"Thank You" isn't Enough

Oh, my heart.
It simply cannot contain the gratitude I have as I am continuing to learn what grace and mercy have been given to us through Jesus.
My Precept group is studying the book of Hebrews this year, and yesterday's class - the sermon we watched after our discussion - opened my eyes to something I have not seen before.
In case you aren't familiar with it, Hebrews is a letter of exhortation written to Jewish men and women who believed in Jesus as the Messiah. It was a call to them (and all of us!) to hold fast to their confession of Jesus as Messiah, in spite of trials and tribulations. Hebrews is full of teaching that Jesus is our eternal High Priest of the New Covenant, infintely better than the priests and high priests and the Old Covenant of their fathers.
We are presently in chapter 9, and this past week's lesson found us studying the Day of Atonement. And it was the detail and regulation and ceremony and restriction of this yearly encounter with the presence of God which arrested my heart so thoroughly.
That is, we were reminded of the fate of Aaron's sons who spontaneously put themselves and an unauthorized offering before the LORD.
They were struck down dead on the spot.
(You may read their story in Leviticus 10.)
And, while one may hold them responsible for the consequences of their actions because they should have known better than to approach a holy God without being commanded to do so, I realized I probably would have done the same thing.
I mean, in Leviticus 9 they had just been visited by the glory of the LORD, and all the people were full of joy and were on their faces in worship. It seems reasonable to me that these guys would have been caught up in the wonder of the moment and just wanted to bring more offerings to God.
I would totally do that!
But Aaron's sons couldn't approach God. Their sins had not been atoned. They were not ready. Appropriate sacrifices and cleansings had not been made. The boys couldn't just go before God any old time. A way had to be made for them first.
And because it wasn't, a holy God consumed them with fire.

As I considered this scene I was simultaneously struck with fear and overcome with gratitude.
Fear because of the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin.
And gratitude because of the grace of God and the gift of Jesus.

Jesus is our High Priest who made one sacrifice for all people for all time. He doesn't continually bring offerings to God like the priests of old did. He IS the sacrifice. And His offering was sufficient to satisfy God's holy requirements.
Once.
For all.
And because of Jesus' death and resurrection, I can come into God's presence any old time.
Actually, all the time!
My sins have been forgiven through the blood Jesus shed. He has cleansed me, and made the way for me (for all of us) to have full access to God.
The love of God produces grace and mercy through Jesus Christ which allows me to be in His presence freely, and no matter how hard I try I cannot fully express the joy and gratitude welling up in my heart.