Why did Jesus have to die? Was it really necessary in order to have a relationship with God?
I think we get a big clue to that as we look at the relationship between God and Israel in these passages.
God had rescued them from the land of Egypt. He told them he had chosen them to be his people, his priests, and his holy nation.
Yet even so, there was a definite distance between God and his people.
God told Moses,
Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.’ (Exodus 19:12)
And when God came down to the mountain in a cloud and fire and smoke, he told Moses again,
Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish.
Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them. (Exodus 19:21-22)
Again in verse 24, he said,
The priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out against them.
Why these limitations? Why couldn’t the people draw near to God?
Very simply, it was because God is holy.
In other words, he is perfect and there is no sin in him. And a holy, perfect God cannot draw near to sinful people. He hates sin that much.
Moses and the priests needed to consecrate themselves to God in order to come near to him. But even then, there were limits as to how close they could come to him.
When God first appeared to Moses in the bush, he allowed Moses to approach, but when Moses came near, he said, “Don’t come any closer. You’re standing on holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)
Later when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God said Moses could not see His face because Moses would die if that happened. (Exodus 33:18-23)
But even if God had allowed the people to draw near, many of them would not have.
In Exodus 20:18-21, the people were so afraid of God that they told Moses, “You go ahead and talk to God and we’ll listen to you. But we don’t dare draw near to him or we’ll die.”
The people themselves realized how sinful they were, facing an utterly holy God.
And so while Moses drew near, the people stayed away at a distance.
Hardly an ideal situation for having a close relationship with God.
And so God had to do something in order to restore the relationship.
He came down to this earth and became one of us.
In becoming one of us, he became more accessible to us, more approachable. He showed us who he really is. And then he went to the cross to die for our sins and to take the punishment that we deserved.
Because of that, God no longer sees our sin. Instead, when he sees us, he only sees people who are “holy and blameless in his sight.” (Ephesians 1:4)
Now that our sin has been taken care of, our relationship with God is totally different from the one that the Israelites had with him.
Instead of being forced to keep our distance from God, we can draw near.
Instead of trembling in fear of God, we can come with confidence before him, knowing that he loves us.
In Ephesians 2:12-13 it says that at one time we were
without hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Paul later says in Ephesians 3:12,
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
So let us not be like the Israelites that would not dare to draw near to God. Instead,
Let us…approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
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