Leviticus 16 · a question people ask
Is the scapegoat a picture of Jesus?
The New Testament never mentions the live goat. When Hebrews speaks of this day, it names the high priest going in "once in the year, not without blood" (Hebrews 9:7), "the blood of goats and calves" (Hebrews 9:12), and the bodies "burned outside of the camp" (Hebrews 13:11). Christians agree that Christ was "offered once to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28). They read the live goat in more than one way.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A picture of Christ bearing sin away
The goat carries "all their iniquities" away (16:22). Isaiah says of the LORD's servant, "the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6), and "he bore the sins of many" (Isaiah 53:12). John called Jesus "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). On this reading the live goat pictures Christ bearing sin and taking it away.
Leviticus 16:22 · Isaiah 53:6 · Isaiah 53:12 · John 1:29
Both goats, one offering
The two goats are taken together "for a sin offering" (16:5). On this reading they are two sides of one atonement: the blood brought "within the veil" (16:15) and the sins sent away (16:21-22). Hebrews says Christ "has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26), and some read the two goats together as a picture of that one sacrifice.
Leviticus 16:5 · Leviticus 16:15 · Leviticus 16:21-22 · Hebrews 9:26
A picture of what God does with sin
Some read the goat as showing what the LORD does with sin he forgives, rather than as a figure of Jesus: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12), and "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). On this reading the goat shows sins carried "to a solitary land" (16:22), and Hebrews draws its picture of Christ from the blood and the high priest (Hebrews 9:11-12).
Psalm 103:12 · Micah 7:19 · Leviticus 16:22 · Hebrews 9:11-12
The verses
“but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people.”
“nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.”
“so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
“For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp.”