The live goat, the azazel, is a type of Jesus Christ, not Satan. Its name carries the meaning of complete removal. After the first goat's blood cleanses the sanctuary, Aaron lays his hands on the live goat, confesses Israel's sins over it, and sends it by a suitable man into a land cut off, where it bears all their iniquities (Leviticus 16:20-22). Christ fulfills this by bearing the sin of many (Isaiah 53:11-12; I Peter 2:24; Hebrews 9:28). The Hebrew word for bearing means to lift up, carry, and take away, and it is never used of Satan. Christ did this alone, as the goat did. His bearing goes beyond paying the penalty to carrying sins out of sight, as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). The land cut off is the grave, the land of forgetfulness, to which Christ was cut off (Isaiah 53:8; Psalm 88). When God forgets sin, He chooses to disregard it so that it no longer sways His dealings with us. Satan cannot fit this role. He carries his own guilt and cannot substitute for anyone. He is not the author of human sin, since each soul that sins bears its own guilt (Ezekiel 18). Guilt is never divided between a sinner and a tempter. His binding and fiery end do not match the goat's release, and he remains in view (Isaiah 14:15-16). Atonement addresses the problem of sin, not the presence of Satan.

The azazel, the goat of complete removal, is the second goat of the Day of Atonement offering (Leviticus 16:5). The people's sins were laid on its head, and it bore them to an uninhabited, cut-off land. Jesus Christ fulfills both goats. He died to provide a covering of blood and open the way to the Father, and He also bore the sins of many into the land of forgetfulness. Scripture never places sins on Satan's head or has him bear them, and Leviticus 16:21-22 concerns the people's sins, not Satan's. The name of the day, yom kippur, with its root kaphar (cleanse, purge, put off, cover), describes what the Savior does, not the Adversary. Linking the azazel to Satan's binding in Revelation 20 fails, since that binding exists only to stop his deception of the nations. Colossians 2:13-14 says Christ has forgiven all trespasses and taken the record of sins out of the way. The Greek airo parallels the Hebrew nasa', used of the goat's bearing, and its perfect tense marks the action as completed. Hebrews 9-10 explains the Day of Atonement without mentioning Satan. Christ put away sin (athetesis, to cancel) and took away sins (aphaireo, to remove or cut off). He also cleanses the conscience, which the azazel only implied. Because He sat down, His work is finished, and no future act involving Satan remains. Sins are remembered no more, and no further offering for sin remains. Christ's fulfillment need not follow the order of Leviticus 16, so the azazel need not wait until after the resurrection.

The live goat of the Day of Atonement, called azazel in Leviticus 16, is a substitutionary animal that bears the nation's sins away from the camp so that they are completely removed. It prefigures Jesus Christ. The Father laid our iniquities on His innocent head (Isaiah 53:6), and He bore them as a substitutionary sacrifice (Isaiah 53:11-12; Hebrews 9:28; I Peter 2:24). He became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21), was led outside the gate just as the goat was led outside the camp (Hebrews 13:11-12), and became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Interpretations that make the goat a type of Satan fail, because bearing sin is the Messiah's work, not the Devil's. Scripture never says human sins are laid on Satan, and Atonement concerns only human sins (Leviticus 16:21). Some modern translations, such as the NRSV, read the goat as sent "to Azazel," a demon. That reading comes from Jewish folklore between the testaments, including the Book of Enoch, not from Scripture. It would mean God commanded an offering to a demon, which is gross idolatry, and it contradicts Leviticus 17:7, Exodus 23:13, Exodus 22:20, and Deuteronomy 12:3. The NKJV rendering is correct: the goat was chosen to be the azazel, the one that fills the role of complete removal. Sticking to God's Word yields one cohesive picture, while borrowing from folklore leads to doctrines of demons.