Chapter Fourteen: Drawing Near

The Epistle to the Hebrews exhibits the Christian religion not only in the strength of its great argument, but in picturesque beauty and attractiveness. It draws from the offices and institutions of the Old Testament illustrations of the New. It discloses to us the gradual unfolding of God’s eternal purpose, and makes known the object lessons by which men were educated to appreciate that purpose, and to enter into sympathy with it. After conducting us over the whole field of priestly consecration and ministration under the law, and explaining the prophetic announcement of a new and higher priestly order, whose type, in the person of Melchizedek was antecedent and superior to the Aaronic priesthood, we are brought to see and to feel that the full realization of all these types and prophecies is found in Jesus Christ and the institutions which he has established. He, as our great High Priest, had made the one needed and only efficacious sacrifice; has ascended into heaven itself, the true holy place; and there, in an unchangeable priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, he ever lives to make intercession for us.

And now, on the ground of this most stupendous fact, we are exhorted to draw near to the same holy place that we may obtain the blessings which are there provided and treasured up for us. The language, while stimulating to this high duty and privilege, is at the same time full of instruction. It reads:

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he hath dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our heart sprinkled from and evil conscience, and our body washed with pure water; let us hold fast the confession of our hope, that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised; and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh” (Hebrews 10:19-25).

But although we are thus urged to “draw near,” and are even told that we do so with “boldness,” we are still reminded of the preparation necessary for appearing in such a place and in such a Presence. And first of all we are to come with a “true heart.” If there is anyone thing that should distinguish a Christian above everything else, it is perfect integrity and honesty—truth in the innermost part of his being—a perfect genuineness that is free from all sham and hollow pretense.

Already I have had occasion to speak of this under a different heading, but I feel that it needs to be emphasized again and again. We may not only impose upon others by an empty profession and sort of make-believe Christianity, but the Scriptures warn us that we may deceive ourselves — that we may think ourselves to be something when we are nothing. And there are no words which should come home to the soul in a tone of deeper solemnity, or with more awakening and even startling power than those which say to us, “Be not deceived!” Deceived, mark you—deceived in a matter of life and death. Those in this condition are not hypocrites, at least not consciously such. A hypocrite knows that his life is untrue and his profession false; but what must it be to think you are right when you are wrong, that you are safe when you are lost!

But let no one feel discouraged. The fact that we are told not to be deceived, while it shows the danger, indicates at the same time that the danger may be avoided. And here as we come by the divine counsel to draw near to the very holiest place in all of God’s dominion, and to One who knows the secrets of all hearts and all lives, it is specially incumbent upon us to see that our hearts at least are true. We may be conscious of great infirmities; we may feel deep down in our souls that we have come far short of what we might have been and might have done; we may know that in many things we have offended, and that we can only look unto the mercy of God for acceptance—still if we are truly and honestly conscious of all this, and do not simply pretend to feel and to believe it, we may enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil; and may do this in that perfect faith which is called in the text “fullness of faith.”

I presume that having “the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and the body washed with pure water,” is not an additional, but a preceding work. These clauses refer back to that original cleansing and sanctification which we received in becoming Christians, and being thus made “priests unto God.” In other words, they refer to that great change in which our hearts were “purified by faith”; and when we “put off the old man with his deeds,” being “buried with Christ by baptism,” and not only “buried with him,” we were actually “baptized into him.”

It cannot escape the attention of any that this preparation for drawing near is represented as most searchingly thorough and complete, embracing the whole man, his heart, his conscience, his body, and the very state and attitude of his soul; and that to render such preparation possible it was preceded by the infinite love and wisdom of God, and by the amazing work of Christ. But when we remember that it is an approach to the very fountain of love and throne of grace, and into His presence who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, who can detect every false way, and will repudiate all empty lip service, it will be seen that such preparation is not only becoming, but necessary.

And now supposing it to have been made, and I am sure that some, and I trust many, of my readers have made it, and that the “way into the holiest” lies open and manifest before them, in what spirit and frame of mind should they approach?

More than once the Scripture answers, with “boldness.” When we sustain to God the relation that entitles us to come to him; when our hearts are true and pure; when our consciences are clean; when our life and walk are consistent with our profession, and when our desires, affections and aspirations are such as God approves, the whole ocean of his love is accessible to us, and we may enter his presence not with presumptuous daring, certainly, but with all freedom of speech (which is the meaning here of boldness), and in the confidence of undoubting and unwavering faith.

I shall be pardoned, I trust, for recommending those to whom this exalted privilege has been accorded, to learn, as soon as possible, and to embrace the truth that what we really need, and all that we need, is God himself. We know not what to pray for as we ought. Often the things most earnestly desired would be hurtful to us. And yet, little children that we are, short-sighted and ignorant, we can but long and pray for what seems to us to be good. Nor is such prayer to be supposed. We are taught that in everything we are by prayer and supplication to make our requests known unto God, though of course always in subordination to his will, and with hearty recognition of his superior wisdom. Such prayers, whether specially granted or not, have always this blessing in them: that they bring us before God, and draw us nearer to him. But these prayers, though they manifest a degree of faith, and sometimes even a high degree, indicate at the same time the absence of the very highest. Perfect trust in God’s wisdom and care and love, an unqualified confidence in his gracious and abiding presence and sleepless oversight, would cause us to wait on him in worshipful adoration, rather than with Psalmist to be crying, “Make haste to help us.” And I am sure that when we draw very near, when we really enter, even here and now, into the holy place, and come into full communion with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, we shall be able in large measure to anticipate “that day” in which, as our Lord says, “Ye shall ask me nothing.” This is the very acme of faith—when the trust in his goodness and wisdom, and power and love, is so assured and steady that nothing is desired or prayed for but that his will be done. We may not reach this exalted spiritual state here, but we may make it our goal and object, and may more and more approach unto it, drawing daily nearer and nearer, and so entering more and more into “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.”

God is the Father of our spirits. We have been separated from him by sin, which has caused all our unrest and misery. What we need, all that we need, is to get back into perfect communion and fellowship with him; and this is what is contemplated in all the redeeming work of Christ, and the sanctifying influences of his Spirit. When we come to see and to realize this; when all temporal and transitory things become as nothing in comparison with this one thing, our only thought and feeling will be to say, like David: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”