Leviticus 16:20-2820And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21And 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: 22And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23And 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: 24And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. 25And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27And 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. 28And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. (Leviticus 16:20‑28)
WE LEARN that the tabernacle was a pattern of things in the heavens (Heb. 9:23-2823It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:23‑28)). There was the court, the holy place, and the holy of holies; Scripture speaks of heaven in which the birds fly, the firmament, the heavenly places where the angels, “the principalities and powers” are, finally, far above all, the throne and dwelling place of God.
Aaron is a type of the Lord Jesus, who having died and risen, has passed through the heavens. He is gone in, with His own blood, into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
One day soon He will come forth to lead Israel into the full results of His blessed work of atonement. They are waiting for Him to come out, as it were. In the meantime all believers are associated with Him, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus. There is but one way into God’s holy presence, and that is the blood-sprinkled way, which He has consecrated through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. Along that way countless thousands, millions, have passed. His one sacrifice is sufficient for all. Dear reader, are you treading that way? There is no other way to God and eternal blessing.
Having made an end of reconciling the holy place in the tabernacle, Aaron was to lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and to confess over him all the sins and transgressions of the children of Israel. Then the goat was to be sent away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, unto a land not inhabited. The “fit man” points to no other than the Lord Jesus.
The congregation of Israel knew when they saw the goat led away that by the sin offering all their sins were thus removed from them. So after the Lord Jesus comes out from heaven, and is manifested in glory, and they see Him whom they pierced, then, not till then, will they know that He was their sin offering — that by His death and blood shedding on Calvary their sins had been cleansed.
“The land not inhabitated” is a land where their sins never can be found because there is no one there to look for them; “a land of forgetfulness” — where they will never be brought to remembrance again. How blessed this is, and what a comfort to God’s earthly people in that day when they enter into the truth of His own words, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Psa. 103:1212As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12). “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17).
Thus through the work of the Lord Jesus, we, in our heavenly places shall enjoy with Him the eternal and unbroken rest; Israel on earth, all righteous, shall enter into their millennial rest, every man sitting under his own vine and fig tree, and Messiah reigning in peace and glory. All in heaven, and those blessed on earth, shall ascribe all their blessing to the precious death and blood shedding of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
ML-05/21/1972