Following Protocol

I'm told that when visitors have an audience with a king or queen, they are briefed on expected procedures. It would be strange indeed if God could be approached directly, without any thought given to the infinite chasm that exists between us and His holiness. The more unlike us God is, the more attention we must pay to how we approach Him.

God has meticulously spelled out the proper way for us to come into His presence. Let us review a bit of data from the Old Testament. In those times, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies one day a year -- the Day of Atonement. The Holy of Holies, you will recall, was a small room in which God localized His presence. True, God exists everywhere, but this was the place where He chose to reveal His glory on earth. When a priest prepared to enter the holiest room, according to the historian Josephus, a rope was tied around his ankle. That way, if he failed to follow procedure and God struck him down, the other priests could pull him out without having to go into the room themselves. Yes, you follow the prescribed path.

I've had the privilege of leading tours to the sites of the Reformation. At least four times I have stood behind the table in Erfurt where Martin Luther offered his first Mass. I always relate how midway through, he froze. Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead. Paralysis struck him as he began to say the words, "We offer unto thee, the living, the true, eternal God ..." Later he explained: "At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, With what tongue shall I address such majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround him. At his nod the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable pygmy say, 'I want this, I ask for that?' For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living, eternal and the true God."7

Such words are strange to the modern ear. We hear people prattle on about God as if there is no reason to fear, no reason to feel unworthy. Such audacity only proves that those who are truly blind cannot appreciate the light; those who are dead do not feel the weight of sin that resides in their souls. When Moses longed to see the glory of God, the word was, "No man can see Me and live." Today, modern man self-confidently trapezes into the presence of God without the slightest thought that it might be a bad idea.

Why do we need to follow the rules? First, because the moral distance between us and God is infinite. When it comes to matters of purity, God and man share no common ground. The seraphim cried, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isa. 6:3). Holiness is God's most distinctive attribute. Everything about Him is holy: His love is a holy love; His anger is a holy anger; His justice is a holy justice.