The Sanctuary and the Twenty-three Hundred Days of Daniel 8:14
32 THE SCAPE-GOAT
AFTER the ministry in the most holy place was accomplished, one thing more remained for the priest to do, before the work was entirely finished. Having, by presenting before the law in the ark the blood of the appropriate offering, released from the sanctuary the sins for which that blood made atonement, those sins were canceled as related to the forgiven sinner, but were not by this act destroyed. The high priest having performed the ministry which took them from the sanctuary, they were left for him to dispose of in a manner plainly pointed out. He came out of the sanctuary, and laying both his hands on the head of the scape-goat, held in waiting at the door, confessed 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.” Leviticus 16:21. This is a plain statement that the sins taken from the sanctuary were transferred to the goat. The goat, with these sins upon him, was then by the hand of a suitable person sent away into the wilderness, into a land of forgetfulness, implying, probably, the destruction of the goat, in the death of which the sins of the people which he bore also perished. STTHD 306.1
The ceremony of thus sending away the sins of the people in the type, Leviticus 16:20-22, has already been noticed. The question now arises, What service in the real ministry of Christ, in the more perfect tabernacle above, answers to this, and how is it to be performed? STTHD 307.1
The principal question here to be decided is, What being shall we regard as the antitypical scape-goat? When the typical goat, anciently, loaded with the sins of the people, went forth from the camp of Israel, to be heard of no more forever, what did it foreshadow to be fulfilled in this dispensation? Here again we are led to differ very materially from the views which have obtained on this subject. STTHD 307.2
The idea very generally held is that the scape-goat typified Christ. Because John the Baptist said, John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh [margin, beareth] away the sin of the world,” and because it is said of the scape-goat that he “shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited,” it is, without further thought, concluded by some that the latter was a type of the former. STTHD 307.3
From such a view we dissent, for the following reasons: STTHD 308.1
1. If Christ, in bearing the sin of the world, fulfilled the antitype of the scape-goat, he must have filled this office at the time of the crucifixion; for Peter says of him, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree;” 1 Peter 2:24; and this is the only time when, and the only sense in which, he is said to have borne our sins. But in the type, the scape-goat did not bear away the sins of the people till after the cleansing of the sanctuary; hence the antitype of this work cannot take place till after the cleansing of the antitypical sanctuary, which work, as has been proved, did not commence till the termination of the 2300 days in 1844. Daniel 8:14; Hebrews 9:23. It is therefore impossible to carry this work back to the crucifixion of Christ, which was even before he commenced his ministry in the heavenly sanctuary at all. Christ cannot therefore be the antitype of the scape-goat. STTHD 308.2
2. The scape-goat, after being loaded with sin, was sent away by the priest. He could not therefore be the priest himself. But in this dispensation Christ is priest; he cannot therefore be the antitypical scape-goat to be sent away by the priest. Christ cannot send away himself. The conclusion is hence inevitable that the scape-goat must be some being whom Christ, after placing upon him the sins borne from the sanctuary, shall send away into a land not inhabited. STTHD 308.3
3. The scape-goat was sent away from Israel, into the uninhabited wilderness. If our Saviour is its antitype, he also must be sent away, not his body alone, as some suppose who refer it to his death, but in his entire being (for the goat was sent away alive) from, not to, nor into, his people; neither into Heaven; for that is not a wilderness, or land not inhabited. But instead of thus being sent away, Christ is to dwell in the midst of his people, the true Israel of faith, for evermore. STTHD 309.1
4. The scape-goat received and retained all the iniquities of the children of Israel; but when Christ appears the second time, he will be “without sin.” STTHD 309.2
5. It is impossible that two goats, one of which was chosen by the Lord, and is called the Lord’s, while the other is not so called, but was left to perform an entirely different office,—it is impossible that these both should typify the same person. But the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, the blood of which was ministered in the sanctuary, did certainly typify Christ. Just as surely the scape-goat did not typify him. STTHD 309.3
Having thus proved by evidence which must be conclusive to every candid mind, that Christ cannot be the antitype of the Levitical scape-goat, the direct question, Who is the antitype of that goat? now presents itself for solution. STTHD 310.1
1. The definition of the word is sufficient to suggest an application. In the common acceptation of the word, the term scape-goat is applied to any miserable vagabond who has become obnoxious to the claims of justice; and while it is revolting to all our conceptions of the character and glory of Christ, to apply this term to him, it must strike every one as a very appropriate designation for a certain character whom the Scriptures style, the accuser, adversary, angel of the bottomless pit, Beelzebub, Belial, dragon, enemy, evil spirit, father of lies, murderer, prince of devils, serpent, tempter, seducer, etc. STTHD 310.2
2. We are not without direct evidence to the same purpose. The Hebrew word for scape-goat, as given in the margin of Leviticus 16:8, is Azazel. On this verse, Jenks, in his Comprehensive Commentary, remarks: “Scape-goat. See different opinions in Bochart. Spencer, after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is the name of the devil; and so Rosenmuller, whom see. The Syriac has, Azzail, the ‘angel (strong one) who revolted.’” These authorities unmistakably point out Satan. Thus we have the definition of the Scripture term for scape-goat, in two ancient languages, with the oldest opinion of both Hebrews and Christians, in favor of the view that the scape-goat is a type of Satan. STTHD 310.3
3. Charles Beecher, in “Redeemer and Redeemed,” pp.67,68, says:— STTHD 311.1
“What goes to confirm this is, that the most ancient paraphrases and translations treat Azazel as a proper name. The Chaldee paraphrase, and the targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, would certainly have translated it if it was not a proper name, but they do not. The Septuagint, or oldest Greek version, renders it by (apopompaios), a word applied by the Greeks to a malign deity sometimes appeased by sacrifices. Another confirmation is found in the book of Enoch, where the name Azalzel, evidently a corruption of Azazel, is given to one of the fallen angels, thus plainly showing what was the prevalent understanding of the Jews at that day. STTHD 311.2
“Still another evidence is found in the Arabic, where Azazel is employed as the name of the Evil Spirit. In addition to these we have the evidence of the Jewish work Zohar, and of the Cabalistic and Rabbinical writers. They tell us that the following proverb was current among the Jews: ‘On the day of atonement, a gift to Sammael.’ Hence Moses Gerundinensis feels called to say that it is not a sacrifice, but only done because commanded by God. STTHD 311.3
“Another step in the evidence is, when we find this same opinion passing from the Jewish to the early Christian church. Origen was the most learned of the Fathers, and on such a point as this, the meaning of a Hebrew word, his testimony is reliable. Says Origen: ‘He who is called in the Septuagint, and in the Hebrew Azazel, is no other than the devil.’ STTHD 312.1
“In view then of the difficulties attending any other meaning, and the accumulated evidence in favor of this, Hengstenberg affirms with great confidence that Azazel cannot be anything else but another name for Satan.” STTHD 312.2
On page 70, Mr. Beecher further says: “The meaning of the term [scape-goat] viewed as a proper name, was stated, in 1677, by Spencer, Dean of Ely, to be powerful Apostate, or mighty Receder.” Prof. Bush is also quoted on page 72, as regarding Azazel as a proper name of Satan. STTHD 312.3
It is but just to Mr.B. to remark that while he thinks that Azazel is the name for Satan, he does not regard the goat as representing Satan, but looks upon the ceremony as performed in some sense in reference to Satan. This he thinks implied in the words engraved on the lots which the high priest drew for the goats on the day of atonement; one, La-Yehovah, for Jehovah, the other, La-Azazel, for Azazel, for the devil; and he takes the transaction to signify that subjection of Christ to Satan which is implied in the sentence that the serpent should bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. But as this was done at the crucifixion, it can have no reference to the ceremony of the scape-goat, a ceremony not performed till the work in the sanctuary is finished. And inasmuch as the goat upon which the lot fell for the Lord typified Christ himself, so the goat upon which the lot fell for Azazel would typify Azazel, or Satan himself. STTHD 313.1
Another reason for considering the scape-goat a type of Satan is the very striking manner in which the ceremony of sending away the goat into the wilderness harmonizes with the events to transpire in connection with the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, so far as revealed to us in the Scriptures of truth. STTHD 313.2
Thus in the type we see the following acts performed: 1. The sin of the transgressor is imparted to the victim. 2. That sin is borne by the priest in the blood of the offering into the sanctuary. 3. On the day of atonement, the priest, with the blood of the sin-offering for the people, removes all these sins from the sanctuary, and lays them upon the head of the scape-goat. 4. The goat is then sent away into a land not inhabited. STTHD 314.1
Answering to these several events in the type, we have in the antitype the following: 1. The great offering for the world was made on Calvary. 2. The sins of all those who avail themselves of the offer of Christ’s blood by faith in him, are represented in that blood, with which he entered into the sanctuary on high, Hebrews 9:12, and are through that transferred to that sanctuary. 3. After Christ, the minister of the true tabernacle, Hebrews 8:2, has finished his ministration, and by the atonement has released the sins of his people from the sanctuary, he will lay them upon the head of their author, the antitypical scape-goat, the devil. 4. The devil will then be sent away, loaded with these sins, into a land not inhabited. STTHD 314.2
And we apprehend that we find a description of this latter event in plain terms in Revelation 20:1-3: “And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.” STTHD 315.1
This is just such a movement in reference to Satan as we might expect to occur on the supposition that he is the antitype of the ancient scape-goat. Looking upon him as such antitype, we watch for some transaction which will correspond to the sending away of the goat anciently, loaded with sins, into the waste wilderness. STTHD 315.2
And as we reach a point just subsequent to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, when, in the order of the sanctuary work, the scape-goat should be sent away in antitype, lo, an angel comes down from Heaven, lays hold upon Satan, binds him, and casts him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. And as we look upon this scene, we can but involuntarily exclaim, STTHD 315.3
Here is the sending away of the antitypical scape-goat. STTHD 316.1
With this view we can show the relation of the scene described in Revelation 20:1-3, to other events, and give a reason why it occurs. Without this, it comes in abruptly; and who can tell why just this disposition, instead of some other, is at this time made of the devil? STTHD 316.2
This scene occurs at just the right time to fulfill the antitype; for it is immediately after Christ has finished his work as priest. Secondly, the right agent is employed. The goat anciently was not led away by the high priest, but by the hand of another person. So here it is not Christ, our great High Priest, who casts Satan into the bottomless pit, but an angel; which admirably answers to the type. Thirdly, he is cast into the right place. Anciently, the goat was sent away into a waste wilderness, a land not inhabited. The devil is cast into the bottomless pit, corresponding most fittingly to the former, as we shall see. STTHD 316.3
This word, bottomless pit, in the original signifies an abyss, bottomless, deep, profound. Its use seems to be to denote any place of darkness, desolation, and death. Thus in Revelation 9:1, 2, it is applied to the barren wastes of the Arabian desert,, and in Romans 10:7, to the grave. In Genesis 1:2, the same word is rendered “deep” in the declaration that “darkness was upon the face of the deep;” and here it must apply to the whole earth in its state of primeval chaos. And we have reason to believe that it means precisely this in Revelation 20:3, when it is made the dreary prison-house of Satan. At this time, let it be borne in mind, the earth is a vast charnel-house of desolation and death. The voice of God has shaken it to its foundations, the islands and mountains have been moved out of their places, the great earthquake has leveled to the earth the mightiest works of man, the seven last plagues have left their withering and blasting foot-prints over all the fair face of nature, the burning glory attending the coming of the Son of man has borne its part in accomplishing the general desolation, the wicked have been given to the slaughter, and their putrefying flesh and bleaching bones lie unburied and unlamented from one end of the earth to the other. Thus is the earth made empty and waste, and turned upside down. Isaiah 24:1. Thus is it brought back again to its original state of chaos; for Jeremiah, describing the scenes of the last days, says, “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form,, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” Jeremiah 4:19-26. And what better term could be used to describe it rolling on in its disorganized condition of darkness and desolation for a thousand years, than the term abyss or bottomless pit, which was used to describe it in the beginning? STTHD 316.4
Here is a desolate wilderness, or “land not inhabited,” well befitting the great antitypical scape-goat. And what more fitting retribution could at this point overtake the author of all our woe, than that he should, through all these slow-circling thousand years, be confined amid the ruin which his own hands have indirectly wrought, unable to flee from his habitation of woe, or to repair in the least degree its hideous wretchedness. STTHD 318.1
But it may be asked if Paul does not show by the expression that Christ “appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” that he did put it away upon the cross. The answer is that that must be understood only as making provision for the putting away of sin; for sins cannot be put away in advance, and millions of those who will be saved, were yet unborn when Christ suffered. STTHD 318.2
But a still stronger objection to the view here advocated,, that Satan is the antitype of the scape-goat, is urged from the expression used in reference to that goat in Leviticus 16:10: “But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scape-goat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scape-goat into the wilderness.” How, it is asked, can the scape-goat be a type of Satan when an atonement was made with him? does Satan have anything to do in making the atonement? Assuredly not; and we do not think such an idea is presented in the text. It does not read that the goat should be presented alive before the Lord that he might make an atonement for the sins of the people, or to assist in making the atonement. But the goat shall be “presented alive before the Lord,” by whom? By the priest. “To make an atonement with him.” Who to make an atonement? The priest. Then the atonement is all made by the priest. No one shares with him in this work. But in making the atonement, or in carrying out, or completing, the work of the atonement, the high priest has something to do with the scape-goat, and that is to heap upon him the foul load of the sins of the people and send him away to the waste wilderness. STTHD 318.3
So, as the antitype, Satan has nothing to do of himself in making the atonement. He has no share in the work; but our High Priest has something to do with him in carrying out the result of his work, by making him bear away the sins which have been taken from the sanctuary, that he may perish with them, and thus a final disposition be made of both them and him. So far, therefore, as concerns the relation which Satan bears to the atonement, no objection exists to the view here advocated. STTHD 320.1
While Satan is passing his thousand years upon this desolate earth, bound, that is, restrained by the very circumstances of his position from carrying forward his nefarious work, the righteous being in Heaven, and the wicked in their graves, and so all being beyond his power, the saints are accomplishing that work of judgment which they perform in connection with Christ in Heaven, 1 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 20:4, that is, apportioning to the wicked the punishment due to each one, to be inflicted upon them at the end of the thousand years. STTHD 320.2
This work being accomplished, the thousand years expire, the wicked dead are raised, Satan is loosed, for he now has something to do, and he goes out to deceive those wicked multitudes that are brought out of their graves. Having gathered them around the holy city, which has then come down out of Heaven, fire descends from God and devours them all, root and branch, Satan and all his followers. Here the wicked receive in their own persons the punishment due to their sins, while Satan suffers under the accumulated load of the sins of all the righteous, which, at the beginning of the thousand years, were laid upon him as the antitypical scape-goat. STTHD 320.3