Symbol key · Persons
The scapegoat (Azazel)
The instigator of sin, sent alive into the wilderness after the sanctuary is cleansed — never the Saviour
Where Scripture defines it
“And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat... to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” (Leviticus 16:8-10)
Confirmed at Leviticus 16:15-16
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail... and he shall make an atonement for the holy place. — The LORD's goat dies and its blood cleanses the sanctuary. Atonement is finished before the second goat is ever touched.
Confirmed at Leviticus 16:20-21
And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place... he shall bring the live goat: 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. — The confessed sins are laid on the live goat only after reconciling is ended.
Confirmed at Leviticus 16:22
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. — He is not slain, he is banished; his lot is exile, not sacrifice.
Confirmed at Hebrews 9:12
By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. — Christ answers to the LORD's goat, the one that dies. He does not answer to the goat that lives and is led away.
Confirmed at Revelation 20:1-3
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit. — The banishment of the living bearer of guilt to a desolate, uninhabited earth.
Confirmed at Isaiah 34:14
The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island... the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. — The wilderness is the standing biblical picture of the place of desolation the guilt-bearer is sent to.
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Where this leads next
Symbol key · Powers
Beast
A kingdom or political power
Symbol key · Forces
Unquenchable fire
Fire that no one can put out until it has consumed what was given to it — its result, not its duration, is the point
Revelation 17–18 · the older story returning
Mystery Babylon
Revelation names a religious system with an ancient city's name, and every detail sends the reader back into earlier Scripture.