DAD'S RAMBLINGS --

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – COMING TO GOD WITH CONFIDENCE

"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

In the Old Testament story of Esther, no one, not even Queen Esther, could come into the presence of king Ahasuerus unless He bade them come. But we can come into the presence of the King because He bids us come. We can enter boldly into God's presence and come to the throne of Grace to find help in the time of need. This does not mean that we have the right to barge into God presence based on our own credentials. It means we can come with confidence and assurance because of what Jesus Christ has done through His suffering and death on the cross.

The message of the Book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ and the New Covenant are superior to the Old Mosaic Covenant with its formulae for worship and its rules and regulations for living. The Mosaic Covenant was based on the perpetual offering of sacrifices by the priests as a way to get God's favor. The New Covenant shows us that we have a Great High Priest, Jesus, who has made the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling the requirement of the Old Covenant through His suffering and death on the cross.

Under the Old Covenant, access to God was limited. In the tabernacle and temple of the Old Covenant, there was a cloth wall that separated the worshipers from the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat resided representing God's presence on earth. Only the High Priest could go each year into that sacred place behind the veil to offer sacrifices. When Jesus was crucified, the Scriptures tell us that that veil was rent from top to bottom (Luke 23: 45), providing a way into the Holy of Holies that did not exist before. Because that veil has been removed, we have the privilege of entering into the very presence of God through Christ.

Later in this book to the Hebrews, the writer says, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil, that is His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith….." (Hebrews 10:19-22a).

Before Jesus died on the Cross, we were all separated from God by our sin. There was no way for a sinful person to enter into the presence of a holy God. But Jesus' death made a "new and living" way. This is what we find in Colossians 1:22 (NIV) – "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation." We were alienated – separated from God by our sin – but now in Christ we are without blemish and free from accusation and we can come to Him because His body was torn, just as the veil in the temple was torn.

There is only one way to come into God's presence. Jesus claimed, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). The writer to the Hebrews echoes this when he wrote, "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all" (I Timothy 2:5-6a)." Any system that says that we have to come to God through a ritual is not what the Bible says. Our High Priest, Jesus, alone has opened the door to God, and we can enter through Him.

Let us come to Him in confidence because Jesus has made way.

Love, Dad