This morning my Bible reading plan had me in Numbers 18. Verse 7 jumped out at me, especially the last sentence:
But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.
What a difference Christ makes in our approach to God! Before, anyone besides the priests or Levites who came near the dwelling place of God had to be put to death. But now, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are the dwelling place of the Lord. We are the temple. The very jars of clay that once would have been destroyed for coming too close to God's presence, are now the bearers of God's presence to the world.
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:22.