Day of Atonement, or the Fast
let us read Leviticus 23:26-27, 31-32: “And the Lord spake … saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls [fast] …. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
Wonderful mystery! At-one-ment with God! Man at last made one with his Maker!
Again, in the 16th chapter of Leviticus, verses 29 and 31,where the symbolism of the Day of Atonement is explained, we find it instituted a holy sabbath to be kept forever: “And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you …. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.”
in Leviticus 23:32, the expression “from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” Every Sabbath keeper quotes this passage to show that the Sabbath begins at sunset. If we believe that, then why not keep the sabbath that this very text is speaking of—the high sabbath of the Day of Atonement, instituted forever?
The Day of Atonement pictures a wonderful and great event, to take place after the Second Coming of Christ, which the world is in total ignorance of because it has failed to see the true significance of these annual sabbaths holy unto the Lord. It has failed to keep them as a constant reminder of God’s plan of redemption!
The symbolism is all expressed in the account of the events of the Day of Atonement, as carried out before the crucifixion, in the 16th chapter of Leviticus.
Verse 5—“And he [Aaron, or the high priest] shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering ….”
Verse 6—The high priest offered a sin offering for himself and his house.
Verses 7 and 8—“And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; the one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat [margin,Hebrew, Azazel].”
The Comprehensive Commentary has:“Spencer, after the oldest opinions of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is the name of the devil, and so Rosen …. The word scapegoat signifies the goat which went away.” The One Volume Commentary says: “The word ‘scapegoat’ in the av is not a translation.” It is merely an interpretation of the supposed meaning by the translators.
True, the English word scapegoat signifies “one who bears blame or guilt for others.” But scapegoat is an English word, and is not a translation of the Hebrew word Azazel. The word scapegoat, and the meaning attached to this English word, is not a translation of the Hebrew word Azazel, and therefore it is not the word inspired originally.Continues the One Volume Commentary: “Azazel is understood to be the name of one of those malignant demons.”
These two goats were, of course, types. Notice, it was necessary to be decided by lot, which one was qualified to represent Christ, and which Azazel. Some say both were qualified. The scripture does not say this. Let us not assume it.
Now one lot was for the Lord—this goat typified Christ—but the other lot was not for the Lord, did not typify Christ, but Azazel—Satan! These words most naturally suggest that Azazel is the name of a person, here contrasted to the Eternal! Notice the contrast—one for the Lord, the other for Azazel.
Now the goat which God selected—through lot, to represent Christ—was slain, as Christ, its antitype, was slain. But the other goat selected by God to represent Azazel was not slain, but was driven, alive, into an uninhabited wilderness. It was not a resurrected goat, symbolizing the resurrected Christ, for it never died. The uninhabited wilderness, to which this goat was driven, cannot, as we shall show, represent heaven, where Christ went. Heaven is neither uninhabited, nor a wilderness.
the high priest (verse 11) killed the bullock for a sin offering for himself, then took the burning coals of fire and the sweet incense into the holy of holies, also sprinkling the blood of the bullock before the mercy seat, typical of the throne of God, covering the tables of testimony (the law). This the high priest was required to do in order to purify himself to officiate, and to represent Christ as High Priest. In the antitype, this was not done, for Christ, our High Priest, had no need of this purification as the typical substitutionary priests did.
Next, the goat which God selected by lot to represent Christ, as the sin offering of the people, was killed. Thus the sins of the people were borne by the goat, even as Christ, finally, once for all, bore our sins on the cross. But Christ rose again from the dead, and ascended to the throne of God in heaven.
The risen Christ, now at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven (1 Peter 3:22), is called—what? Our High Priest! What was the earthly type of God’s throne? The uninhabited wilderness? No! That is where the live goat went!
The earthly type of God’s throne was the mercy seat in the holy of holies. After Christ died, He went to the heavenly mercy seat interceding for us, as our High Priest. “[E]ntereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 6:19-20).
Now, again, who, or what, in the Levitical ceremony of the Day of Atonement, typified the risen Christ, our High Priest, who went within the veil to God’s throne in heaven? The one goat had been slain. It represented the slain Christ. It can no longer represent the risen Christ. The slain Christ was not our High Priest, because the Levitical priesthood, with its high priest, did not end until Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven as a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. But the risen Christ was High Priest.
Now who took this part in the Levitical ceremonies, temporarily re-enacted year by year, on this eternal holy day? Why, it was the Levitical high priest, not the goat representing Azazel!
The High Priest—Type of Christ
As soon as the slain goat was dead, who went within the veil, presenting the blood of this goat before the typical throne of God?
Leviticus 16:15-16—“Then shall he [the high priest] kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and [now the high priest himself typifying the work of the risen Christ] bring his blood within the vail … and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place.
And so it was the high priest taking blood within the veil, to the mercy seat, that typified the risen Christ figuratively taking His blood, once for all, within the veil to the very throne of God in heaven, there to intercede for us as High Priest.
The high priest going within the veil, into the holy of holies, symbolized Christ’s return to heaven. The work he did while in the holy of holies symbolized Christ’s work these 1,900 years interceding for us, presenting His shed blood before the mercy seat in heaven. Now, coming back out, symbolizing Christ’s return to Earth, what did the high priest do?
“And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him [Fenton: shall carry upon itself] all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. And Aaron shall … wash his flesh with water …. And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat [Azazel] shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp” (verses 20-26).
Is not God a God of justice, as well as of compassion and mercy?Who is the real author of our sins? The devil is the author of them, even as Christ is the author of our salvation. Jesus took our guilt—our blame—our sins—upon Himself as an innocent substitutionary sacrifice.
Is it justice for Christ to bear guilt that is not His, while the devil goes off scot-free? Do you not suppose God’s great plan will finally work full justice by placing that original blame and guilt right where it belongs?
But justice certainly demands that God place right back on the head of the devil his guilt—not our guilt, but his own guilt—for leading us into sin. We were guilty, too—and our guilt Christ bore—yet all our sins belong right back on the devil as his own guilt!
The Azazel goat carries away the sins of all the people already forgiven. These sins already were fully paid for by Christ’s substitute sacrifice, symbolized by the killing of the innocent goat before those same sins were finally laid on the live goat. They had been previously paid for by the death of the slain goat.
The devil is the real author of all sin. Can we, then, be finally made at one with God, as long as this instigator of sin is with us? Can we not see he must first be driven away? And there would not be justice with God unless his own guilt in our sins were placed right back on his head? Is it justice for Christ to bear the devil’s guilt, as well as our own guilt, for our sins?
The driving away of the second live goat shows the final atonement, by placing the sins on their author where they belong, and the complete removal of the sins and their author from the presence of God and His people—and thus the complete deliverance of the people from the power of Satan.
after laying both his hands on the live goat, Azazel, Aaron had to wash and cleanse himself before coming in contact with the people. So, too, the “fit man” also had to wash his clothes and bathe himself after coming in contact with the Azazel goat, before he came into the presence of the people. The symbolism is certainly that of having come in contact with the devil!
Notice, now, this act of putting these already expiated and forgiven sins on the head of this live goat does not take place until after the high priest returns from the holy of holies within the veil—so this typified an act to take place after the Second Coming of Christ to this Earth!
and the high priest returning to place the sins finally upon the head of the live goat represented the return of Christ, who will place the sins He bore on their author, the devil, and who will send him away alive into a desolate uninhabited wilderness—the “bottomless pit,” or abyss, of Revelation 20:3.
In the 19th chapter of Revelation, we have the prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ. At the beginning of the 20th chapter, what is to happen?Exactly what the 16th chapter of Leviticus shows. The devil is sent away—the symbol here used is the “bottomless pit” symbol of an uninhabited desolate wilderness (Revelation 18:2)—and he is sent there by a fit man—an angel from heaven. Now the devil is not killed. He does not die. He is still alive a thousand years later—after the Millennium (Revelation 20:7).
Both goats were “[presented] before the Lord.” Can Satan be presented before the Lord? Job 1:6 and 2:1 say he has presented himself before the Lord. Note, too, Azazel was driven away from the holy of holies, a symbol of God’s presence.
And so the annual Day of Atonement was instituted forever to keep continually before God’s children and His Church the plan of redemption, to occur after the Second Coming of Christ.
And we find this annual holy day recognized in the New Testament. In Acts 27:9, it is recorded that Paul was on his perilous sea voyage to Rome, “when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past ….” See the margin in your Bible. The fast refers to the Day of Atonement—the 10th day of the seventh month.
