Understanding The Throne of Grace
Unsurprisingly, since I was a little kid and even to this day many people have described me as bold. More than bold many people would likely describe me as brazen or brash. One of my best friends even goes as far as to ask, “How do you get away with it?” in response to a lot of the things I say.
I think a lot of it comes with the territory as someone who talks a lot. Even as a child I was unafraid to speak my mind or share my thoughts, and despite what my best friend would say, it has come back to bite me a time or two.
This idea of boldness fascinates me as the words that come to mind when you think of the word BOLD are, courage, fearlessness, and daring. And yet when I read Hebrews 4:16 I feel almost none of the words in regard to approaching God’s throne.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
As I said, and as many of you may know, I am an exceedingly confident individual and yet it is difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of being bold in my approach to God’s throne. I tend to believe I would look a lot more like Adam and Eve in the garden, hiding from God rather than walking boldly as Paul describes.
The question is, why does Paul tell us to be bold in our approach to the throne? He’s intentional with his language and thus we should be intentional with our study.
In this verse, the reason we should come boldly to the throne is because it is a throne of grace. A throne conveys authority and, in many situations, if you were to be dragged in front of a throne you would be filled with terror. But in this situation, we’re not going to the throne of an angry ruler but rather the throne of God’s grace. God’s grace does command authority but not in the negative connotation of that word. Instead, it is the authority of freedom from our past of sin and unbelief.
Grace and mercy while similar are not the same but, they do work together well. Mercy is about not receiving the punishment we deserve. While grace is about receiving undeserved favor in God’s eyes. Both grace and mercy are gifts that God gives us despite our actions and as an example of the commitment God has made through His son to adopt us into His family.
We boldly approach God’s throne of grace as a statement of our belief that God has the ability to provide us with grace. Our attendance upon Gods’ throne of grace should be continuous because of our need for His grace but should also be bold as the boldness in our approach to God’s grace further exemplifies our faith in who God is and what Jesus did on that cross and continues to do as He sits at the right hand of the Father advocating for us day and night.
Our boldness should have nothing to do with our actions but should rather be a reflection of the sincerely held belief that not only does God have the ability for grace but also that He has a longing to extend that grace to us and invite us to be permanent members of His eternal family.