Yesterday I wrote a post about the Day of Atonement - which in some respects was a very visual representation of God's forgiveness of the people. Their sins were transferred to the Scape Goat which then carried them off never to be seen again. The price of their sin and atonement was made through the death of the sin and burnt offerings.
But most of what happened would not have been visible to most of the people - who were outside of the courtyard of the Tabernacle. Most of what went on involved only Aaron the High Priest, and took place within the tent of the Tabernacle - out of view.
And so even though the people received forgiveness for their sin they were still not free to enter into the Tabernacle. Even Aaron was not free to enter into the Holy of Holies for another year...Aaron and the people were only too aware of what would happen to someone who tried to enter into God's presence in their own way (see Leviticus 16:1 & 10:1-3).
Yesterday I mentioned that this whole ritual was pointing forward to a greater sacrifice, once and for all. When Jesus died on the cross he both paid our penalty (one death substituting for the death of another) and carried our sins away (as the scape goat). And if that wasn't amazing enough he also destroyed the barriers between the people and God, between us and God.
This means that we are now free to come close to God with confidence - we no longer have to stay outside the tent, we don't even have to wait for one day in the year, but we can come with confidence into the presence of the living God.
So - as the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament says - since we can...let's.
