Azazel: Observations and Questions

by
(Copyright 2023) by Pat Higgins (Charlotte, North Carolina)
 
 
The recent understanding that the second goat of the Atonement offering—the one sent “into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man” (Leviticus 16:21)—represents not Satan the Devil but our Savior Jesus Christ generates some observations and questions.
 
We can see the governing principle for this subject in a quote from the article, “Seven Keys to Understanding the Bible,” written by Herbert W. Armstrong, that appeared in the December 1984 The Good News magazine:
 
For generations men have been putting human interpretations upon God’s symbols. An important KEY, therefore, is that these symbols are interpreted in plain language in the Bible itself, if not in the context, then elsewhere, and we must search for God’s own interpretation, never apply our own. (Emphasis in the original.)
 
One observation is that the new understanding of the azazel goat’s symbolic identity highlights God’s ability to delay His revelation of certain truths, even for long periods. Note the verses that point to who bears our sins, even as the azazel goat bore the sins of Israel:
 
» [S]o Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many . . .. (Hebrews 9:28)
» [W]ho Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . .. (I Peter 2:24)
» And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
» For He shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)
» And He bore the sin of many . . .. (Isaiah 53:12)
 
In terms of the former view, how many verses show that Satan bears human sins? None.
 
To illustrate how common, it is for people—even professing Christians—to miss obvious truth lying in plain sight, two more examples appear in well-known verses:
 
» . . . He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality . . .. (I Timothy 6:15-16)
» For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
 
Church members reading this article see the evident truths God reveals in these verses: Respectively, Jesus Christ alone among humans has been raised to immortality, and human beings do not have an immortal soul but must be given eternal life as a gift from God. Yet, having read these verses numerous times, most in nominal Christianity still believe they have an immortal soul and what they earn for sin is not death but eternal life in a place called hell. They have believed faulty men and religious tradition rather than God’s plain, unambiguous statements of truth.
 
Truth in Plain Sight
What accounts for the human ability to miss obvious truth in plain sight? Notice this explanation in I Corinthians 2:10-11, 14:
 
But God has shown us these things through the Spirit. The Spirit searches out all things, even the deep secrets of God. Who knows the thoughts that another person has? Only a person’s spirit that lives within him knows his thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God… A person who does not have the Spirit does not accept the truths that come from the Spirit of God. That person thinks they are foolish and cannot understand them, because they can only be judged to be true by the Spirit. (New Century Version [NCV])
 
According to Scripture, the understanding of spiritual truth comes from revelation through God’s Spirit, not human intellect. One can have an Einstein-like brain, but it will prove useless in understanding spiritual knowledge. God reveals truth through His Spirit, and He reveals those truths at a time of His choosing (Daniel 12:9; Acts 1:7). Until God intervenes, people are left trying to understand the Bible through inadequate human intellect. Jesus Christ is the Word, the words of God personified (John 1:1, 14). One cannot know the Word by human effort, only by revelation (Matthew 16:15-17).
 
But the truth is not revealed in one fell swoop, as noted by Herbert Armstrong on page 28 of his “Personal from Herbert W. Armstrong” in The Good News of December 1976:
 
I did not say ten years ago—twenty years ago—forty years ago—that God had revealed THE ENTIRETY of His TRUTH to me instantaneously, even before he conferred on me His GREAT COMMISSION. Always I have said, “God has revealed His TRUTH, little by little, a single bit of truth at a time.” Always I have said, “I am HUMAN—subject to MISTAKES.” Every man God ever chose and used was the same. David was a man after God‘s own heart BECAUSE he confessed errors, mistakes and sins—REPENTED, and turned from the wrong to what God showed him was right. (Emphasis in the original.)
 
God is working with very fallible men. Human beings can be quite thick-headed in overcoming habits, traditions, and biases developed over many years and need heavy persuasion to change their minds, especially over serious matters like doctrine. But God works with astounding patience in revealing His truth—even truths that should be obvious—to the church, spurring understanding by His Spirit when the time is right.
 
Human Inadequacy
The recent revelation of the azazel goat’s identity raises another observation: Not all we believe is entirely accurate, no matter how long we have held our beliefs. Every human being, including an apostle or other church leaders with God’s Spirit, as Mr. Armstrong noted above, can be mistaken in both belief and practice until God chooses to reveal the truth.
 
Herbert Armstrong warned us of human inadequacy when he stated: “Don’t believe me—BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE—BELIEVE GOD!”
 
Consider his experience. After adamantly preaching a Monday observance of Pentecost for nearly forty years, he changed—basically turning on a dime—to keep it on a Sunday as soon as God lifted the veil. He saw he had misunderstood the Hebrew meaning of a single word. That minor tweak was all it took to make God’s intention clear. Mr. Armstrong followed his own advice—an example all should note—and believed the Bible rather than himself. For him, the Bible—the Word of God—overruled his teachings, thoughts, and traditions, no matter how long or firmly held.
 
Because we are flawed human beings, I Thessalonians 5:21 instructs us, “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” Paul wants his instruction to warn us that our knowledge is not perfect. Otherwise, we would not need to test. This verse encourages us to be sure that what we believe has a solid foundation. That foundation is the one Herbert Armstrong pointed to: God and the Bible. As we have learned from the decades-long misunderstanding of the azazel goat, starting anywhere else leads to error.
 
If we allow the Bible’s plain language to interpret itself, it is obvious who the second goat represents. Here is a truth that vain man overlooks: God’s truth comes from revelation, not human wisdom or intellect. Because God had not yet chosen to unlock the truth about the azazel goat, all we had to rely on in our struggle to find an answer was human reasoning discovered in ancient Jewish texts, apocryphal literature, fictional Jewish works, and even Arabic/Islamic tradition. These works of imperfect men and traditions tainted by opposition to God proved to be poisoned wells, sources full of the knowledge of good and evil.
 
Why Now?
Why is God unveiling this knowledge of the azazel goat’s identity now and not sooner? Why has God left it obscure, perhaps since the time of the early church? God must have a purpose for the timing. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NCV) states, “He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing.”
 
A possible reason for the timing is that He may be using it to test where our loyalties stand as we near the end. Are they with God and His Word, no matter what, or are they with tradition and human reasoning? Or, like ancient Israel, are we stubbornly doing what is right in our eyes (Judges 17:6)?
 
Another possibility is that God wishes to humble us. He may desire to remind us that truth comes not by our human intellect, might, or power, but only by revelation through God’s Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). It comes as a blow to a person’s intellectual pride to realize he has deeply believed a lie for decades, thinking and even declaring he knew “the truth.” Only profound humility allows an individual to repent of such vanity.
 
Another reason could be as a sober warning that even the elect can believe a lie if we are not vigilant in testing the foundation for our beliefs and then hanging on to the sure foundation. Christ warns His disciples in Matthew 24:24 that, “if possible, even the elect” can be deceived. In I Corinthians 10:12, the apostle Paul also warns, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
 
It seems the end-time events predicted in the Bible have already started. To weather the coming storms, Christ provides us with the knowledge of how to withstand them:
 
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)
 
The storms of deceit have already descended on this world. We can endure them if our beliefs and conduct are founded on the Rock—Christ and His Word. If we once misunderstood who the azazel goat represents, it can warn us to redouble our efforts to check our foundation on all we believe and practice. Is it on the Rock?
 
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Reprinted with permission from: Church of the Great God
https://www.cgg.org/ 
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Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Azazel: Observations and Questions
Article by Pat Higgins
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
From the article:
Consider his experience. After adamantly preaching a Monday observance of Pentecost for nearly forty years, he changed—basically turning on a dime—to keep it on a Sunday as soon as God lifted the veil. He saw he had misunderstood the Hebrew meaning of a single word. That minor tweak was all it took to make God’s intention clear. Mr. Armstrong followed his own advice—an example all should note—and believed the Bible rather than himself. For him, the Bible—the Word of God—overruled his teachings, thoughts, and traditions, no matter how long or firmly held.
 
So, the above is the first thing I will agree with and disagree with. Herbert Armstrong’s advice is correct. Anytime we find from scripture that we have been wrong about something we should change and do the right thing. In this particular case though, Herbert Armstrong just went from a Monday Pentecost which was incorrect according to scripture to another incorrect Sunday Pentecost which also is not in scripture. The Pentecost taught in scripture is Sivan 6. In Herbert Armstrong’s very early years he also kept a Sivan 6 Pentecost.
 
As far as the Azazel Goat goes why do you believe that it has to represent someone, for example Satan or Christ? The word scapegoat (Azazel) is only used three times in the bible, Lev. 16:8, Lev. 16:10 and Lev. 16:26 and in Strong’s #H5799 it means “Goat of Departure”.
 
I see nothing in the below scriptures showing the live goat represented either Satan or Christ. In verse 8 it clearly tells you what both goats were for: One goat was for the Lord, symbolically for the people to atone with the Lord and the other goat was the goat of departure. The verse says nothing about the live goat representing anyone.
 
The goat for the sin offering was like any other sin offering. But the live goat was different. What they did with the live goat was to symbolically put all or the rest of the sins of the people on the live goat’s head. Verse 30 and verse 34 tells you why they did this. They did this to symbolically show that all of the people’s sins were atoned for and not just some of them. In other words what was symbolically being done here is that whatever the sin sacrifices did not cover, was now covered symbolically by putting all the rest of the sin on the live goats head and sending the goat out to an uninhabited wilderness. It symbolically took care of everyone’s sin for at least one day of the year, that being atonement. The goat does not represent anyone. It is just symbolically a goat of departure to carry their sins away from them.
 
Atonement is symbolic of wiping the slate clean of all sin.
 
Lev 16:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 
Lev 16:2  And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 
Lev 16:3  Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 
Lev 16:4  He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 
Lev 16:5  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. 
Lev 16:6  And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 
Lev 16:7  And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
Lev 16:8  And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 
Lev 16:9  And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 
Lev 16:10  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 16:11  And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 
Lev 16:12  And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 
Lev 16:13  And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 
Lev 16:14  And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 
Lev 16:15  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: 
Lev 16:16  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 16:17  And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. 
Lev 16:18  And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 
Lev 16:19  And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 
Lev 16:20  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: 
Lev 16:21  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: 
Lev 16:22  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 16:23  And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 
Lev 16:24  And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. 
Lev 16:25  And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 
Lev 16:26  And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 
Lev 16:27  And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. 
Lev 16:28  And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 
Lev 16:29  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: 
Lev 16:30  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 
Lev 16:31  It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 
Lev 16:32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 
Lev 16:33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 
Lev 16:34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses. 
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Azazel: Observations and Questions
Article by Pat Higgins
Comments by Dave Rothwell (St. Joseph, Missouri)
The message below is in response to the idea that both goats in Leviticus 16 represent Jesus.
 
The doctrine that the two goats in Leviticus 16 both represent Jesus is not “new understanding.” It is neither new, nor does it represent a correct understanding. It is a fundamental misunderstanding. There are two major flaws with the Both Goats Are Jesus doctrine.

The first flaw is simply a contradiction in logic. If both goats represented Jesus, then there would have been no need to cast lots. Either goat would have fit the typology for the sacrificed goat or the banished goat. The reason that lots were cast is that it was impossible for the High Priest or the people to know which goat represented Jesus. As we are told in Scripture, Satan is transformed as an angel of light and has deceived the whole world. God must show us who the true Messiah is. Prior to God healing our spiritual blindness and opening our eyes, we did not know the true Messiah. We followed the false god of this world. That is the symbolism of the casting of the lots. God must show us who is the true God and who is the false god.

The second flaw centers around the commonly believed doctrine that Jesus bore the guilt for our sins. This belief was espoused by Martin Luther. Luther wrote that Jesus, at the time of the crucifixion, became “the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, and blasphemer, that ever was or could be in the world.” Blasphemy? Quite possibly, but that is what is taught in Protestant theology. And sadly, it is what is commonly believed in the COG groups as well. The COG groups do not state it as bluntly as did Martin Luther, but they nevertheless teach that Jesus bore the guilt for our sins. But is that true?
 
Could God have taken the guilt for the sins of mankind and transferred it to Jesus? How is this even possible? The very definition of the word guilt tells us that it is not possible. Guilt, by definition, is non-transferable. Guilt is defined as the state of having committed an offense. It means you did it. It is the opposite of innocence. A man is either guilty or innocent. He either sinned or he didn’t. And if he didn’t sin, then he cannot be guilty. Does anyone make the argument that Jesus sinned?

In our man-made, so-called justice systems, judges and juries sometimes convey a guilty verdict upon an innocent man. But when that happens it doesn’t make the innocent guilty. It is simply a miscarriage of justice. Sometimes it happens out of ignorance, and sometimes it happens as the result of corruption. But God is neither ignorant nor corrupt.

There are no miscarriages of justice in God’s court. God is a righteous judge. He is a God of justice. “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face” (Psalm 89:14). God will not convey a guilty verdict upon a righteous man.

But what about passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21 (For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him) and Isaiah 53:6 (All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all)? Don’t they prove that Jesus bore the guilt of our sin? Let’s take a look.
 
Yes, Jesus was made to be sin for us; and, yes, God laid on Him our sins. But what does that mean? Are these passages to be taken in a literal sense? Was Jesus literally changed into sin; and did God literally place our sins on His back?

Sin is an action (1 John 3:4, sin is the transgression of the law); or it is the idea of that action. A person cannot literally be transformed into an action or an idea. Nor can a person literally have an action or idea placed on his back. So, clearly, these passages are metaphors.
 
A metaphor is a figure of speech. For example, the phrase, “You’re pushing my buttons,” does not imply the existence of any literal buttons, or even any literal fingers doing any literal pushing, for that matter.
 
So what do the metaphors in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Isaiah 53:6 mean? Clearly, something of sin was applied to Jesus. But what was that something? Was it the guilt for our sin? Or was it the penalty for our sin? The only answer that makes any sense is that Jesus bore the penalty for our sin.

Jesus cannot be made guilty for our sin. He has committed no sin. Nor does He play any part in the sins we commit. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13).
 
But Jesus can step forward and volunteer to take upon Himself the penalty for our sin. That is how Jesus was “made to be sin” for us, and how God “laid on Him” our sin. He paid the penalty for sin in our place.

In our justice system here in the United States, criminal cases are generally divided into two phases – the trial phase and the penalty phase. In the trial phase a judge or jury weighs the evidence and decides whether the accused committed the crime, and returns a verdict of guilty, or not guilty. The penalty phase is where sentencing takes place.
 
In the trial phase of God’s court, we have all been found guilty. “For all have sinned…” (Romans 3:23). And because we were found guilty, we were all given the death penalty in the sentencing phase. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
 
Imagine now that you have been convicted of a crime. You rob banks for a living, and you got caught. You were arrested, tried, and found guilty of armed robbery, a crime which carries a penalty of up to twenty-five years in prison. And you’re about to be sentenced.
 
To continue the analogy, now imagine that someone volunteers to take your place. If a third party came forward and volunteered to serve your prison sentence for you, and if the judge allowed it, you would go free and have a chance to straighten out your life and quit robbing banks.
 
But the person who sacrificed himself to set you free would not be found guilty. He didn’t rob the bank or have any part in it. He’s just serving your sentence. You were found guilty, but he is paying your debt to society, so you’re free to go, as if you hadn’t committed the crime at all. That’s what Jesus has done, and will do, for us (when we repent of sin).
 
Satan, however, is responsible for introducing sin into the world. Sin entered the world through Adam (Romans 5:12), and it was the Serpent — who is Satan (Revelation 20:2) — that influenced Adam to sin. He got to Adam through his wife, Eve, and thereby became an accomplice to mankind’s first sin (Genesis 3:1-6).
 
And Satan is an accomplice to every sin that has been committed since then. Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air” because his spirit permeates the whole world. Like air, it is invisible, but nonetheless it is a very real power to sway the minds of men to commit sin. “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).
 
Paul calls those who live a life of sin “the children of disobedience,” implying that they are the spiritual offspring of Satan. Elsewhere, other passages are more direct, plainly identifying Satan as the father of sin and the spiritual father of those who commit sin. “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning… In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God…” (1 John 3:8, 10).
 
“Ye do the deeds of your father… Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8: 41, 44).
 
Satan is an accomplice to, and has conspired in, every sin ever committed by mankind. And just as an accomplice to a crime can be found guilty in a court of law the same as if he were the one who actually committed the crime, Satan is guilty. He bears guilt for the sins of the whole world.
 
Satan’s guilt is pictured in the Atonement ceremony God gave to the ancient nation of Israel. This ceremony is described in Leviticus 16. Once each year at the Atonement ceremony, the high priest cast lots upon two goats. The goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell was slain as a sin offering (Leviticus 16: 5-9). The other goat was led away into the wilderness after having the sins of the people confessed over it and placed on its head! (verses 10, 20-21).
 
Clearly the goat that was sacrificed represented Jesus. That fact, to my knowledge, is not disputed by any Bible scholar. And just as clearly, the blood of that goat was shed to symbolize the payment for the penalty of sin. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4, 20).
 
But the other goat, the live goat, wasn’t slain. It did not bear the penalty of sin for the people. But it was led away into the wilderness where it bore “all the iniquities” of the people” (verse 22). If this goat was not made to bear the penalty of sin, then what of sin did it bear? Obviously, it bore guilt for the sins of the people.
 
So why would anyone think that Jesus bore the guilt for our sins? Plainly, the guilt was born, not by the goat that was slain as a sin offering, but by the live goat. If this live goat pictured Satan, as many Bible scholars believe, then anyone who believes that Jesus bore the guilt for our sin is faced with a major problem. Some theologians attempt to get around this problem by claiming that both goats represented Jesus.
 
But where in the symbolism that was acted out with the live goat is there anything of Christ? Clearly, the slain goat is a picture of Jesus’ death. So, does the live goat represent the life of the risen Christ? If so, how can being led out to solitary exile in the wilderness represent the risen Christ in heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father? Was God’s throne symbolized by a wilderness? No! God’s throne was symbolized by the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.
 
Is Christ in exile? No! Satan is the one who will be exiled. The exile of the live goat in the wilderness symbolized Satan’s future. In the book of Revelation, we read that at the end of this age Satan will be bound and cast into a bottomless pit, where he can no longer influence people to sin (Revelation 20:1-3).
 
And who took the blood of the slain goat to the mercy seat within the Holy of Holies as a type of the risen Christ taking His own blood to God’s throne in heaven (Hebrews 9:7-12)? Did the live goat do this? No, it was the high priest who did this. He represented the risen Christ in the Atonement ceremony. So how can the live goat represent the risen Christ? Clearly, it cannot!
 
Now if our guilt was not born by Jesus at the crucifixion, then much of what the COG groups teach about the crucifixion is called into question (as it should be). But that is a subject for another day.
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Azazel: Observations and Questions
Article by Pat Higgins
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
From Dave Rothwell’s Iron Sharpening Iron:
The doctrine that the two goats in Leviticus 16 both represent Jesus is not “new understanding.” It is neither new, nor does it represent a correct understanding.
 
Laura writes:
Just to clarify, the new doctrine I was talking about was in the first Iron Sharpening Iron where I asked why does the Goat of Departure have to represent Christ or Satan. In other words, maybe that goat represents neither.
 
The reason I say that is no one would think to lead Christ into the wilderness and just leave Him there. So, the Goat of Departure is not Christ. I also don’t think that goat represents Satan for a few reasons. Satan is mentally ill and most mentally ill people don’t know what sin is let alone to carry it into the wilderness.
 
Also remember the Goat of Departure was let go in the wilderness to wander alone. Satan wandering will just cause more problems for people since he would go wherever he wants to go because he is free. 
 
I looked at a few things in regard to who this second goat is and apparently when Tyndale translated Azazel, he translated it as Escape Goat which is more in line with Goat of Departure. Later translators changed Escape Goat into Scapegoat which I believe is a bad translation. They really should have called it Escape Goat or Goat of Departure. In the end Satan will not be set free to wander the planet like he is doing right now. Satan will eventually be destroyed.
 
It seems to me that the live goat represents carrying sin away from the people. The live goat is symbolic of a future time when there will be no more sin. To me the true meaning of Atonement is to Atone with God and to someday be totally free of sin forever.
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Azazel Observations and Questions
Article by Pat Higgins
Comments by Rafael Algorri (New Jersey)
Good answer on the Azazel goat with one exception, Only One represented Messiah and He alone can take away sin! The live goat cannot take away sin but it bears the Responsibility, the Guilt for all sin including its own.
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Azazel Observations and Questions
Article by Pat Higgins
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
Rafael Algorri writes:
Good answer on the Azazel goat with one exception, Only One represented Messiah and He alone can take away sin! The live goat cannot take away sin, but it bears the Responsibility, the Guilt for all sin including its own.
 
Laura writes:
The first goat was a sin offering representing Christ. I don’t believe there is anyone that disputes that, at least not to my knowledge.
 
The second goat, the live one probably does not represent Christ or Satan. The live goat’s purpose, simply put “was to carry the sin of the people away from the camp”, for one day. This is symbolic of a future time when all sin will no longer exist.
 
The live goat did not bear anyone’s responsibility or guilt.
 
If you were to murder someone and regret it later, you are the only one who was responsible for that murder, and you are the only one who can feel guilty for what you did. No one else, not even the live goat can take your responsibility or guilt away for having killed another person.
 
The scriptures that talk about both goats make it very clear that both goats were sin offerings. It says nothing about the live goat being responsible or guilty for the sins of Israel. 
 
Lev 16:5 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. 
 
Lev 16:21  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: Lev 16:22 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. 
Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Azazel: Observations and Questions
Article by Pat Higgins
Comments by Darwin Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
What Does the Live Goat Represent
If the live goat bears the guilt of all sin, then that goat would indeed represent Satan bearing the guilt of sin.
 
Pat Higgens quote, paragraph five from bottom of last page, last sentence, “obviously, it bore the guilt for the sins of the people.”
 
Laura Lees’s quote: Iron sharping iron, last paragraph-first sentence, “It seems to me that the live goat represents carrying sin from the people”.
 
Therefore, the live goat would more fully symbolize carrying away sin rather than carrying the “guilt”.
 
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
 
Second thought: However, if Satan bears the guilt for the sins of all, then the live goat in God’s court of law would also have had been put to death, NOT for payment of sins death penalty as that of the goat that represents Jesus dying in our stead BUT put to death for co-conspiring (in the two-goat symbolism) of Day of Atonement. As Pat Higgins says, (not a direct quote), “the person instigating the sinful act is just as guilty as the person who did it, as in our own court of law”.
 
Sense the live goat bears the guilt of the sins of the people, then why is it not put to death also?
 
I am only left with one observation and that of scripture that references Satan (I think):  Jude (v.6) And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (v.13) Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. See also: Re 20:10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever”. How can one be tormented for ever and ever if that one is dead?
Those scriptures appear to me to show that the symbolism of the live goat is backed up by the scriptures mentioned above.
 
However, there are scriptures that hint otherwise perhaps and that is:  Mr 1:23 ¶ And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Mr 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Heb 2:14 ¶ “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he (Jesus) might destroy him (Satan) that had the power of death (again Jesus), that is, the devil”.  This looks like Satan is to be destroyed.
 
Destroy in Greek, Strongs concordance #622 meaning to die-parish etc. Also, Strongs # 2673; “to put away, vanish”.
 
I believe that Laura’s view is the more correct view that the live goat symbolically carries away forever even from God’s mind the sins of all mankind never to be remembered, forgotten as though no one ever sinned. After all, if I forgot something it’s just as though it never was? (Jer. 31:34)
 
Then we have the scripture to address and that of: 1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
 
I’m not sure that anyone knows what that will entail and to what degree that is going to be accomplished.
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