Ministration of Angels

HAVING learned the origin of Satan, and the history of his work thus far, we will now inquire what his final destiny will be. To ascertain this, we will again call attention to the subject of the sanctuary. It was all typical of the heavenly sanctuary, as we have before seen. Every day in the year the people brought their victims to the door of the sanctuary, and confessed their sins over them. Then they were slain, and the blood containing the sins thus confessed, was taken into the sanctuary. Thus the sins of those who confessed them were conveyed from themselves into the sanctuary during the whole year. Heb. 9:1-7; Lev. 1:3. At the end of the year, the high priest presented two goats before the door of the sanctuary, and cast lots for them. One lot was for the Lord, the other for the scape-goat. Lev. 16:1-8. The one on whom the Lord's lot fell, was then slain, and his blood taken into the sanctuary, and by it the sins in there were atoned for. Verses 9-19. Then these sins were taken out of the sanctuary and placed upon the head of the scape-goat, and he bore them away into a land not inhabited. Verses 20- 22. All this was typical of Christ's ministration in the true sanctuary above. Heb. 8:1-5. Therefore, Christ will minister in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary till the day of atonement, or Judgment. During this time the sins of God's people are conveyed, by faith in the blood of Jesus, into the heavenly sanctuary. At the day of atonement, the blood of the Lamb of God will be offered to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary from these sins.

According to the pattern, when the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed by the blood of the Lamb of God, the sins of the righteous will be conveyed by the High Priest (Christ) and placed upon the head of the scape-goat, who will then be sent into a land not inhabited. Now we are prepared to ask who this scape-goat is.

"THE SCAPE-GOAT. —The next event of that day, after the sanctuary was cleansed, was the putting off all the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel upon the scape-goat, and sending him away into a land not inhabited, or of separation. It is supposed by almost every one that this goat typified Christ in some of his offices, and that the type was fulfilled at the first advent. From this opinion I must differ, because,

1. That goat was not sent away till after the high priest had made an end of cleansing the sanctuary. Lev. 16:20,21. Hence that event cannot meet its antitype till after the end of the 2300 days (1844).

2. It was sent away from Israel into the wilderness, a land not inhabited. If our blessed Saviour is its antitype, he also must be sent away; not his body alone, but soul and body (for the goat was sent away alive), from, not to, nor into, his people; neither into Heaven, for that is not a wilderness, nor a land not inhabited.

3. It received and retained all the iniquities of Israel; but when Christ appears the second time, he will be without sin.

4. The goat received the iniquities from the hand of the priest, and he sent it away. As Christ is the priest, the goat must be something else besides himself, which he can send away.

5. This was one of two goats chosen for that day, of which one was the Lord's and was offered for a sin-offering; but the other was not called the Lord's, neither offered as a sacrifice. Its only office was to receive the iniquities from the priest after he had cleansed the sanctuary from them, and bear them into a land not inhabited, leaving the sanctuary, priest, and people, behind, and free from their iniquities. Lev. 16:7-10,22.

6. The Hebrew name of the scape-goat, as will be seen from the margin of verse 8, is Azazel. On this verse Wm. Jenks, in his Comp. Com., has the following remarks: 'Scape-goat. See dif. opin. in Bochart. Spencer, after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is the name of the devil; and so Rosenmuller, whom see. The Syriach as Azazil, the angel (strong one) who revolted.'

7. At the appearing of Christ, as taught in Rev. 20, Satan is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, which act and place are significantly symbolized by the ancient high priest's sending the scape-goat into a separate and uninhabited wilderness. Thus we have the Scripture, the definition in two ancient languages, both spoken at the same time, and the oldest opinions of the Christians, in favor of regarding the Scape-goat as the type of Satan."

On this subject, Chas. Beecher, Redeemer and Redeemed, p. 66, says: "Two goats were to be presented before the Lord by the high priest. They must be exactly alike in value, size, age, color—they must be counterparts. Placing these goats before him, the high priest put both his hands into an urn containing two golden lots, and drew them out, one in each hand. On the one was engraved La-Yehovah (for Jehovah) on the other, La-Azazel (for Azazel).

"The goat on which the lot La-Yehovah fell, was slain. After its blood had been sprinkled in the holy of holies, the high priest laid his hands on the head of the second goat, confessed the sins of the congregation, and gave him to a fit man to lead away and let go in the wilderness, the man thus employed being obliged to wash his clothes and person before returning to the congregation."

With regard to what this scape-goat represents, he says that "one opinion is that Azazel is a proper name of Satan. In support of this, the following points are urged: The use of the preposition implies it. The same preposition is used on both lots, La-Yehovah, La-Azazel; and if the one indicates a person, it seems natural that the other should, especially considering the act of casting lots. If one is for Jehovah, the other would seem for some other person or being; not one for Jehovah, and the other for the goat itself. What goes to confirm this is, that the most ancient paraphrases and translations treat Azazel as a proper name. The Chaldee paraphrase and the targums of Onkelos and Jonathan would certainly have translated it if it was not a proper name but they do not. The Septuagint, or oldest Greek version, renders it by apopompaios, a word applied by the Greeks to a malign deity sometimes appeased by sacrifices. Another confirmation is found in the book of Enoch, where the name Azalzel, evidently a corruption of Azazel, is given to one of the fallen angels; thus plainly showing what was the prevalent understanding of the Jews at that day. Still another evidence is found in the Arabic, where Azazel is employed as the name of the evil spirit. In addition to these, we have the evidence of the Jewish work Zahar, and of the Cabalistic and Rabbinical writers. They tell us that the following proverb was current among the Jews: 'On the day of atonement, a gift to Sammael.' Hence Moses Gerundinensis feels called to say that it is not a sacrifice, but only done because commanded by God.

"Another step in the evidence is that we find the same opinion passing from the Jewish to the early Christian church. Origen was the most learned of the fathers; and on such a point as this, the meaning of a Hebrew word, his testimony is reliable. Says Origen: 'He who is called in the Septuagint apopompaios, and in the Hebrew, Azazel, is no other than the devil.' Lastly, a circumstance is mentioned of the Emperor Julian, the apostate, that confirms the argument. He brought as an objection against the Bible, that Moses commanded a sacrifice to the evil spirit. An objection he never could have thought of, had not Azazel been generally regarded as a proper name.

"In view then, of the difficulties attending any other meaning, and the accumulated evidence in favor of this, Hengstenberg affirms, with great confidence, that Azazel cannot be anything else but another name for Satan." pp. 67 and 68.

In conclusion on this point, Beecher says: "Would it not lie strange if, in all the symbols of the sacrificial system, there was not a single intimation of the serpent's existence? And where should we expect to see his baleful shadow, if not here on the great day of atonement?" p. 73. Irenaeus, in his Book against Heresies, quotes an ancient verse thus: by means of Azazel, that fallen, and yet mighty angel. Book I, chap. 15.

Thus we see that it is susceptible of very clear proof that Satan is the great antitypical scape-goat. Indeed, we can come to no other conclusion. How fitting, how just it is that Satan, the great author of sin, should receive back upon his own head the sins and transgressions into which he has led God's people!

In the type they brought the scape-goat alive before the Lord, and the high priest "confessed 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." So it will be in the antitype. Satan will be arraigned before God, and there, in the presence of the angelic hosts and the redeemed saints, Christ, his conqueror, will enumerate his sins and iniquities, and those he has caused the Lord's people to commit; then he will pronounce his sentence, and send him away into a "land not inhabited." We have seen that this must take place at the day of Judgment. Jude says that the fallen angels are reserved unto the Judgment of the great day.

In Rev. 19, the second coming of Christ is described. Chapter 20 opens thus: "And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season." Verses 1-3.

We can plainly see in this the antitype of the scape-goat. But he was sent into the wilderness, a land not inhabited. Then it is an important point for us to determine what this bottomless pit is, into which Satan is to be cast. If, on examination, we find it to be a "wilderness," or a desolate place, this will confirm the truthfulness of our position, that Satan is the antitypical scape-goat. Rev. 20:3, says that Satan was cast into the bottomless pit. Rev. 9:1-3, locates the bottomless pit on the earth. "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from Heaven [where to?] unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." The air extends only about forty-five miles above the earth. In order for it to be darkened by ascending smoke, the smoke must come from the earth. "And there came out of the smoke locusts on the earth," etc. This locates the bottomless pit upon this earth.

What is the meaning of the term "bottomless pit?" The idea commonly attached to it is that of an eternal, burning hell. But this is not the Bible meaning of that term. Its primary signification is, a dark place, a waste, a wilderness, an uninhabited region. The original word, abussos, which, in Rev. 20:1-3, is rendered bottomless pit, is in other places rendered deep. Thus Gen. 1:1,2:— "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep," or the bottomless pit.— American Bible Union translates abussos by the word abyss. Thus Rev. 20:1-3 : "And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the abyss." This, compared with Gen. 1:2, "Darkness was upon the face of the deep," abyss, or bottomless pit, locates this place very definitely. It is the face of this earth in its dark, void, chaotic state. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

Then if, in the future, Satan is to be cast into the deep, or abyss, this earth must be reduced back to its original chaotic state; so that it shall be "without form and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep." Will this ever be? Listen to Jeremiah as he has a vision of the future condition of the earth. Chap: 4:19-28 : "I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?" He then gives the result of this sound of the trumpet, alarm of war, and destruction upon destruction. "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." Compare this with Gen. 1: "The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Then the time is coming when this earth will be reduced back to its original condition. But he continues: "I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate."

If we had space, we could give whole chapters showing that all the earth will be desolated of its inhabitants and turned into a wilderness, so to remain for a period of one thousand years. Remember that it was a place similar to this into which the scapegoat was turned, i.e., a wilderness, a land not inhabited. This is the place where Satan, the great antitypical scape-goat, is to be bound a thousand years. Rev. 20:1-5, places the commencement of this period at the time of the resurrection of the blessed and holy, which is shown by 1 Thess. 4:16, to be at the second advent of our Lord. The battle of the great day, by which all the enemies of the Lord are slain (Rev. 16; Jer. 25), takes place at that time. So that is the time of the binding of the dragon and the desolation of the earth. And as this battle takes place in "the day of the Lord," and the utter and final overthrow of the wicked at the end of the thousand years of Rev. 20 also takes place in the day of the Lord, according to 2 Pet. 3:7-10, it follows that the thousand years are in that period covered by this phrase, "the day of the Lord." Of course, in that day the desolation occurs. Thus Isaiah says, "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Chap. 13:6,9, "For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation, it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever." Chap. 34:8-10.

The expressions "forever and ever" and "from generation to generation," show that the earth will be desolate for no short length of time.

As we have seen, this desolation of the earth takes place at the beginning of the day of the Lord—the commencement of the thousand years. This also is the time when Jesus makes his second advent; for he is the one who destroys the nations. Ps. 2:7-9. In Rev. 19, his advent is described, together with the destruction of the nations and the desolation of the earth. "And I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Verses 11-21. This leaves the world desolate of all its inhabitants. The next verse says, "And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [abyss] and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." Rev. 20:1-3. Thus we see that just as soon as the earth is made a "wilderness," Satan is cast into this desolate region to remain a thousand years.