The Great Day of Atonement

Once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. Two young goats were brought and lots were cast, “one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat” (Leviticus 16:8). The goat for the Lord was killed as a sin offering for the people, and the priest was to take his blood past the veil and sprinkle it in front of the mercy seat and also on the altar of incense just in front of the veil.LF 173.2

“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land” (Leviticus 16:21, 22). The scapegoat would never again come into the camp of Israel.LF 173.3

The ceremony was designed to impress the Israelites with the holiness of God and His hatred of sin. Every Israelite was required to examine his own heart while this work of atonement was going on. All business was laid aside, and Israel spent the day in prayer, fasting, and searching of heart.LF 173.4

God accepted a substitute in the sinner's place, but the blood of the victim did not cancel the sin; rather, the sin was transferred to the sanctuary. By offering the blood the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed his sin, and expressed his faith in a Redeemer to come, but he was not yet completely free from the law's condemnation. On the Day of Atonement the high priest took an offering from the congregation and went into the Most Holy Place. He sprinkled the blood of this offering on the mercy seat, directly over the law, to satisfy its claims. Then, as mediator, he took the sins on himself and brought them out of the sanctuary. Placing his hands on the scapegoat's head, he symbolically transferred all these sins from himself to the goat. The goat then carried them away, and they were considered forever separated from the people.LF 173.5