The Severity and Grace of Holiness

The Severity and Grace of Holiness
Leviticus 16-20
“Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy.” (20:26_
How can a sinful person stand in the presence of a holy God?  He cannot!  There is deep within every person an awareness that because of our sin, we cannot stand before a holy God. To enter into the presence of God with the guilt and stain of our sin is to face the severity of His judgment.  This was a harsh lesson that the two sons of Aaron realized.  They approached the presence of God in the Tabernacle without dealing with the guilt of their sin, and the result was the punishment of death. This brought shockwaves of fear throughout the camp.  Throughout the Scriptures, when a person came face to face with the holiness of God, their response was universally the same. It is fear and terror.  We see an example of this in the reaction by Isaiah in Isaiah 6.   When he stood face to face with a holy God, his immediate reaction was terror as he realized, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
If sinful humanity cannot stand before a holy  God without the threat of annihilation and judgment, if we are confronted with the severity of God’s holiness, what hope do we have?  The answer lies in the surpassing grace of holiness.  In response to the judgment of Aaron’s sons, God provided a way for humanity to stand before Him. The only way for us to experience joy in the presence of God is for the guilt of our sin to be removed.  Yet, herein lies the problem.  Sin has consequences, and the result is judgment.  The only way we can come before God is for sin to be punished and the justice of God satisfied by the payment of sin’s penalty.  In response, God provides the answer and gives us hope when confronted with an irreconcilable dilemma.  God provided us with the payment of our sins so that we might be declared holy and gain access to Him.
The solution God provided was in the atonement and the scapegoat.  For our guilt to be removed, another must die.  The sacrifice of Atonement was to pay the penalty of our sin so that we would be free from sin’s penalty.  Along with the sacrifice was the scapegoat.  While the goat of the atonement represented the removal of our guilt, the scapegoat illustrated the removal of sin altogether.  Aaron was to lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess their sins so that when the goat was released into the desert, it represented the removal of sin.
But these goats and sacrifices were only illustrative.  They did not fully achieve the forgiveness that was demanded.  Instead, they pointed to the future coming of a sacrificial lamb and scapegoat who would fully pay the debt of our sins.  This final sacrificial lamb would completely satisfy the justice of God by taking upon himself our guilt. Furthermore, like the scapegoat, he would take upon himself our sin so that we might be free from its control of us.  The Atonement was how sinful humanity would be rendered Holy to stand before a holy God.  Sin can only be forgiven when justice is achieved.  These sacrifices were not sufficient, but they served to point to the final sacrificial lamb who would achieve complete atonement for our sins, which is Christ's sacrifice. This is why salvation can only come through Christ and faith in Him.  All other religions attempt to gain access to God through good works.  But no amount of good works will remove the guilt of sin. It can only come through Christ.
Furthermore, in this section, we see the scope of God’s holiness and His requirements for righteousness encompass the totality of our lives.  There is not an aspect of our life that is not brought under the umbrella of God’s holy requirements, including our sexuality (chapter 18), our interaction with others (chapter 19), and our worship (chapter 20).  Holiness is not just necessary for salvation; it is also the standard by which we live, touching upon every action and attitude we have.  
If the requirement of God is holiness, then this can only be achieved through Christ.  To obtain holiness is not only achieved through Christ it is to change all aspects of life. To stand before God with our sin is to face the severity of God’s holiness.  To stand before God with our sins removed by Christ is to experience the grace of holiness.  The first leads to fear and judgment.  The other leads to joy and eternal life.  We must ask, “Have we accepted by faith the grace of Christ’s sacrifice?”