So, the priest laid both his hands on the second goat, and confessed over it the sins of the nation so they could be sent away.
Now, when we compare the regular sin offering with what happened with the two goats for the Day of Atonement sin offering, an intriguing picture emerges. The procedure for each goat individually lacked a critical element found in the regular sin offering. That is, the first goat was killed, but it did not have any sins symbolically transferred to it. The second goat had hands and sins laid on it, but it was not killed by the priest. Each one was missing something found in the regular sin offering, but together, they comprised a sin offering by which something far greater was accomplished.
While the regular sin offering kept adding records of sins to the altar throughout the year, on the Day of Atonement, the record of sins was first cleansed with pure blood, and then all the sins were removed from the nation. One goat had to die for cleansing; the other goat had to remain alive for bearing the sins away and removing them from God's presence.
Now, even though we have seen how the two goats together were used for this annual cleansing of sin, it may still seem like the azazel was not a sin offering since it was not slain. But before excluding the live goat from being a sin offering, we should note that it certainly was sacrificed in the sense of its life being completely given over to a sacrificial purpose. Its purpose was to bear sins as a substitute rather than to give its blood. Jesus Christ was alive while He bore our sins, but He was still a Sacrifice while that took place.
Please turn back to Leviticus 16. Notice that the blood of the first goat relates to access by the priest and cleansing of the holy objects. It provided an annual cleansing of the Holy Place, but more was required, even as the first bird did not completely solve the problem of the leprosy - God gave an additional step. Notice what it says in verse 21. After the first goat was killed and its blood atoned the holy objects, then the high priest confessed all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins on the goat for removal. If the blood of the first goat had paid for all the sins of the nation, there would be no unaddressed sins left for the high priest to confess. But since the high priest confessed the sins of the nation, we know that first goat did not provide complete propitiation, but rather it cleansed the objects closest to the LORD. And just like a second bird was used to send the leprosy away, the sins of the nation were removed through a substitute that would bear them away. And, again, it is critical to recognize that it is the sins of the nation that are borne away, not the sins of Satan or one of his minions.
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).
One permutation of the traditional view is that the azazel represents Satan (or a lesser demon), and the sins of mankind will be placed on the head of this being in the future. This view holds that the binding of Satan shows the sins of mankind being placed on Satan's head. Yet God does not hold Satan responsible for the sins mankind commits. God holds him responsible only for his own sins. Nor can Satan ever be a suitable substitutionary sacrifice to bear the sins of mankind, a role only the Savior can fulfill. It should be noted that the WCG stated quite emphatically that Satan cannot bear human sins. They recognized the complete … . . .
