Original article HERE
NOTE: THIS ARTICLE is a reprint from the blog of reverend Kevin Rogers of New Song Church in Windsor, Ontario and is reproduced here for your convenience. You can visit the his blog called "The Orphan Age" HERE.
The High Priest alone was permitted once a year to come to
the most, intimate place of God’s presence in the Holy of Holies. It was a
death-defying entrance that required cleansing and preparation. To come before
God without a respectful awe was to risk death. A rope was tied around his
ankle, so that if he were struck dead, the other priests could pull his body
out of the Holy Place.
Jesus became the final High Priest to come before the Throne
of God, fully prepared and as the mediator of all Creation. Jesus proved for
all time that God has a ministry of reconciliation and resurrection. Jesus is
the first to demonstrate how fully true this is and to call us forward.
Hebrews 4:
14 We
Have A Great High Priest. He Has Gone Up Into Heaven. He Is Jesus The Son Of
God. So Let Us Hold Firmly To What We Say We Believe. 15 We
Have A High Priest Who Can Feel It When We Are Weak And Hurting. We Have A High
Priest Who Has Been Tempted In Every Way, Just As We Are. But He Did Not Sin. 16 So
Let Us Boldly Approach God’s Throne Of Grace. Then We Will Receive Mercy. We
Will Find Grace To Help Us When We Need It.
This
idea of bold approach to God implies that we must face our fear of Him. We
boldly trust in Christ’s gift of saving and restoring us. We are prepared to
face God, not because we have perfected ourselves, but because God shows mercy
to the humble.
The unhealthy
fear of God causes us to believe that he is inaccessible until we are good
enough, totally obedient, and completely pure. We rationalize that we cannot
trust in God’s mercy for us until we have saved ourselves. This rationale
perpetuates keeping God at a ‘safe’ distance from us.