“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.” (Lev. 16:34)
Expanded Passage: Leviticus 16:34
Maintaining a vehicle is a constant endeavor. Service intervals for tires, oil, and routine maintenance are essential to maintaining this machine. If you neglect maintenance, then the car will not last. If you do maintain it, it will last longer.
The Levitical law was a sort of maintenance schedule for the people of God living in a fallen world. Ordinances that dictated how to remain pure or restore purity (avoiding death, bodily fluids, and diseases) were reminders that there was an invader in God’s creation. Sin and death had been allowed in by humanity’s desire to usurp God’s role, and this brokenness was a constant expression of that. These maintenance rituals were a way to temporarily fight against sin and brokenness in the world. Even when practiced perfectly, they had to be repeated constantly.
The atonement brought by these sacrifices was not a lasting one. Every year, more blood had to be spilled and another sacrifice had to carry the sins away. The blood that covered the Tabernacle and the priest was not sufficient to cut out the root of sin in humanity. It only coated the outside in life.
Christians today often trade the promise of eternal atonement for emotionalism and temporary fixes. We require emotional experiences because we have not accepted the eternal atonement offered through Christ.
Pray that God will give you peace through his eternal atonement.
Caleb Strickland is the lead pastor of Christ Wesleyan Church (CWC) in Winston Salem, NC.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
