Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
16. Let us therefore come boldly ] Rather, “let us then approach with confidence.” The notion of “approach” to God ( ) in the Levitical service (Lev 21:17; Lev 22:3) is prominent in this Epistle (Heb 7:25, Heb 10:1; Heb 10:22, Heb 11:6, Heb 12:18-22). In St Paul it only occurs once (1Ti 6:13), and then in a different sense. His ideal of the Christian life is not “access to God” (though he does also allude to this in one Epistle, Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12) but “oneness with Christ” “Boldly,” literally, “with confidence” (Heb 3:6).
throne of grace ] Comp. Heb 8:1. This throne was typified in the mercy-seat above the Ark (Exo 25:21), over which the Shechinah shone between the wings of the cherubim.
obtain mercy, and find grace ] Mercy in our wretchedness, and free favour, though it is undeserved.
to help in time of need ] Lit. “for a seasonable succour.” Seasonable because “it is still called to-day” (Heb 3:17), and because the help is so deeply needed (Heb 2:18),
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace – The throne of grace! What a beautiful expression. A throne is the seat of a sovereign; a throne of grace is designed to represent a sovereign seated to dispense mercy and pardon. The illustration or comparison here may have been derived from the temple service. In that service God is represented as seated in the most holy place on the mercy seat. The high priest approaches that seat or throne of the divine majesty with the blood of the atonement to make intercession for the people, and to plead for pardon; see the notes on Heb 9:7-8. That scene was emblematic of heaven. God is seated on a throne of mercy. The great High Priest of the Christian calling, having shed his own blood to make expiation, is represented as approaching, God and pleading for the pardon of people. To a God willing to show mercy he comes with the merits of a sacrifice sufficient for all, and pleads for their salvation. We may, therefore, come with boldness and look for pardon. We come not depending on our own merits, but we come where a sufficient sacrifice has been offered for human guilt; and where we are assured that God is merciful. We may, therefore, come without hesitancy, or trembling, and ask for all the mercy that we need.
That we may obtain mercy – This is what we want first. We need pardon – as the first thing when we come to God. We are guilty and self-condemned – and our first cry should be for mercy – mercy. A man who comes to God not feeling his need of mercy must fail of obtaining the divine favor; and he will be best prepared to obtain that favor who has the deepest sense of his need of forgiveness.
And find grace – Favor – strength, help, counsel, direction, support, for the various duties and trials of life. This is what we next need – we all need – we always need. Even when pardoned, we need grace to keep us from sin, to aid us in duty, to preserve us in the day of temptation. And feeling our need of this, we may come and ask of God all that we want for this purpose. Such is the assurance given us; and to this bold approach to the throne of grace all are freely invited. In view of it, let us,
(1) Rejoice that there is a throne of grace. What a world would this be if God sat on a throne of justice only, and if no mercy were ever to be shown to people! Who is there who would not be overwhelmed with despair? But it is not so. He is on a throne of grace. By day and by night; from year to year; from generation to generation; he is on such a throne. In every land he may be approached, and in as many different languages as people speak, may they plead for mercy. In all times of our trial and temptation we may be assured that he is seated on that throne, and wherever we are, we may approach him with acceptance.
(2) We need the privilege of coming before such a throne. We are sinful – and need mercy; we are feeble, and need grace to help us. There is not a day of our lives in which we do not need pardon; not an hour in which we do not need grace.
(3) How obvious are the propriety and necessity of prayer! Every man is a sinner – and should pray for pardon; every man is weak, feeble, dependent, and should pray for grace. Not until a man can prove that he has never done any sin, should he maintain that he has no need of pardon; not until he can show that he is able alone to meet the storms and temptations of life, should he feel that he has no need to ask for grace. Yet who can feel this? And how strange it is that all people do not pray!
(4) It is easy to be forgiven. All that needs to be done is to plead the merits of our Great High Priest, and God is ready to pardon. Who would not be glad to be able to pay a debt in a manner so easy? Yet how few there are who are willing to pay the debt to justice thus!
(5) It is easy to obtain all the grace that we need. We have only to ask for it – and it is done. How easy then to meet temptation if we would! How strange that any should rely on their own strength, when they may lean on the arm of God!
(6) If people are not pardoned, and if they fall into sin and ruin, they alone are to blame. There is a throne of grace. It is always accessible. There is A God. He is always ready to pardon. There is A Redeemer. He is the Great High Priest of people. He is always interceding. His merits may always be pleaded as the ground of our salvation. Why then, O why, should any remain unforgiven and perish? On them alone the blame must lie. In their own bosoms is the reason why they are not saved.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace] The allusion to the high priest, and his office on the day of atonement, is here kept up. The approach mentioned here is to the kapporeth, , the propitiatory or mercy-seat. This was the covering of the ark of the testimony or covenant, at each end of which was a cherub, and between them the shechinah, or symbol of the Divine Majesty, which appeared to, and conversed with, the high priest. Here the apostle shows the great superiority of the privileges of the new testament above those of the old; for there the high priest only, and he with fear and trembling, was permitted to approach; and that not without the blood of the victim; and if in any thing he transgressed, he might expect to be struck with death. The throne of grace in heaven answers to this propitiatory, but to this ALL may approach who feel their need of salvation; and they may approach , with freedom, confidence, liberty of speech, in opposition to the fear and trembling of the Jewish high priest. Here, nothing is to be feared, provided the heart be right with God, truly sincere, and trusting alone in the sacrificial blood.
That we may obtain mercy] . That we may take mercy – that we may receive the pardon of all our sins; there is mercy for the taking. As Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, so every man may go to that propitiatory, and take the mercy that is suited to his degree of guilt.
And find grace] Mercy refers to the pardon of sin, and being brought into the favour of God. Grace is that by which the soul is supported after it has received this mercy, and by which it is purified from all unrighteousness, and upheld in all trials and difficulties, and enabled to prove faithful unto death.
To help in time of need.] . For a seasonable support; that is, support when necessary, and as necessary, and in due proportion to the necessity. The word is properly rendered assistance, help, or support; but it is an assistance in consequence of the earnest cry of the person in distress, for the word signifies to run at the cry, , or . So, even at the throne of grace, or great propitiatory, no help can be expected where there is no cry, and where there is no cry there is no felt necessity; for he that feels he is perishing will cry aloud for help, and to such a cry the compassionate High Priest will run; and the time of need is the time in which God will show mercy; nor will he ever delay it when it is necessary. We are not to cry to-day to be helped to-morrow, or at some indefinite time, or at the hour of death. We are to call for mercy and grace when we need them; and we are to expect to receive them when we call. This is a part of our liberty or boldness; we come up to the throne, and we call aloud for mercy, and God hears and dispenses the blessing we need.
That this exhortation of the apostle may not be lost on us, let us consider: –
1. That there is a throne of grace, i.e. a propitiatory, the place where God and man are to meet.
2. That this propitiatory or mercy-seat is sprinkled with the atoning blood of that Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
3. That we must come up, , to this throne; and this implies faith in the efficacy of the sacrifice.
4. That we must call aloud on God for his mercy, if we expect him to run to our assistance.
5. That we must feel our spiritual necessities, in order to our calling with fervency and earnestness.
6. That calling thus we shall infallibly get what we want; for in Christ Jesus, as a sacrificial offering, God is ever well pleased; and he is also well pleased with all who take refuge in the atonement which he has made.
7. That thus coming, feeling, and calling, we may have the utmost confidence; for we have boldness, liberty of access, freedom of speech; may plead with our Maker without fear; and expect all that heaven has to bestow; because Jesus, who died, sitteth upon the throne! Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
8. All these are reasons why we should persevere.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace: since our High Priest hath a sense of our infirmities, hath experienced our trials, and no sin is in him to shut up his bowels of compassion, therefore haste we to him, as those who desire to reach favours from our Sovereign, as our poor, guilty, needy souls want them. It is a soul-motion by faith and love, breathed forth in strong cries to his God and Father and ours, constantly approaching God in every duty by him: compare Heb 10:19-22; and that with open face, boldness, and assurance, without any shame or dismay, coming in the name and with the person of our great High Priest, who takes our duties and persons, and presents them, perfumed with the incense of his merits, to him. Away now with all unbelief, doubtings, or fears in our approach to him; admission to him, and hearing by him, is now certain unto the believer, Rom 5:1,2; Eph 2:18; 3:12; 1Jo 3:21,22; 5:14,15. For his throne, now the Father is propitiated by him, is from a throne of strict justice made a throne of grace, of which the propitiatory seat over the ark of the covenant in the holy of holiest, both in the tabernacle and temple, was a type. All the terror and dread of it is now done away by Christ. Thunderings, and lightnings, and voices, and the sound of a trumpet are now ceased; the still voice of pardon, peace, purging and saving sinners, proceeds from it; grace in reference to believers, sits in all its glory, and majesty, and power only, Rev 5:1,6,13; compare Heb 8:1; 12:2; Eph 1:20. Christ now takes us by the hand, brings us thither, and pleads by his own blood for us, so as we may approach to it with greatest confidence.
That we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need; that we may actually partake of the fruits of Christs purchase and intercession from the Father of mercy; pity suitable to our misery, pardon for our guilty souls, and relief for us under all our afflictions, Isa 63:7-9, and all grace necessary for us at all times for a seasonable help, but especially in times of greatest need. It is most opportune, when most helpful: when infirmities, afflictions, temptations, and the snares of sin, beset us with grievous persecutions, then may we by prayer, through our High Priest, have recourse to this throne of grace for our suitable and sufficient supply, without which there is no holding fast our profession, or possibility of entrance into Gods rest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. comerather as Greek,“approach,” “draw near.”
boldlyGreek,“with confidence,” or “freedom of speech” (Eph6:19).
the throne of graceGod’sthrone is become to us a throne of grace through the mediationof our High Priest at God’s right hand (Heb 8:1;Heb 12:2). Pleading our HighPriest Jesus’ meritorious death, we shall always find God on a throneof grace. Contrast Job’s complaint (Job23:3-8) and Elihu’s ” IF,”c. (Job 33:23-28).
obtainrather,”receive.”
mercy“Compassion,”by its derivation (literally, fellow feeling from community ofsuffering), corresponds to the character of our High Priest”touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb4:15).
find gracecorrespondingto “throne of grace.” Mercy especially refersto the remission and removal of sins grace, to the savingbestowal of spiritual gifts [ESTIUS].Compare “Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest (therest received on first believing). Take My yoke on you . . .and ye shall find rest (the continuing rest and peace foundin daily submitting to Christ’s easy yoke; the former answers to”receive mercy” here; the latter, to “findgrace,” Mat 11:28; Mat 11:29).
in time of needGreek,“seasonably.” Before we are overwhelmed by the temptation;when we most need it, in temptations and persecutions; such as issuitable to the time, persons, and end designed (Ps104:27). A supply of grace is in store for believers against allexigencies; but they are only supplied with it according as the needarises. Compare “in due time,” Ro5:6. Not, as ALFORDexplains, “help in time,” that is, to-day, while itis yet open to us; the accepted time (2Co6:2).
helpCompare Heb2:18, “He is able to succor them that are tempted.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace,…. Either to Christ, who is before spoken of as an high priest, and who was typified by the mercy seat, to which there seems to be an allusion; and coming to him as a priest upon his throne is very proper: to him saints come for pardon and cleansing, and for a justifying righteousness, for the acceptance of their persons, and the presentation of their services, and for every supply of grace; and to him they may come “boldly”, since he stands in the relations of a Father, husband, and brother, and from him they may expect receive mercy, since it is kept for him, and with him, and is only dispensed through him; and in him they may hope to find grace, since all fulness of it dwells in him; and help in every time of need, since their help is laid on him. Or else to God the Father, since Christ, the high priest, is the way of access to God, and it is by him the saints come unto the Father; who is represented as on a “throne”, to show his majesty, and to command reverence; and as on a “throne of grace”, to encourage distressed souls to come unto him; and to express his sovereignty in the distribution of his grace: and this coming to him is a sacerdotal act, for every believer is a priest; and is not local, but spiritual, and with the heart, and by faith; and chiefly regards the duty of prayer, and a drawing nigh to God in that ordinance with spiritual sacrifices to offer unto him: and this may be done “boldly”; or “with freedom of speech”; speaking out plainly all that is in the heart, using an holy courage and intrepidity of mind, free from servile fear, and a bashful spirit; all which requires an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, faith, in the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, a view of God, as a God of peace, grace, and mercy, and a holy confidence of being heard by him; and such a spirit and behaviour at the throne of grace are very consistent with reverence of the divine Majesty, with submission to his will, and with that humility which becomes saints. The Jews often speak of , “a throne of judgment”, and
, “a throne of mercy” u; and represent God as sitting upon one or other of these, when he is dispensing justice or mercy w; and the latter they sometimes call, as here, , “a throne of grace and mercy” x: and so they make the first man Adam to pray to God after this manner y;
“let my prayer come before the throne of thy glory, and let my cry come before , “the throne of thy mercy”.”
The end of coming hither is,
that we may obtain mercy; the sure mercies of David, the blessings of the everlasting covenant; particularly pardoning mercy, and the fresh application of it, and every other blessing of grace that is needful: and there is reason to expect it, since there is mercy with God; and it is with Christ, as the head of the covenant; and it is ready for those that ask it; and it has been obtained by many, and is everlasting.
And find grace to help in time of need; the Syriac version renders it, “in time of affliction”; which is a time of need, as every time of distress is, whether from the immediate hand of God, or through the persecutions of men, or the temptations of Satan: and help at such times may be expected; since not only God is able to help, but he has promised it; and he has laid help on Christ; and gives it seasonably, and at the best time; and it springs from grace, yea, it is grace that does help; by which may be meant, the discoveries of God’s love, and the supplies of grace from Christ: which may be hoped for, seeing God is the God of all grace; and he is seated on a throne of grace; and all fulness of grace dwells in Christ: to find grace often, signifies to find favour with God, to be accepted by him, as well as to receive grace from him.
u Targum in Psal. xxix. 10. T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 3. 2. Zohar in Gen. fol. 38. 3. & in Numb. fol. 91. 2. & 93. 2. w Megillat Esther, fol. 95. 1. x Raziel, fol. 32. 1. y lbid. fol. 3. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Let us therefore draw near ( ). Present active middle volitive subjunctive of . “Let us keep on coming to” our high priest, this sympathizing and great high priest. Instead of deserting him, let us make daily use of him. This verb in Hebrews means reverent approach for worship (Heb 7:25; Heb 10:1; Heb 10:22; Heb 11:6).
Unto the throne of grace ( ). This old word () we have taken into English, the seat of kings and of God and so of Christ (Heb 1:3; Heb 1:8), but marked by grace because Jesus is there (Mt 19:28). Hence we should come “with boldness” ( ). Telling Jesus the whole story of our shortcomings.
That we may receive mercy ( ). Purpose clause with and second aorist active subjunctive of .
And find grace ( ). Second aorist active subjunctive of . We are sure to gain both of these aims because Jesus is our high priest on the throne.
To help us in time of need ( ). is old word (from , 2:18 which see), in N.T. only here and Ac 27:17. is an old word also (, well, , opportunity), only here in N.T. “For well-timed help,” “for help in the nick of time,” before too late.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Come – unto ()
oP., often in Hebrews, and commonly in the same sense as here – approach to God through the O.T. sacrifices or the sacrifice of Christ. Paul’s word access expresses the same idea. See Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12. The phrase come boldly expresses a thought which the Epistle emphasizes – that Christianity is the religion of free access to God. Comp. 2Cos 3:12-13.
Unto the throne of grace ( )
The phrase N.T.o Throne of glory, Mat 19:28; Mat 25:31: of majesty, Hebrews 8:1. In Revelation throne occurs over forty times, either the throne, or his throne, or throne of God. Once throne of the beast, Rev 16:10. Throne of grace expresses grace as the gift of divine power.
Mercy – grace ( – )
Mercy for past sins; grace for future work, trial, and resistance to temptation.
To help in time of need ( )
Lit. for seasonable help, or help in good time; before it is too late; while there is still time to seek God’s rest. Others, however, explain, when it is needed; or, before temptation leads to sin.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Let us therefore come boldly,” (proserchometha oun meta parassias) “Let us therefore approach (walk right up) with confidence,” with faith and assurance, in assurance of answered prayer of whatever we ask in his name, according to, or in harmony with his word and will, Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12; Rom 5:1-2; Heb 10:19; Heb 10:22.
2) “Unto the throne of Grace,” (to throno tes chariots) “To the central throne of Grace,” to God upon the throne where Jesus Intercedes at his own right hand, Heb 1:3; Heb 7:25; 1Jn 2:1-2.
3) “That we may obtain mercy,” (hina labomen eleos) In order that we may receive mercy,” for mercy may be requested, before the mercy-seat, that covers law claims, where Jesus now intercedes with his own blood, as the Publican did, Luk 18:13-14; Heb 8:12.
4) “And find grace to help,”(kai cherin heuromen)”And in order that we may find grace, to help,” to strengthen, to sustain; Such is available at the mercy seat that covered the ark, hiding the law from vision. On the mercy seat blood was sprinkled for atonement of sins of law-breakers. This is grace, available grace, Exo 25:21-22; Rom 3:24-25.
5) “In time of need,” (eis eukairon bontheian) “With reference to a time (period) when help is needed,” 2Pe 3:18; Php_4:19; For his grace is sufficient for every need, 2Co 3:5; 2Co 12:9; 1Pe 3:7; 1Pe 5:5.
FAITHFULNESS BORN OF SYMPATHY
Mr. Howell tells of a cab driver in Florence, Italy, in whose cab at nightfall he sent home a child to the hotel, from a distance. Being persistent in securing the driver’s number, the cabman began to divine his reason, and so he replied to Mr. Howell, “Oh! rest easy; I, too, am a father.”
-H. 0. Mackey.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. Let us therefore come boldly, or, with confidence, etc. He draws this conclusion, — that an access to God is open to all who come to him relying on Christ the Mediator; nay, he exhorts the faithful to venture without any hesitation to present themselves before God. And the chief benefit of divine teaching is a sure confidence in calling on God, as, on the other hand, the whole of religion falls to the ground, and is lost when this certainty is taken away from consciences.
It is hence obvious to conclude, that under the Papacy the light of the Gospel is extinct, for miserable men are bidden to doubt whether God is propitious to them or is angry with them. They indeed say that God is to be sought; but the way by which it is possible to come to him is not pointed out, and the gate is barred by which alone men can enter. They confess in words that Christ is a Mediator, but in reality they make the power of his priesthood of none effect, and deprive him of his honor.
For we must hold this principle, — that Christ is not really known as a Mediator except all doubt as to our access to God is removed; otherwise the conclusion here drawn would not stand, “We have a high priest Who is willing to help us; therefore we may come bold and without any hesitation to the throne of grace.” And were we indeed fully persuaded that Christ is of his own accord stretching forth his hand to us, who of us would not come in perfect confidence? (81) It is then true what I said, that its power is taken away from Christ’s priesthood whenever men have doubts, and are anxiously seeking for mediators, as though that one were not sufficient, in whose patronage all they who really trust, as the Apostle here directs them, have the assurance that their prayers are heard.
The ground of this assurance is, that the throne of God is not arrayed in naked majesty to confound us, but is adorned with a new name, even that of grace, which ought ever to be remembered whenever we shun the presence of God. For the glory of God, when we contemplate it alone, can produce no other effect than to fill us with despair; so awful is his throne. The Apostle, then, that he might remedy our diffidence, and free our minds from all fear and trembling, adorns it with “grace,” and gives it a name which can allure us by its sweetness, as though he had said, “Since God has affirmed to his throne as it were the banner of ‘grace’ and of his paternal love towards us, there are no reasons why his majesty should drive us away.” (82)
The import of the whole is, that we are to call upon God without fear, since we know that he is propitious to us, and that this may be done is owing to the benefit conferred on us by Christ, as we find from Eph 3:12; for when Christ receives us under his protection and patronage, he covers with his goodness the majesty of God, which would otherwise be terrible to us, so that nothing appears there but grace and paternal favor.
That we may obtain mercy, etc. This is not added without great reason; it is for the purpose of encouraging as it were by name those who feel the need of mercy, lest any one should be cast down by the sense of his misery, and close up his way by his own diffidence. This expression, “that we may obtain mercy”, contains especially this most delightful truth, that all who, relying on the advocacy of Christ, pray to God, are certain to obtain mercy; yet on the other hand the Apostle indirectly, or by implication, holds out a threatening to all who take not this way, and intimates that God will be inexorable to them, because they disregard the only true way of being reconciled to him.
He adds, To help in time of need, or, for a seasonable help; that is, if we desire to obtain all things necessary for our salvation. (83) Now, this seasonableness refers to the time of calling, according to those words of Isaiah, which Paul accommodates to the preaching of the Gospel, “Behold, now is the accepted time,” etc., (Isa 49:8; 2Co 6:2😉 for the Apostle refers to that “today,” during which God speaks to us. If we defer hearing until tomorrow, when God is speaking to us today, the unseasonable night will come, when what now may be done can no longer be done; and we shall in vain knock when the door is closed.
(81) “Confidence,” that is, of being heard. — Ed.
(82) The “throne of grace” is evidently in opposition to the throne of judgment, which especially belongs to a king. Some of the Greek fathers regarded this as the throne of Christ; but most commentators consider it to be God’s throne, as Christ is here represented as a priest and as access to God is ever described as being through Christ. See Eph 2:18. — Ed.
(83) Calvin’s version is, “and find grace for a seasonable help;” which according to his explanation, means a help during the season or period of “today.” Doddridge has, “for our seasonable assistance,” — Macknight, “for the purpose of seasonable help,” — and Stuart, “and find favor so as to be assisted in time of need.” Our version seems the best, “and find grace to help in the time of need.” The address is to those exposed to trials and persecutions; and the seasonable or opportune help was such as their peculiar circumstances and wants required. The word εὔκαιρον, is in the Sept. put for “due season,” or in its time, in Psa 104:27. The idea of Calvin is that some of the fathers, but is not suitable to this passage.
“
Mercy” is compassion, and “grace” is favor or benefit received; it means sometimes favor entertained, but here the effect of favor — a benefit, and this benefit was to be a help in time of need. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
BELIEVERS ENCOURAGED TO BOLDNESS
Heb 4:16.
A TEXT of Scripture, like a picture, often takes its highest meaning from its peculiar setting; and he, who, in the study of some special object tears it from the painted landscape of which it was only a part, does no greater violence to the thought of the artist than does the Bible student to the thought of the inspired writer, when he tears a text from its scriptural connection. In truth there is a more decided coloring given by Scripture to Scripture than the field of art knows, a coloring which belongs alone to the lights and shadows of Gods revealed will. To wrest texts from their proper connection; to employ single sentences as if they were complete in their teaching, and every verse could be reckoned the ground of doctrine, is to behave after the manner of such infidels as Paine and Ingersoll, and by one method of Biblical quotation, bring the whole Book into disrepute.
The world is full of ill-favored students who take no stock in the complete round of Christian doctrine. Their systems of faith are not brought from the Word of the Lord so much, are not based upon its essential teaching, but are bolstered up by single texts, and in them they take refuge whenever their positions are assailed. It is somewhat amusing, and yet rather sadly so, to see how multitudinous are the theories of life and death and immortality that the men of this century are making out and propping up by Scripture texts. The past year has brought to my study more books and pamphlets and papers on new religions than was required to complete the New Testament Canon. All about us, men, from the ignorant crank who poses as a new Messiah, up to the man of learning who frightens us with his higher criticism, are making out their ideas, putting into them their preferences and then seeking to render them palatable to the public by sprinkling them with sacred texts.
A careful study of their new theories of religion will prove them faulty and false simply because their authors too often forget that texts are only valuable as proof when they are employed in such a way as sets forth their original intention.
The passage of Scripture about which we are to think for awhile this morning would discover only partial truth, and even that but poorly, if the preceding verses were unknown or ignored. In their light, however, it teaches some glorious lessons. Perhaps the first that should receive our attention is this.
THE WORK OF CHRIST HAS CONVERTED THE THRONE OF GOD INTO A THRONE OF GRACE
Jehovah is no longer under the necessity of sitting upon a throne of justice to execute the letter of that Law, so terrible to fallen man. The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Eze 18:4).
Jesus Christ, the great High Priest of our souls, has met the demands of that Law in that He bared His own bosom to the shaft of death and allowed it to bury itself there that we might escape the sting. Truly, He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed, because the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:5-6).
It is strange that men start back in horror, almost, from the justice of God, as if instead of meaning the execution of righteousness, it referred only to a sort of vindictive spirit on Jehovahs part. If God ceased to be just He must give up His throne. In the world, where all things are partial and imperfect, it has been difficult, even in an advanced republic, to get the principle of civil service applied. Notwithstanding the fact that no argument can be brought against the notion of allowing men to hold office only during good behavior and efficiency, still to effect the changes when officials are false to their oaths, is not easily accomplished But if, in the administration of the affairs of the universe, God Was unjust in the least, He would dethrone Himself. No matter if that injustice came in consequence of the triumph of mercy on His part, the very office of Judge of all the earth requires that God do right. Is it right that sin go unpunished? If so, why do we complain when mayors and police allow gambling to consume every day in the week, and desecrate the holy Sabbath? Why are we disturbed when the sheriff leaves the murderer unarrested? And why do we insist that the man who breaks up his neighbors home, ought to have meted out to him the full penalty of the law? And shall man be just and God unjust? But how to be just and yet merciful was the problem for the Divine mind, after the fall of man. This text shows how He settled it. He gave Himself in the Person of Christ to meet the demands of that Law, and that accomplished, it was possible to say with the Psalmist: Mercy and Truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psa 85:10).
We know no possible way in which the fatherhood of God could ever have been made to appear so well as in this way of the Cross. We knew a father who, by reason of official station, came into a strait of desires where he longed to be just on the one side, and must be merciful on the other. I sat in his study one night and watched his face while he tried to formulate a plan that would meet both these ends. He was a college president. A gross deed had been perpetrated by some students. He had said to the injured subjects of the too intensely practical joke, Only discover the guilty parties and my judgment shall be so severe that such an act will never be perpetrated in our school again. When the offenders were found out, his boy was among them, and now how to be just and yet shield his son! It was a difficult task to be just and merciful. The measure he adopted at last of compelling them to pay the expense of having them hunted out by detectives, subject to a public rebuke and reprimand, and see their names published in the daily papers, was just, and yet in order to be merciful as well, he paid the debt which his sons sin had incurred. You say, that was like a father. Yes, and to that extent like the great Father God, whose throne demands justice, and yet whose mercy appears in that He Himself has met the righteous requirement in the gift of His only Son. In that fact lies the sinners hope. Traill said truly enough, There is no court in all Gods dominions that a sinner can come to and find any mercy save at the throne of grace. If you talk of law or justice or equity these are all frightful courts to sensible sinners. They know their cause and their case is bad; and if they come to any bar but that of grace, they must be condemned. But at this throne of grace they that have nothing may get all things; they that deserve wrath may obtain mercy; they that are condemned at the court of justice may be acquitted and freed from all sentences, and, be adjudged to eternal life by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
This is joy in the conversion of Gods throne through the work of Christ the Son and the gift of God the Father. But there is prevalent a custom among men to think of the grace of God as completely experienced in the article of salvation; to consider that it has exhausted itself when it effects our conversion. This text calls to attention additional advantages in this connection.
THE THRONE OF GODS GRACE IS MORE THAN A FOUNTAIN OF MERCY SET FOR SINNERS: IT IS A SOURCE OF SEASONABLE ASSISTANCE TO ALL WHO APPROACH IT
The redeemed, though washed from sin, are not freed from temptation; the saved, though secure, are not exempted from trial and persecution; the justified are not yet sanctified. How blessed then the assurance of this text, that the throne of Gods grace is a well-spring of seasonable assistance as well as a fountain of mercy. In it is stored up a wealth of grace, self-sufficient for every exigency of life; and believers may be supplied according to their need. We would count him truly favored who held secure against all dangers, riches sufficient to insure his every necessity. But what riches compare with the opulence of Gods mercy and the riches of His grace? I knew a well once which, with its millions of gallons of water, supplied a great city by invisible mains. Thousands slaked their thirst from that source; hundreds employed it for purposes of cleanliness; even the dumb beasts that walked the streets drank from the ever-flowing fountains. By its gifts the atmosphere was purified and destructive fires were quenched before they had wrought their greater ruin. And yet the gracious arrangement of pipes and faucets was such that we received water only as we needed it, and the supply was so great that it failed not. In this there is a faint illustration of that greater fountain of grace that floweth out from the throne of God, in which our souls are cleansed today; from which they may drink tomorrow and by which they are eternally satisfied.
Guthrie said of the exhaustlessness of this Divine grace, this: Myriads of leaves clothe the forest; myriads of flowers bespangle the meadows; myriads of insects dance in the sunbeams; myriads of birds sing in the woodlands; myriads of fish swim in stream and ocean; myriads of stars glitter in the mighty sky; and every leaf is as perfect in form, every flower as beautiful in color, every living creature fashioned with such skill, and every burning star guided through space with as much care as if it engrossed the entire attention of God and there was not another but itself within the bounds of the universe. The number of objects our hearts can hold or our arms embrace or our eyes watch or our fortunes enrich or our bounty pension is limited, confined within a narrow range, is small at the largest and few at the most. It is not so with Him who is mighty to save, abundant in goodness and truth. The type of His grace is seen in yonder sun, which, for thousands of years, has shed its light on seas and continents, on crowded cities and lonely solitudes, on palaces and cottages, on ragged beggars and sceptered kings, on all countries and classes of men, and with fires fed, we know not how, shines today as bright as ever. With that fountain of grace open there can be no want to them that fear God and seek His help; none, either for the body or the soul; either for time or eternity. But best of all, this grace is promised to us as we need it, and will be given in the very hour when we need it most. We cant appreciate grace until we find ourselves in need. That is why God withholds its richest expression until the darkest day is on, and then, as you have seen the sun suddenly shine through the rift of the blackest cloud, Gods beneficent face breaks on the soul and His helping hand is thrust down from Heaven. It may be in the hour of sickness, in the day of deep mental distress, in the time when the heart is loaded with sorrow and you feel you must be broken on the wheel, that His mercy shines forth and His help is felt as never before. That is according to the promise of this text: Grace to help in time of need. A gentleman who had been in our Civil War told Dr. Talmage how he had seen this text illustrated on the battle-field. He stood on the rail track at Carlisle, Pa. when the ammunition had given out at Antietam, and saw the train come from Harrisburg, freighted with shot and shell, as it went thundering on toward the battle-field. He said it stopped not for any crossing; it put down brakes for no grade; it slowed up for no peril. The wheels seemed on fire from speed as it dashed past. The man who sat in the engineers cab and worked the levers that drove it on knew full well that if that ammunition reached there too late it had as well not get there at all. So there are times in which God must help, at once, if we are helped at all. Is it not blessed to find it written in His Word that it is to be given for the time of need. God doesnt exhaust Himself with one gracious effort in our behalf. Some people are benevolent to help an unfortunate fellow once, but after that they draw the line on charity in that direction. Especially is that apt if the one assisted has failed in any measure to show gratitude. But The Lord is ** plenteous in mercy, and often helping the sixth time, leaves a drawn check on Heavens bank in case a seventh trial should come.
You have heard how the hymn, More to Follow, originated. A wealthy man of Rowland Hills congregation gave to his pastor a roll of money to be given to a poor fellow of the same church, and he said to Hill, Present in whatever sums and at Whatever intervals you deem best. So Hill sent the man a few dollars and wrote a note saying, Still there is more to follow. Every week this same assistance came and this same gracious sentence. So it is with the grace of God, except that Gods gifts will fail not, though the weeks grow into years and years lengthen to the centuries that run on toward eternity. The great beauty of Divine grace is its abundance.
But what right has a man who has sinned to expect the help of this text. The text teaches here the third and the last needed lesson:
THE SYMPATHY OF CHRIST FURNISHES THE BELIEVING SINNER WITH THE OCCASION OF CONFIDENT APPROACH
When we remember that Christ humbled Himself and took upon Him the form of a man and became subject to like temptation with us, we start up in hope, saying with the Psalmist: For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust (Psa 103:14). Before the Apostle encouraged men to come boldly to a throne of grace he had said: For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are. We hardly know whether to rejoice the more in His greatness or His lowliness; in His Divinity or His humanity; in the power of the one or the perfect sympathy of the other.
How it encourages in boldness in prayer to know that in Christ God learned the whole of human experiences, sin excepted. When the trials of life confront us, we care not for such comforters as Job had. No, but how we welcome those who, coming to us out of a kindred experience, press a heart against ours that has known a kindred sorrow. One never feels his inability to lend the bereaved sympathy needed so much as when he goes into a home where is a shadow such as never entered his own house. When recently, in this city, one of our own number experienced the dark trial of a husbands sudden and violent death, I felt as I tried to bear to her a message of good, and by it set sorrow aside and stimulate hope, that I was not equal to such a task, but might well step aside and yield my office to another who had suffered the sting of a similar sorrow, had such sympathizers been at hand. While it hurts us to remember it all, yet we can but rejoice in every disappointment, sorrow, sharp trial, bitter experience, sleepless night and suffering day that Christ passed through the day of crucifixion included, because He learned how to sympathize with us, and was tempted in all points like as we are.
After all, however, is not He the best sympathizer who comes to do more than help bear our burden, who seeks to remove it in part or entirely, as He sees best? The story is told that while Henry the VIIIth was one night walking the streets of London in disguise, he was arrested. The night watchman little dreamed who it was, and not being satisfied with Henrys explanation of his conduct, locked him up in the Poultry Compter, and left him all that wintry night without candle or fire. On his liberation he made gracious provision of food and fuel for the prisoners who languished there.
That dark, cold night taught him to sympathize with, and brought from him a more substantial expression of interest in, the unfortunate fellows there than he would ever have shown but for the night-watchmans blunder.
In every hour of trial then, do we not know where to run for sympathy and relief? So long as the sympathetic Christ sits on the throne of God, or even at its right hand, it will be a throne of grace, which we may confidently approach in time of need.
Why shouldnt we come to it with boldness? Mr. Moody once said: A while ago I learned from the Chicago papers that there had been a run on the banks there and many of them were broken. What a good thing it would be to get up a run on the bank of Heaven. What a glorious thing to get up a run on the throne of grace. Men fail because they do too large a business on too small a capital. So with Christians; but a Christians failure is without excuse. God has grace enough and capital enough. Come boldly to Heavens bank and draw on Him. What would you think of a needy man, with a million in bank, drawing out the starving amount of a penny a day, and yet that is the way we behave. Oh, the riches of the grace of God! Why are we content to keep our souls poor, when it is our Fathers good pleasure to give us the Kingdom? I dont know of any better words with which to conclude this talk than to repeat the prayer the poor man of England wrote upon a piece of paper and left beside his plate: God give me grace to feel my need of grace, and give me grace to ask for grace, and give me grace to receive grace, and O God, when grace is given, give me grace to use it.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(16) Obtain mercy.The real meaning is, receive compassion (Heb. 2:17) in our weakness and trials. The thought of obtaining mercy for guilt is not in these words, taken by themselves; but grace meets every need. If the last verse brought evidence that our High Priest has perfect knowledge of the help required, this gives the assurance that the help shall be given as needed, and in the time of need.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Therefore In view of this glorious tenderness of our great high priest.
Come boldly With free and confident utterance.
Throne Of God, to which we have access through him.
Mercy For our past sins.
Grace For future holiness.
Grace to help in time of need Literally, grace for timely (suited to the demand) aid; that is, against weakness and trial.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.’
And because of this we can draw near to the throne of grace with boldness (compare Heb 10:22), for One is seated there Who has done all for us and totally understands and empathises with us in our weaknesses. And there we can be sure that we will receive mercy (see 1Jn 1:7-10) and find God’s unmerited favour granted to us, through His Holy Spirit, to help us in times of need.
‘The throne of grace.’ Note that it is firstly His throne. There He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Having obtained full and final purification for sins (Heb 1:3), He was exalted as Lord of all (Mat 28:19; Eph 1:19-22). But He sits there as the One Who has offered the complete and final sacrifice, as the One of Whom we partake (Heb 2:14), and Who has faced all that we have to face, and He is therefore there to offer mercy, and compassion, and strengthening. He is there as our Trek Leader and our Elder Brother.
What a wonder is this. On earth the earthly High Priest stood as a suppliant before God. He offered sacrifices for himself first and then for the people, never ceasing to ‘stand’, never with the sense that all was now done. And then he retired from the scene until the next offering was due, still standing. But this One sits on the throne of God. His offering of Himself once-for-all is behind Him. All is perfectly complete. And as the heavenly High Priest Who has the means of offering full forgiveness and cleansing continually, He dispenses Kingly mercy and grace to all who come.
‘That we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help in time of need.’ Mercy for the past, God’s gracious help for the future. As we go on both are constantly needed. Without the first we would face judgment and constant shame and self-reproach, without the second we would crumble in times of need. It represents full provision for our lives.
The idea of a High Priest seated on a throne and no longer offering sacrifices would be foreign to the way of thinking of Jews. Yet this is the great contrast that the writer wants to make. We, he says, do not need to provide an offering and bring it to the priest, and then wait for him to offer it on our behalf. This High Priest has offered one sacrifice for sin for ever and therefore simply awaits our approach on the very throne of God that He may bring us blessing in response to all our spiritual needs. He is High Priest and King.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 4:16. To the throne of grace, That throne on which God the Father, who hath shewn us so great favour through Jesus Christ, sits. “Let us come, not fearful or distrustful, nor under any concern or anxiety, but with freedom and boldness, to this throne of God the Father, through our great High-priest, who stands ready to make intercession for us; that we may obtain mercy; that all our sins,not only those committed before our conversion, but likewise those of which we may have been guiltyafterwards,may through his infinite merits be forgiven us: And that we may find favour, to have help whenever it is wanted; seasonable, opportune help, if at any time we should fall into seasons of persecution, or any other great difficulties and distresses.” Though the rule given us in this verse is never in any case improper to be observed, yet the scope of the sacred writer shews at what he more especially aims. He considers the Hebrews as compassed with infirmity, and as violently tempted by persecution to apostatize from their holy profession; in which circumstances help was peculiarly necessary and seasonable to them. Hence he encourages them to come freely to the throne of grace for it, and to expect it through this great High-priest, as the effect of grace and favour, and not of their own desert.
Inferences.How ancient is the gospel of salvation by Jesus Christ! It has been all along the same, for substance, under various dispensations, and different degrees of light, from the fall of Adam to the New Testament times: the promise of evangelical and eternal rest is now set before us with the clearest evidence in the preaching of the gospel; but our hearing it will be of no saving advantage to us, unless it be mixed with faith. How should we therefore dread the thought of taking up with any thing short of an effectual faith, to receive and digest what we hear, lest God should swear in his wrath against us, as he did against the unbelieving Israelites, that we shall never enter into his rest! But the faithful people of God shall enter into a better rest, than that of the land of Canaan; an everlasting rest in heaven, which is a delightful and holy sabbatism founded on Christ’s resting from his mediatorial labours and sufferings on earth, when he had finished the great work of atonement, as the seventh day sabbath was founded upon God’s having ceased from his creating work, when he had finished it.How efficacious is the written word of God in the hand of Christ, the living and life-giving Word! He sets it home with power and penetration upon the heart, and gives the soul a plain view of itself, either for its reformation and comfort, or its condemnation and confusion. How aweful, adoring, and endearing, should our thoughts of Christ be! All things are continually and exactly open to his all-seeing eye: as he is God the Word, he narrowly inspects and observes the most secret dispositions and designs of our hearts; and we have the most important of all concerns to transact with him, and must give an account of all that we think, say, or do, to him, as our Judge, at the great day. O solemn considerations! But how sweetly are they tempered by believing views of him as the Son of God, our great atoning and interceding High-priest and almighty Saviour! He has been exercised in our nature and world with the very same sort of temptations, inward and outward, as we ourselves are; and he, still remembering what he suffered by them without sin, compassionates us under ours; and is gone into the heaven of heavens now to appear in the presence of God for us. What an encouragement is this to hold fast our faith in him, and steadfastly abide by our holy profession of his name; and to come with humble boldness and holy freedom of spirit to God, through him, as on a throne of grace at all times, and especially in the worst of trials, fears, and dangers, for all the seasonable mercy and grace that we stand in need of.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The apostle, in the view of the foregoing observations,
1. Exhorts them to holy jealousy. Let us therefore fear for ourselves, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, into the eternal enjoyment of him hereafter, any of you should seem to come short of it; overcome by temptation, apostatizing from your experience, or faultering in your Christian course; so as, like Israel of old, to fail of the promised inheritance. For unto us was the gospel preached clearly and plainly, as well as unto them more obscurely in types and figures; but the word preached did not profit them, to any saving purpose; not being mixed with faith in them that heard it, and therefore never incorporated with their hearts, as the food when digested affords nourishment to the body. Nor will the gospel profit us any more than it did them, unless it be received by faith into the soul. Note; (1.) The same gospel in substance was preached under the Old Testament as under the New; and only by faith then, any more than at present, could any man be justified and saved. (2.) It is a dreadful thing to experience gospel grace, and yet to come short of glory, and perish in our sins. (3.) The way to ensure our entrance into the promised rest, is by constant watchfulness and holy caution. They who do not fear, will fall.
2. He shews the surpassing excellency of that spiritual rest, to which, under the gospel, the faithful are admitted. For we which have believed, do enter into rest, through Christ, having present peace with God by virtue of our union with our exalted Head. As he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest, which implied a promise, that all the faithful saints should enter into rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world, and a sabbatical rest enjoined in consequence thereof, which was most eminently a type of that eternal rest which remains for all persevering believers: for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, (Gen 2:2.) And God did rest the seventh day from all his works, hallowing it for ever after as a day of holy rest; concerning which God sware unto the Israelites. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest; as I live, saith the Lord, they shall not; which being spoken by David to the people of his own days, could not refer to the land of Canaan, of which for some hundreds of years they had been in possession. Seeing therefore it remaineth, that some must, or, rather do enter therein, as is implied in the very threatening; and they to whom it was first preached, the generality of them at least, entered not in, that is, into the typical rest; of Canaan, because of their unbelief: Again he limiteth, and fixes a certain day to come, saying in David, (Psa 95:7-8.) To-day, after so long a time had elapsed from their settlement in Canaan; as it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, and ye shall enter into the promised rest. Now this must be different from the possession of the land of Canaan; For if Jesus, Joshua, had given them rest, and none farther was to have been expected, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day, as he does in that psalm. Since then neither the sabbath literally, nor the land of Canaan, is meant in this passage of scripture, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God; a rest into which the spiritual Joshua should bring his faithful followers; a rest infinitely preferable to either of these, even an eternal rest in glory everlasting. For he that is entered into his rest, his final and complete rest, of which we now speak, hath also ceased from his own works, entirely ceased from all the labours and fatigues of his works, as God rested from his own on that first seventh day, which, in commemoration of it, was appointed sacred to future ages.
2nd, Such a glorious rest being promised,
1. The apostle exhorts them to secure a part therein. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, in opposition to every discouragement and difficulty, from sin, Satan, and the world, which may be laid in our way, considering the aweful example above mentioned, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief, and perish in his sins. Note; The way to heaven is strait, and the gate narrow: we must strive if we would enter in; the slothful never went to glory.
2. He enforces his exhortation by the strongest argument. For the word of God, which gives you this account, or the uncreated Word, the Son, our Lord, and shortly to be our Judge, is quick, having life in and of himself, and is the author of it to all his creatures; powerful in agency, and omnipotent; sharper than any two-edged sword, in his gospel word brought home to the conscience by the operation of the Holy Ghost; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; entering into the inmost recesses of the heart, carrying the deepest conviction, and working effectually in the faithful to bring the whole inner man into obedience to himself; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, intimately acquainted with every secret of the soul. Neither is there any creature, in heaven or in earth, that is not manifest in his sight; nor can their inmost thoughts be hid from him; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, ( .) As the sacrifices were flayed and laid open, and their entrails inspected with nicest care; so distinctly is every imagination of our hearts bare and exposed to him whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and at whose bar we must shortly give an account. How awakening a consideration! and what watchfulness and diligence should it excite in us, that we may be found of him in peace, and enter among his faithful ones into the promised rest. N.B. I have in the reflections above, met the sentiments of many spiritual commentators, and in my notes those of very many others.
3. He returns to the consideration of the priesthood of Christ mentioned (chap. 3:50) as an encouraging motive to quicken their diligence, considering the power and grace which were engaged for their support. Seeing then that we have a great High-priest, whose excellence is so superlative; and that, having offered the all-atoning sacrifice, he is passed into the heavens, into the holiest of all, into the immediate presence of God; even Jesus the Son of God, one in essence with the Father, and as Mediator exalted to the highest dignity and glory, able and willing to succour and save his faithful people to the uttermost: therefore let us hold fast our profession, unwavering; for we have not an high-priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who tenderly sympathizes with every pang that we feel in body or soul, and was in all points tempted like as we are, only without sin. His love and compassions therefore being as great as his power, his faithful people may confidently expect salvation to the uttermost, and comfortably labour, when they are assured that it shall not be in vain in the Lord. Note; (1.) Christ is passed into the heavens, and appears in the presence of God, to plead the cause of all who are willing to be saved by grace. (2.) It should be an unspeakable comfort to us under every temptation, that Jesus has endured it before us, knows our weakness, feels for our distress, and is willing to proportion his grace to our necessities. (3.) This should embolden us under the severest conflicts to hold fast our profession, and never to be moved away from the hope of the gospel, seeing that he is near who strengthens us.
4. The glorious high-priesthood of Jesus should encourage us to draw near to God in prayer. Let us, therefore, having such an all-prevailing Advocate, come boldly unto the throne of grace, where our reconciled God in majesty and love unspeakable appears, inviting our applicationswith humble reverence, and filial confidence; that we may obtain mercy, and pardons multiplied from day to day, and find grace to help in every time of need; in time, manner, measure, vouch-safed according to our danger, trials, and distresses, till he land us safe on the shores of eternal rest. Note; (1.) They who know the inestimable privilege of having a throne of grace to go to, will not fail to be found there often upon their knees. (2.) There is nothing that we can want, of which we are not assured of a supply, when by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we make our requests known to a reconciled God. (3.) All our hopes of mercy or grace arise purely from the great High-priest, who lives to make intercession for us; for in him God is always well-pleased, and with believers for his sake. (4.) Humble boldness becomes a child of God, when approaching that throne, where grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Heb 4:16 . Encouragement, derived from the character of the High Priest of the New Testament, as brought into relief, Heb 4:15 .
] approach, draw near , in order to have community with something. Comp. Heb 7:25 , Heb 10:1 ; Heb 10:22 , Heb 11:6 , Heb 12:18 ; Heb 12:22 . Too specially Delitzsch, Kurtz, and Ewald, who explain: drawing near in prayer for aid or succour.
] with confidence , (Heb 3:6 ), inasmuch as we possess, in the very office of intercessor, a High Priest who is not only exalted, but also full of sympathy, who thus has not only the power , but also the will to help.
] not: Christ Himself (Gerhard, S. Schmidt, Carpzov, Ernesti, al .), not: the throne of Christ (Primasius [also Tena, arguing from the Vulgate of Heb 2:9 ], Schlichting, Limborch, Chr. Fr. Schmid, al. ), but the throne of God , at whose right hand Christ is seated. Comp. Heb 8:1 , Heb 12:2 [Eph 2:18 ]. It is called, however, the throne of grace, because the nature of the New Covenant has, as its presupposition, not strictly judicial retribution, according to the works of men, but compassion and grace on the part of God; the believer feels himself united to God as a loving Father, who has remitted to him the guilt and punishment of sin. A reference for the rest to the cover of the ark of the covenant, regarded as the seat of the Godhead in the sanctuary (the or of the Old Covenant), assumed by Piscator, Schttgen, Wolf, Carpzov, Cramer, Abresch, Kuinoel, Paulus, al., and still in recent times by Bloomfield and Bisping (comp. also Kurtz ad loc.), in connection with the expression: , is not indicated by anything in the text.
To obtain mercy and find grace (Luk 1:30 ; Act 7:46 ; comp. , Gen 6:8 ; Gen 18:3 , and frequently) are synonymous terms. All distinctions, as that of Bhme: magis id appellat, quo indigebant calamitatibus oppressi lectores, , quo peccatis non carentes; of Stein, that relates to compassion towards the sinner, to every manifestation of grace; of Bisping, that refers more to the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from sufferings, while refers to the communication of higher gifts of grace; of Hofmann, that means “to be brought into a state of favour with any one, to become an object of his good-will;” , on the other hand, is “a receiving of that which the kind and gracious One accords to those in need of His kindness, just on account of their need,” and many others, are untenable.
] for timely help, i.e. in order that we may in this manner attain to a help which appears on the scene, while it is still the right time, before it is yet too late (Heb 3:13 ). Wrongly Tholuck, Delitzsch, Moll, Kurtz, and Hofmann: “before the one in conflict with the temptations succumbs;” and others (also Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebrerbr. p. 740): “as often as we stand in need of the .”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
REFLECTIONS
How shall I properly prize my mercies, in the grace the Lord gives me, to receive and believe in Jesus; when I am told, as in this Chapter, that the professing Israel of old, to whom the Gospel was preached, found no profit, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Oh! how plain and evident it is, from the experience of mankind in all ages, that grace makes all the difference between him who serveth God, and him who serveth him not. Lord! cause thy Church, thy people, thy redeemed, to rest in Christ and his finished work, as God in creation, and Christ in redemption, rested from theirs. Oh! the sweet thought! There is a rest, and Christ is that rest, which remaineth for the people of God.
Oh! thou uncreated Word! let my soul be always under thy soul – warning, and spirit-comforting power. And, as all things are naked, and open to thine all-piercing sight, do thou, Lord, impart the very grace thou seest to be needful for me. Oh! thou risen and exalted Savior! Thou art indeed passed into the heavens. Thither would my soul by faith and love follow thee. Jesus knoweth me, feeleth for me, is sensibly touched with the circumstances of my infirmities. Surely, Jesus can, and Jesus will, impart all necessary strength, and my God and Savior will make me more than conqueror, through his grace helping me!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Ver. 16. Let us therefore come boldly ] In the sense of sin to wrap ourselves in Christ’s righteousness, and so go boldly to the throne of grace; this (saith a reverend man) is an honour to Christ our high priest. Luther prayed reverently to God, and yet boldly, as to his friend.
Throne of grace ] The altar of incense stood against the mercy seat, but yet there was a veil between them. We, when we pray, must act our faith upon the throne of grace, though we see it not.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16 .] Exhortation to confidence, even in our guilt and need, grounded on this sympathy of our great High Priest . Let us therefore approach ( , only once used by St. Paul, 1Ti 6:3 , and that in a totally different sense, , is a favourite word in this Epistle, cf. ch. Heb 7:25 ; Heb 10:1 ; Heb 10:22 ; Heb 11:6 ; Heb 12:18 ; Heb 12:22 , and generally in the same sense as here, that of approach to God, either, as under the O. T., by sacrifices, or, as under the N. T., by the one sacrifice of Christ. The same idea is expressed Eph 2:18 ; Eph 3:12 , by the word : see also reff.) with confidence (ref. and note there) to the throne of grace (i. e. not, as Seb. Schmidt, al., Christ Himself, nor, as Chrys., c., Thl., Thdrt., Primasius, Limborch, al., the throne of Christ, nor is there any allusion to the lid of the ark of the covenant as the mercy-seat, which both would here be alien from the immediate context, and would introduce a confusion of metaphors in a purely spiritual passage: but, by the analogy of this Epistle, it is the throne of God , at the right hand of which ( , ch. Heb 8:1 ; . . , Heb 12:2 ) Jesus our Forerunner is seated. That it is here called the throne of grace , is owing to the complexion of the passage, in which the grace and mercy of our reconciled God are described as ensured to us by the sympathy and power of our great High Priest), that we may receive ( here clearly in its passive recipient sense, as ch. Heb 2:2 al.) compassion (corresponding to that of our High Priest above spoken of: but extending further than our , to the forgiveness of our sins by God’s mercy in Christ), and may find grace (we have , in ref. 2 Tim. . is common in the LXX. The meaning is not very different from . Many distinctions have been set up, but none appear to hold. Both, the receiving and finding , apply to the next clause) for help in time (i. e. , while it is yet open to us: as Chrys., , , , . , , , Thl., Calvin, referring to 2Co 6:2 (from Isa 49:8 ), . , Estius, al., Bleek, De W., Lnem., Ebrard, Tholuck. This is decidedly the right interpretation, and not as many Commentators and the E. V., “ in time of need ,” “ as often as we want it ,” which would be both flat, and hardly justified by usage, cf. ref. Mark. Delitzsch objects to the above view as weder dem Ausdruck noch der Situation recht entsprechend : but his own, that they were to apply for help which might come in good time, before the danger which surrounded them became so pressing that they must sink under it from inability to resist, surely comes nearly to the same. There is no reason why the two should not be united: , while the throne of grace is open, and you yourselves not overwhelmed by the danger).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Heb 4:16 . . “Let us, therefore [ i.e. , seeing that we have this sympathetic and victorious High Priest] with confidence approach the throne of grace”. is used in a semi-technical sense for the approach of a worshipper to God, as in LXX frequently. Thus in Lev 21:17 it is said of any blemished son of Aaron , and in the 23rd ver. is used as an equivalent, cf. Heb 7:19 . The word is found only once in St. Paul, 1Ti 6:3 , and there in a peculiar sense; but in Heb. it occurs seven times, and generally in its more technical sense, Heb 7:25 , Heb 10:1 ; Heb 10:22 , Heb 11:6 . It had become so much a technical term of divine worship that it can be used, as in Heb 10:1 ; Heb 10:22 , without an object. Here, as in Heb 7:25 , it is followed by a dative , the seat of supreme authority which by Christ’s intercession is now characterised as the source from which grace is dispensed. Premonitions of this are found in O.T.; for although in Psa 96 (97.) 2 and elsewhere we find , yet in Isa 16:5 we read . Philo encourages men to draw near to God by representing “the merciful, and gentle, and compassionate nature of Him who is invoked, who would always rather have mercy than punishment” ( De Exsecr. , c. ix). There is also something in Theophylact’s remark: , , . Similarly Atto: “Modo tempus est donorum: nemo de se ipso desperet”. They are to approach , for as Philo says ( Quis. Rer. Div. Haer. , 4): ; and in c. 5. . The purpose of the approach is expressed in two clauses which Bleek declares to be “ganz synonym”. This, however, is scarcely correct. As is apparent from the next verse, the “obtaining mercy” refers to the pardon of sins, while the “finding grace” implies assistance given. So Primasius, quoted by Westcott “ut misericordiam consequamur, id est remissionem peccatorum, et gratiam donorum Spiritus Sancti”. and are, however, constantly conjoined ( v . Hort on 1Pe 1:2 ). The close connection of with suggests that is the more general and comprehensive term, and that is becoming already more associated with particular manifestations of . There may be , where there is no . We first obtain mercy and then find grace. is everywhere in LXX used with in this sense, translating . “for timely help”; assistance in hours of temptation must be timely or it is useless. For cf. Heb 2:18 ; and for the whole verse, see Bishop Wilson’s Maxim : “The most dangerous of all temptations is to believe, that one can avoid or overcome them by our own strength, and without asking the help of God”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Hebrews
THE THRONE OF GRACE
Heb 4:16
IN the context are three great exhortations which bear a very remarkable and distinct relation to each other: ‘Let us labour to enter into rest’; ‘Let us hold fast our profession’; Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. It is a hard thing to labour to enter into rest. How is it to be done? The second exhortation helps us to answer, ‘Let us hold fast our profession,’ which being translated into other words, is this: our true way of labour is to cling in faith to Him whom we acknowledge; but knowing the weakness of our own hearts, and how they waywardly fluctuate and pass away from the one confidence and happiest trust, it is with profound wisdom that the ultimate injunction is held out for the foundation of all – ‘Let us come to the throne of grace.’ There we get the strength that will enable our slack and benumbed fingers to grasp again the thing we hold. There we shall get that fresh grip of Christ which will quicken us for the labour of entering into rest. And so this portion of exhortation interposed between the doctrinal and theological parts of this letter is addressed to every one in the Christian profession. I ask you, then, to look at this exhortation, which covers the whole ground of Christian duty and strength. Now, first, here is a very remarkable and beautiful expression – ‘the throne of grace.’ Grace, of course, as I do not need to explain, is the New Testament word for the undeserved favour and loving regard of God to man considered as weak, sinful, and unworthy; it is love which has its own motive, apart from any regard to worthiness in the object upon which it falls. Grace is its own real impulse and motive, and grace is set in Scripture as the opposite of desert; it is of grace, not of works, and so forth. It is set as the antagonist of sin and unrighteousness and all evil, and so runs up to the idea that it expresses the unmerited, self-originated, loving regard of God to us poor miserable creatures, who, if dealt with on the ground of right and retribution, would receive something very different indeed. But my text says the throne of grace is the throne of God. I wonder if it is too picturesque to take that word grace here as a kind of synonym of God? Think of the figure that was in the writer’s mind, as being that grace itself was the occupant of the throne, that there she sits, regal, sovereign, enthroned in the heart of the universe, queen of all things, and giving from her full and generous hand to every creature all that which the creature requires. And then if we take the more prosaic notion – which perhaps is the safer one – and think that the metaphor is not that grace is queen and sovereign, but only that the throne is based and established, as it were, in grace, out of which this undeserved love flows in broad, full streams. Even if we take the metaphor thus, we come to the same thought, that whatever else there may he in the divine nature, the ruling sovereign element in Deity is unmerited love and mercy and kindly regard to us poor, ignorant, sinful creatures, which keeps pouring itself out over all the world. God is King, and the kingly thing in God is infinite grace. Then we can scarcely but bring into connection with this grand idea the other phases which the Old Testament gives to the same thought. Read such words as these: – ‘Justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne’ – ‘God sitteth on the throne of His holiness’ – ‘The throne of Thy glory.’ Yes, the throne of justice and of judgment. White and sparkling – cold and repellent. The throne of glory – flashing and dazzling, coruscating and blinding, glittering and shimmering – ready to smite the diseased eye. The throne of Thy holiness. Yes, lofty, far up there, towering above us in its pure completeness, and we poor creatures, being ourselves blinded and dazed, and far away from Him, down amidst the lowlands and materialities, and all that majesty in the heavens – the justice and judgment, the holiness and glory – all that is only the envelope and wrappage, the living centre and heart of it is a pure, lambent glow of tenderness, and the throne is truly the throne of grace. The ‘throne’ gives us all ideas of majesty, sovereignty, dominion, infinitude, greatness. The thought that it is ‘the throne of grace’ sheathes all these in the softest, tenderest, most blessed folds of love – unmerited, free, spontaneous – simply because He is God, and not on account of any goodness in us. Bearing in mind this great conception of true love, ruling, dominant, the sovereign element in the divine nature, let us ask, How do we reach it? Are we warranted in believing it? Read the verses that come before: ‘For we have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.’ Turn that doctrinal statement into a statement of principle and it just comes to this: that our certitude that God’s throne is a throne of love and grace, is all involved in, dependent upon, and built upon, the work of Christ, the High Priest of our profession. That is to say, not ‘thank God’ that His work makes God’s throne a throne of grace – that is not the teaching of the Scripture – but that He, as High Priest, and, therefore, as the revealer to us of God as He is, shows us in His life and death, in the gentleness of His character, in the tenderness of His compassion, in the depth of His sympathy on earth, in the tenderness that touched the little children in their innocence and the harlots in their filth, and in the death He died upon the Cross for the sake of the world – the very heart of God is cut open, as it were, and the two halves fall apart as when we cut some rich fruit to lay hare the inmost pulp. God is manifested to us, God declares Himself to us, in the sympathy of the humanity, in the life, in the death upon the Cross; and the Priest, in His sacrifice, and by His sacrifice, shows us that between the cherubim throned above the mercy-seat shimmers the Shekinah of power, with its white centre of love and peace. And then, on the other side, that same great thought of the priesthood of Christ influences this conception of the throne of God in another fashion still; for, as it seems to me, there is no understanding of the depth and meaning of the work of Jesus Christ, our Lord, unless we heartily accept this, that His great sacrifice for us, in which mainly He is the Priest of our profession, is the means and channel and medium and condition through which all the love of God expresses itself to the world, and has communicated to sinful man all His goodness and all His pity and His tenderness, supplying all our necessities, and is all things to us through Christ our Lord. Seen through Him the throne is white with tenderness; flowing through Him from the throne proceeds the river of the water of life, and so, in both ways, the throne of grace is such by reason of the priesthood of Christ. Look for a moment, in the next place, at the temper and disposition with which we come to this throne. ‘Let us come boldly.’ Now boldly is a somewhat incongruous word; it neither conveys the original, nor does it correspond to our sense of propriety. The thought would be far more beautiful and far more naturally represented by a more literal translation – ‘Let us come with frank confidence’ to the throne of grace. The word literally means, if we go to the etymology of it, speaking everything. You can easily understand how naturally that becomes an expression for the unembarrassed, unrestrained full out-pouring of a heart. You cannot pour out your heart in the fullest confidence to a person you do not respect, but if you get with some one you entirely trust, how swiftly the words flow. and how very easy it is to tell out the whole heart. Just so with this great word of the writer of this Epistle, descriptive of the temper and disposition with which men are to go to God – with confidence, full, cheerful, and unembarrassed, and which expresses itself in full trust, exactly as one of the old Psalms says – ‘Ye people, pour out your heart before Him.’ Yes, let it all flow out, just as you would do to husband or wife, or lover, or friend, or the chosen companion to whom we can tell everything. Ah, but there is no such person – there is nobody, not a soul, could stand the turning inside out of a man! There is no one able to do it to another, even supposing the other could bear it! But my text says ‘come,’ and is so gentle in its love, so strong in its grace, sweetly wooing us to the freest and frankest outpourings of all our hearts before the throne. Let us then come with confidence, because Jesus’ work as our High Priest is in the writer’s mind. You remember the vision in the Revelation where the seer beholds the angel coming with a censer, and he takes incense from off the golden altar, and he goes on to say, that this much incense was offered in the censer with prayers of saints. That is a picturesque and graphic representation of this same idea; my poor cry, the devotions of my trembling, unfaithful heart, the halting, limping approach of my sluggish spirit, these go along with, and are offered through, that Great High Priest.
‘Let the much incense of Thy prayer On my behalf ascend.’
Truly we have a loving High Priest; let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Let us not use as a mere empty form those words ‘for Christ’s sake,’ but let us remember that these words do hold the very secret of all acceptable approach to God, and that’ no man cometh to the Father but by Me. There is reason enough, God knows, in your heart and mine, and in our poor, miserable, wretched, conventional, formal chatterings called prayers, for diffidence and distrust. Well, then, let us fully look that fact in the face, entertain untremblingly the fullest consciousness of the insufficiency and unworthiness of all we do, and all we are, and all we feel, and all we seek, and then wrenching ourselves away as it were from the contemplation of our own selves, which only land us in diffidence and despair, let us turn to Him, that we may have boldness and confidence in our access to the feet of Him who is our Great High Priest, passed into the heavens, and who now sits on the ‘throne of grace.’ And now, lastly, a word about the issue and result of this confidence of access to the throne of grace, the throne of spontaneous love. ‘That we may obtain mercy,’ says the writer, ‘and find grace to help in time of need.’ It is noteworthy, I think, to consider that the writer here is evidently thinking, not about a communion with God which is not prayer, but a communion with God which, on our side, is the lifting up of an empty hand, and on His side the bestowing a large, full gift. There is no fellowship with God possible on the footing of what people call ‘disinterested communion.’ No, we have always to go to Him to get something from Him. The question is, What do we expect to get? My text tells us, not the temporal blessings, not the answers to foolish desires, not the taking away of thorns in the flesh, but mercy and grace to help – inward and spiritual blessings. But what are these? Well, I don’t know whether it is too nice or too microscopic criticism to say that I seem to see a difference between obtaining mercy and finding grace. I take it grace is used in what I call its secondary sense, not meaning so much the love of God unmerited, but rather signifying the consequences of that love in the gifts bestowed upon us, and you know that is a usage of the word common in the New Testament, thus making the word into a plural, ‘graces’ – the manifold gifts that love bestows upon us. So that, I take it, this word is here used in the secondary sense, and if that be so, we may shape a difference between the two phrases, ‘obtaining mercy’ and ‘finding grace.’ I do not think I can put that better than by using a metaphor. The one expresses the heart of God, the other expresses the hand of God. We may obtain mercy as a suppliant coming boldly, confidently, frankly, with faith in the Great High Priest, to the throne of grace. There we get the full heart of God. I stand before Him in my filth, in my weakness, with conscience gnawing at me in the sense of many infirmities, many a sin and shortcoming and omission, and on the throne, if I may so say, is a shoot of tender love from God’s heart to me, and I get for all my weakness and sin pity and pardon, and find mercy of the Lord in that day. And then in getting the full heart of God, with all its divine abundance and pardoning grace and tender, gracious pity, I get, of course, the full hand of God to obtain mercy, and find grace, the bestowment of the needful blessings, the obtaining of grace in time of need, the right grace No blunders in the equipment with which He supplies us. He does not give me the parcel that was meant for you; there is no error in the delivery. He does not send His soldiers to the North Pole equipped for warfare in Africa. He does not give this man a blessing that the man’s circumstances would not require. No, no; blessed be God, He cannot err. We fall back upon the words that precede my text, ‘And there is no creature concealed from His sight, for all things are naked, and open to the eyes Of Him to whom we must give an account.’ That may be, and is terrible, unless we take it along with the other word, ‘We have not a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weakness.’ We see a divine omniscience shining upon us through the merits of the great High Priest, full of light and hope, and because all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him who is our High Priest; therefore the right grace will be most surely given to me to help me in time of need, or, as the words may perhaps be more vigorously and correctly translated, find grace for timely aid, grace punctually and precisely at the very nick of time, at the very exact time determined by heaven’s chronometer, not by ours. It will not come as quickly as impatience might think it ought, it will not come so soon as to prevent an agony of prayer, it will not come in time enough for our impatience, for murmuring, for presumptuous desires; but it will come in time to do all that is needed. Ah, and it will come before Peter has gone below the water, though not until Peter has felt the cold waves rise to his knees, and has cried out, ‘Lord, save me, I perish.’ ‘Master, he whom Thou lovest is sick,’ and He abode still two days in the same place where He was, and when He came, ‘Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died.’ ‘Said I not unto thee, that if thou didst believe thou shouldest see the glory of God.’ ‘God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved, the Lord shall help her, and that right early.’ You remember the narrative of that great final battle on the plains of Waterloo. For long weary days brave men died by the thousands – the afternoon of the last day was wearing rapidly away, the thin red living line getting thinner and thinner, the squares smaller and smaller at each returning charge – but at last, just before the daylight faded, just before endurance could do no more, there comes old Blucher at last and gives the order, and the whole line bore down upon the enemy and scattered them. Ah, help came at the right time, not so soon but that the courage of our brave soldiers had been tested, but before despair had settled upon the ranks, and in time for a great and perfect victory. Oh, my friends, ‘Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace for every time of need.’
Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears thy way; Wait thou His time – thy darkest night Shall end in brightest day.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
come = draw near. Greek. proserchomai. A key word; occurs seven times in Hebrew: here, Heb 7:25; Heb 10:1, Heb 10:22; Heb 11:6; Heb 12:18, Heb 12:22.
boldly = with (Greek. meta. App-104.) boldness (Greek. parrhesia. See Heb 3:6).
grace. Greek. charis. App-184.
that = in order that. Greek. hina.
obtain = receive.
mercy. Greek. eleos. Occurs twenty-eight times, twenty-three times associated with God. Compare Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7. God’s own character of Himself, which the O.T. saints delight to quote. Deu 4:31. 2Ch 30:9. Neh 9:17. Psa 86:15; Psa 103:17; Psa 111:4; Psa 130:7; Psa 145:8. Joe 2:13. Mic 7:18, &c.
to help, &c. = for (Greek. eis) seasonable (Greek. eukairos. Only here and Mar 6:21) help (Greek. boetheia. Only here and Act 27:17).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] Exhortation to confidence, even in our guilt and need, grounded on this sympathy of our great High Priest. Let us therefore approach (, only once used by St. Paul, 1Ti 6:3, and that in a totally different sense, , is a favourite word in this Epistle, cf. ch. Heb 7:25; Heb 10:1; Heb 10:22; Heb 11:6; Heb 12:18; Heb 12:22, and generally in the same sense as here, that of approach to God, either, as under the O. T., by sacrifices, or, as under the N. T., by the one sacrifice of Christ. The same idea is expressed Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12, by the word : see also reff.) with confidence (ref. and note there) to the throne of grace (i. e. not, as Seb. Schmidt, al., Christ Himself,-nor, as Chrys., c., Thl., Thdrt., Primasius, Limborch, al., the throne of Christ,-nor is there any allusion to the lid of the ark of the covenant as the mercy-seat, which both would here be alien from the immediate context, and would introduce a confusion of metaphors in a purely spiritual passage: but, by the analogy of this Epistle, it is the throne of God, at the right hand of which ( , ch. Heb 8:1; . . , Heb 12:2) Jesus our Forerunner is seated. That it is here called the throne of grace, is owing to the complexion of the passage, in which the grace and mercy of our reconciled God are described as ensured to us by the sympathy and power of our great High Priest), that we may receive ( here clearly in its passive recipient sense, as ch. Heb 2:2 al.) compassion (corresponding to that of our High Priest above spoken of: but extending further than our , to the forgiveness of our sins by Gods mercy in Christ), and may find grace (we have , in ref. 2 Tim. . is common in the LXX. The meaning is not very different from . Many distinctions have been set up, but none appear to hold. Both, the receiving and finding , apply to the next clause) for help in time (i. e. , while it is yet open to us: as Chrys., , , , . , , ,-Thl., Calvin, referring to 2Co 6:2 (from Isa 49:8), . ,-Estius, al., Bleek, De W., Lnem., Ebrard, Tholuck. This is decidedly the right interpretation, and not as many Commentators and the E. V., in time of need, as often as we want it, which would be both flat, and hardly justified by usage, cf. ref. Mark. Delitzsch objects to the above view as weder dem Ausdruck noch der Situation recht entsprechend: but his own, that they were to apply for help which might come in good time, before the danger which surrounded them became so pressing that they must sink under it from inability to resist,-surely comes nearly to the same. There is no reason why the two should not be united: ,-while the throne of grace is open, and you yourselves not overwhelmed by the danger).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Heb 4:16. , let us draw near) The same word occurs, ch. Heb 7:25, Heb 10:1; Heb 10:22, Heb 11:6, Heb 12:18; Heb 12:22 : in like manner, , ch. Heb 7:19 : , ch. Heb 6:19 : , ch. Heb 10:19. So Paul also, Rom 5:2, .- , to the throne) ch. Heb 8:1, Heb 12:2; Isa 16:5.- , of grace) This word is also of frequent occurrence in this epistle.-, …) The mercy of Christ being shown, is obtained (is taken, ): and further, the grace of God is found (). The appropriate verb is put before the one noun, and put after the other: Chiasmus.[28]-, mercy) This refers to touched with a fellow-feeling.-, grace) This refers to of grace.-, in the needful time, seasonable) Believers do not feel at once the preparations of grace made for a long time to come;[29] but when the time comes, they find it present with them; and this seasonableness especially falls on the times of the New Testament, Rom 3:26; Rom 5:6, and under it on the times of persecution (the cross).-, help) ch. Heb 2:18.
[28] See Append.
[29] A supply of grace is in store for believers against all future needs: but believers are not permitted to know and feel it all at once, but only according as the need arises.-ED.
—–
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The last verse of this chapter contains an inference from what was discoursed in the two foregoing, as the contexture of the words declares. The exhortation is insisted on, Heb 4:14, that we would hold fast our profession unto the end. The motive and encouragement hereunto is taken from the consideration of the priesthood of Christ, with the several concerns thereof before explained. Here a further improvement of them in particular is directed unto, for the same end; for it is supposed that we may meet with many difficulties, oppositions, and temptations, in the discharge of that duty, which in and of ourselves we are not able to conflict withal and to overcome. Wherefore we are guided and encouraged to seek for help and assistance against them on the account of what hath been declared concerning the priesthood of the Son of God.
Heb 4:16. , , .
, therefore; seeing we have an high priest, and him such a one as we have described.The consideration hereof is to encourage, guide, and influence us unto the ensuing duty, and in all the concerns of it Without this we have no might unto it, no ability for it.
, let us come; so we. But that is only . There is some addition of sense from the composition. Nor is it by any translators rendered veniamus singly, let us come; but adeamus, or accedamus, or appropinquemus, let us come to draw near, or approach. Syr., , let us draw near, in a sacred manner, or to sacred purposes. So have we rendered the mine word, Heb 10:22; and it is used absolutely for to come unto God in his worship, Heb 10:1; Heb 11:16. It answers in the Hebrew, which, as it is used for to approach or draw nigh in general, so it is peculiarly used to signify the solemn approach that was to be made unto God in his worship or service. Hence, also it signifies to offer sacrifices and offering, which are thence called . The word, therefore, hath respect unto the access either of the people of old with their sacrifices to the altar in the temple, or the priestsapproach unto the holy place, as the next words will more fully declare. Having asserted the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be our high priest, as typed out by the high priest among the Jews, he expresseth our addresses unto God by him, in answer to the way and manner whereby the priests or people of old made their approaches unto God, as that which agreeth therewith in its general nature, though on other accounts variously exalted above it: Let us draw near, in a holy, sacred manner, according to his appointment;that is, with our prayers and supplications.
, with boldness. This word hath been spoken unto on Heb 3:6. Here it is variously rendered. Syr. , with an open or revealed eye, Vulg. Lat. cum fiducia, with confidence. So the Arabic. By the Ethiopic it is wholly omitted. Beza, cure loquendi libertate, with liberty of speech or speaking. It is a principal adjunct of the worship of God which our apostle expresseth in this word, both here and Heb 10:19; and this somewhat that is peculiar to theworship of the new testament in opposition unto that of the old. This he elsewhere calls , liberty, 2Co 3:17; the libertythat is given by the Holy Spirit under the new testament unto believers, which those who were kept under bondage by the letter of the old had no interest in: For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And he calls it , 2Co 3:18, open face; whence is the oculus revelatus of the Syriac in this place. This, as it hath an especial opposition to the veil that was on the Jews, and is to this day, filling them with darkness and fear, so it denotes boldness and confidence of mind, in a freedom from fear, shame, and discouragements.
There are, therefore, two things that the apostle intends to remove, and to have us free or delivered from, in our drawing near to the throne of grace with our prayers and supplications, on the account of the interposition of our high priest:
First, A bondage frame of spirit, or a spirit of bondage unto fear, which was upon the people under the old testament in the worship of God. This he elsewhere frequently both ascribes unto them and removes from us, Rom 8:14-15; 2Co 3:12-18. God, in the giving of the law and the institution of the ordinances of worship, wherein he taught the people how he would be reverenced by them, had so encompassed himself with fire and terror, that it ingenerated a great and awful horror in their minds. This made them remove and stand afar off, desiring that God would not approach to them, nor that they might approach unto God, but that all things between them might be transacted at a distance, by an internuncius, Exo 20:18-19. This legal diffidence and distrust in our approaches unto God, which shuts up the heart, straitens the spirit, and takes away the liberty of treating with him as a father, is now by Christ removed and taken away, Gal 4:4-6. Christ was made under the law, to deliver us from the dread and bondage of it; whereby, also, we receive the adoption of children, and therewithal the Spirit of Christ, to treat with God with the liberty, boldness, and ingenuity of children, crying Abba, Father, with the genuine actings of faith and love.
Secondly, A disbelief of acceptation, arising from a sense of our own unworthiness. From an apprehension of Gods greatness and terror there arises a dread in persons under the law; and from the consideration of their own vileness there arises a distrust in sinners, accompanied with fear and despondency, as though there were no hope for them in him or with them. This also the apostle would remove, upon the account of the priesthood of Christ. The manner assigned unto us for our approach to God includes all this. We are to do it , with boldness; which word imports,
1. Orationis, or orandi libertatem. is , a freedom and liberty in speaking; rendered here by Beza, loquendi libertas. This liberty is internal and spiritual, and is opposed unto the legal diffidence and bondage before described. This therefore, in the first place, is our spiritual liberty and freedom, attended with a holy confidence, in our access unto God, to make our requests known unto him, expressing our condition, our wants, our desires, freely and with confidence.
2. Exauditionis fiduciam, or a spiritual confidence of acceptance with God through the interposition of Jesus Christ. In another place our apostle seems to make this to be a thing distinct from the here mentioned: Eph 3:12, , , In whom we have boldness, and an access with confidence, through the faith that is in him. Our access with confidence includes a persuasion of acceptance, and is distinguished from the boldness that it is accompanied withal; but yet as this and , this boldness and access with confidence, are inseparable in and from the same duty, so they may be mentioned the one for both in other places, as here they seem to be. And we thus draw near, , to the throne of grace. The proper and immediate object of our access or approach is and must be a person. Who that is, is not here expressed, but left to be understood from the manner of his being represented unto us. A throne is a seat of majesty, and is ascribed to God and men; to God frequently, as he is , the great king over all. Isaiah saw him on a throne, high and exited, Isa 6:1; and Ezekiel, as on the likeness of a throne, Eze 1:26. So justice and judgment are said to be the habitation of his throne, Psa 89:14. There they abide and dwell, when other thrones have but some partial visits from them. In general, heaven is said to be Gods throne, Mat 5:34, as the place where principally he manifests his glory and majesty. But the expression being metaphorical, is not to be restrained to any one thing in particular. The Hebrews say that God hath a double throne; , a throne of judgment; and , a throne of compassion;; and tender mercy, that is, , a throne of grace. A throne, then, is the place where and from whence judgment is exercised and mercy administered; and therefore our coming unto God in his worship for mercy and grace, is said to be a coming unto his throne. Or there may be an allusion unto the mercy-seat in the tabernacle, which being laid on the ark with a coronet of gold round about it, and shadowed with the cherubim, it was as the throne or seat of God in that most solemn representation of his presence amongst that people; for that which the apostle here calls our coming to the throne of grace, in Heb 10:19 he expresseth by drawing nigh with boldness into the holiest, the place where the ark and mercy-seat were placed. And it is the love and grace of God in Christ which was thereby represented, as hath been manifested elsewhere.
Our next inquiry is after the person whom we are distinctly to consider as on this throne in our addresses thereunto. Some say it is the Lord Christ as our mediator and high priest who is intended: for concerning him directly is the discourse immediately preceding; he is also in particular here described as our merciful, faithful, and careful high priest, all which are encouragements to come unto him, which accordingly we are exhorted unto, and that with boldness; and a throne is peculiarly ascribed unto him in this epistle, Rom 1:8; and he sits in the throne of God, Rom 3:21; and at his throne of grace we may be sure of acceptance.
But yet this seems not to be the especial intention of this place. For,
1. A throne, rule, and government, are ascribed unto the Lord Christ with respect unto his kingly and not his priestly office, of which the apostle here discourseth. It is said indeed of him that he should be a priest upon his throne, Zec 6:13; but that is to intimate the concomitancy of his kingly power as inseparable from his person, he shall be a priest, though sitting, or whilst he sits as a king on his throne.
2. Wherever the Lord Christ is spoken of as on his throne, exalted in the glory and majesty of his kingdom, it is always with reference to his power and authority over his church for to give laws and rules unto it for his worship, or over his enemies for their ruin and destruction.
3. The context requires another sense; for the Lord Christ, in his office and interposition on our behalf, is not proposed as the object of our coming, but as the means of it, and a great encouragement unto it; for through him we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father, Eph 2:18. On the account of his undertaking for us, his appearance before God on our behalf, the atonement he hath made, we may come in his name with confidence of acceptance unto the throne of God. See Rev 4:2-3, Heb 7:25.
I cannot omit one argument that is used by Primasius, Haymo, and Ludovicus de Tena, on this place, to prove that it is the throne of Christ that is here intended. And this is because it is called a throne of grace;
that is,say they, of Christ, for so is he called by our apostle, Heb 2:9.For, following the Vulgar translation, and reading the words, ut gratia Dei gustaret mortem pro omnibus, they say gratia is of the nominative and not of the ablative case, that the Grace of God should taste of death for all. And herein Tena urgeth the consent of Thomas and the ordinary gloss. Such woful mistakes do men, otherwise wise and learned, fall into, who undertake to expound the Scriptures without consulting the original, or an ability so to do. The throne of grace, therefore, is unto us, God as gracious in Christ, as exalted in a way of exercising grace and mercy towards them that through the Lord Jesus believe in him and come unto him.
This is the duty exhorted unto. The end hereof is twofold:
1. General and immediate;
2. Particular, as an effect and product thereof. The general end hath two parts:
(1.) That we may obtain mercy;
(2.) That we may find grace. The particular and determinate end of all is, seasonable help, help in a time of need.
The first thing designed, as a part of the end to be aimed at in the discharge or performance of this duty, is, , that we may receive mercy, that we may obtain mercy. doth sometimes signify to obtain, to acquire; and so by most interpreters it is here tendered, ut obtineamus, ut consequamur, as by ours, that we may obtain; but the first and most usual signification of the word is only to receive, or to take, that we may receive. And I see no reason why that sense of it may not be most proper unto this place; for the apostle seems to intimate that mercy is prepared for us, only our access unto God by Christ with boldness is required to our being made actual partakers thereof. And this answers his prescription of boldness, or spiritual confidence in our approaches to the throne of grace for the receiving that mercy which in and through Christ is prepared for us.
That we may receive . This word is often used to signify that mercy in God from whence we obtain and receive the pardon of our sins, mercy in pardoning, . So most expound this place, that we may obtain mercy for our sins, that we may be pardoned. But this doth not seem to answer the present purpose of the apostle; for he is not discoursing about sin in the guilt of it, but about temptations, afflictions, and persecutions. Wherefore the , or mercy, here intended, must be that which is the principle or cause of our supportment, assistance, and deliverance, namely, in the effects of it. This is in the Hebrew, which the LXX. frequently render by , and we by mercy, though it rather signifies kindness and benignity, than pardoning grace. Moreover, it is not about the first approach of sinners unto God by Christ for mercy and pardon, whereof he treats, but about the daily access of believers unto him for grace and assistance. To receive mercy, therefore, is to be made partakers of gracious help and supportment from the kindness and benignity of God in Christ, when we are in straits and distresses; which springs, indeed, from the same root with pardoning grace, and is therefore called mercy.
, and that we may find grace. This is the next general end of our access, unto the throne of grace. , that we may find, or rather obtain; for so is this word often used. And there may be a twofold sense of these words:
1. To find or obtain favor, or favorable acceptance with God. When God is pleased , to make us acceptable unto himself in Christ, as he is said to do, Eph 1:6, then we find , grace, or favor with him. And this is the foundation of all grace that is communicated unto us. The phrase of speech occurs frequently in the Old Testament. Let me find grace in thine eyes, or favor in thy sight; that is, be accepted with thee, . And to this doth exactly answer; and that is, to be accepted. See Gen 6:8; Gen 18:3, Eph 1:6. So is the Greek phrase, Act 7:46, , Who found favor in the sight of God; Luk 1:30, , Thou hast found favor with God. So we, instead of grace; and thence, Luk 1:28, she is said to be , graciously accepted, or highly favored.
This sense is pious, and agreeable to the analogy of faith; our free, gracious acceptance with God is the foundation and cause of all that grace or assistance that we are made partakers of. But,
2. The apostle is not treating of the personal acceptance of sinners or believers in or by Christ in this place, but of that especial assistance which, upon particular addresses unto him, we do obtain. Now this may be considered two ways:
(1.) In respect of the fountain of it, and so it is beneficentia, the will of God to assist us; or,
(2.) Of the effect itself, the beneficium, the actual assistance and help we do receive. So when our apostle, in his strait upon his temptation, made his address to God for relief, he received that answer, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness, 2Co 12:9. Wherein he had an intimation both of Gods gracious care and good- will towards him, as also of the actual powerful assistance which he should be supplied with against his temptation. And this sense is determined by the next words.
. What kind of help is hath been declared on Heb 2:18. It is a succor; that is, aid yielded unto any upon their cry. , to run in to assist upon the cry of any, is the original of the words signification. And this help is, , seasonable; that is, help , in its time, its proper time or season. Pro 15:23, ; A word in its time (or its season); how good is it! Help that is fit, suitable, seasonable, that is, on the part of God that gives it, of the persons that receive it, of the time wherein it is afforded, of the end for which it is bestowed, is . This kind of help it becometh the greatness and wisdom of God to give. And it is an impression on the minds of men by nature that such kind of help is from God. Hence the proverb, , for unexpected aid when all things otherwise would be lost. This the psalmist excellently expresseth, Psa 46:2, ; God is a help wonderfully found in straits. And so the Syriac version adds in this place, help in time of affliction or persecution. Grace, therefore, effectual for our assistance in every time of need, upon our cry to God in Christ, is that which is here intended. I know not whether I may add an allusion that may be found in the Hebrew words, if respect may be had to that language here. For as is a throne, the throne whereunto we approach for help; so is as much as an appointed time or season. We come for help .
We have opened the words in their order as they lie in the text. Our observations from the resolution of the sense will arise from the last clause and ascend unto the first; and in them the meaning of the words themselves will be yet more fully explained; as,
Obs. 1. There is, there will be a season, many a season in the course of our profession and walking before God, wherein we do or shall stand in need of especial aid and assistance.
This is included in the last words, help in a time of need, help that is suitable and seasonable for and unto such a condition, wherein we are found earnestly to cry out for it. This I shall a little enlarge upon. Our condition all along and in all things is wanting and indigent. We do live, we must live, if we intend to live, always in a constant dependence on God in Christ for supplies. There is a continual , Php 1:19, or additional supply of the Spirit unto what we have received, without which we cannot well spiritually subsist one moment. And God supplies all our wants according to his riches in glory (that is, his glorious riches in grace) by Christ Jesus, Php 4:19. But besides that want which always attends our condition in this world, and which God constantly supplies according to the tenor of the covenant of grace, there are especial straits and difficulties, which in especial seasons we are exposed unto. I need not prove this to them that read; they have found it, they have felt it, and so have I also. I shall therefore only call over a few instances of such seasons, some whereof we have already been exercised in, some whereof we cannot escape for the future, and the rest may probably befall us, if they have not done so already.
1. A time of affliction is such a season. God is a help Psa 46:2, in all sorts of straits and afflictions. And the Scripture abounds in instances of believers making their especial application unto God for especial assistance in such a season, and directions for them so to do. And the rule of the covenant in sending relief, is upon the coming up of the cry of the afflicted unto God, Psa 50:15, Exo 2:23-25. And let mens stock of wisdom, grace, experience, and resolution, be what it will, or what they can fancy, they are not able to go through with the least new affliction to the glory of God without new especial aid and assistance from him.
2. A time of persecution is such a season, yea, it may be the principal season here intended; for hence arose the great danger of these Hebrews in the course of their profession, as our apostle declares at large, Hebrews 10. And this is the greatest trial that in general God exerciseth his church withal. In such a season some seed quite decayeth, some stars fall from heaven, some prove fearful and unbelieving to their eternal ruin. And few there are but that, where persecution is urgent, it hath some impression upon them to their disadvantage. Carnal fears, with carnal wisdom and counsels, are apt to be at work in such a season; and all the fruit that comes from these evil roots is bitter. Hence many make it their only design, in such a send, on, to creep through it and live; to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, unto the performance of all the duties which the gospel requireth, and as it requires them, they have no design. But by this means, as God hath no revenue of glory from them, nor the church of advantage, so they will scarce find inward peace when outward trouble is over. This, then, is a season wherein, if ever, an especial address is needful for especial aid.
3. A time of temptation is such a season. Our apostle found it so when he had the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. Thrice did he pray and cry out for especial assistance against it, or deliverance from it; and he got assurance of them both. This, added to the former, completed the condition of these Hebrews. With their persecutions they had manifold temptations. These made it a time of need unto them. In reference to this season and the power of it doth our apostle give that great caution, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, 1Co 10:12. And wherein doth this heedfulness principally consist? In an application to him who is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it, 1Co 10:13; that is, who will give out seasonable help, help in a time of need.
4. A time of spiritual desertion is such a season. When God in any way withdraws himself from us, we shall stand in need of special assistance. Thou didst hide thy face, saith David, and I was troubled. Trouble will ensue on Gods hiding himself from us. But this is of the mystery of his grace, that when he withdraws himself from any soul as to sense and experience, whereby it is troubled, he can secretly communicate of himself unto it in a way of strength whereby it shall be sustained.
5. A time wherein we are called unto the performance of any great and signal duty is such a season also. So was it with Abraham when he was called first to leave his country, and afterwards to sacrifice his son. Such was the call of Joshua to enter into Canaan, proposed to our example, Heb 13:5; and of the apostles to preach the gospel, when they were sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Now, although we may not perhaps be called in particular to such duties as these, yet we may be so to them which have an equal greatness in them with respect unto us and our condition. Something that is new, that we are yet unexperienced in, something that there is great opposition against, somewhat that may cost us dear, somewhat that as to the state of the inward and outward man we may seem to be every way unfit for, somewhat that the glory of God is in an especial manner concerned in, we may be called unto. And there is nothing of this nature which doth not render the time of it a season wherein we stand in need of especial aid and assistance.
6. Times of changes, and the difficulties wherewith they are attended, introduce such a season. Changes and war, saith Job, are against me, Job 10:17. There is in all changes a war against us, wherein we may be foiled if we are not the more watchful, and have not the better assistance. And freedom from changes is in most the ground of carnal security: Psa 55:19, Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. Changes will beget fear; they are trials to all that are subject unto them. And these we are in all instances of life continually obnoxious unto. No man can enumerate the vicissitudes of our course; yet no one of them can we pass through in a due manner without renewed especial assistances of grace.
7. The time of death is such a season. To let go all hold of present things and present hopes, to give up a departing soul entering into the invisible world, and an unchangeable eternity therein, into the hands of a sovereign Lord, is a thing which requires a strength above our own for the right and comfortable performance of.
Now it is easy to apprehend how great an influence these things have into our whole course of walking before God, and how much of our lives and ways is taken up with them, either afflictions, or persecutions, or temptations, or defections from God, or signal difficult duties, or changes, are continually before us, and the last of them, death, lies still at the door, and there is none of these but render their seasons times of need. It may, indeed, then be said, Wherein doth the specialty of the grace and aid mentioned consist, seeing it is that which we always stand in need of, and always receive?I answer, that indeed all grace is special grace. It proceeds not from any common principle, but from the especial love of God in Christ; and is given out in an especial, distinguishing manner; and that for especial ends and purposes; so that no supply of it hath a peculiar specialty in its own nature. But it is here so called because it is suited unto especial occasions, to be seasonable help in a time of need. And although we may stand in need of it always, yet we do not so always on the same account, which gives it its specialty. Sometimes one thing, sometimes another, makes it needful and suitable. That which presently presseth upon us, be it affliction or persecution, be it duty or change, it makes the grace we seek for help in a time of need. And God is pleased so to dispose of things that we shall have occasion at all times to make our applications unto him for especial assistance. If things should be left unto an ordinary course, without some peculiar concernment to excite us, to awaken us, it is inconceivable how formal and secure we should quickly grow. Wherefore we have, in the wisdom of God, always somewhat that in particular presseth upon us, to make us intent, earnest, and vigilant in our addresses to him for help. And the especial supplies which we obtain on any particular occasion afford a contribution of new spiritual strength to the soul for all its duties. The remaining observations may be briefly presented; for hence it appears,
Obs. 2. That there is with God in Christ, God on his throne of grace, a spring of suitable and seasonable help for all times and occasions of difficulty. He is the God of all grace, and a fountain of living waters is with him for the refreshment of every weary and thirsty soul.
Obs. 3. All help, succor, or spiritual assistance in our straits and difficulties, proceeds from mere mercy and grace, or the goodness, kindness, and benignity of God in Christ: That we may receive mercy, and obtain grace to help. Our help is from grace and mercy; and thence must it be, or we must be forever helpless. And, not to exclude that sense of the words,
Obs. 4. When we have, through Christ, obtained mercy and grace for our persons, we need not fear but that we shall have suitable and seasonable help for our duties. If we obtain mercy and find grace, we shall have help.
Obs. 5. The way to obtain help from God is by a due gospel application of our souls for it to the throne of grace: Let us come for it to the throne of grace. How this application is to be made by faith and supplications, and how indispensable it is for the procuring of the aid aimed at, shall be elsewhere declared.
Obs. 6. Great discouragements are used to interpose themselves in our minds and against our faith, when we stand in need of especial help from God, and would make our application unto him for relief. It is included in the exhortation to come with boldness; that is, to cast off and conquer all those discouragements, and to use confidence of acceptance and liberty of speech before him.
Obs. 7. Faiths consideration of the interposition of Christ in our behalf, as our high priest, is the only way to remove discouragements, and to give us boldness in our access unto God: Let us come therefore with boldness; that is, on the account of the care, love, and faithfulness of Christ as our high priest, before discoursed on. And we may add,
Obs. 8. That in all our approaches unto God, we are to consider him as on a throne. Though it be a throne of grace, yet it is still a throne; the consideration whereof should influence our minds with reverence and godly fear in all things wherein we have to do with him.
These observations are, as included in the text, so of importance in themselves, as concerning the principal parts of the life of faith, and our daily spiritual exercise in our walking before God; yet I shall forbear any enlargements upon them, that these discourses be not drawn forth unto too great a length.
.
Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
The Full Assurance of Hope
Since we have such a great High Priest in heaven as the Lord Jesus Christ is, one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Here is a call to prayer that tugs at the hearts of all who need mercy and grace. What a gracious, blessed admonition this is!
I do not pretend to know much about prayer; but I do know what God has taught me and is teaching me. Prayer is one of the most important aspects of every believers life. Yet, it is one with which we struggle constantly. It is a subject about which there is enormous confusion, even among Gods elect. I cannot think of a single text in Scripture which gives us more encouragement and reason to pray than Heb 4:16.
A Throne
When we approach God on his throne, we rejoice to know that his throne, that throne upon which God our Savior sits, from which he rules the universe is “The throne of grace.”
Once it was called “the mercy seat,” but now “the throne.” In drawing near to God in prayer, we come to God upon the throne. No one approaches God who does not approach him upon the throne. He who is God almighty is that great and glorious Monarch of the universe who sits upon the throne of total, absolute sovereignty.
When God enacts laws, he is on a throne of legislation: when he administers these laws he is on a throne of government: when he tries his creatures by these laws, he is on a throne of judgment, but when he receives petitions, and dispenses favors, he is on a throne of grace. (William Jay)
The idea of a throne inspires awe, bordering upon terror. It repels rather than invites. Few of us could approach it without trembling. Yet, here is the throne of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the scepter of total sovereignty, absolute holiness, and immutable justice. Before this great King the greatest earthly monarch that ever wore a crown is but a worm. Before him, all the nations of men are less than nothing and vanity. How dares any sinful man approach him who is infinite majesty? Blessed be his name, we come to him upon his throne, because he sits upon a throne of grace. Therefore, we are allowed, and even commanded, to come to it boldly.
Coming to God
Prayer is coming to God upon his throne. If we would come to God, we must come to him as a King. We must bow before him with reverence, confidence, and submission. Faith, in its essence and in all its exercises, is surrender to the Lord God as our great King.
In prayer we come to this great King as to One who gives as a King. We ask great things from the great King. We ask great things with expectation, because he is as magnanimously good as he is great. We ask great things, because he is infinitely rich in grace and in power (Php 4:19). He who is our God and King, remember, sits upon a throne of grace. This King sits on his throne on purpose, specifically to dispense grace. It is his design, his object in displaying himself as King, to dispense grace.
Glory Revealed
It is in hearing the prayers of the needy and dispensing grace to them that our God and King is honored and glorified. It is upon his throne of grace that God our Savior is revealed in his glory.
You will remember that this throne of grace is that which Isaiah saw (Isaiah 6). It was typified in the mercy-seat, which was upon the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament, where atonement was made. This is what John beheld in Revelation 4, 5, where he saw the Lamb that had been slain.
When he saw the throne of God and of the Lamb, he saw the rainbow encircling the throne, declaring that every act of the throne is according to Gods covenant of grace represented in the rainbow. He saw the book of God, the book of Gods decrees, full, complete, and sealed. Then, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, the crucified Lamb of God rise up in the midst of the throne. He saw the God-man take the book and open it. He it is who is the center of all those decrees. He it is who opens and fulfils them in providence (Rev 5:9-14).
It is here, in Christ, the crucified Lamb of God, sitting upon the throne, that we behold Gods majesty and mercy, his justice and his grace, his truth and his goodness (Exo 25:17-18; Exo 25:22; Heb 9:1-12; Heb 10:19-22).
The Lord God to whom we come and before whom we bow in prayer, even in hearing prayer, acts as a sovereign, but whose sovereignty is the sovereignty of grace. It is to this throne, the throne of the great God, that poor sinners are bidden to come. Oh, what a privilege this is! All who come to the throne of grace have free audience with the King of Grace!
Come Boldly
Let us, therefore, come boldly to God upon the throne, through the merits and mediation of Christ, our great High Priest. Come boldly, that is to say, freely, without fear, pouring out our hearts to our heavenly Father. Come with reverence, as before God our King; but come boldly, with all the freeness of a child to the most loving father imaginable. Remember, he who is the God of the universe is our heavenly Father. We have every reason to expect him to do us good (Rom 8:32). Come in every time of need for the mercy and grace needed, expecting him to supply the need, for Christs sake.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
throne of grace
Grace (imparted). Heb 12:15; Heb 12:28; Rom 6:1; 2Pe 3:18.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
The Throne of Grace
Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.Heb 4:16.
In the closing sentences of this chapter the writer winds up the long exhortation to steadfastness by an inspiring allusion to the sympathy of the great High Priest, who has passed out of this time-world, through the veil of the visible heavens, into the celestial-world; and he takes care that his last word shall be of a cheering character, and also so manages that the conclusion of this hortatory section shall form a suitable introduction to the next part of his discourse. For the third time Christ is designated a High Priest and there are ascribed to Him, as such, attributes which are to form the theme of the next great division of the Epistle, wherein the priestly office of Christ is elaborately discussed. The writer re-invites the attention of his readers to the High Priest of their confession, and in doing so uses words every one of which contains an assertion which he means to prove or illustrate, and which being proved will serve the great end of the whole Epistlethe instruction and confirmation of the ignorant and tempted.
Then, when he has, by brief, pregnant phrase, hinted the thoughts he means to prove, the writer proceeds to address to his readers an exhortation, which is repeated at the close of the long discussion on the priesthood of Christ, to which these sentences are the prelude. In doing so, he gives prominence to that feature of Christs priestly character of which alone he has as yet spoken explicitlyHis power to sympathize, acquired and guaranteed by His experience of temptation. He presents Christ to view as the Sympathetic One in golden words which may be regarded as an inscription on the breast-plate of the High Priest of humanity. To this strong assertion of Christs power to sympathize is fitly appended the final exhortation: Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and grace for seasonable succour.
I
Confidence of Approach
Let us draw near with boldness.
1. The word boldness is somewhat incongruous; it neither conveys the original nor does it correspond to our sense of propriety. The thought would be far more beautifully and far more naturally represented by a more literal translationLet us come with frank confidence to the throne of grace. The word literally means, if we go to the etymology of it, speaking everything. You can easily understand how naturally that becomes an expression for the unembarrassed, unrestrained, full outpouring of a heart. You cannot pour out your heart in the fullest confidence to a person you do not respect, but if you are with some one you entirely trust, how swiftly the words flow, and how very easy it is to tell out the whole heart. Just so with this great word of the writer of this Epistle, descriptive of the temper and disposition with which men are to go to Godwith confidence, full, cheerful, and unembarrassed, and expressing itself in full trust, exactly as we have it in one of the Psalms: Ye people, pour out your heart before him. Yes, let it all flow out, just as you would do to husband or wife, or lover or friend, or the chosen companion to whom you can tell everything.
2. We need not, however, discard the familiar word boldness; it is enough if we know what kind of boldness it is. Not the boldness of presumption; for if we would serve God acceptably it must be with reverence and godly fear. Not the boldness of self-will; but ever prayingFather, Thy will. Not the boldness of selfmerit; but saying, with Daniel, We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. It is the boldness of reliance on Gods own nature and promise. He has bidden us pray, assured response, and promised help. He means what He says. So we may come with reliance, though with reverence; with earnestness, though with submission; with confidence, though with penitence; with the boldness of a child telling all its griefs and wants to a pitying parentthe boldness Jesus encouraged in the parable of the importunate widow, and rewarded in the case of the Syrophenician mother.
Prayer in the fullest sensethe prayer that is wrought in us by the Spirit and presented by the Christ of God; prayer that wins the Kings earis the last triumph of the life of grace. Prayer in the noblest sense implies a concentration of all mans united energies. Coleridge shortly before his death said these words to a friend who has recorded them: I do not account a solemn faith in God as a real object to be the most arduous act of the reason and the will. Oh, no, my dear sir, it is to pray with all my heart and strength, with the reason and with the will, to believe that God will listen to your voice through Christ, and verily do the thing He pleaseth thereupon. This is the last, the greatest achievement of the Christians warfare on earth. Teach us to pray, O Lord. Here he burst into a flood of tears, and begged me to pray for him. The highest energy the human heart is capable of is to pray, like St. Paul, with the spirit and the understanding. But few may reach this victory, and it is deeply consoling to remember that it is a Throne of Grace before which we kneel, and that though our prayers may be marred and faultful, yet our Mediator interprets them in the ears of our loving Father, while the Spirit helps our infirmities and gives life and power to the failing, dying heart.1 [Note: W. Robertson Nicoll, Sunday Evening, 339.]
To come boldly, it is to come frequently. At morning, at noon, and at night will I pray. We use to count them bold beggars that come often to our door. To come boldly, it is to ask for great things when we come. That is the bold beggar, that will not only ask, but also choose the thing that he asketh.2 [Note: Bunyan.]
II
The Throne of Grace
Let us draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace.
1. The word throne commonly suggests power, majesty, sovereignty, wealth; but Gods throne is here described as one of grace. His generosity is as boundless as His wealth. He bestows blessing not upon the ground of desert or according to any measure of merit, but according to the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Having, in the fulness of His benevolence, not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, He stands ready with Him and through Him, freely to give us all things. He is the God of love, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort and consolation, who daily loadeth us with benefits, who preventeth us with the blessings of His goodness, and who in the riches of His grace hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. It is to give prominence to this aspect of the character of God that the writer represents Him here as seated on a throne of grace. Mercy no less belongs to Him than majesty. If He is the God of glory, He is also the God of all grace. The throne, therefore, on which He sits is represented as a throne of gracea throne which rests on grace, which is upholden by mercy, and from which blessing flows forth in a free and plenteous stream to the unworthy, the wretched and the lost. The glory that surrounds Gods throne, as He manifests Himself to His creatures, is a glory before which the highest of them veil their faces; they are unable to gaze on its exceeding lustre; but the form in which it arranges itself is that of a rainbow, the token of mercy and the pledge of blessing, so that even the guilty and the fallen can approach with confidence to ask of Him who sits on that throne mercy and favour.
Mercy is that eternal principle of Gods nature which leads Him, even at the cost of infinite self-sacrifice, to seek the temporal good and eternal salvation of those who have opposed themselves to His will. In the words of Martensen: Viewed in relation to sin, eternal love is compassionate grace. Gods continued impartation of natural life is a foreshadowing, in a lower sphere, of what He desires to do for His creatures in the higher spherethe communication of spiritual and eternal life through Jesus Christ. When He bids us love our enemies, He only bids us follow His own example.1 [Note: A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, i. 289.]
2. And what is grace? Grace, of course, is the New Testament word for the undeserved favour and loving regard of God to man considered as weak, sinful, and unworthy; it is love which has its own motive, apart from any regard to worthiness in the object upon which it falls. Grace is its own real impulse and motive, and grace is set in Scripture as the opposite of desert; it is of grace, not of works, and so forth. It is set as the antagonist of sin and unrighteousness and all evil, and so runs up to the idea that it expresses the unmerited, self-originated, loving regard of God to us poor miserable creatures, who, if dealt with on the ground of right and retribution, would receive something very different indeed. But this text says that the throne of grace is the throne of God. The throne is based and established, as it were, in grace, out of which this undeserved love flows in broad, full streams. Whatever else there may be in the Divine nature, the ruling sovereign element in Deity is unmerited love and mercy and kindly regard to us poor, ignorant, sinful creatures, which keeps pouring itself out over all the world. God is King, and the kingly thing in God is infinite grace. Then we can scarcely but bring into connexion with this grand idea the other phases which the Old Testament gives to the same thought. Read such words as these: Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throneGod sitteth on the throne of his holinessThe throne of thy glory. Yes, the throne of justice and of judgment. White and sparklingcold and repellent. The throne of gloryflashing and dazzling, coruscating and blinding, glittering and shimmering, ready to smite the diseased eye. The throne of his holiness. Yes, lofty, far up there, towering above us in its pure completeness, and we poor creatures, being ourselves blinded and dazed, and far away from Him, down amidst the lowlands and materialities, and all that majesty in the heavensthe justice and judgment, the holiness and gloryall that is only the envelope and wrappage; the living centre and heart of it is a pure, lambent glow of tenderness, and the throne is truly the throne of grace. The throne gives us all ideas of majesty, sovereignty, dominion, infinitude, greatness. The thought that it is the throne of grace sheathes all these in the softest, tenderest, most blessed folds of loveunmerited, free, spontaneoussimply because He is God, and not on account of any goodness in us.
Less and less, I think, grows the consciousness of seeking God. Greater and greater grows the certainty that He is seeking us and giving Himself to us to the complete measure of our present capacity. That is Love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us. I am sure that we ought to dwell far more upon Gods love for us than on our love for Him. There is such a thing as putting ourselves in the way of Gods overflowing love and letting it break upon us till the response of love to Him comes, not by struggle, not even by deliberation, but by necessity, as the echo comes when the sound strikes the rock. And this, which must have been true wherever the soul of God and the soul of man have lived, is perfectly and finally manifest in the Christhood of which it is the heart and soul.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks: Memories of His Life, 606.]
(1) It is the opinion of some that, in the phrase the throne of grace, an allusion is made to the so-called mercy-seat in the Jewish temple, on which God is represented as sitting enthroned, and where He heard the supplications of His people presented by the high priest, when He accepted their oblations, and from which He dispensed to them the blessings that they needed. For this, however, there seems no sufficient reason. The writer has no call here to refer to the mercy-seat; and it is unlikely that, in seeking to raise the minds of his readers to the elevation of specifically spiritual worship through Christ, he would clothe his sentiments in language borrowed from the outward Jewish worship; to say nothing of the fact that mercy-seat is a rendering which has nothing in the original to justify it, and that Jehovah is nowhere represented as sitting enthroned on it, but rather as sitting on a throne upborne by the cherubim, from which He looked down on the blood-sprinkled lid which covered, and, as it were, hid from view, the covenant broken by Israel, and demanding the punishment of the transgressors.
(2) Others have thought that this throne of grace is the mediatorial throne on which Christ sits, not the throne of God the Father. But though it is undoubtedly true that our Lord is now exalted to the throne of heaven, where He sits possessed of all power and authority, it does not appear that it is of this that our author is speaking here. His subject leads him to contemplate the priestly office and work of Christ rather than the regal, and the light in which we are taught to regard Him here is not so much that of the Being to whom we are to come as that of the Medium through which we are to come. As He has procured eternal redemption for us, and as He appears in the presence of God for us, we have access with confidence to the Most High. Through Him we have the introduction or privilege of entrance to the Father. Access to the throne of grace, then, is access to God the Father, as seated on that throne. Such language is of course figurative: it describes God after the manner of men. But it does describe Him to us; it is not a merely ornamental figure, it is a figure designed vividly, and in a manner calculated to impress our minds, to convey to us certain ideas concerning God in His relation to us, ideas which it is of importance that we should receive, as intimately connected with the furtherance in us of a true and spiritual religion.
I suppose if I were more simple-minded I should have been thinking over my faults and failures, desiring to do better, making good resolutions. But I dont do that. I do desire, with all my heart, to do better. I know how faltering, how near the ground my flight is. But these formal, occasional repentances are useless things; resolutions do little but reveal ones weakness more patently. What I try to do is simply to uplift my heart with all its hopes and weaknesses to God, to try to put my hand in His, to pray that I may use the chances He gives me, and interpret the sorrows He may send me. He knows me utterly and entirely, my faults and my strength. I cannot fly from Him though I take the wings of the morning. I only pray that I may not harden my heart; that I may be sought and found; that I may have the courage I need. All that I have of good He has given me; and as for the evil, He knows best why I am tempted, why I fall, though I would not. There is no strength like the abasement of weakness; no power like a childlike confidence.1 [Note: A. C. Benson, The Upton Letters, 317.]
Holy of Holies, awful name
Where, in a still retreat,
The Presence of the Godhead dwelt,
Upon the mercy-seat:
Veiled from the eye in darkness dim,
Enthroned between the cherubim.
Once in the year, within the veil,
In mystic robes arrayed,
The High Priest entered, and with blood
An expiation made:
But blood of victims could not cleanse
And purge the guilt of mans offence.
O Great Redeemer! God and Man,
Victim and Priest in one;
Thou, entering Heaven with Thine own Blood,
Didst once for all atone;
Thou hast removed the awful cloud,
Which once the oracle did shroud.
Now a bright Rainbow oer the Throne
Sheds lustre from above,
Where showers of Judgment mildly shine,
Gilded by beams of Love;
Thy Blood, O Lamb of God, is there,
Pleading for us with ceaseless Prayer.
Cleansed by that Blood, we now approach
Boldly the Throne of Grace:
O may we, following the Lamb,
Come to that Holy Place;
Lord, who for us didst deign to bleed,
Be Thou our help in time of need!1 [Note: Christopher Wordsworth.]
3. To the throne we should come with hearts that harbour no treason; to the throne we should come with large petitions as those who expect greatly; to the throne we should come with the deepest sincerity and earnestness, remembering how high and wonderful a thing it is to enter the brightness of its radiance. But knowing its own flaws, its faultiness, its feebleness, the spirit rests on the thought that the throne is a throne of grace. Often and often we can approach it only with broken words, with wandering hearts, with ignorant desires, with passionate sobs and sighs. There is One who is there to interpret with loving tenderness our tears, our dim longings for deliverance and purity. Often we can come only defiled within and without. We come to the throne with defects of faith, defects of knowledge, defects of life, but they may all be overlooked and forgiven. We come with griefs we cannot name, but we come to Him whose eyes behold with compassion our most intimate and secret and shameful miseries. We are living in a year of grace and we are living under the reign of grace. Those who approach an earthly throne may be troubled infinitely by some breach of custom or etiquette, but the place of our sanctuary, our glorious high throne from the beginning, is a throne of grace.
We are called to the throne of grace, not to the throne of law. Rocky Sinai once was the throne of law, when God came to Paran with ten thousand of His holy ones. Who desired to draw near to that throne? Even Israel might not. Bounds were set about the mount, and if but a beast touched the mount, it was stoned or thrust through with a dart. O ye self-righteous ones who hope that you can obey the law, and think that you can be saved by it, look to the flames that Moses saw, and shrink, and tremble, and despair. To that throne we do not come now, for through Jesus the case is changed. We are still on praying ground and pleading terms with God, and the throne to which we are bidden to come, and of which we speak at this time, is the throne of grace. It is the throne set up on purpose for the dispensation of grace; a throne from which every utterance is an utterance of grace; the sceptre that is stretched out from it is the silver sceptre of grace; the decrees proclaimed from it are purposes of grace; the gifts that are scattered adown its golden steps are gifts of grace; and He that sits upon the throne is grace itself. It is the throne of grace itself. It is the throne of grace to which we approach when we pray.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]
The way is open to the throne of grace,
Draw near, and in the name of Jesus plead;
It was for sinners that He shed His blood,
Looking to Him, come now with all thy need.
The Father waits to hear thy humble prayer,
And Jesus speaks, Ask and thou shalt receive;
Most gracious is the call, the promise great,
Full blessing will be thine if thou believe!
III
The Blessings Obtained
That we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.
1. Our chief and comprehensive request at the throne of grace must ever be mercy and grace. The first prayer of penitence is, God be merciful to me a sinner. He who atoned for sin is before the throne to plead for sinners. Grace includes more than mercy. It is seasonable succour at all times. If mercy forgives our failings, grace helps us not to fail. We need mercy to pardon, grace to purify; mercy to give life, grace to nourish it; mercy to rescue us, grace to guide us; mercy to lay the foundation of the temple, grace to complete it to the top-stone. Grace every day, in all circumstances: in prosperity, lest we forget God; in adversity, lest we distrust Him; in temptation, lest we fall; in conflict, lest we yield; in anguish, lest we faint. Our great encouragement is that on the throne is One who has known the need of help from God, from angels, and from men.
There are two who are unfit for showing mercy: he who has never been tried; and he who, having been tempted, has fallen under temptation. The young, untempted, and upright, are often severe judges. They are for sanguinary punishment: they are for expelling offenders from the bosom of society. The old, on the contrary, who have fallen much, are lenient: but it is a leniency which often talks thus: Men must be mena young man must sow his wild oats and reform. So young ardent Saul, untried by doubt, persecuted the Christians with severity, and Saul the king, on the contrary, having fallen himself, weakly permitted Agag to escape punishment. David, again, when his own sin was narrated to him under another name, was unrelenting in his indignation: The man that hath done this thing shall surely die. None of these was qualified for showing mercy aright. Unthinkingly we should say that to have erred would make a man lenient; it is not so. That truth is taught with deep significance in one of the incidents of the Redeemers life. There stood in His presence a tempted woman, covered with the confusion of recent conviction. And there stood beside her the sanctimonious religionists of that day, waiting like hell-hounds to be let loose upon their prey. Calm words came from the lips of Him who spake as never man spake, and whose heart felt as never man felt. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone. A memorable lesson of eternal truth. Sinners are not fit to judge of sintheir justice is revenge, their mercy is feebleness. He alone can judge of sinhe alone can attemper the sense of what is due to the offended Law with the remembrance of that which is due to human frailtyhe alone is fit for showing manly mercy, who has, like his Master, felt the power of temptation in its might, and come scathless through the trial. In all points temptedyet without sin; therefore, to Him you may boldly go to find mercy.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson.]
2. There is no fellowship with God possible on the footing of what people call disinterested communion. No, we have always to go to Him to get something from Him. The question is, What do we expect to get? The text tells us. It is not temporal blessings, not the answers to foolish desires, not the taking away of thorns in the flesh, but mercy and grace to helpinward and spiritual blessings. But what are these? The one expresses the heart of God, the other expresses the hand of God. We may obtain mercy as suppliants coming boldly, confidently, frankly, with faith in the Great High Priest, to the throne of grace. There we get the full heart of God. We stand before Him in our filth, in our weakness, with conscience gnawing at us in the sense of many infirmities, many a sin and shortcoming and omission, and on the throne, so to speak, is a shoot of tender love from Gods heart to us, and we get for all our weakness and sin pity and pardon, and find mercy of the Lord in that day. And then in getting the full heart of God, with all its Divine abundance of pardoning grace, and tender, gracious pity, we get, of course, the full hand of God to obtain mercy, and find grace, the bestowment of the needful blessings, the obtaining of grace in time of need, the right grace. There are no blunders in the equipment with which He supplies us. He does not give me the parcel that was meant for you; there is no error in the delivery. He does not send His soldiers to the North Pole equipped for warfare in Africa. He does not give this man a blessing that the mans circumstances would not require. No; God cannot err. The right grace will be most surely given to us to help us in time of need, or, as the words may perhaps be more vigorously and correctly translated, find grace for timely aid, grace punctually and precisely at the very nick of time, at the very exact time determined by heavens chronometer, not by ours. It will not come as quickly as impatience might think it ought; it will not come so soon as to prevent an agony of prayer; it will not come in time enough for our impatience, for murmuring, for presumptuous desires; but it will come in time to do all that is needed.
You remember the narrative of that great final battle on the plains of Waterloo. For long weary days brave men died by the thousands; the afternoon of the last day was wearing rapidly away, the thin red living line getting thinner and thinner, the squares smaller and smaller at each returning chargebut at last, just before the daylight faded, just before endurance could do no more, there comes old Blcher at last and gives the order, and the whole line bore down upon the enemy and scattered them. Ah, help came at the right time, not so soon that the courage of our brave soldiers had not been tested, but before despair had settled upon the ranks, and in time for a great and perfect victory. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
An old Scottish divine, Robert Walker, makes some apt observations on finding grace to help us in time of need. The grace, he remarks, that we are encouraged to ask is grace for present need, and not present grace for future supposed necessities. It is no uncommon thing for serious people who suspect their own sincerity to forecast some trial of the severest kind, and to pass judgment upon themselves, according to the present state and temper of their minds with respect to that supposed trial. What shall I think of myself? saith one; it is required of a disciple of Jesus, that he take up his cross; but so feeble am I, that my nature shrinks at the remotest prospect of suffering. Alas! saith another, instead of desiring to depart, and to be with Christ, death is to me the king of terrors: when I think of dissolution, my heart dies within me; what shall I do when the fatal period is come? By such unwarrantable experiments do many perplex and discourage their souls, and weaken their hands for present duty. I call them unwarrantable experiments, because they are not only beside the Scripture rule but directly contrary to it. Our Lord hath commanded us to take no thought for the morrow, but to leave the morrow to take thought for the things of itself; because sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Grace to suffer is for a suffering season; grace to die is for dying moments: then, but not before, is the time of need. Are you solicitous about grace for future emergencies? Let me ask you, I pray, have you got all the grace you need for present duty? If you think you have, I can, without further inquiry, assure you that you are mistaken. At this very moment you need grace to cure your anxiety and distrust, to check your impatience and presumptuous curiosity. Cast your care upon God for every needful support when you shall be called to suffer and die; and come to His throne for grace that may enable you to live to some good and useful purpose in the meantime. Till the present time cease to be a time of need, it is indecent, it is foolish, to look beyond it, and to distress yourselves with a premature anxiety about the morrow.1 [Note: Robert Walker, Sermons on Practical Subjects, 225.]
Wants and needs are different things. We often want what we do not need, and need what we do not want. We distinguish between young wants and needs, and know how to give good gifts to our children. Is not the infinite Mind wise enough, and the infinite Love strong enough, to subordinate our wants to our needs and disappoint us in the short run, if need be, to develop and delight us in the long one? Real needs override incidental wants; we cannot always have what we please, if we are to have what God pleasesand what is best for us. To want what God wishes, is a swift way to have His wishes come true, and to have our real needs amply supplied.2 [Note: M. D. Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 24.]
Jesus calls on us to claim God as a helper as He did, and then with that help to resist evil as He did; to contend against trial in His solitary reliance on His Father; to win inward vigour, inward peace, by living for work and dying for love; not to be indifferent, dreaming, but to hunger for righteousness, to strive to enter in at the strait gate, to lay down our life for the sheep, to rise incessantly out of dreams into daylight. God will not make us do that by miracle. But He will be in it when we begin it, or desire to begin it, as our help and strength, a very present power. Not the weakening help or the degrading strength which by taking everything out of our hands leaves us undeveloped and unexercised, but the help which is inspiration, and the strength which flows from encouragement; nay, more, which flows from the consciousness of being loved, from knowledge of the glorious character of Him who loves, and from the mighty motives which the knowledge that we shall gain perfection wakes within us to enkindle work, to sweeten trial, to enlarge thought, and to fill work, thought, and trial with healthy joy. In one word, God does not make us grow into His likeness, He helps us through the laws of our nature to grow into it ourselves.3 [Note: Stopford A. Brooke.]
The Throne of Grace
Literature
Alexander (W. L.), Sermons, 286.
Bruce (A. B.), The Epistle to the Hebrews, 167.
Hall (Newman), Gethsemane, 201.
Jay (W.), Short Discourses, i. 139.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: 2 Timothy, etc., 333.
Meyer (F. B.), The Way into the Holiest, 81.
Moody (A.), The Message of Salvation, 111.
Murray (A.), The Holiest of All, 171.
Nicoll (W. R.), Sunday Evening, 339.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, i. 99.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xvii. (1871), No. 1024.
Spurgeon (C. H.), My Sermon Notes, iv. 330.
Walker (R.), Sermons on Practical Subjects, 219.
Wilmot-Buxton (H. J.), Sunday Lessons for Daily Life, i. 398.
American Pulpit of the Day, iii. 198 (O. Perinchief).
Christian World Pulpit, xii. 92 (H. W. Beecher); xxxiii. 229 (H. W. Beecher); liii. 412 (J. S. Maver).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
come: Heb 10:19-23, Heb 13:6, Rom 8:15-17, Eph 2:18, Eph 3:12
the throne: Heb 9:5, Exo 25:17-22, Lev 16:2, 1Ch 28:11
obtain: Isa 27:11, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Mat 7:7-11, 2Co 12:8-10, Phi 4:6, Phi 4:7, 1Pe 2:10
Reciprocal: Gen 6:8 – General Gen 18:29 – General Gen 18:31 – General Gen 19:21 – I Exo 19:24 – but let Exo 30:6 – before the mercy seat that is over the testimony Exo 34:34 – he took Exo 40:20 – mercy Num 7:89 – he heard Job 31:37 – as a Psa 5:7 – I worship Psa 47:8 – throne Psa 107:6 – Then Son 2:14 – let me hear Son 7:12 – there will I give thee Isa 37:16 – dwellest Isa 44:2 – formed Isa 64:5 – meetest Jer 17:12 – General Eze 36:37 – I will yet Dan 6:10 – his windows Mat 4:1 – to Mat 5:7 – for Mat 20:34 – Jesus Luk 9:11 – healed Luk 11:9 – Ask Luk 18:13 – God Act 2:21 – whosoever Rom 5:21 – grace 2Co 12:9 – My grace 1Ti 1:13 – but Tit 3:5 – according Heb 2:17 – a merciful Heb 2:18 – suffered Heb 6:19 – entereth Heb 7:19 – we Heb 9:8 – the way Heb 10:22 – draw Heb 12:28 – with reverence 1Jo 3:21 – General Rev 8:3 – offer it with the prayers
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE THRONE OF GRACE
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Heb 4:16
Mercy is mans great need. If he looks back he needs mercy for the past, every day he needs mercy; and when he looks forward to eternity he needs mercy still.
I. Gods mercy is freeEvery one that asketh receiveth (St. Luk 11:10). His mercy is free as the air or the sunshine, given without money and without price to those who feel they have no merit to bring.
II. Gods mercy is tender.We read of this tender mercy in St. Luk 1:78. Never think of the majesty of God without His tenderness. The heart of the great Father melts with pity and love.
III. Gods mercy is exhaustless.The streams of His mercy never run dry. In every age men drink of these rivers of mercy, and go on their way rejoicing. Yet Gods mercy is plenteous stillenough for thee and for me, and for all who will seek it.
IV. And find grace to help in time of need.This teaches us one use of prayer. It is a preparation for trial. The sorrows of life too often take us by surprise. Men of the world are crushed by unexpected troubles, and led thereby to despair and even suicide. They are utterly bewildered, and cry, O God, who could have expected such a blow as this?
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
How touching was the end of the great missionary-explorer, David Livingstone! His servants found him lying dead in the hut that had been built for him. Alone, and on his knees, he had breathed out his soul to God while the shadows of the African night were still around him. This was early on the 1st of May, 1873. The travellers rest had come. He entered heaven with prayer.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Heb 4:16. Come boldly denotes a feeling of confidence that we may have on account of such a sympthetic Intercessor. The Israelites came near the tabernacle or temple, relying on their high priest to officiate on their behalf, by making intercession for them before the mercyseat in the most holy place, which was a type of the throne of grace. Accordingly we as spiritual Israel may approach by faith unto this throne where Jesus is acting as our High Priest. Our prayers through Him will reach the ears of God, calling for grace or favor to help us in the time of need while in this world of temptation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 4:16. Let us therefore come nigha common word in this Epistle for drawing nigh to God by sacrifice, or under the Gospel through Christ (Heb 7:25; Heb 10:1, Heb 11:6). St. Pauls word for a similar idea is generally different (see Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12, we have boldness and access by faith) with the added idea when addressing Gentiles that they are brought nigh.
With boldness, rather with confidence (see chap. Heb 3:6), not as the Israelites trembled when they approached, not to the mercy-seat, but at most towards itthe priest alone entering the holiest of all, but with the trust that tells all its wantsto the throne of grace (not Christ as if He were the mercy-seat, as some have held, nor the throne of Christ, but), the throne of God Himself; not of His justice, however, nor of His providence, but of His grace made such in fact by the propitiation which Christ has offered, and in part by our assurance that the priest himself feels for us.
That we may obtain mercypitypartly, as His sympathy implies, but chiefly the means of forgiveness for the sins which still cleave to us as children (see 2Ti 1:18, Jud 1:21, where the idea is that the mercy we receive from day to day is confirmed and perfected in the day of God): we need continual forgiveness for continual sin (1Jn 1:10; 1Jn 2:1).
And grace. Whatever we need to perfect our holiness and happinessthose gifts of free favour which prove God to be our friend, and will help us to persevere in the faith and obedience of the truth till we are partakers of the perfected grace which is glorythe grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1Pe 1:13).
For seasonable help is the literal rendering of the last clause, i.e help convenient, suitable to the occasion; in time of need is very good if that mean, as it may, as we need it, and so is appropriate to each emergency as it arises.
These exhortations were eminently suited to the condition of the Hebrew Christians. With such a High Priest, who has expiated our sins, has passed into the presence of God, thus proving the acceptance and the continuance of His work, whose Divine Sonship gives virtue to His sacrifice, whose perfect sympathy with us in all our weaknesses is made complete through His endurance of the same trials, let us persevere in the confession we have madeseek from God with the boldness of children the mercy and the grace we need for emergencies and opportunities alike till our victory is complete. Nor less suited is the exhortation to ourselves. In every age the same temptations assail us, though they assume different forms; and in every age the maintenance of the truth as it is in Jesus, and habitual (mark the present tense, continue coming) intercourse with God as the God of Peace and blessing under the influence of this truth, these are the true sources of our stedfastness.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
These words are an inference drawn from the apostle’s foregoing discourse, “Seeing we have such an High Priest as is before described, let us come with boldness, with freedom and liberty to the throne of grace, &c.”
Note here, 1. There is a throne of grace which believers may come unto; God has a throne of justice, and a throne of grace: If he look upon man according to the law of works, he must needs sit upon the throne of justice as a severe Lord, and strict Judge, to condemn us; but being propitiated and atoned by the blood of Christ, his throne is a throne of grace and mercy, from which he represents himself to us as a God in Christ, as a God of forgivenes, as a God in covenent, and as a God that will have communion with us.
Note, 2. That believers may come boldly, and with confidence to this throne of grace; they have liberty to do it, they have authority to do it, and may have confidence and assurance of audience in the doing of it.
Note, 3. That all help succour, and spiritual assistance in every time of need, is found with God, and proceeds from mere mercy and grace in God, That we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Note, 4. That the way to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need is by a due application of our souls for it to the throne of grace; Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find help in time of need.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Heb 4:16. Let us therefore come boldly Without any doubt or fear, trusting in his sacrifice and intercession for acceptance; unto the throne of grace The throne of our reconciled Father, which grace erected, and where it reigns and dispenses all blessings in a way of unmerited favour; that we may obtain mercy To pardon all our past sins, and compassionate our condition, amidst our various infirmities and sufferings; and find grace to help in time of need Or, for a seasonable help; according to our respective necessities, as implies. The latter word properly signifies help obtained in consequence of crying aloud, or strong crying for it. Observe, reader, though every time may be properly termed a time of need, in which we want supplies of grace, yet some times are peculiarly such: as seasons of affliction, of persecution, and temptation; or times when God, to chastise us for our lukewarmness and sloth, our hypocrisy and formality, or pride, self-will, discontent, or impatience; our neglect of prayer and watchfulness, our levity and folly, or any other fault or failing, withdraws his presence from us: or when we are called to the performance of any great and signal duty, as it was with Abraham when he was called first to leave his country, and afterward to sacrifice his son: or to something that is new, and in which we are yet inexperienced; a duty against which there is great opposition, or for which we may seem to be very unfit, or in which the glory of God is in an especial manner concerned. And, above all, the time of death will be such a season. To part with all present things and present hopes, to give up ones departing soul, entering the invisible world, an unchangeable eternity, into the hands of our sovereign Lord, are duties which require strength beyond our own, for their right and comfortable performance. And at such seasons, as we have peculiar need to make application to the throne of grace, here spoken of, for the purpose of obtaining seasonable help; so, if we apply in faith, and with sincere and earnest desire and persevering diligence, we shall not apply in vain.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Since we have such a High Priest to intercede for us with God, we can approach God confidently in prayer (cf. Heb 3:6; Heb 10:19; Heb 10:35). Every Christian can come to God’s heavenly throne, not just the high priests of Judaism. The high priests of Judaism could only approach God at His earthly throne, in the holy of holies in the tabernacle or temple, once a year. God’s throne of judgment, for the Israelites, has become a throne of grace (undeserved help) for us now. Our Sovereign will be merciful (not giving us what we deserve) and gracious (giving us what we do not deserve). This verse again contrasts the superiority of Christianity over Judaism.