Shortly before the New Year celebration I received a verse in my daily email out of Hebrews 10. It struck a nerve, so I opened my Bible to the passage and read the verses around it.
In my Bible, Hebrews 10 begins with the title, “The Perfect Sacrifice,” and speaks of the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus for sin, a sacrifice that need never be repeated just because it is “perfect.”
The title for the end of Hebrews 10 passage in my Bible is “Warning Against Deliberate Sin.” I guess that speaks for itself. But in the middle I found my daily verse under the title “Exhortations to Godliness.” Inside that passage I also found a few more similar refrains.
The first reminds us that “since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus by a new and living way … and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.” [vs 19-22 HCSB]
Look at those verses again. Look at that repeated word “since.” Since we have boldness (through the blood of Jesus), and since we have a great high priest (awaiting us), let us draw near (in full assurance of faith).
When we draw near to God, we have the full assurance of everything that follows that word “since.” We know the new and living way is open to us, and we know our Great High Priest Christ Jesus our LORD is awaiting us.
In this new year 2023, let us draw near more often and with greater assurance than ever before. I am sure the new year 2023 is going to present many challenges that will demand we do so.
