“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”
Numbers 25:10-13 NASB
It struck me here how the zeal and subsequent action of one man can make atonement for many.
The dictionary defines atonement in the following way: reparation for a wrong or injury; (in religious contexts) reparation or expiation for sin.
And reparation is thus defined: the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.
The atonement procured by Phineas was of course only a temporary atonement, pertaining to the particular sins of fornication and idol worship that were currently occurring. And while Phineas was able to put to death one sin that another was performing in their body, Jesus Christ was able to take all sin from all time into His own body and put it to death eternally!
“‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NLT