Have you ever wondered about how it got from this point … where God was intentionally dwelling in the midst of His people … to the point in time where He was so separated from the Israelites that only one priest, only one day of the year, could go into the Temple and be in His presence? And if that priest wasn't pure enough … if he hadn't gone through enough ritual cleansing, the threat hung over him that he might die when he was in the Holy of Holies. So, they tied a rope to him just in case they needed to pull his body out.
The thing that separates us from God is sin. And really … not just sin, but unrepentant, unforgiven sin. God is always ready to forgive us and cleanse us, as long as we truly repent. God is so holy (of course he is) that sin is destroyed in his presence. Well, as long as we are sinful, that means we would be destroyed in his presence. Only by Jesus’ sacrifice are we made holy. In essence, his blood covers our sin and protects us from the destructive power of God’s pure righteousness.
God’s original intention was to live among us, to live with His creation. Just as he walked with Adam and Eve in Paradise, His greatest hope for His creation was that He could have a relationship with each person. We come close to that when we live in a relationship with Jesus, but nothing will compare to the day when we are in eternity and God has restored Creation to health and wholeness and can once again dwell with his people.
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