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. Leviticus 16:30
NOTE: It was as if they had never sinned. The entire record was gone and cleansed and blotted out. They were clean.
Q17 When the sacrificial part of the service was ended, what happened to the goat that did not die?
… 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. Leviticus 16:21,22.
NOTE: The goat for Azazel, Satan’s goat, that had been chosen by lot, had not played any part in the cleansing of the sanctuary from sin. But now the priest took this live goat and symbolically put on it all the record of the year of sin. It was taken far into the wilderness by a fit man and released there. The responsibility and blame for all the sins of the year had been placed on the head of this goat and it was abandoned in the wilderness. So the symbolism showed that Satan is responsible for all the evil in our world. The events of the day showed that sin separates us from God, but that Jesus the Lord gave us a chance of life and freedom from guilt with the promise that one day good and evil will be separated from each other and the conflict will be over for ever. Those who wish it will be made at one with God. All these blessings required the shedding of blood. The live goat only appeared on the scene when all was completed. It did not shed its blood for sin. It was sent away. It was not a symbol of our Saviour. It was a symbol of Satan who carries the responsibility for all the misery caused by the breaking of God’s law.
The Day of Atonement shows in miniature that God has a plan that is being worked out even today and that evil will not go on for ever.
Q18 Which ‘time prophecy’ tells of Judgement and the Cleansing of the Sanctuary in heaven where the deeds of all the world are recorded? (Module 19 explains all this.)
Unto 2300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Daniel 8:14.
NOTE: The Bible tells of a judgement to come, at the end of a long prophetic time period. This judgement will decide the verdict between good and evil, and points to a time when sin and evil shall be no more. Even though we know we are forgiven sometimes the memory of what we have done still haunts us.
At the end of the final great Day of Atonement—the judgement, if we have stayed faithful to our Saviour, we shall be set free from all these heavy thoughts. Satan will be the bearer of our unhappiness. He will be cast away into a bottomless pit. This is his wilderness. Eventually he will be reduced to ashes, ‘I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth.’ Ezekiel 28:18, and all will be made new. ‘The former things are passed away.’ Revelation 20:4 ‘For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create.’ Isaiah 65:17,18.
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