The Truck Filled With Dirt

We are the second owners of the house in which we currently live.
We built the house we lived in before this one.
Many new homeowners said, I wish they would stop building, now that we live here.
It was said tongue in cheek but the honesty of the statement always struck me.

All these years later, they are still building.
Villages with apartments, town houses, and single family homes have been completed.
Those villages have shops, farmer’s markets, concerts, and restaurants.
Those villages seem to be the up and coming way to build.

However, single family homes are still being built.
We have two and a half acres, with half of our land being wooded.
Large houses are now begin built on very small lots.
People tend to buy those homes since the upkeep of their yard is minimal.

I pass one such new development every day when I drive.
Houses are going up quickly.
People want to live there.
The houses are large; the houses are close together.

For weeks, flagmen were directing traffic.
You always had to give yourself extra time since you never knew if you were going to be stopped.
They were widening the road a bit.
They were putting in low guard rails along the side of the road.

I would drive down the hill, approaching the development and I could see the line of cars.
We would not wait too long but there was always a delay during that stage of building.
Now the construction is in the development itself as houses pop up at a rapid speed.
Now we have to drive behind the occasional truck that exits the development.

Since it is uphill once you come out of the new development, large trucks go quite slow.
I was behind one such truck as it pulled out in front of the car that was in front of me.
I am sure the driver of the car was a bit annoyed at the way the truck pulled out.
The truck was carrying dirt that was being removed from the construction site.

Bits of dirt from the truck was flying off the back.
The car in front of me slowed up a bit.
I was watching the truck as it plodded up the hill.
Then I saw movement but I did not know what I was seeing.

It almost looked as if the truck bed was being lifted.
Something was rising from the truck, which made the driver behind the truck pull back.
We were both watching the same thing and not understanding what we were seeing.
I thought for sure the entire load of dirt was going to be dumped on the road.

However, I was wrong.
The driver must have realized that some of the dirt was flying off the back of the truck.
The driver was actually lifting a cover so the dirt would be contained.
The large cover came up at a great height and was slowly lowered over the dirt it was carrying.

For a few minutes, the cover was high in the air.
Then slowly, neatly, the cover fit perfectly over the truckload of dirt.
I am sure the driver in front of me was relieved.
I know I was.

I wondered how many times each day the truck, or one like it, had to remove dirt from the site?
I wondered where all the dirt was going?
I wondered if the driver ever got tired of hauling truckloads of dirt all day?
I wondered if the driver realized the importance of his job?

Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat.  Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering.  But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat…He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness…When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task.  The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:6-10, 15,16, 20-22)

I drove slowly up the hill behind the truck carrying a load of dirt.
The truck carried the load of dirt away from the construction site.
The dirt would be dumped somewhere away from the houses that are being built.
I thought of the scapegoat.

Two goats were necessary on the Day of Atonement.
The scapegoat was the live goat that was sent away into the wilderness.
As Aaron, the High Priest, laid his hands on the scapegoat, he confessed the sins of the people.
The scapegoat was the goat that symbolically took the sins of the people far away.

He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:12)

The scapegoat in the wilderness was the picture of the ultimate substitutionary atonement.
All of our sin was laid on Jesus as He hung on the cross.
Jesus was crucified outside the city.
Jesus was our Scapegoat.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for removing our sins far away from us when we come to You in faith.