Over the years, while reading about Jesus' death on the cross from the four Gospels and from other commentaries, I have always wondered how it is, exactly, that our sins were put on Him.
Now, there are verses that say that He was "made a curse for us" so that in Him we could obtain a blessing, and "cursed is the man that hangeth on a tree." Okay. But that still did not answer the question.
However, I remembered something we had been taught earlier. The secret to understanding the prophetic message is in understanding the Israelite sanctuary.
Before I continue, I want you to understand that Jesus is the entire point of the Bible and if you remove Him, then you have no Biblos.
When giving Moses the command to build Him a sanctuary, God told him to make it according to the pattern of things in heaven. There are two possible interpretations I see here: either there was (or is) a literal sanctuary in heaven designed that way, or there was a plan that God had put in place which was codified in the literal design of the sanctuary.1
By the design of the sanctuary, to be clear, I mean its architecture and the religious services pertaining to it.
The services of the sanctuary revolved around reconciling God and man, and two of the most important services were the sin offering and the day of atonement.
The sin offering was offered throughout the year by a person who had committed sin and wished for forgiveness. It was done by bringing a dove, cow, lamb or a kid without blemish to a priest at the sanctuary, laying his hands on the lamb's head, confessing his sins over the lamb and finally the lamb's throat would be slit open and its blood collected, sprinkled over the altar and at the veil of separation and poured at the base of the altar. The lamb's fatty parts would then be burnt on the altar and the rest of its body and its dung taken out and burnt in a clean place.2
In that way, the person's sins would be forgiven and symbolically transferred to the sanctuary.
Once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month, after self-reflection and ritual cleansing, all Israel would assemble in the tabernacle of the congregation. This time, two goats would be brought - again, without blemish - and the high priest would put his hand on the head of one of these goats and confess the sins of all Israel over it. After that, he would kill it by slitting its throat, collecting its blood and sprinkling it on the horns of the altar, before the veil separating the holy place and the most holy place and then go into the most holy place and sprinkle the blood before the ark of the covenant. The goat would then be burnt on the brass altar in the prescribed manner. This offering would be completed in tandem with the higgh priest's own sin offering.3
After completing this part, if the sacrifice was accepted, the high priest would then come and lay his head on the remaining goat, symbolically transferring the sins of all Israel to it and then it would be led into the wilderness by the hand of a fit young man and released.
So, how were our sins transferred to Jesus?
Jesus' fame and clout grew and the priests, Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to kill Him, so they came together to plot how to do it. They wanted to do this during the Passover but wanted to do it in a manner that would reduce the chance of their getting killed by the Israelites. During this session, the high priest, Caiaphas, spoke up and said, "It is necessary for a man to die so many people can be saved." This was ostensibly to avoid beatings by the Romans.
However, as God's official mediator on earth at the time, he was also in a position to make confession for all humanity from the time of creation to the end of the world and he did so in the most comprehensive manner possible. It is necessary for one man to die so that many can be saved.
After that, through the high priest's power and influence, and by the hands of both Jews and Gentiles, Jesus was slaughtered on the cross. All humanity put its hands on Him and killed Him. His killing therefore served a dual purpose: to serve as a sin offering for me and at the same time for all humanity.
Therefore, when you pray for forgiveness, Jesus pleads with the Father on your behalf by claiming the benefit of His sacrifice for you. This was symbolised by the sprinkling of the blood before the veil.
When it comes to the sins of all humanity, we know that not everyone will be saved through this offering. The Bible explicitly states that, among others, cowards will not go to heaven. So what's up with that?
During the day of atonement, the people who were found to be unworthy were cut off from their people, and they died in their sin. The sacrifice therefore did not cover them.
Therefore, extrapolating from there, we know that there is a similar process instituted in heaven where the high priest (Jesus in this case) will present His sacrifice...oh, wait. He presented His sacrifice to the Father when He resurrected from the dead and now, finally, the sanctuary in heaven will be cleansed from all sin transferred to it.4 At that time, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross will only apply to the people who will be found worthy and the rest will die in their sin.5
At this point, it is important to define death. In this case, it is complete and utter destruction of sinful human beings. They will cease to exist, burnt with fire to ash.
What does the live goat symbolise?
Satan.
Formerly God's highest angel and the originator and instigator of sin, all the sins of God's people will be laid on his head, on top of his own, and he will die in his and their sin. The taking of the goat to the wilderness out of the camp (or territory) of the Israelites symbolises his complete and utter separation from God's universe through his destruction by fire.
Amen.