All Their Sins

All their sins.  After finishing making atonement, the live male goat was to be presented.  We read, “Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites’ iniquities and rebellious acts – all their sins” (Leviticus 16:21). As I thought about this, I began thinking about the specific sins that must have been confessed on that day.  It was not a matter of simply saying, “God forgive me for all my sins”, but the sins themselves, must have been confessed specifically.  This would require one to really thing about how they had violated the laws of God and in which way.  I also thought about how important it was to mention them all, and not to leave any out.  There must have been great effort into this part of the process and great thought as the confession was made.  How often when we pray and ask God to forgive us of our sins, do we take the time to stop and really think about how we have offended the Lord.