God has revealed Himself, but his purposes are beyond us and His intentions are often hidden. How do we reconcile all that we discussed yesterday regarding God being particular with a God of love and mercy? How do we understand Him? How do we reach Him?

In the Old Testament He prescribed a ritual by which man could approach Him. The ritual’s purpose was to teach about God’s holiness. The whole point of the Old Testament sacrificial system was to teach how God was going to deal with sin. This is why Cain, Nadab, Abihu and Uzzah were condemned – they were undermining the revelation that God was seeking to give. The sacrificial system was the Old Testament gospel, with lambs, alters and a sanctuary where God dwelt. It was forward looking. If this were not an SMS, I would draw a diagram with two adjacent perfect squares. This would represent the floor plan of the sanctuary. The centre of the one on the left (The most Holy Place) would locate the Ark of the Covenant. At the centre of the one on the right is the alter of burnt offerings. Respectively these two represented in symbolic pantomime God’s mercy and His Justice. This was the two focal points of the sanctuary. These are the 2 absolutes of the nature of God – goodness and mercy combined with justice and severity. This is the gospel message played out in drama format as a prophecy of how it would eventually play out in reality for a fallen world.

The Most Holy Place was the place of judgment, law, death, and unapproachable light (the Shekinah Glory). There was a barrier – a curtain – that represented the barrier between us and God. The law was the problem, we have broken it because we are sinful, and the wages of sin is death! On the Hebrew Day of Atonement, the altar and the Ark of the covenant were linked in a single ceremony. Blood was shed at the alter (The cross) and sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant that contained the Ten Commandments. Here, on this day, mercy satisfied the clams of justice. On the day Jesus died this curtain (barrier) between God and man was torn asunder. (Matt 27:51) This signaled a new era in salvation history.
Jesus, who was equal to the law, laid down His life as an atonement ( at-one-ment) so that the law could no longer have any claim over those who look to Jesus for salvation. Death for Jesus meant life for us.