Drew Near קָרֵב

We are moving into chapter sixteen of Leviticus with our word for today. קָרֵב get or come closer, approach, come forward, step up to. It is used 280 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense to offer, to present as an act of worship often in the form of sacrifice. Leviticus 1:3 If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He יַקְרִ֣יב shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. In our chapter today we have a reference to what happens when we approach God on our own terms. Leviticus 16:1-2 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when בְּקָרְבָתָ֥ם they drew near before the Lord and died, and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. We have to approach God on his terms not ours. Both Aarons sons died because they didn’t listen to God and decided to come near to God their own way instead of Gods. That decision was fatal to them. Let’s look at two more examples of people who tried to approach God on their own terms King Saul and King Uzziah. 1 Samuel 13:11-14 Samuel said, “What have you done?” … I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.” Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's household, governing the people of the land. Both of these resulted bad outcomes. A good example of approaching God on his terms is when God appears to Moses. Exodus 3:4-6 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not תִּקְרַ֣ב come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Moses respects God enough to follow his terms of connecting with him. The good news is that today God’s terms of how to connect with him have already been accomplished through Christ. We accept these terms through faith in Christ’s death in our place. Then we can draw near to God in worship. I’ll close with these great passages. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Hebrews 4:14-16 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.