Let Us: Draw Near

In Hebrews 10, the writer has written a beautiful passage about the reality of the sacrifice of Jesus and what it means that Jesus is our High Priest. He has explained the effects of Jesus’ sacrifice on our lives and relationship with God and how Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament role of High Priest. In our spotlight passage, the writer is going to explain our response to this kind of message. How should Christians respond? Specifically how should the church as a whole respond? Hebrews 10:19-25 is going to describe exactly what this should look like. 

 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

This wonderful passage describes in detail what our response should be as a community of believers. We know this response is supposed to be communal because of the pronoun usage of “us”. This should not be just an individual approach but communal. There are three “let us” clauses in this passage that we will explore in depth to see how each way lets us become closer to God and each other as believers. 

Let Us Draw Near

The writer describes the confidence we have to approach God because of Jesus’ work on the cross, acting like a High Priest. The Most Holy Place now becomes a metaphorical way to think about prayer. Since Jesus has done the work of the priest, the writer says, we should draw near to God. This means we should become closer to God through prayer and word and the way we approach God should be with sincere hearts and full of faith and disbelief in the promises of God. The prayers we pray should be prayed with full confidence that God is able to answer our request and petitions. He also says our hearts have been “sprinkled clean” and “bodies washed”. This is all about how we approach God in our prayers and requests. Since Jesus has sacrificed his life and allowed a way for us to enter into grace, our approach should be with thankfulness, sincerity, and confidence. 

Since we can come before God in this way, that means some past actions have had to happen in order for this process to occur. This means our hearts have been cleansed by the holy spirit and the phrase about our bodies being washed most certainly refers to the act of baptism. These are symbols of the person’s commitment and devotion to God. Since we have made the commitment and our guilty conscience about our sins are washed away and gone, we can approach God with confidence and sincerity. Notice also that it is about us. Prayer is not to be done only individually. Prayer ought to be communal and done in the presence of others. 

Our response to thanking God for the sacrifice and work of Jesus’ death should be active. Our dedication and devotion to Jesus is proven by our ability to pray and come before God thankful, sincere, and confident.