THE TWO GOATS — ONE ATONING WORK

1. THE GOAT WENT AWAY — BUT THE WORLD STILL GROANS#

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. — Leviticus 16:22 KJV

The live goat does not circle the camp and return. The enacted sign moves one way: confessed iniquity is borne away from the people and from the holy dwelling in their midst.

Yet after Christ dies, rises, and ascends, the world still contains sin and death. Believers still bury the dead. Nations still deceive and devour. Creation still groans. That tension does not mean the atoning work failed. It means Scripture distinguishes a work already accomplished in Christ from a creation-wide completion still ahead.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. — Romans 8:22–23 KJV

The Spirit is already present, but the body still waits for redemption. The kingdom has arrived in the King, but not every enemy has yet been removed from the field.

2. SCRIPTURE SPEAKS OF SIN AS BORNE, REMOVED, BLOTTED OUT, AND CAST AWAY#

Scripture itself supplies the bearing language across the whole timeline. Leviticus gives it first: the living goat “shall bear upon him all their iniquities.” Isaiah then points forward to a righteous Servant who will bear iniquity and sin. After the cross, Peter looks backward and says that Christ Himself bare our sins in His own body. Hebrews then summarizes the completed event: Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. The shadow, the prophecy, the historical cross, and the apostolic explanation all use the same bearing movement across time.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. — Isaiah 53:11–12 KJV

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. — 1 Peter 2:24 KJV

So 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 9:28 KJV

So when this study says that sin has been borne, it is speaking first about an accomplished work at the cross. The live goat gave Israel a repeated enacted shadow; Isaiah announced the coming Servant; Christ fulfilled the bearing in history; Hebrews and Peter explain that completed act. The future still concerns the final removal of sin’s enemies and consequences from creation, not a future repetition of Christ bearing the believer’s sins.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. — Psalm 103:12 KJV

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. — Micah 7:19 KJV

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. — Isaiah 43:25 KJV

The Bible does not rely on only one picture. Sin is borne. Transgressions are removed to an immeasurable distance. Sins are cast into the depths. The record is blotted out. These images overlap, but none needs to be flattened into the others.

The common movement is away from the forgiven person and away from God's holy dwelling. Forgiveness is not God pretending the rebellion never mattered. It is God dealing with what stood against fellowship so that it no longer governs the relationship.

3. “BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD”#

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. — John 1:29 KJV

John the Baptist announces Jesus with removal language before the cross occurs. He does not merely say that Jesus will make people feel forgiven. He identifies Him as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. — 1 John 3:5 KJV

John later joins removal to Christ's sinlessness. The One who takes sin away is not another captive of sin. In Him is no sin.

4. CHRIST HAS APPEARED TO PUT AWAY SIN#

For 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. — Hebrews 9:26 KJV

Hebrews gives the language unusual precision: Christ appears once to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The slain One and the removal work are no longer divided across separate animals.

So 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 9:28 KJV

The same chapter joins sacrifice, bearing, and future appearing. His sin-bearing is once; His return is future. The work accomplished at His first appearing reaches forward toward the salvation that will be openly completed at His appearing again.

5. ONCE FOR ALL — FINISHED SACRIFICE, UNFINISHED HISTORY#

And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. — Hebrews 10:11–14 KJV

The sacrifice is not waiting to be repeated. Christ sits down. The offering is one. Its sufficiency is complete.

But notice what the seated Christ is still expecting: His enemies are yet to be made His footstool. Finished sacrifice and unfinished history stand in the same paragraph.

6. THE LAST ENEMY IS STILL DEATH#

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. — 1 Corinthians 15:25–26 KJV

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. — 1 Corinthians 15:54 KJV

Death has been defeated in the risen Christ, yet death has not disappeared from the present creation. Paul calls it the last enemy that shall be destroyed. Resurrection is therefore not merely proof that Jesus survived death; it is the beginning and guarantee of death's final removal.

This helps us understand the second-goat trajectory. Sin has been borne and put away by Christ, but the created order still waits for every consequence of rebellion to be expelled from God's final dwelling.

7. WHAT REBELLION BRINGS FORTH — THE HELL HUMANS MAKE INSIDE A GOOD CREATION#

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. — Genesis 1:31 KJV

The Bible begins with a good creation. The lie, idolatry, violence, accusation, bondage, and death that later fill the story are not things God called very good. They are what rebellious creatures bring forth inside the world He made.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. — James 1:14–15 KJV

James gives sin birth language. Desire conceives; sin is brought forth; sin matures into death. The creature does not create being out of nothing, but the creature can bring something into the history of God’s world that was not there before: a lie spoken, an idol served, a neighbor defrauded, blood shed, trust broken, a false loyalty taught to children, or a system built around self-interest.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. — Genesis 3:4–5 KJV

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. — Genesis 3:6 KJV

The first human sin begins with a lie that reframes God’s boundary, then desire, then taking. Once acted upon, the lie is no longer only a suggestion in the serpent’s mouth. It has become human belief and human action. The rebellion now has a history, victims, consequences, and a continuing influence.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. — Romans 1:25 KJV

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, — Romans 1:30 KJV

Paul can therefore speak of people as “inventors of evil things.” The invention may be a practice, a justification, a deception, a cruelty, a false system, or a new way to use a good gift against the Giver. Rebellion is productive, but what it produces is anti-order: it bends the good around the self.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: — Colossians 3:5 KJV

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. — Ephesians 5:5 KJV

Scripture makes the covetousness-to-idolatry connection twice and directly. Covetousness does not need a carved statue to become idolatry. A desire can be enthroned. The thing desired can receive the loyalty, time, sacrifice, fear, imagination, and obedience that belong to God. The idol may be material, but the idolatry begins deeper than the material object.

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. — Hebrews 4:13 KJV

A lie has no weight on a scale, yet it exists and God sees it. Covetousness has no necessary statue, yet God names it idolatry. Hatred can remain hidden in a heart, yet it governs real choices. False worship creates allegiance; slander creates accusation; oppression creates bondage; murder creates death and bloodguilt. Sin is not always a material object, but it is no less real because it can be invisible.

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. — Revelation 22:15 KJV

Revelation reaches the startling phrase “maketh a lie.” The lie that entered the story in Genesis becomes something creatures can love, repeat, build upon, and manufacture. By the end of Scripture the maker of the lie is outside the city where God dwells.

This is where turning must be distinguished from dealing with what sin has brought forth. Teshuvah changes direction. It is necessary. But turning around does not make the lie never spoken, the worship never given, the blood never shed, or the defilement never introduced. The Day of Atonement therefore includes both a humbled people and an objective priestly work: sin must be confessed, borne, cleansed, removed, and put away.

For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. — Leviticus 16:30 KJV

8. THE KING ENTERS THE DISORDER AND SENDS WITNESSES#

Tim Mackie gives this accumulated disorder a provocative name: hell. In his teaching, he does not use “hell” as a synonym for Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus, or the lake of fire. He uses it for the rebellion-generated anti-order that humans and spiritual rebels create inside God’s good world: deception, violence, oppression, idolatry, shame, death, and the systems that keep reproducing them.

Put sharply, the problem is not only that people need to be rescued from hell. God intends to get the hell out of people and ultimately out of His good creation. The language is memorable because it captures the direction already visible in the two goats: what contradicts God’s holy dwelling cannot be granted permanent residence there.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. — 1 John 3:8 KJV

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. — Luke 11:20 KJV

Jesus enters the disorder as King. He does not merely announce that a clean world exists somewhere else. He confronts the works of rebellion where they are: demons are cast out, bodies are healed, lies are answered with truth, sinners are forgiven, the excluded are restored, and death itself is challenged by resurrection. His works are signs that God’s rule has entered contested ground.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. — Acts 1:8 KJV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. — Romans 1:16 KJV

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. — Matthew 28:19–20 KJV

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. — 2 Timothy 2:2 KJV

The kingdom witness then multiplies through disciples and their disciples. Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, the nations; Jew first and also Greek; apostles teaching faithful people who teach others also. Christ remains the King, but His Spirit-indwelt people become multiplying points of truth, prayer, mercy, service, reconciliation, and faithful witness inside the places rebellion has damaged.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. — Hebrews 2:14–15 KJV

The mission is rescue, kingdom advance, and reclamation. Christ delivers people from bondage and forms them into a witnessing people while history moves toward the final destruction of every rebellious power that refuses His rule.

9. THE NOAH COVENANT — GOD PRESERVES HIS CREATION FOR REDEMPTION#

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. — Genesis 8:21–22 KJV

And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. — Genesis 9:9–11 KJV

The flood does not cure the human heart. God says so explicitly: the imagination of man’s heart is still evil from his youth. Yet God covenants with Noah, his seed, every living creature, and the earth’s continuing order. He preserves the stage on which promise, redemption, Messiah, gospel, and final renewal will unfold.

This covenant with creation matters for the removal story. God’s answer to rebellion is not abandonment of the world He called good. He preserves creation through judgment so that He can finally renew it. The end of the Bible is therefore not creation discarded, but creation made new.

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. — 2 Peter 3:13 KJV

10. THE LIVE GOAT, THE TIME DELAY, AND THE CONTINUING REMOVAL#

And 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: — Leviticus 16:20 KJV

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, 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: 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. — Leviticus 16:21–22 KJV

The sequence deserves to be watched slowly. The first sanctuary work reaches its appointed end; then the live goat is brought. The second goat is specifically alive after the sacrifice has died, and the confessed sin begins an outward journey to a land not inhabited. The destination is described, but not named as a city or sanctuary. Its defining feature is separation from the people and the Presence.

The shadow compresses the sequence into one Day of Atonement. The fulfillment unfolds across history. Christ dies once, bears sin, rises as the slain-and-living One, enters the true sanctuary, gives the Spirit, reigns while enemies remain, and returns when the removal of rebellion’s remaining powers reaches its final public completion.

So 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 9:28 KJV

This gives the time delay its New Testament horizon. The bearing sacrifice is once. The second appearing is later. Between the two, Christ reigns and His gospel advances while the world still contains enemies that His finished work has already sentenced to removal.

11. CAST AWAY — THE FINAL EXCLUSION OF DEATH, CURSE, DECEPTION, AND CHAOS#

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. — Micah 7:19 KJV

Micah gives sin a final-away image: cast into the depths of the sea. The Day of Atonement gives wilderness removal; Micah gives deep-sea removal. Different images, same direction: what has been forgiven and removed is no longer allowed to stand between God and His people.

And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. — Isaiah 34:4 KJV

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. — Revelation 6:14 KJV

The prophets also use rolled-scroll imagery for the passing of a judged order. The scroll is not the scapegoat and the sea is not the wilderness; Scripture is giving multiple pictures of the same great direction: the old rebellious order does not remain forever.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. — Revelation 20:10 KJV

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. — Revelation 20:14 KJV

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. — Revelation 21:1 KJV

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: — Revelation 22:3 KJV

And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. — Revelation 21:27 KJV

The final movement is comprehensive. The deceiver is cast away. Death and Hades are cast away. The old heaven-and-earth order passes. The sea is no more. The curse is no more. Defilement and the maker of the lie do not enter the city. What humans and spiritual rebels brought forth against God’s good order is finally separated from His dwelling.

12. THE SCROLL AT NAZARETH — FIRST APPEARING AND “THAT DAY”#

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; — Isaiah 61:1–2 KJV

Isaiah places proclamation of favor and the day of vengeance in the same prophetic sentence. At Nazareth, Jesus reads the prophecy and stops before the vengeance clause.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. — Luke 4:18–19 KJV

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. — Luke 4:20–21 KJV

The closed scroll creates a powerful time marker. Jesus announces that the liberation, good news, healing, and acceptable-year portion is being fulfilled in their hearing. The prophetic sentence still contains a “day of vengeance” that He does not announce as fulfilled that day.

The same two-horizon pattern now appears again. The Messiah’s first appearing inaugurates the kingdom, bears sin, gives liberation, and opens the way. “That day” of final judgment and restoration remains ahead.

And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. — Acts 3:20–21 KJV

Heaven receives the risen Christ “until” the times of restitution of all things. That word “until” allows the reader to hold both truths at once: the decisive work is complete, and the public restoration of all things still has an appointed day.

13. WHAT REMOVAL MAKES POSSIBLE — UNINTERRUPTED PRESENCE#

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. — Revelation 21:3–4 KJV

The end of removal is not emptiness. God does not clear His creation merely to leave a sterile universe. He removes what destroys fellowship so that dwelling can be permanent.

And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. — Revelation 22:4–5 KJV

The guarded face-to-face problem has reached its answer. The people see His face. His name is upon them. They serve Him and reign under His light. The vocation of image-bearers is restored without the self-rule that corrupted it.

The second goat’s movement was simple to watch: confessed sin went away. The biblical fulfillment is larger and slower in history: Christ bears sin and puts it away by His sacrifice; the slain One lives; the King reigns; the Spirit forms witnesses; rebellion continues to be confronted; and in that Day every remaining enemy of God’s holy dwelling is finally removed.

Teshuvah turns the sinner back. Atonement deals with the sin. The King defeats the rebellious powers. Final judgment removes the anti-order. New creation is what remains when God’s good purpose is no longer interrupted.

The way that was once guarded ends with God’s servants seeing His face.