“The goat will carry on itself sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:22

Dear Jesus, There are times when I read through the book of Leviticus and am completely overwhelmed by all the details and confused by the acts, the rites and rituals that God wanted his people to do. But this much I understand. You, God, are holy! And unholy people and unholy things can’t just waltz into your presence. You made it abundantly clear to Aaron in this chapter that he couldn’t just come in. Atonement had to be made. Blood had to be shed. Sins had to be removed and sent away. These things were not optional if Aaron and the people wanted to be able to approach God. Jesus, you have done the same for me. There was and is nothing that I can do that will make the way for me to enter God’s presence. But you have made atonement for me and shed your blood to remove my guilt. You, dearest Jesus, have taken my sin on yourself and have taken it into the wilderness, as far away from me as the east is from the west. And now, because of you alone, I can enter God’s presence. Now, because of you, I can approach you. Thank you. Thank you for the joy of coming close to you. Thank you for the privilege of approaching you in prayer. I can come all the way into your most holy presence because my sins and guilt are removed. Amen.

God makes it absolutely clear that sin separates us from him. He makes it just as clear that sin is removed by the blood of Jesus alone. It is for this reason alone that Jesus came into this world at Christmas: to shed his blood for me, for you, for all.