Blood corresponds to the Divine Human, the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ to change who we are. Blood symbolizes the basic but profound
realization that all truth comes from good, that all wisdom is merely the shape
of love, and that the Ten Commandments are the shape of the love the Lord
Jesus Christ has for us.
This is the same blood offered by the Lord during Easter Week. He says
to His disciples: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for
you.” (Luke 22:20) It was a new covenant because He was giving to humanity
the new idea of a human God. The Israelites could not have a concept of the
Divine as a person, but the Day of Atonement reveals how we approach Jesus
Christ for help.
The priest physically walking from the Holy of Holies to the altar of
burnt offering symbolizes the descent of our thought from the contemplation
of heavenly life to an examination of our earthly behaviors. He moves,
geographically, from the Ten Commandments as they are in themselves to the
rest of his duties and life.
Putting blood on the horns of the altar is the third state preceding
repentance. We reconsider our life in its most external facets: our physical
behavior in our daily lives. This is also why the Lord on earth washed merely
the feet, the lowest parts, of His disciples, not their heads and hands; it is about
external matters. This step could look like us reading His Word, thinking over
our day, comparing it to the testimony of the Ten Commandments, and seeing
how our life would be cleaner, brighter, happier if it were more like the Ten
Commandments.
Unlike the previous, potentially profound state, this third state is lower,
more pedestrian. From the light of the
Word, we should decide on a change
to something detectable to the senses.
This is the state of power where we
see something both changeable and
manageable; we can live life differently in
some small way to be closer to the Lord.
The blood is painted on the horns, the
truth descends into action.
When we progress through these
steps in order, we prepare ourselves to
banish the goat of Azazel. This is the
second of two goats; the first goat was
sacrificed earlier as the goat for the Lord.
This second goat represents the faith of
repentance. (Arcana Coelestia 9937) The
The Lord in His Second
Coming has made clear
to us that neither good
nor evil “belong” to us,
and the closer we come
to believing and living
as if this is true, the
happier and more at
peace we will become.
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