul's question "And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will ESCAPE the judgment of God?"
As Paul said in his letter to the Colossians "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day (ED: et al OT shadows like the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement)–things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." (Col 2:16-17)
So it is very clear that the scapegoat sent away into the desert foreshadows Christ taking sins as far away as the east is from the west when He died on the Cross
Dear reader, either you will serve as your own "scapegoat" carrying away your sins for eternity into the wilderness "desert" of Hell, never to be found again or you place your faith in Christ's finished, fully atoning work on the Cross, and He becomes your "Divine (E)Scapegoat!"
Many a person today who suffers from what is called a guilt complex
could profit by a study of this ritual for the atonement and removal of sin.
Jesus declared
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins;
for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
--John 8:24+