!!! --- DANGER --- !!!

The daily Bible reading brought back memories of technical training when I was in the Air Force.  I still remember the uneasy feeling the first time we opened the lid to power supply for one of the radar amplifiers for the planes.  It was not unusual to see a warning label with something like, “Warning, High Voltage, contact may cause injury or death.”  However, this piece of equipment had a different kind of label.  In very big and bold red letters it said, “Danger!  20,000 Volts.  Contact will cause death.”  Even though we were normally very careful to observe all safety protocols, it was on our mind in a special way that day.  The fear and respect we had for electricity prevented us from having a lax attitude toward it.  Several of our technical instructors had already put a healthy fear of electricity in us with the truth stories of those who ignored safety rules and died because of it.  We were very careful to comply with all limitations, instructions, and safety rules.  This included things like not wearing metal jewelry or even metal framed glasses.

I imagine that what Israel faced was similar when they were in the presence of God at Mount Sinai or at the Tabernacle with his presence burning in a pillar of smoking fire over the sanctuary.  What they had come near to was not a high voltage, but high holiness in the presence of God.  Leviticus 16 gave specific and detailed instructions on how Israel was to approach the presence of God in his most holy place in the sanctuary.  

“The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, 2 and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: …” (Lev 16:1-3).

What follows are very detailed instructions on the protocol for entering into the Holy place.  There were very specific kinds of offerings for specific purposes that had to be made in preparation to enter.  It was only to be on the designated day once a year.  Even though Aaron’s two sons were priests, they were previously struck down by fire because they did not honor God by following the detailed instruction he had given on approaching him in his Holy Place (Lev 10:1-11).  The holiness of God that filled the Holy Place was much more than 20,000 volts.  It wasn’t metal jewelry that was the issue for Aaron’s sons who had been struck down, but the “strange/unauthorized fire” that they offered which the Lord had not commanded.

Due to our sin and impurity, it is a dangerous thing to approach divine holiness.  But God wanted his people to come near to him.  He wanted to come down from his holy mountain to live in a tabernacle in the midst of his people.  He wanted them to worship and love him with all their heart, soul, and mind.  Because sin and impurity made it a precarious thing, God provided a holiness protocol by which the priest could purify himself and the people to be near God as his people.

This should help us Christians to appreciate the privilege of being near to God with thankful humility.  Since God is too holy and we were too impure, Jesus came as our High Priest and gave himself as an offering to purify us and make us holy.  Unlike Israel, which was limited to only the High Priest being able to enter the Holy Place once a year, Jesus paved a way for ALL of us to enter into the presence of God through him (Heb 6:19ff).  This is why the final picture of hope we are giving in the Bible is seeing God face-to-face (Rev 22:4), which was not possible before Jesus performed his atoning work on the cross and at the empty tomb.