Propitiation and the Ceremony of Two Goats

Propitiation carries the idea of turning away God’s wrath.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;Romans 1:18

The wrath of God is in balance with three other divine qualities: his forbearance, his love, and his readiness to forgive.

When we deny God’s wrath, we cheapen the suffering of Jesus.

Jesus is our propitiation.

Through faith

In His blood

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.Hebrews 9:22

Through God’s forbearance

Jesus covers our past sins.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.Psalm 103:12

“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”

Isaiah 23:45

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.Micah 7:19

The Day of Atonement was a picture of our coming Savior.

And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 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 16:29-30

The high priest was to take a ram to sacrifice to cleanse himself before he could make sacrifice for Israel.

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.Leviticus 16:6

The high priest took one goat and sacrificed it and sprinkled its blood on the mercy seat as covering for the sins of Israel.

Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:Leviticus 16:15

The high priest took the live goat and confessed the sins of Israel upon it and sent it to the wilderness, never to return. The goat then bore the sins of Israel and took them away permanently.

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess 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, 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

The high priest then removed his priestly garments and changed into his everyday attire.

And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there:Leviticus 16:23

The remaining portions of the sin sacrifice should be taken outside the camp and burned.

And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.Leviticus 16:27

The covering of our sin by the blood of Jesus is propitiation. The assumption and carrying away of our sin on Jesus is expiation.

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:Romans 3:24

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.1 John 2:2

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.1 John 4:10