It’s not just a fuzzy sentiment; Jesus said it Himself:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:11 NKJV)
Jesus really was our “scapegoat;” a concept the Father wrote into the Law itself:
Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:21-22 NKJV)
Seven Hundred years before Jesus was laid in a manger in Bethlehem, the prophet, Isaiah, makes it clear that Jesus was slated to die FOR us:
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 NKJV)
The Apostle Peter wraps up his discussion of Christ’s suffering with these words:
…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25)
I deserved eternal punishment as a consequence for my sin – Christ suffered a brutal death and infinite suffering on that Cross – “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – so I could be forgiven and declared righteous! Yes it is a VERY Good Friday! For me and for everyone who has believed in His name! (John 1:12)
Grace Notes 