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NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



As I point out in the series "The Lamb of God Was a Goat!", as well as in "Judgment Of Azazel: Scapegoat Of The High Priest", part of the sacrifices which were performed on the annual Day of Atonement in ancient Israel, involved the use of two goats without spot or blemish. The first goat, which was slain upon the sacrificial altar, was symbolic of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which would occur some fifteen hundred years later. The second goat, on the other hand, was not killed; but rather it was let go into the wilderness, after a certain rite was performed over its head. Allow me to share with you again some of the verses found in the Book of Leviticus:

"But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness . . . 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: 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."


While the first goat was depicted as being void of sin, and was thus slain as an acceptable means of atonement for the sins of the people, their sins were actually transferred to the head of the second goat. In other words, similar to the manner in which we use the word "scapegoat" in our modern day, the blame for the sins of the people, was cast upon the second goat, and not upon the first goat. As you'll discover when you read the aforementioned articles, the reason for this, is that the second goat represents Azazel; who was one of the principle leaders of the Fallen Angels who rebelled against the Lord in Genesis chapter six. It is because he was largely responsible for the wickedness which was wrought by man in the years prior to the Flood, that in the Book of Enoch, we are told that all sin should be ascribed, or attributed, to Azazel:

"And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.'"


At this current time, Azazel and all of the other Watchers, that is, the rebellious Angels, have not yet been punished for their crimes against humanity. As I explain in "Judgment of Azazel: Scapegoat of the High Priest", according to Enoch, Peter and Jude, while Satan is still free to roam the Earth at this time, for a great while now, his subordinates have been held in chains of darkness, in a special holding place which is located somewhere deep within the Earth. I discuss this topic of the subterranean prison in more detail in the article entitled "Hell, the Lake of Fire and Universalism". We are given the understanding that Azazel and his demonic hordes will remain there until the Day of the Great White Throne Judgment; at which time they will face the wrath of the Almighty God:

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."


"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;"


"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."


If there is one characteristic which is quite often used to describe a goat, it is that, similar to a mule or donkey, it can be an extremely stubborn and rebellious creature. We are all familiar with the fact that elderly people are sometimes referred to as "you old goat", because they are stubborn and very set in their ways. How fitting then that Azazel should be depicted by the very same creature, due to his rebellion against the Lord. In the Old Testament, we find quite a few different stories which deal with the sin of rebellion. When the moment arrived for the Prophet Samuel to rebuke old King Saul according to the Word of the Lord, he told the rejected king the following words, which clearly reveal how seriously the Lord views the sins of stubbornness and rebellion:

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."


Upon studying both Biblical and secular history, one quickly discovers that the Jews have always been a very rebellious and stubborn people. Time and time again the Lord has had to rebuke and chastise them for their waywardness. I point this out in a number of different articles, such as in the series "The Fruits of Disobedience", as well as in "The Children of God and Politics". Prior to the Assyrian invasion during the days of the Prophet Isaiah, the northern kingdom of Israel had fallen into such deep apostasy, that the Lord inspired the Prophet to write:

"Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint."


In the previous verse, the word "revolt" is derived from the Hebrew word "carah". Pronounced saw-raw', this word means apostasy, defection, turning aside or withdrawal. While performing Scriptural research for this current article, I made a rather interesting discovery. In a number of places where the word "imagination" is used in the Authorized King James Bible, the actual Hebrew word used is "sheriyruwth". Pronounced sher-ee-rooth', this Hebrew word actually means stubbornness, hardness or firmness. Out of the nine times that it is used in the Old Testament, seven times it is found in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. As it is well known by most Bible students, this book contains a message of strong rebuke and impending doom for the land of Judah. Consider the following clear examples which prove this point:

"But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward."


"But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:"


"Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not."


"This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing."


"And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:"


As I explain in the aforementioned articles, despite the Lord's serious warning to repent, the Jews of Jerusalem and Judah did not repent of their sins. In fact, rather than repent, they hardened their hearts even further; and on at least two separate occasions, they laid hands upon God's Messenger, Jeremiah, and threw him into prison. Consider the following verses:

"For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house."


"Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,"


"Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison . . . Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?"


"Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire."


It was because of their continuous stubborn rebellion, and their complete defiance of the Lord's wishes, that finally, after forty years of warning by the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord allowed Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to make three successful invasions of Jerusalem. The final one resulted in the complete destruction of the city around the year 587 BC according to modern historians. Following the Seventy Years of Captivity, during which time a large percentage of the Jerusalemites were held as prisoners in Babylon, the Lord spoke the following through the Prophet Zechariah, in which He referred to the rebellious children of Judah as goats:

"For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle."


The purpose for sharing all of the previous information with you, is to make several important points. The first one is this: As I explain in the in-depth series "The Lamb of God Was a Goat!", in the Lord's eyes, there are basically two kinds of people in this world. As Jesus Himself explains in the following story found in Matthew chapter twenty-five, those who hear and obey the Voice of the Lord, are sheep. In other words, they are the Children of the Lamb. On the other hand, those who rebel in stubborn unbelief, are goats; that is, they are the Children of the Goat. In short, either one chooses to follow the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in total humility and submission, or else one chooses to stubbornly follow the spirit of Azazel; who as we have seen, is the goat-like subordinate of Satan:

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . . . Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels . . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."


While Azazel and his hordes may currently be restrained in the Lord's prison, his spiritual children are everywhere; and they have been around for a very long time. I refer to these Children of the Goat as "yabbuts". This is because it seems that no matter how much Biblical truth one shares with them, their reply is always the same. They claim to believe in what you say to a certain point, but then, just like a goat, they say "Yeah, but . . ." Just like the spiritual goats that they are, they are always saying "Butt . . . butt . . . butt!" Sadly, the Biblical record clearly indicates that the Jews may be the chief of the children of Azazel; after all, they were the ones who killed the very Lamb of God. Jesus clearly knew that they were not of God; this is why He told them the following in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John:

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it . . . He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."


Jesus plainly told them that they were not of God. He told them that they were murderers and of their father the devil. As I point out in such series as "Who is Babylon the Great?", in Matthew chapter twenty-three, the Lord fully exposed the bloody hands of the Children of the Goat:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."


The previous verses are directly related to the next point I wish to make with you. This point revolves around the rites which were to be performed with the two goats, by Aaron the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. After sacrificing the first goat, which was innocent of the sins of the people, the High Priest had to do certain things with the blood of the animal, as we see in the following verses:

"And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat . . . And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel."


This is not the only example where certain things had to be done with the blood of the animal which served as the sin offering. When Aaron and his sons were first consecrated as the priests of the Most High God, a bullock and two rams were used as an atonement for their sins. In that case, we read the following regarding what had to be done with some of the blood from the animals:

"And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering. And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it . . . And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about . . . And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about."


Another example where we see the blood of the sacrificial animal being used in this way, is in the ritual which was required for the cleansing of lepers. In the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus, we find the following verse:

"And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy: And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:"


It is no coincidence that just as the blood of this he lamb, or young ram, was used for the cleansing of the lepers under the Levitical Law, Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God, also received Power from His Father, to heal lepers. As you can also see from the previous verses, while in the series "The Lamb of God Was a Goat!", I emphasize that a goat was used as the primary means of atonement for sin throughout the Old Testament period, bullocks and rams were also used for the same thing in certain rituals; however, as Paul states, none of these, be they bullocks, rams, or goats, are necessary any longer; for our Lord Jesus Christ has made the Final Sacrifice for sin, once and for all:

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins . . . For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."


As we saw earlier, having performed the necessary rites with the first innocent goat, Aaron was to lay his hands on the head of the second goat, and then pronounce all of the sins of the people over it. He was to lay blame on the scapegoat before releasing it into the wilderness. As the Apostle Paul makes clear, Aaron was symbolic of the one true High Priest who was to come; that is, Jesus Christ; and in a sense, his sons who performed the priestly services with him, were also symbolic of all of the people of God who not only place their faith in the Blood of the Sacrificial Lamb of God, but who will also someday themselves be priests unto God, under Jesus Christ, our High Priest. Consider the following verses:

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings . . . 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 . . . For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."


"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;"


"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."


"Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."


"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;"


"But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;"


"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."


"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."


"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."


Having now explained these things to you, consider the irony of the situation. That lying serpent, Satan, has totally reversed everything in our modern day. In fact, he has been doing it for thousands of years. Just as Aaron, a Child of the Lamb, had to bloody his hands with the innocent blood of the first goat, and then lay his hands upon the head of the second goat, in order to cast the blame for the sins of the people upon it, Satan's false high priest, and priests did, and continue to do the very same thing. As we saw earlier, since the days of the ancient Prophets, the Children of the Goat, Azazel, have been laying their filthy hands upon the Children of the Lamb, just as Aaron laid his hands upon the head of the goat, and they have been killing them ever since.

We have already covered the story of the Prophet Jeremiah; and we have also seen what Jesus had to say regarding these deceptive murderers who killed the many other Prophets who were sent to them by the Lord. The height of their crimes came almost two thousand years ago when Caiaphas, the false high priest of Satan of that time, along with all of the other Temple priests and Jewish Elders, laid their bloody hands upon the Lord Jesus, and made false accusation against the true High Priest from Heaven; who gave His Blood as a Ransom for many. Consider the following verses:

"And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:"


"But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet."


"Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners . . . And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him."


"For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day."


"And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners . . . And they laid their hands on him, and took him."


"Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men."


"And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them."


"Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."


"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."


"After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him."


"Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?"


"And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people . . . When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness."


"Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come . . . And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him."


"These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come."


"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:"


Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

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