Please begin turning to Hebrews 9. The book of Hebrews has been described as the Leviticus of the New Testament. A main purpose of Hebrews was to help the church - particularly those of a Jewish background - to understand the Scriptures through the lens of Christ's life, death, and High Priesthood. Chapter 9 contains the New Testament explanation of the Day of Atonement. If there were a confirmation that sins will be laid on the head of either the Devil or one of his minions, and that he will bear them, there could hardly be a more fitting place to make note of it than Hebrews 9.
However, the author does not even hint at Satan's involvement with atonement in any way. Instead, the flow of the chapter reinforces Christ's fulfillment of the Day of Atonement at every point. Hebrews 9:22-25 describes the purifying of the holy place, which is what the first goat accomplished. No sins were confessed on it, so its blood allowed entrance into the Holy of Holies, even as Jesus entered the heavenly Holy of Holies with His own pure blood.
Next in the Leviticus 16 ritual, the azazel bore the sins of Israel. In the parallel in Hebrews, the author subsequently declares Who bore our sins:
This is basically the New Testament commentary on Leviticus 16, and it points us to Jesus Christ, not to Satan or a lesser demon called Azazel.
He was then raised up, and the next time He appears, it will be apart from sin, as it says in Hebrews 9:28 - apart from what He took on and became. In the present, He is blessed (Romans 1:25; 9:5; I Timothy 6:15). Yet Paul declares that Christ became a curse for us. He fulfilled the awful, shameful role of the azazel, as only He could.
We went through the scriptural fulfillment of the azazel last time, so I will just mention the verses. These all correspond with what happens with the live goat:
This is how sins are removed - through Jesus Christ becoming sin and being separated from the Father for what must have seemed like eternity. Like the first goat, His sacrifice opened the way into the Holy of Holies. His sinless blood has given us access to and satisfied the Most High God. Like the second goat, Jesus also bore our sins. Through piercing, bruising, and wounding while hanging on a tree for hours outside the gate, our transgressions are removed as far as east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
