Leviticus 16: 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 shake 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.
The ceremony of the Day of Atonement pictures four believing responses for believers to make every day, not just once a year: confess all sins; put the sins on Jesus (“I Lay My Sins on Jesus”); send the sins away (“the Lamb takes away the sins of the world”); let go of the sin and guilt (“let go and let God”). We can do this every because Jesus is ever and always our scapegoat, the innocent, unblemished Lamb, who bears our sin and frees us.
The Christian does not ever have to allow guilt to continue. Deserved guilt and guilty feelings of shame are really and truly removed from our emotions when we confess and send away sin and guilt.
The Bible uses other images for this event: “He removes our sins as far from us as the east from the west” (infinity); “He casts our sins into the depths of the sea”; “He casts our sins behind Him”; “He remembers them no more.” We respond to this message of Gospel Grace by daily and weekly confession and absolution, repentance and faith. When we believe this Gospel we do not go into the wilderness looking for them or dredging them up again. We forget and go on with Jesus. A guilt-free life is the good life.