Christ fulfilled the role of the azazel goat of Leviticus 16: the Father laid the iniquity of us all on Him, as the high priest laid Israel's sins on the goat's head, and He bore them (Isaiah 53:6, 11-12; Hebrews 9:28). That bearing was no abstract legal pronouncement. Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree (I Peter 2:24), and during the hours of His suffering outside the gate He endured the shame, anguish, piercing, crushing, and scourging that sin produces, in addition to death. Death was not the only penalty sin incurs. Paul says plainly that God made Christ to be sin (II Corinthians 5:21) and that He became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). The Hebrew word for sin also means sin offering, because the animal symbolically becomes sin. Like the azazel, Christ was led outside the camp rather than killed at the temple, and His sacrifice consumed His life over time. He received complete justice, poured out in full strength. Because of this, believers receive only mediated chastening that is not more than they can bear, so that sanctification can continue. Sin still has dreadful consequences, but God turns them to good for His children. The healing by His stripes is chiefly spiritual, turning straying sheep to the Shepherd. Accepting His sacrifice means accepting the ugly reality of what the Son of God endured.

Christ died as the substitute who took on Himself all that sinners deserve. The Father laid the iniquity of us all on the Messiah (Isaiah 53:6), and Christ became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) and was made sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). Even if "sin" there means a sin offering, the result is the same: like the animal on which hands were laid, the sinless Messiah became identified with sin and received what the sinner deserved. Sin's wages include more than death, so Christ was wounded, bruised, pierced, scourged, and shamed, and God did not spare His own Son (Romans 8:32). The crown of thorns, first seen in the curse on Adam, symbolized sin's piercing effects laid on Him. One of the worst effects of sin is separation from God, so Christ had to be forsaken as well. Scripture shows that God righteously withdraws from sin because of His transcendent holiness. During the three hours of darkness over all the earth, a symbol of judgment and withdrawn light, all humanity's sins were laid on Him, and the Father withdrew so that His justice could be satisfied. Christ's cry, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?", is real. Jesus was not separated from the Father because He sinned but because we sin. The Father never stopped loving Him. The Father delivered Him from the grave by resurrection, and the sins were removed.

Jesus Christ's death holds profound significance in breaking the bondage of fear and death that Satan imposes on humanity. Through His substitutionary death on the cross, He, as our sinless Creator who became human and able to die, paid the ultimate price to free us from the death penalty that our sins warrant. His death was necessary because nothing less could suffice to release us from this curse, as the wages of sin is death. Moreover, by living a sinless life, He defeated Satan, who holds the power of death, stripping him of the weapon he used to dominate humanity since the fall of Adam and Eve. As the second Adam and the beginning of the new creation, He overcame the adversary's attempts to induce sin, thus liberating us from the fear of eternal death. Because we are one with Him, this weapon no longer hangs over us, and we are freed from Satan's spiritual enslavement. His role as our living High Priest further ensures our continued freedom, as He will never leave nor forsake us. We are saved by His life, reconciled to God through His death, and kept one with Him as we strive to overcome sin. This truth affirms that we do not face the hopeless second death reserved for the unconverted; instead, we have the liberty to turn voluntarily to God, choosing to submit in obedience to Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Using the image of balancing a checkbook, mankind's ledger is full of sins while God's is righteous, and the two cannot agree until the errors are corrected. Jesus Christ does this by placing Himself in man's column and covering the sins. Romans 5:6-11 and 18-21 show that He died for the ungodly while they were still sinners, helpless to do anything for themselves. Their own deaths could only pay for their own sins and would leave no life beyond, but Christ's death, followed by His resurrection, both justifies and reconciles. Justification clears the books by paying the penalty and standing in man's place. Reconciliation then follows, because His righteousness covers the believer and makes a harmonious relationship with God possible. Everything originates on God's side: He provides the grace, the sacrifice, the justification, the reconciliation, and the life beyond. II Corinthians 5:21 says God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Colossians 2 says what was nailed to the cross was the record of our sins and guilt, and the price was paid in His blood. Because He is the Creator, His life is more precious than all creation. He died once for all, and His sacrifice is also the foundation for reconciling all things to the Father. He died for each person individually, and the believer must respond in faith and not receive the grace in vain.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, died a most horrible death on a stauros or cross, enduring unimaginable suffering for our sake. His death was substitutionary, meaning He took upon Himself the penalty for our sins, a penalty that demands execution rather than a natural death. As Hebrews 9:22 clarifies, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin, and thus, Jesus had to die by execution to cover our transgressions. He could not have paid this penalty through any other means, such as suicide or euthanasia, as those would have disqualified Him as our Savior by introducing sin into His own life. His execution by crucifixion, Rome's preferred method, was pronounced by Pilate, though Pilate declared himself innocent of His blood, sentencing Him to death despite His lack of guilt. God also allowed His Son to suffer crucifixion because it was a deeply shameful way to die, reserved for criminals and the lowest of society. Jesus was crucified between two robbers, judged guilty by association by passersby, reflecting the shame that sin brings upon us. Sin is shameful, and His death depicted this reality, as it is disgraceful to be known for any transgression. The process of crucifixion added to this shame, as victims were often left stark naked or with minimal covering, exposing Jesus, a sinless and modest man, to the gaze of His mother, other women, the apostle John, and a multitude of spectators. What humiliation our Savior endured to bear the shame of our sins!

Christ's death was a substitutionary sacrifice fulfilling the role of the Day of Atonement's live goat, the azazel, which Christians often overlook because it is unpleasant to consider. In Leviticus 16:21-22 the high priest laid the nation's sins on the innocent goat, which bore them away from God's presence. Isaiah 53 shows the Father laying humanity's iniquity on the Messiah, who bore it with suffering far beyond death, since sin brings grief, pain, separation, and disfigurement. Hebrews 9:28 and I Peter 2:24 confirm that Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, bringing spiritual healing. II Corinthians 5:21 says God made Christ "to be sin" for us. This is not a claim that He sinned. The Hebrew chatta'ah means both sin and sin offering, so the substitute became the sin to be atoned for, and softer paraphrases misrepresent the text. Galatians 3:13 adds that Christ became a curse for us by hanging on a tree, experiencing divine rejection and separation, as expressed in His cry of forsakenness. Like the azazel, He was sent away from the Temple and suffered outside the gate (Hebrews 13:12), enduring the process for hours. Innocent Himself, He took the guilt and curse that belonged to us so that we could enter God's presence.

Christ's death was a substitutionary sacrifice, and nothing else in history compares to it. All have sinned, and the penalty for sin is death, both physical and spiritual, which is separation from God (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23). Jesus took that death on Himself and died in our place. God foreshadowed this in Eden, when Adam and Eve deserved immediate death but He killed animals and clothed them in the skins, showing that another could die in their place. The blood of bulls and goats could never actually remove sin (Hebrews 10:4), and the Day of Atonement blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat pointed ahead to Christ. His death is also propitiation: the just wrath of God against sin was turned aside so that His love could save sinners. The torn Temple veil shows that the way to God is now open. It is reconciliation, bridging the break caused by sin, and redemption, buying us back from bondage. His cry "It is finished" (tetelestai) means "paid in full." The death was necessary because God's holiness requires Him to hate sin, and as Judge He must do right, which means judging sin. To save sinners without violating His own nature, another had to suffer the judgment in their place. Only God's own Son could do this, and He did it for each person individually, out of love (Romans 5:8). This calls for grateful obedience and a continuing sense of obligation, not complacency.