The byline of the old Star Trek program went like this, spoken by William Shatner, who played Captain James Tiberius Kirk.
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!
The passage we are studying in Hebrews encourages us to boldly go into the very presence of the transcendent, absolutely holy, almighty God. Our boldness comes not because we are worthy at all, but because Jesus Christ has made a way into God’s presence through His death on the cross. The author of Hebrews is thus encouraging his readers to take advantage of this glorious privilege and to not return to the old system of sacrifices and priests where only the high priest could enter God’s presence, and that only once a year!
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
We looked last week at the access we have in vv. 19-20, and today we’re going to look at the advocacy we have in vv. 21-22 through “a great priest,” Jesus Christ. Our confidence in our access to God is especially strong because of the advocate we have.
The book of Hebrews has been developing this great theological truth that Jesus Christ is the “great priest,” one better than all the others. “By offering Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, He fulfilled everything connected with the Levitical priesthood. Beyond that, Jesus is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5 & 7). In that role, He surpasses the Levitical priests. He abides forever at the right hand of God to intercede for His people (7:25)”
(https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-29-putting-your-position-practice-hebrews-1019-25 )
See this access and advocacy, the dual sources of our confidence, together. See what strength they bring. Jesus is both the curtain (our access) and the priest (our advocate). His torn body and shed blood provides our access to the presence of the Father. And in our access he is our perpetual priestly advocate.
Listen to Paul’s bold confidence:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:31–34)
[But] if a person tries to go into God’s presence based on his own character, his own works, or his own religious affiliation, he will find no access. He will certainly not have access on the basis of a mere verbal profession of Christ. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Mt 7:21-23). (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 260)
On the basis of our access and advocate, it is possible for us to enter the presence of a holy God, so his exhortation is “let us draw near.” We can “draw near” because several issues are settled. The problem of access to God has been settled. The problem of a perfect High Priest has been settled. The problem of moral and spiritual pollution has been settled.
Jesus Christ is the “great priest over the house of God. The house (or household) of God refers to the whole family of God (cf. 3:6). In the OT, God’s “house” referred exclusively to his people, the Jews. But under the new covenant, God’s “house” refers to all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, accepting his sacrifice for their sins–whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Over this house rules “a great priest” (Jesus Christ) who opened the way into God’s presence. As the perfect Mediator, Christ accompanies Christians into the very throne room of God. (Bruce Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Hebrews, 159)
God does not dwell in tabernacles or temples made by human hands, but in the hearts of His people. Individually, but in a greater sense, corporately, we are the temple of the living God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16). Paul uses this great truth to drive home our need for holiness.
With that dual basis for drawing near to God settled, our author next indicates how we should draw near: “with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
First, one must draw near with a “true [or sincere] heart in full assurance of faith.” The “heart” represents the whole inner life. There must be inner sincerity from one’s whole being. One must be true, completely genuine, “wholehearted” (Moffatt). Commentators have noted that although the language is different, the sixth Beatitude carries the same idea, where we are called to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8). There are to be no mixed motives or divided loyalties. There must be pure and unmixed devotion, sincere love for God. And God, who knows our hearts (1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chron. 28:9; 1 Samuel 16:7; Psalm 38:9; 139:2-4; Proverbs 21:2, sees that it is true.
When Jesus said, “God knows your heart” in Luke 16:15, He was speaking to the Pharisees—men who did live double lives. Outwardly, they sought public approval. They made a point of following all the religious rules and worked hard to impress people so that they would appear to be godly and wise. But God knew their hearts. He saw through their phony, pious displays to what was on the inside.
Jesus’ challenge to these hypocritical leaders is the same for His followers today. We must be careful not to simply honor the Lord with our lips while we live like the world because our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13). We need to focus on cleaning up the inside of our spiritual houses, dealing with our sinful attitudes and misguided motives.
Our commitment to Jesus Christ must be “all in,” placing our hope only in Christ and fully in Christ, and nothing else.
Can you imagine a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile and spanning the breadth of Niagara Falls? The thundering sound of the pounding water drowning out all other sounds as you watch a man step onto the rope and walk across!
This stunning feat made Charles Blondin famous in the summer of 1859. He walked 160 feet above the falls several times back and forth between Canada and the United States as huge crowds on both sides looked on with shock and awe. Once he crossed in a sack, once on stilts, another time on a bicycle, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!
On July 15, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow.
The Blondin story is told that it was after pushing a wheelbarrow across while blindfolded that Blondin asked for some audience participation. The crowds had watched and “Ooooohed” and “Aaaaahed!” He had proven that he could do it; of that, there was no doubt. But now he was asking for a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow and take a ride across the Falls with him!
It is said that he asked his audience, “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” Of course, the crowd shouted that yes, they believed!
It was then that Blondin posed the question – “Who will get in the wheelbarrow?’
Of course…none did.
But that is what faith is. It is complete, unwavering trust, completely depending upon Someone Else.
God sees what is done in secret. His eyes “range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He knows the motives behind every action because He knows every human heart (1 Kings 8:39; Acts 1:24; 15:8). Since God knows our hearts, we ought to always live to please Him alone and not worry about impressing people.
And this is how we are to draw near to God in prayer—real, genuine, absorbed. The preacher sees this as being of key importance to those who are being distracted by the menacing waves. He knows that essential to their survival is the ability to perpetually come to God in prayer that is sincere and wholehearted, true and engaged. If they do this, they will emerge victorious. They must prayerfully “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” The wisdom of this exhortation is as relevant and necessary today as it was in the first century.
Sam Storms reminds us…
We are to draw near “with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (10:22). By a “true” or “genuine” heart he means a heart that does not come trying to fool God or acting as if we deserve to be in his presence. It is the opposite of a hypocritical and insincere heart. I’m constantly amazed by people who think they can fool God by pretending to love him and pretending to praise him, as if God is hoodwinked by our religiosity.
And the “assurance of faith” of which he speaks doesn’t point so much to the subjective feelings you experience, as if you can’t draw near to God if you ever have doubts about your salvation. No. Rather, the assurance we experience is the confidence that Christ has done everything necessary to make our entrance into God’s presence a glorious privilege that we can embrace and enjoy without hesitation.
The author will devote chapter 11 to this theme. He says there, “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (11:6). Faith is both God’s gift and our responsibility. Faith rests on the promises of God. We are saved through faith (Eph. 2:8) and we are to live our lives by faith (Col. 2:6). Our faith is not a mindless, blind leap in the dark. Faith rests upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, which the author has been expounding on from the start. The better we know Him as revealed in His Word, the more we will trust Him. The more we trust Him in the difficult matters of our lives, the more we prove His faithfulness and that enables us to trust Him the next time.
The next two factors in the way that we draw near to God involves the images of sprinkling and washing, both meant to reflect the idea of something that has been cleansed from defilement. Notice it is first “with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and [then] our bodies washed with pure water.” There is an inward washing that precedes the outward washing of the body.
This sprinkling of your heart that cleans your conscience has already been accomplished. It refers to what Christ achieved for you by his death and resurrection. It doesn’t mean you have to feel clean to come to God, although you can. It means that you rest confidently that you are clean because of Christ’s cleansing power!
William Lane, in his Word Biblical Commentary, points out…
“… the specific imagery of the ‘sprinkling of the heart from a burdened conscience’ has been anticipated in 9:18-22. There the writer reminded the community of the action of Moses, who sprinkled the people with blood during the ratification of the old covenant at Sinai. The thought that Christians have been made participants in the new covenant by the blood of Christ is forcefully expressed in the immediate context (v 19). This suggests that the ‘sprinkling with respect to the heart’ in v 22b is to be associated with Jesus’ inauguration of the new covenant through his death …” (Hebrews 9—13, p. 287).
In fact, in Ezekiel’s explanation of the New Covenant promises, in the first of the promises that we Christians experience under the New Covenant, he says…
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. (Ezekiel 36:25)
There’s the image of cleansing, providing forgiveness of sins. The next verse introduces the transformed heart that we will receive.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
“Again and again the High Priest bathes himself in the laver of clear water. But these things were ineffective to remove the real pollution of sin. Only Jesus can really cleanse a man. His is no external purification; by his presence and his Spirit he cleanses the inmost thoughts and desires of a man until he is really clean” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, Hebrews, 120). “Only Jesus can cleanse a man’s heart. By His Spirit He cleanses the innermost thoughts and desires” (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 263).
The reference to the “bodies washed with pure water” (v. 22) may be to water baptism as the outward sign of inward cleansing (cf. 1 Pet. 3:21). However the radical cleansing that water baptism symbolizes (i.e., regeneration) may be primarily in view (cf. Ezek. 36:25; John 3:5; Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5-6).
So the analogy is that just as real water washes our bodies clean from dirt and grime so the spiritual water of God’s mercy and grace washes our hearts and souls clean from the guilt and shame of our sin.
You may be greatly burdened by your sin and miserable because of recent failures, but you can draw near to God when you say:
“As bad and pathetic as my life currently is, by faith I lay claim to the cleansing power of Christ’s blood that washes me white as snow. Shut up conscience! Speak no more to me of the evil I have done. I know it all too well. But Christ has washed my conscience clean. Praise God! So I will draw near to him to find all I need.”
The boldness with which we are to enter is not, first of all, a conscious feeling of confidence; it is the objective God-given right and liberty of entrance of which the blood assures us. The measure of our boldness is the worth God attaches to the blood of Jesus. As our heart reposes its confidence on that in simple faith, the feeling of confidence and joy on our part will come too, and our entrance will be amid songs of praise and gladness. (Andrew Murray, The Holiest of All, 358)
It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self: to Jesus: but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But, the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is all in all.” Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not your joy in Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to your hand with which you art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to your hope, but to Jesus, the source of your hope; look not to your faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “Looking unto Jesus.” Keep your eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon your mind; when you wake in the morning look to him; when you lie down at night look to him. Do not let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail you. (Alistair Begg quoting Charles. H. Spurgeon in Pathway to Freedom, 228-9)
It is in the very act of entering into God’s presence that proves that we have a true heart, a cleansed heart.
God calls us to come into His presence, all the way in to the Holy of Holies. The veil has been torn and the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, has been shed, paying the penalty for our sins. He calls us to come close, but He first drew near to us and dwelt among us, “full of grace and truth.”
Grace Still Amazes 