Nudging #80 - Apr 19 "The G.O.A.T." (Happy Easter)
April 19, 2025
The G.O.A.T.
“The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8, NLT)
In every dorm room debate, group text thread, or sports documentary, the question always comes up: Who’s the G.O.A.T.?—the Greatest of All Time.
Is it Jordan or LeBron? Brady or Montana? Serena or Steffi? Messi or Ronaldo? The arguments rage on, stats are compared, highlight reels analyzed. Everyone has their pick. But there’s one G.O.A.T. whose greatness surpasses trophies, titles, or talent. His arena wasn’t a court or field—it was a cross. His victory wasn’t won with a ball or a racket, but with the weight of our sin upon His shoulders.
In Leviticus 16, God gave Moses instructions for the Day of Atonement—a day when Israel’s sins were symbolically dealt with through two goats. One was sacrificed. The other, the scapegoat, was brought before the priest, who would lay his hands on its head and confess over it the sins of the people. Then the goat was led far away into the wilderness, carrying all the guilt, shame, and sin of the people out of the camp…never to return.
It’s a haunting picture—and a holy one.
Thousands of years later, we see Jesus—the true scapegoat—bearing not just symbolic sins, but the real, soul-staining filth of humanity. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (NIV). Jesus didn’t just carry our sins away—He became sin for us.
And He didn’t stop there.
He doesn’t just remove our guilt—He destroys its power. “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15, NIV).
The Enemy, through sin, had us locked in shame. But Jesus took all that sludge—our guilt, our fear, our unworthiness—and hauled it upon Himself, back to hell where it belongs. The fiery darts of the wicked one hold no power over us because Jesus, our scapegoat, has removed them—as far as the East is from the West.
So, who’s the real G.O.A.T.?
Not the one with rings or records, but the One with the scars.
Not the one who entertains crowds, but the One who redeems them.
Jesus is the greatest of all time—not just because of what He did, but because of who He is—the Risen One.
And now, because of Him, we stand forgiven, free… victorious!
Happy Easter