The last three days we have been in Hebrews 4. We have seen the Sword that judges and heals (the Word of God), we have noted that God sees everything (and we will one day give an account to Him), and we have met my great aunt Julie’s Jesus (our High Priest Christ Jesus who knows what it is to be us!).
There is one last thought I want to draw from Hebrews 4. It comes in verse 16. “Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness [confidence], so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.” [HCSB]
What an amazing thought, that we may approach the throne of grace with boldness [confidence] to seek all the mercy and all the grace we need. The King James uses the word boldly—let us come boldly to the throne of grace. We are to come boldly, but not arrogantly! There is a difference.
We have a picture of this in the book of Esther. Esther was King Xerxes’ wife. She was Queen. She was also one of the Jewish exiles. Yet even for the queen to approach the king when he was on the throne could be a dangerous proposition. The king could choose to not only reject the supplicant, but he could also choose to have him/her put to death. The signal of acceptance was the king’s golden scepter. If he held it out to the person, they lived; otherwise, they died.
When Queen Esther approached King Xerxes on a mission to save her people from the annihilation plotted by the evil Haman, the king held out His golden scepter to her, signaling his pleasure to have her approach and make her request, which he did grant.
For us, Jesus is our Golden Scepter. When we approach the throne of our Father, we can come boldly – with confidence – knowing that the Golden Scepter is always extended to us. There we make our pleas for the grace and mercy that He is eager to supply. He is eager to give us all we need to live godly lives.
