Together in Christ: 'Amazing Access!' — Hebrews 4:14-16

Most of us have not experienced the realities of royalty in our cultures. Even in countries with royalty, an ordinary person has very limited access to the king or queen. People's rights are always secondary and subservient to the royal in power. Our lack of familiarity with true royalty means the following sentence from our verses for today doesn't shock us or seem as preposterous and revolutionary as it did the first readers:

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

Let's choose to be astonished! God, the almighty Creator, perfect and eternal, steps into our flawed and broken world with loving grace. He comes to us in Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and servant King. Because of Jesus, we are given the authority to come into the presence of almighty God "boldly" — openly, rightfully, and courageously ^[1] We are confident that the eternal God will hear our human words and understand our emotional longings. Why?

Jesus paid the debt of our sins and is now in God's presence, interceding for us. Jesus never sinned, and so He is our perfect mediator and intercessor. ^[2] Because God's Son is our mediator and because Jesus has shared our human existence, we can be confident God will hear all that we feel and fear, and He will do so with attentive and complete empathy and understanding. We can be sure that God will give us "grace to help us when we need it most"! ^[3]

While we have no inherent right to intrude into the presence of the ultimate King, Jesus gives us the right not only to come to God as His beloved children but to do so boldly and know He will welcome us into His presence with grace. As God's children, dear brothers, and sisters in Christ, we are royalty by the grace of God and the loving sacrifice of Jesus! The Holy Spirit within us gives us the right to come confidently to the Almighty King of glory, and our tender Abba Father welcomes us home. ^[3]