Leviticus 16:20-21
And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
Kids often ask, “Why should I get a bath if I am just going to get dirty all over again?” Hopefully they have grown out of it in adulthood. These verses come at the end of God’s Instructions for the Day of Atonement. Here a goat receives the sins of the people through a mediator, Aaron the priest. He is the representative that takes the sins of the people and sends them away into the wilderness away from God’s people. The goat shall bear the iniquities of the people. This is still celebrated once a year on Yom Kippur. It did not make and end of atoning.
But now that Jesus has come, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, we do not need a Day of Atonement. That was done once for all on Calvary. Like Aaron laying both his hands on the goat, Jesus laid both his hands on a cross. Just as their iniquities were laid on the goat, ours are laid at the cross. His were the hands of readiness. He did not waver but sent our sins into the wilderness far away from his chosen people. That was the Day of Atonement when…
He made an end of atoning.