The Real Problem
Sin has made it so that we cannot effectively communicate with God. The lesson explains it like this: "Sin makes our relationship with God a bit like a man and woman who meet on the streets of Paris--she, an exchange student from Zimbabwe, he an artist from the United States. Neither can speak the other's language. In Paris, they find no one to interpret for them... Unable to reach one another, we are left yearning for contact, wishing for relationship."
Well, God will not stand for this and has set a plan in motion to remove sin (the barrier) so that we make have a close relationship with him.

Isaiah 59:1-8