The Hebrew word azazel means “to be completely put aside.” But what does it mean to you?
We have seen before the idea of two animals forming one picture. Two birds were taken in Leviticus 14 when a leper had been cleansed. There the one bird died and the second bird flew away with the blood of the first bird on it. This pictures death and resurrection. But the two goats on the Day of Atonement illustrated something else. We read, “Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat” (Lev 16:8). In relation to the Lord, one goat died to pay the penalty of sin. But in relation to the people, the other goat was to take their sins so far away that no one would encounter them again. Notice these two ideas in Isaiah 53:12, “He poured out His soul unto death,…and He bore the sin of many.” The first half, “He poured out His soul unto death,” is pictured in the first goat whose death was on behalf of all but for God’s satisfaction. The second half, “and He bore the sin of many,” illustrates the scapegoat who bore away the sins into an uninhabited place, never to be seen again. So it is with the believer today. Not only has God been satisfied with the death of Christ, but He has seen to it that our sins will never have to be dealt with again. They are out of reach: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12). They are out of sight: “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Mic 7:19). And they are out of mind: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer 31:34). Every believer can sing with Helen Griggs, “Gone, gone, gone, gone, Yes, my sins are gone! Now my soul is free And in my heart’s a song; Buried in the deepest sea, Yes, that’s good enough for me—I shall live eternally. Praise God! My sins are gone!”