The Lord, instituted many feast days among Israel, they all
had their significance and always pointed back to Christ. The Day of Atonement
was the most sacred of them all. This day served as a sign to Israel that they
had been atoned for, and that they were restored to a state in which they could
be fellowshipped with God again.
Aaron had to make atonement for himself and his house before
he could offer and atonement for Israel. I believe this was necessary, because
he represented the great high priest Christ who when he offered the literal atonement
was perfect and holy, therefore the high priest officiating would need to be
clean as well.
Two goats were used as a in the ritual. One was sacrificed
and its blood offered for Israel symbolic of Christ. The second was the scapegoat which had Israel’s sins vicariously placed upon it and being led out and
left in the wilderness symbolic of Satan.
I believe both goats helped to portray different aspects of
the Atonement. One shedding its blood was to give life and the other to
represent the taking of our sins upon him as well as separating our sin from us
and seeing them no more. It also portrayed the vicarious nature of the atonement.
We have heard the word vicarious many times, we use it refer
namely to temple work for those who have long slept and are not capable of
performing the ordinances for themselves. God has always aloud this kind of
merciful act of service to be performed by others as long as it was done by one
having authority. So it is with the Atonement. Christ had the authority to
perform the act and vicariously represented each of us as he offered himself,
doing that which we could not do for ourselves, namely reconcile ourselves to
God.
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