The Lord said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord. Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God. Those who do not deny themselves on that day must be cut off from their people. I will destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.” Lev. 23:26-32 “ ‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you. Lev. 25:8-11 (The Day of Atonement is associated with the Year of Jubilee. So understanding the Jubilee year will help us further understand the Day of Atonement. The jubilee proclaimed liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. All debts were canceled and it was a clean slate for everyone to live life a better way going forward without the past enslaving them. The Day of Atonement does the same thing when Satan is bound for 1000 years and Jesus is reigning on earth as king.) The Azazel Goat And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 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; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. Lev. 16:5-10 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Lev. 16:15-16 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 all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. Lev. 16:21-22 We see that the goat that is sacrificed represents Christ and this sacrifice atones for all the sins of God's people. The word used for the scapegoat is Azazel, which means goat of departure. Azazel is also known as Satan. The Azazel goat that is kept alive is to bear all these sins of God's people. The scapegoat represents Satan who deceives the whole world and causes the whole world to sin. All of these sins of God's people are placed on his head for him to bear because he caused God's people to sin and he is bound out to the wilderness to a place uninhabited. This represents the binding of Satan for 1000 years spoken of in the book of Revelation. Jesus bore the sins of the world, but he did not bear the sins of Satan. The "fit man" is the angel that took hold of Satan and bound him in the bottomless pit. During these 1000 years that Satan is bound, Christ establishes the Kingdom of God on earth. We know that one day is as a 1000 years to the Lord. So this Day of Atonement not only represents the binding of Satan for a 1000 years, but also the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ.  |
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