Ezekiel 45:18-25: a reflection

18“‘The Lord GOD says: “In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without defect, and you shall cleanse the sanctuary. 19The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple. So you shall make atonement for the house. 21“‘“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22On that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. 23The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bulls and seven rams without defect daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 25“‘“In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the feast, he shall do like that for seven days. He shall make the same provision for sin offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the oil.”

In the vision of the restored temple, God gives instructions for regular offerings to cleanse the sanctuary and make atonement. And one detail is worth noticing: the atonement was to be made not only for deliberate sins, but for everyone who errs, and for the simple, the one who sins unintentionally or out of ignorance. God's provision for atonement reached even the unwitting sinner, the one who did wrong without meaning to; there was cleansing for their sin too.

Notice the breadth of God's provision for sin: even for the one who errs and the simple. We might think that atonement was needed only for deliberate, knowing sins; but God provided cleansing even for the sins done unwittingly, in ignorance or weakness. He knew that his people would sin not only deliberately but also without realizing it, and he made provision for both. No sin, whether deliberate or unwitting, was beyond the atonement he provided.

That points to the fullness of the atonement God provides in Christ. We are aware of some of our sins, the deliberate ones, the ones we know we have committed; but there are many sins we commit without realizing it, unwitting failures, hidden faults, errors we do not even notice. And the good news is that Christ's atonement covers them all, the sins we know and the sins we do not, the deliberate and the unwitting. Do not despair over sins you know, nor worry endlessly over sins you may have committed without realizing; Christ's atonement covers all your sin, the erring and the simple, the seen and the unseen. Rest in the fullness of the atonement God provides, which reaches even the sins you do not know you have committed.

Lord, in the vision of the restored temple, you made provision for atonement not only for deliberate sins, but for everyone who errs and for the simple, the one who sins unwittingly; no sin, deliberate or unwitting, was beyond the cleansing you provided. Thank you that this points to the fullness of the atonement you provide in Christ. I am aware of some of my sins, the deliberate ones I know I have committed; but there are many I commit without realizing it, unwitting failures, hidden faults, errors I do not even notice. And the good news is that Christ's atonement covers them all, the sins I know and the sins I do not. Keep me from despairing over the sins I know, and from worrying endlessly over sins I may have committed without realizing. Help me rest in the fullness of the atonement you provide, which reaches even the sins I do not know I have committed. Thank you that Christ covers all my sin.