So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT
You’ve had the experience. You have a deep need or at least a great desire for assistance, knowledge, or a resource, but you just have no way to get it. When you finally figure out who might be able to help you, the person seems inaccessible. They don’t take your calls, and they are always “out of the office.” You can’t just burst in and announce your need. You wait and maybe you have to go away empty-handed and unheard. You’ve heard the old saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know that is most important,” and you realize how true it is. If you only knew someone who could help you out, someone who had access to the one who could meet your needs. Every now and then we find that person and it’s tremendously relieving and satisfying.
Even more significantly, we have monumental life needs for our hearts, souls, relationships, and futures. We desperately need someone who can give us access to the only Source who can help us. That’s who we have in Jesus. He is our great High Priest who speaks to the holy God of the universe on our behalf. Jesus gives us access to God by acting as the ultimate mediator, removing the barrier of sin through His sacrificial death, tearing apart the temple veil that kept ordinary people from the presence of God, and becoming our High Priest. This allows believers to approach God directly, with confidence and boldness through faith, for forgiveness, relationship, and guidance. He paved a "new and living way" to the Father.
Jesus gave us access to God through His sacrifice (v. 14). Without Jesus, access to God would be impossible because of sin. We are too unholy to be in the presence of a perfectly holy God. But Hebrews 10 tells us we have this new and living way to God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His forever resurrection. We are declared worthy and welcome. Jesus makes access to God possible because He understands us (v. 15). Jesus knows what it is like to be human and to walk in our shoes. He knows the full weight of the temptations we face because He was tempted just like us and never succumbed to sin. We have nothing to fear in coming to God because we are welcomed by a merciful Father who knows us and gets us just as we are.
Jesus makes it possible to stand before the throne of a gracious God with bold confidence even in our times of deepest need. He is able and ready to give the grace we need exactly when we need it.
- We didn’t need something; we needed Someone. His name is Jesus.