A television documentary showed a lot about the behavior of sheep--and of people!  One scene was of a packing house where sheep were slaughtered.  The sheep had to walk from their large pen up a narrow ramp and then turn right.  In order to get the sheep to move up the ramp, a "Judas” goat was trained to lead the sheep up the ramp to their death.  The goat was placed among the sheep and then walked confidently to the ramp as the nervous sheep watched.  After the goat got about five feet up the ramp, he stopped and confidently looked around at the nervous sheep, who then began to follow.  Near the top of the ramp the goat turned left, as a gate was opened only for him and then closed.  The sheep, however, continued up the ramp and turned right to their death.

    The “Judas” goat tactic works, because sheep have the habit of foolishly straying away into danger.  Isaiah says that human beings as they wander away from God into sin are like straying sheep: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”  (53:6-7) Like straying sheep we follow “Judas” goats, temptations of every kind, which will eventually lead us to hell.

    This Isaiah 53 passage is called “The Suffering Savior” prophecy, because it depicts the atoning suffering of Jesus as the Lamb who takes away our sin.