Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

This work went on day by day throughout the year. With the
sins of Israel having been transferred to the sanctuary, the holy
places were defiled, and a special work became necessary to remove
the sins. God commanded that an atonement be made for each of the
sacred apartments, as for the altar, to "cleanse it, and hallow it from
the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (Leviticus 16:19).
Once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest
entered the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. He
brought two kids of the goats to the door of the tabernacle and cast
lots for them, "one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the
scapegoat." The goat on which the first lot fell was killed as a sin
offering for the people. The priest was to bring its blood within the
veil and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. "So he shall make atonement
for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of
Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so
he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting."
"Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat,
confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of
the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a
suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an
uninhabited land." Not until the goat had been led away did the
people regard themselves as free from the burden of their sins. All
Israel were to search their hearts while the work of atonement was
going forward. All business was laid aside, and the whole
congregation of Israel spent the day in solemn humiliation before
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