Mercy and Sacrifice

I was just asking God, "Lord, what do you require of us to be in Your presence? To be in Your holy place?"

I could feel God answering me, "Clean hands and a pure heart," when I was directed to Psalm 24:3-4.

³ Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
       Who may stand in his holy place?
 ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
       who does not lift up his soul to an idol
       or swear by what is false. ^[a]

"Oh Lord, then surely, I'm not worthy to be in Your presence, not worthy to stand in Your holy place. Lord, You know me and You know my adulterous heart and You know the sins my hands have committed. Lord, so how then can I still stand in Your presence? How then can I remain in Your holy place?"

I believe for most believers, the last paragraph is an accurate representation of how we feel when we enter the holy presence of God and realize just how sinful we are before His perfect laws. If you are one of these people, I believe the Lord wants to speak this word to you as He has spoken it to me.
Hosea 6:6
⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
       and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

God longs to dispense mercy to us. In the Old Testament, it seems that God requires of the Israelites many sacrifices that coming into the Lord's presence becomes a set of rules and rituals. But if we really understand why God even instituted the sacrifices to be made, we know that God longs to dispense mercy. When we sin, we cannot enter the holy presence of God until the sins are punished. Unfortunately, the wages of sins are eternal death but thankfully, God loves us so much that he sent His one and only son to die for our sins so that all who believe shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Before Jesus came to die for our sins, God dispenses His mercy through the sacrifice. It is only because the wages of sins are born by the sacrifices (or scapegoat) that the Israelites are allowed to go 'scot-free'. Similarly, it is because of the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) that we're able to go 'scot-free' from our sins.

I believe God wants to speak to all believers who are reading this post that He longs to dispense mercy to us, to anyone who will seek His face. Some of us may be afraid of the sacrifices we have to make to enter His holy presence but God wants to assure and remind us that these sacrifices are the very means He's going to dispense His mercy through and those sacrifices will bring about freedom and eternal life as sacrifices did for the Israelites.

Chingster