Meditating on Hebrews 10:22

Hebrews 10:22 (NIV)
²²  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

The Joy of Drawing Near – Responding to the Invitation to Worship

This idea of drawing near comes up often throughout the book of Hebrews. Here are a few examples:

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV) 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 7:25 (NIV) 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

We are encouraged to draw near. To confidently approach Him. To connect with Him. To turn to Him in every situation and circumstance. Knowing that His heart is to dwell with us, to be with us. It has been His heart since the beginning. He created us to be His family.

We are to live in connection with Him. In communion with Him. We are not alone. He is with us. He is not a distant thought or millions of miles away. He is a present reality in our daily life.

Drawing near is not based on performance, we are not building our own Tower of Babel, it is an action of our hearts. It is not a geographical change; it is directing our hearts into His presence. He wants us to draw near, and He meets us as we do.

Not only is this idea running through the book of Hebrews. It is at the very center of the gospel. Jesus came to rescue us, to defeat the power of sin and the power of death so that we can be reconciled to Him. In Christ we are justified, just as if we never sinned, God chooses to see us in the perfection of His Son and we can approach our Holy God in confidence.

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV) 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

Romans 5:11 (NIV) 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Four Aspects of Drawing Near

God has done amazing and costly things so that we can draw near. So let us draw near. Let us worship in the understanding of all that we now know.

We draw near with a sincere heart. A sincere heart looks back at Jeremiah 31:33.

Jeremiah 31:33 (NIV) – 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The heart is changed in the life of person when they follow Jesus. We are becoming more truly human.  Things are changing from the inside out. It starts in the heart and then it works its way out into our minds and into our actions. I often think of it as a spiritual heart transplant. 

Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) – 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Along with a sincere heart, we draw near in full assurance of faith. Faith isn’t something you can work up in your own strength.  It comes from focusing on the object of faith, Jesus. Everything we have been reading about in Hebrews is about Jesus, and about who we have become because of what He has done. We are to hold on to that as it produces in us the full assurance of faith.

Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) – 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We come with our hearts sprinkled clean. So many people struggle with issues that hang heavy on their hearts. Things they have said or done or things that have been said or done to them. There is a deep fear of somehow being found out or exposed.  It is awesome to know, that the sacrifice of Jesus, the sprinkled blood that results from it, has the power to “cleanse our consciences” from every stain, every lie, and every shame so that we can come to God as we are.

Hebrews 9:12-14 (NIV) – 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

We come washed with pure water. In the court outside the Holy Place there were only two things to be seen: the bronze altar and the bronze basin. At the bronze altar the priest received and sprinkled the blood.  At the bronze basin there was water in which he washed before he entered the Holy Place.

Exodus 30:17-20 (NIV) – 17 Then the LORD said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

Exodus 40:6 (NIV) – 6 “Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting;

What the writer of Hebrews is connecting is that when we draw near with our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, we must also have our body washed with pure water. This amazing access we have into the heaven and earth overlap, can only be truly enjoyed in a life where our actions are being cleansed by His word.

Ephesians 5:26 (NIV) – 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, (rhema)

We, the church, are cleansed and purified by the washing with water through the word.

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) – 12 For the word(logos) of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

In Greek, there are two words used for word. Logos and Rhema. God uses His logos Word to speak His rhema word to us. Logos refers to the written word recorded in the Bible. Rhema refers to the instant, personal speaking of God. The written word is a record of His speaking. He continues to speak to us today and God’s rhema, His living, instant speaking, always corresponds with and never contradicts His written Word logos.

The more we meditate on the Bible, hang out with it, memorize it, the more God can speak instant words to us. His instant words in any given situation guide us and turn us to Him when we take heed to them. So, draw near to God! Press into His presence in worship, in prayer, in reading the Word, in yielding to the Spirit and in living by doing the next right thing.

Steve Lawes is the founder of the Online Bible Institute and Pastor of Keys Vineyard Church.