As someone who once preached from inside the SDA system, I, Pastor Leonardo Balberan Jr, now boldly expose one of its most deceptive and unscriptural teachings, the belief that the scapegoat, or Azazel of Leviticus 16, represents Satan. This false doctrine, pushed heavily by Ellen G. White in The Great Controversy (pages 485–486), claims that on the Day of Atonement, the sins of God’s people are ultimately placed upon Satan, who bears them away into the wilderness. This is not only theologically flawed but a total distortion of the gospel of Christ.
Let us deal with this biblically and precisely.
In Leviticus 16:10, we read:
“But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.”
(Hebrew: לַעֲזָאזֵל, la-azazel)
Ellen White and SDA theology claim that this Azazel goat represents Satan, and that after Jesus supposedly “cleanses” the heavenly sanctuary, the sins are transferred to Satan as the final bearer of guilt. But this concept crumbles under the weight of proper Hebrew grammar, New Testament theology, and the meaning of atonement itself.
Hebrew analysis:
The word Azazel is a compound of two Hebrew roots: 'az (goat) and 'azal (to go away), forming “the goat that goes away.” However, later Jewish tradition (especially non-biblical texts like 1 Enoch) distorted Azazel into a personal being or demon. This later legend has unfortunately been injected into Adventist theology through Ellen White’s visions, not sound exegesis.
But the biblical text never identifies Azazel as Satan. Instead, the two goats function as a complete unit: one is slain, and the other carries away the effects of the atonement. The goat to Azazel does not bear guilt as a substitute, but as a symbol of the removal of already atoned sins.
Leviticus 16:22 says:
“The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area.”
The Hebrew verb נָשָׂא (nasa') here means “to carry away,” not in a legal substitutionary sense like Christ’s atonement, but in the sense of removal or purging. The real atonement has already occurred with the first goat’s death, whose blood is taken into the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 16:15). The second goat does not die, is not sacrificed, and has no blood presented to God. There is no cleansing, no satisfaction of divine justice in its role; it simply carries away what has already been cleansed.
Now let’s bring this into the light of the New Covenant. In Hebrews 9:12, it is written:
“He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.”
Only Jesus Christ bears our sins, not Satan. The Greek word used in Hebrews 9:28 is ἀνενεγκεῖν (anenenkein), from anapherō, meaning “to carry up” or “to bear,” and is the same term used in 1 Peter 2:24:
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.”
This act of bearing sins belongs to Christ alone. To suggest that Satan has any role in removing sin is to corrupt the very center of the gospel.
Ellen White’s false teaching, as stated in The Great Controversy, asserts:
“When Christ by virtue of His own blood removes the sins of His people from the heavenly sanctuary... He will place them upon Satan.”
This is blasphemy in light of 2 Corinthians 5:21:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
There is no room in the biblical gospel for Satan to act as the final sin bearer. That honor belongs solely to the sinless Son of God, who finished the work on the cross, saying, “It is finished” (τετέλεσται, tetelestai, John 19:30). No sins remain for Satan to carry.
Furthermore, the SDA twist linking this to their flawed view of the Investigative Judgment is a theological scaffold built to defend the failure of the 1844 prophecy. By moving Christ’s atoning work into an imaginary phase in a heavenly sanctuary, and assigning Satan as a co-sin-bearer, the SDA doctrine insults the sufficiency and finality of the cross. This idea not only violates biblical typology, but it also adds Satan to the plan of redemption, a grotesque distortion of biblical truth.
The book of Hebrews nowhere teaches a secondary or future removal of sin. It proclaims that sin has already been dealt with once and for all. Christ is not waiting for a scapegoat. He is both our High Priest and our final sacrifice (Hebrews 10:12).
So then, does Christ also fulfill the figure of the scapegoat? In a metaphorical sense, yes, but only as the complete remover of sin, not in the way Ellen White twisted the symbol. Christ is the antitype of both goats: the slain goat, through His death; and the live goat, by His resurrection and ascension, carrying sin far away, never to return.
This is consistent with Psalm 103:12:
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
The scapegoat's journey into the wilderness typifies the complete removal of sin, never to return, echoing the assurance we have in Christ that our sins are gone forever. The wilderness metaphor represents divine forgetfulness, separation, and exile of guilt, not the punishment of Satan.
Isaiah 53:6 says:
“The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Not on Satan. Not on a co-laborer. Not on Azazel as a demonic figure. All sin, every ounce of it, fell upon Christ alone. His death is both judicial satisfaction and final removal.
In summary, the Azazel goat never represents Satan in Scripture. Jesus fulfills both roles of the goats: the sacrifice and the remover of sin. The wilderness represents the absolute removal and non-return of guilt, not a domain of Satan. Ellen White’s interpretation is not only false but blasphemous. Satan is not the sin bearer. He is the condemned accuser. The New Covenant in Christ needs no second goat, no Investigative Judgment, and no Ellen White. The cross is final. Jesus is enough. Sin is gone, not to a devil, but to death itself.
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