MARTIN CAREY | Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Life Assurance Ministries Board Member
Since then we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clear from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. —Hebrews 10 :21-22
What holds us back from drawing near to God? Often, religious leaders have invited us into the presence of God, and we have hesitated. We can have various reasons for keeping a safe distance from God. Some of us carry a guilty conscience, and we feel too ungodly and dirty to be around God. We distrust what He might do to us. We want Him in our lives, but at a safe distance. There will also be times we desperately need Him to come to our aid, but we lack assurance that He will be there to hear our cries. How do we know if we’re approaching God in a way that pleases Him?
Religious teachings can not only create barriers to our approach to God, but they often build wide and shady lanes that lead to worship of a false God. We can be seduced by smooth-talking leaders and prophets who claim authority, but who do not faithfully speak according to God’s word. The book of Hebrews gets right to the heart of the question, “How can I approach God?” The answer is not found in harsh self-disciplines or cleaning up one’s bad habits. The answer is found in the Person who said, “I am the way.” By believing in Jesus, we come into the very presence of the Father. Jesus said,
“And this is the will of my father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I myself will raise him up on the last day.”—John 6:4
We get to know Him by seeing the real, magnificent Jesus, just as He is written about in Scripture. We see Him as the upholder of the universe (Heb. 1:3), as fully God the Son (Heb. 1:5-13), and fully able to accept worship (John 9:38; Heb. 1:6). We also see another side of His magnificence: His compassion for, and suffering along with, sinful people:
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselved esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.—Isaiah 53:4
Carrying our griefs and sorrows uniquely qualifies Him to be our High Priest. He knows the bitter taste, the sense of despair and helplessness, that we all feel.
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.—Hebrews 4:15
I used to wonder how Jesus could truly understand how I felt on my worst days. “Jesus was the perfect man,” I wondered, “so how could He know how low I, a sinner, can feel?”
Let’s take a closer look at the language in the text. The word for “sympathize” is sumpatheo, which means sympathize, to have compassion, “to suffer with” (Strongs, Hebrews 4:15). You could include our English word “empathize,” which means to feel along with the other person. So, we don’t have a high priest who cannot suffer along with, or empathize, with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. And He suffered in our place, so that “He might bring us to God” (1Peter 3:18).
Sadly, Ellen White had a much different emphasis for Hebrews 4:15. Instead of exalting how Jesus was made sin for us as our Substitute and suffered along with us, she emphasized Jesus’ having a sinful nature and elevated human striving for perfection:
Those who claim that it was not possible for Christ to sin, cannot believe that He really took upon Himself human nature…In all points He was tempted as we are, and becuase He successfully resisted temptation under every form, He gave man the perfect example, and throug the ample provision Christ has made, we may become partakers of the divine nature… (7BC 929).
No, the emphasis in Hebrews 4 is not our striving and achievements, but it is Christ achieving access for us sinners, to walk boldly into the throne room of the Father, as we see in the next verse:
Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.—Hebrews 4:16
That is a great promise, you might say, but my faith is shaky, and I don’t know if I’m sincere enough. The more we examine our faith and sincerity levels, the more shaky we feel. And it is quite appropriate for us to feel shaky and insincere when approaching the throne of God. That’s why we look to Jesus, “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2) for our confidence.
He has passed through death for us, and He is there with the Father, waiting for us to approach. He didn’t wait until 1844 to invite sinners to the mercy seat to receive full and final forgiveness. He ascended to His Father 2000 year ago; He sat down beside Him, for His atonement was complete. He will never abandon us as our Intercessor (Heb. 7:25). He is faithful.
That is why you, too, can “Draw near with full assurance of faith.” †
- The Kind of Priest We Need - November 28, 2024
- My Faith Is a Wreck: Now What? - October 3, 2024
- Do You Know the Truth? - August 15, 2024