14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
“Therefore”, says the preacher, look to what all he has just told us. Here is Jesus who is above the angels, though made lower for a time, and better than Moses as a Son over the house who Moses was a servant in. We need to pay very close attention to the Son because He is the full revelation of God and if we neglect to hear His voice we have no chance of entering God’s rest. “Therefore since we have so great a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”
Oh, holy brethren, we have a high priest who intercedes for us before God. He is the great high priest, who has finally made the offering once and for all. He is the great high priest who offered the perfect sacrifice for sins in the Holy of Holies in the heavens, the tabernacle not made with hands, but by God Himself. And He is the great high priest who is our priest forever, who sits at the right hand of God.
This high priest is Jesus the Son of God and we must hold fast our confession. We must not neglect the word we have heard through Him. We must not neglect the message spoken through Him, lest we fail to enter His rest. We must pay much closer attention to the message, lest we fall away. Oh, may we not let go of our confession and become disobedient and received the wrath and anger of God upon us because of unbelief. Jesus, the Son of God, has passed through the heavens so let us hold fast to our confession.
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Do not miss the gloriousness of this. Rejoice soul, rejoice. The men of old had a high priest who offered up sacrifices year after year, first for his own sin and then for the sins of the people. He understood their weaknesses because he to was weak. But how much greater the Son of God who has passed through the heavens, because He was tempted and yet with sin? Do not think that He is less valuable than the priest of old, because He didn’t sin and therefore can’t understand what we have to go through. Oh, please do not be confused. But He has greater knowledge of our sorrow and weaknesses because He and He alone has suffered the full weight of temptation. No man has lived who suffered greater agony over sin than Jesus. When we are tempted by sin we feel the effects of it on our lives, on our very souls, but we give in so often and the pressure is removed, and we never feel its full blow. But Jesus suffered the full weight of that temptation, having never sinned.
Therefore He is able to sympathize with our weakness because He was tempted in all things just like us, having endured the same temptations that all men share. He can even sympathize with us better than those high pries of old who so often gave into sin like us and never knowing the full pressure of its might. And by this perfect knowledge He calls us to “draw near.”
“Therefore let us draw near” says the Spirit. You have a high priest who waits for you and knows what you are suffering and says to you, “Draw near”. And “let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace” because it is our high priest who waits for us. Our high priest who is not ashamed to call us brethren waits for us to draw near. The God who speaks and communicates with us is calling us to draw near. He is calling us to His rest, so do not harden your hearts, but go forth in confidence to the throne of grace.
How beautiful is the sound of “throne of grace”? Not throne of righteousness, though it is. Not throne of holiness, though it is. But throne of grace—“that we may receive mercy and find grace”. He welcomes us to the throne for our good. Though we are wretched sinners, by the perfect, spotless Lamb that was offered in the heavenly tabernacle as a sacrifice for us, we are now shown mercy and given grace. Oh, it is only when we come to the throne of grace that we are given the divine mercy of the God who forgives our sins by Christ work. So come to the throne and find the unmerited gift us love and mercy.
And we are told to draw near to “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” When we are tempted dear brother, when we have the weight of the world coming at us, when the flesh is twisting in your very body to combat against us and drive us to sin, and when we have the devil waging war against our members, tempting us and trying to draw us away to destroy us, oh, we have full access to the throne of grace in that time of need. When we don’t know if we can suffer the attack and when our spirit is becoming weak, flee to the throne where He who sits was tempted just like you, yet without sin. There we will find our high priest who understands what you are going through, who can sympathize with our weakness to sin, but who never sinned. If there is anyone who can tell us the secrets to victory and give us the grace, the power, we need to endure the battle, it is He who claims victory. No one goes to the king who looses in battle to beg for help, but they go to the king who is victorious. So we must do the same thing, go to the King who reigns and find grace in time of need. For His grace is sufficient to get us through any temptation if we only appeal to the throne.
No comments:
Post a Comment