OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST

Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession. 15 For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need. (WEB)

We can have confidence to approach our Heavenly Father's throne of grace any time we need to receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. Our confidence is not based on our good works, our spiritual disciplines or even our obedience to God. Our confidence is based solely on our great high priest, Jesus Christ.

Since our Elder Brother took on the form of human flesh and understands our struggles (yet without sin), we can be confident that He represents us well to God. Jesus' once and for all sacrifice speaks on behalf of every believer who has received the free gift of His redemption. Because of our great high priest, we need not fear condemnation any longer (Romans 8:1) as we approach the throne of grace.

When our Heavenly Father sees us approaching Him, He doesn't see our imperfections and our faults. When He looks at us, He sees us just like His beloved Son, Jesus. For in God's eyes, we are in Him and He is in us (John 17:23) so there is no distinguishing between the two.

My prayer today is that we would have a heavenly assurance to know that we can approach our Father's throne of grace any time, day or night. Whether we have felt like we have had a good day or a bad day, may we have the boldness to know that we will find unconditional love and acceptance in His arms. It is important for us to always remember the reason why we can enjoy His unconditional love and acceptance... and that is because of our great high priest.

It has always been about Jesus and it will always be about Jesus. His shed blood on the cross was enough to vanquish all of our past, present and future sins. There is nothing that we could ever possibly add to what our elder brother has already done on our behalf.

May the truth of this eternal reality cause us to break agreement with every shame based, condemning thought that we think about ourselves that prevents us from approaching our Heavenly Dad with boldness. Our Father is waiting for us to approach Him... so let's all boldly go into His throne room!

John 16:25-27
25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you, 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God. (WEB)