Throne of Grace, Hebrews 4:14-16
Introduction:
“THE LORD IS GOOD; HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.” Today, I would like to share with you from Hebrews 4:14-16. This is one of my favorite passages. I use this word almost in all my prayers. The theme is the Throne of Grace. It’s an Amazing Grace, it’s an Assured Grace, and it’s an Available Grace.
THRONE OF GRACE
Throne: (Heb. kiss'e), a royal chair or seat of dignity (Deuteronomy 17:18, 2 Samuel 7:13, Psalms 45:6), an elevated seat with a canopy and hangings, which cover it. It denotes the seat of the high priest (1 Samuel 1:9, 4:13) (Dictionary of the Bible). I love to kneel before this chair, this seat, this throne. My favorite place of joy, fellowship, and residence.
To the ancient world, a throne was a forbidding place of sovereign authority and judgment. If you approached a throne and the king did not hold out his scepter, you were history! You definitely would not draw near to the throne for sympathy, especially with a trivial problem. But the author calls it the throne of grace. Wiersbe makes the point that "The mercy seat on the ark of the covenant was God's throne in Israel (Exodus 25:17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) but it could never be called "a throne of grace."
The throne of grace is propitiatory, the place where God and man are to meet. The Throne of Grace is a spiritual place. It’s not a location geographically that you can visit, but the promises concerning it are so immense that they’re almost beyond belief. This mercy seat is sprinkled with the atoning blood of that Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. The efficacy of the sacrifice is experienced every time. 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.
What is the difference between mercy and grace? MERCY has special reference to God’s tenderness toward us because of the misery caused by our sins, whereas GRACE refers to His undeserved favor in freely forgiving our sins, which actually deserve His judgment (R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament). God's throne of grace is His sovereign character with pure and unchanging love. Throne of Grace has a person whose face is perfectly balanced with mercy and truth, it is demonstrated in Word and Deed. Yes, It’s an amazing grace.
1. Amazing Grace
Let us look into the first aspect of grace that it is an amazing grace. He is a high priest “who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet is without sin.” In Jesus, we have a high priest who is empathetic with our struggles. He is empathetic and enabled redeemer. The movement of Jesus between heaven and earth transformed the role of the priesthood. Jesus is our perfect high priest—he can sympathize with our weaknesses because he has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin Tempted with flesh, eyes, powers, and thrones. Yet, he had overcome all the situations (Matthew 4:1-11).
Although Jesus was tempted, He never sinned, making Him a perfect high priest because He is able to sympathize. He could overcome temptation and was obedient to God. Rather than trying to hide because of our sins, the author shows how we should draw near to Jesus, our sympathetic high priest, who gives us access to God’s throne. For those who are in Christ, that throne is not a place of fear but, rather, a throne of grace! Martin Luther commented on our text, “After terrifying us, the Apostle now comforts us; after pouring wine into our wound, he now pours in oil” (Philip Hughes, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews). “…For there is nothing to prevent the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6).
2. Assured Grace
Grace (Charis) is God's unmerited favor and is also His supernatural enablement and empowerment for initial salvation and for daily sanctification. Grace can transform any and every trial into triumph and every sorrow into joy.
Saving Grace - turning them to Christ and causing him to seek after His righteousness, keeps, strengthens, increases them in the Christian faith, knowledge, and affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues. Joseph was thrown into a pit, sold to the Egyptians, and jailed instead of justly dealing, he had to go through disappointments and frustrations. But finally, God had a plan to save his people from famine and death. For the sake of the chosen people his loved one will go through sufferings. This is an amazing grace.
Sanctifying Grace - that work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a yielded believer, enabling him to daily die to sin and live to righteousness (Precept Austin). Paul had a problem in his body and was not able to overcome it. He prayed for healing. Instead of healing God said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” (2 Corinthians 12:8). This is an amazing grace.
3. Available Grace
Prayer is our supply line to God in the battle. His abundant, sustaining grace flows to us through prayer. Because prayer is so vital, the enemy tries to sever that supply line. When we suffer, the enemy often whispers, “God doesn’t care about you and He isn’t answering. Why waste your time with these worthless prayers?” It’s easy to get discouraged and quit praying, which cuts us off from the very help that we need! There are two commands here: Hold fast our confession (Persevere - Hebrews 4:14); and, Draw near with confidence (Pray- Hebrews 4:16).
We can go to Him at a “time of need,” at all times! The main reason we do not pray is that we don’t realize how needy we are. We think we can handle things on our own. Praying without ceasing is necessary because we are constantly in over our heads (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is the acknowledgment that our need is total. God allows difficult circumstances and difficult people in our lives to humble us and we can choose to submit and bow and draw near to the throne of grace with bold petitions and requests (James 4:6).
His grace is "tapped into" when we come in our time of need. We must not make the mistake of trying to "store up grace" for future emergencies, because God gives us the grace that we need when we need it. No trial is too great, and no temptation is too strong, but Jesus Christ can give us the mercy and grace that we need when we need it.
I found this grace every time I was in need. I had to go through fears, failures, frustrations, and weaknesses but God never gave me up. he was my strength, and power to overcome my situations. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32).
God bless you, Amen
