What parallel about Jesus and the scapegoat is described in the material?

• A. He Took the Sins of the People Upon Himself
• B. He Lived a Perfect Life Without Sin
• C. He Descended from David
• D. He Proclaimed the Kingdom of God

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is substitutionary atonement—the concept that Jesus bears our sins in place of us, just as the scapegoat carried away the people’s sins. In the Day of Atonement ritual, a priest laid hands on a live goat and confessed all the people's sins over it, then sent the goat into the wilderness, symbolically removing guilt from the community. Christians see Jesus as fulfilling that symbol: through his death he takes on humanity’s sin and its penalty, acting as the substitute who bears our guilt and makes forgiveness possible. That parallel best captures why the scapegoat is connected to Jesus. Other statements describe different aspects of Jesus—his sinless life, his Davidic lineage, or his proclamation of the Kingdom—but they don’t reflect the specific act of bearing and removing sin that the scapegoat represents.