By Jamin Roller
“I will need to see you again in six months. You could wait a year, but I wouldn’t wait any longer than that.”
I was wrapping up an appointment at the dermatologist. It had been a long time since my last visit, and I have the kind of fair skin that is prone to cancer. I had a few spots that needed to be removed and checked out. My doctor wasn’t too concerned about anything at the moment, but his parting words told me something. He didn’t say, “you are cured and never have to come back.” He said, “I will need to see you again.” I have the kind of problem that necessitates yearly treatment. I could walk out of the clinic and think, “I am okay for now.” But I could not walk out and think, “I am okay forever.”
Our passages today remind us, in a much more serious way, that was the reality for the people of God before the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Provision was made through bulls and goats to atone for their sins, but as Hebrews tells us, “But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year” (Hebrews 10:3).
The sacrifices were not wrong, but they were incomplete. The people of God knew, “I will have to do this again.” They would have to return over and again because their sin problem would persist and the sacrifice would again be needed.
This all changed with Jesus. He is, as John tells us, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus is the once and for all, superior sacrifice that completely satisfied what sin demands. It is not that the sin in us is somehow less serious than the people of God in the Old Testament. Our sin is evil in the same way. The difference is the purity and strength of Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb. We are redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb” (1Peter 1:19).
The good news of Jesus as the perfect, final sacrifice for sin means we do not have to return to the sacrifice over and over. When we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus, the freedom and forgiveness that comes from His cross is final and forever. We can say about our separation from God, “He has cured me.” We have the kind of sin problem that deserves eternal separation from God, but in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus our Lord, we are forever healed.
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