Saturday 13th
Hebrews 4:14-16
NIV (v16) – ‘Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.’
ESV (v16) – ‘Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’
We conclude our look at these verses in Hebrews 4, and today look at the words, ‘so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.’
It is important to link these words within the context and I believe it takes us backward to the possible outcome in chapter two of neglecting the great salvation which we have heard about and received, (Hebrews 2:3) of the possibility of hearing the voice of God and yet of hardening our hearts, leading to the risk of falling away, (Hebrews 3:12) and of our need to strive to enter the promised rest, Hebrews 4:11 ‘Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.’ In its context, I think that the help we are seeking to get as we come to the throne of grace in Hebrews 4:16 is help that enables us to persevere in our Christian walk, for we have not been promised that everything will be a bed of roses, in fact if we go back to the commencement of Jesus earthly ministry and follow it through, he makes it very clear that discipleship costs, following Jesus will require us to daily take up our cross, it may mean having to suffer for the sake of the gospel, it may lead to being rejected by family and friends, it may lead to persecution and suffering, and we would never be able to persevere in our own strength, and thus we have this incredible verse that tells us that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help in our time of need. The ones who would have received this letter originally were Jews who had received the gospel and yet were undergoing pressure to return back to Judaism, they were being hounded because of their faith and trust in the finished and complete work of Christ at Calvary, they were probably being ostracized because of their confidence in Christ as their eternal priest, under pressure to recant, to return to the old ways and they needed supernatural help, so the writer is telling them that the help they needed was available, because the priest that they had placed their trust in was standing at the throne of grace on their behalf to grant them the mercy and grace they needed in their time of need, mercy and grace to enable them to stand firm and to keep their eyes firmly fixed upon Jesus the author and finisher of their faith.
One of the older hymns reminds us that at the Cross, ‘mercy there was great and grace was free’, and at the throne room, that same mercy and grace is still available to us, we commence our journey of faith as a result of mercy and grace and we continue and persevere by continually receiving that same mercy and grace. Remember when Paul was struggling with his thorn in the flesh, when he pleaded for it to be removed, the reply that the great high priest himself gave to him was ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Grace is sufficient to save us and to keep us, therefore let us continually and confidently go to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Grace sufficient, grace for me,
Grace for all who will believe—
We will stand on ev’ry promise of Your Word.