Holiness is the measure of Godliness. God is infintely holy. Man's righteousness is gauged against this measure and we fall flat on our faces. Without faith in Christ we amount to nothing. Either the faith of him coming as the Messiah or having came as Messiah. There is none righteous, not one. God is holy and cannot be approached without a mediator upon risk of death. This is the reason Jesus' sacrifice was necessary. It is why there were shadows of Christ all over the ceremonial sacrificial system pointing towards Jesus Christ. "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Hebrews 10:1-4
Why? The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Either yours or someone else's. In the case of your physical body this still holds true but thanks to Jesus' sacrificial atonement, your eternal soul is saved if you accept what He did on the Cross and repent. A more thorough explanation of this concept here: Why Blood?. Otherwise your out of luck partner...(you smell smoke?).
So what we see in the Old Testament is a very deliberate delineation between God and man (and types of men) in incremental steps that are separated from one another in accordance to their level of holiness. No man was to approach God carelessly. All were to hold God in the highest regard. God is at the top of the chart. We see the tabernacle and temple constructed in the same format as they are part of the realm of the priesthood. There are seperation upon seperation until you reach the Holy of Holies where God's presence dwelt on the Mercy Seat on the Ark of The Covenant. The Priests were mediators between god and the people of Israel. Israel was to be God's people, a nation of priests. Just as God had promised Israel in the Abrahamic covenant. Israel would act as the mediator between God and the nations outside of Israel (God's chosen).
"I [God] will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you [through you] all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3
Obviously, from a human perspective, this failed as Israel apostatized over and over ad nauseum. The baton passes to the Gentiles until the time of the end. The Gentiles are grafted in through Jesus. Through Jesus Christ who was both fully human and fully divine, it succeeded. As we can see from reading the genealogies of the Bible...Christ is descended from the Abrahamic lineage/Abrahamic Covenant (which again narrows with the Mosaic and Davidic covenants). By lineage Jesus comes forth from the human side. By birth and earlier covenants he comes forth from both the human and divine to fulfill the covenants in some shape or form either then or now or in the future. He is the center, he is the key that fulfills, unlocks and assures.
To show the separations delineated by holiness I decided to do this online in chart form so it is easier to see in a spatial manner which is how man often chooses to view a holy and infinite God. If we follow this chart all the way down we will find the likes of Lucifer, those condemned to Hell and Hell itself at the bottom as they are the least holy if not completely devoid of holiness. Although I do not believe Hell is completely absent of God's presence (His wrath resides there). It is not totally evil. Absolute evil would mean there is an antithetical opposite of God and I cannot accept that. Satan is not an all powerful evil. He's just a real powerful evil idiot but still under a sovereign God...way under.
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