Leviticus 16

What’s Happening?

The tabernacle was meant to be a new Eden—a place where God’s holy life could dwell among His people and spread outward. But life in Israel was messy. Priests and people constantly accumulated ritual impurity through the sacrificial system and the uncleanliness of daily life. If these pollutions were not cleansed, God’s tent would become defiled, and his life-giving presence would no longer dwell with his people.

That is why God provided the Day of Atonement to purify any ritual impurities that were missed in the regular sacrifices throughout the year. Once a year, God provided a way to reset the entire system so his people could continue to live with him.

First, Aaron himself needed to be purified. Because he may have made accidental mistakes in his duty as a priest, he could not step into God’s presence without purification. So a bull was sacrificed for him and for the priesthood, its blood brought into the Holy of Holies and placed on the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:3, 11–14). Then Aaron, cleaned from all known and unknown ritual impurity, could come to God on behalf of the people.

Next came the two goats. One was sacrificed, and its blood cleansed the Holy Place and the tabernacle from all the ritual mistakes and impurities of the year (Leviticus 16:15–16). The other was designated “for Azazel.” Aaron placed his hands on this live goat, confessed the known and unknown ritual failures of Israel over it, and then it was driven outside the camp into the wilderness—the realm of chaos and death (Leviticus 16:21–22). This goat carried impurity away from God’s dwelling, ensuring the camp remained holy.

Like a garbage truck hauling trash to the dump, the goat for Azazel bore away the ritual pollution of the people to where it belonged, outside God’s holy space. Meanwhile, the sacrificed goat purified the tabernacle itself so that God’s holy presence could continue to dwell among his people. Together, these rituals renewed Israel’s priesthood and cleansed God’s house so that his life could flow outward once again.

Where is the Gospel?

The Day of Atonement finds its fulfillment in Jesus, who embodies both the bull, the purifying goat, and the goat for Azazel.

Unlike Aaron, Jesus needed no bull to cleanse him first. Hebrews tells us he was “holy, innocent, unstained” (Hebrews 7:26), and so he entered the heavenly Holy of Holies by his own blood (Hebrews 9:24). His sacrifice did what no yearly ritual could accomplish—he purified not just a tent on earth but God’s true dwelling in heaven, opening access for all who belong to him. And he did so, not once for a year, but once for all.

But Jesus was also treated like the goat for Azazel. Early Christian literature outside the Bible describes the tradition of how the scapegoat was mocked, spit upon, and driven out with contempt before being led into the wilderness (Epistle of Barnabas 7:6-11). This is exactly how Jesus was treated. He was mocked by the priests and rulers, spit upon by the guards, and driven outside the city to be crucified (Mark 15:19–20; John 19:17; Hebrews 13:12). In how Jesus was treated outside the camp, we see the chaos and death associated with the wilderness of demons and human evil. Outside the holy temple of Jerusalem, the holy temple of Jesus was handed over to death.

But by doing this, Jesus didn’t just purify a building—he purified a people. He raised up a new priesthood, not stained with ritual impurity, but cleansed and filled with his Spirit. In him, God’s holy presence no longer dwells in a tent but in his people, who are now called to spread his life to the nations.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would give you eyes to see the God who provides cleansing for his people and his house. And I pray you would see Jesus as both the sinless priest and the scapegoat—mocked, rejected, and driven out—who purified us once for all and made us into his holy dwelling forever.