My parents served in Christian higher education. My mother was on the college music faculty and my dad was in administration. His office as vice president was usually a busy place, with people waiting to see him. As a boy, I knew that if his secretary told me there was no one with him, I could pass through the outer office and go right in. He always welcomed me.
This reminds me of the access to God that Christians have when we pray. We are encouraged to go right in to the throne room of our Heavenly Father with confidence and candor. “In him (Jesus) and through faith in him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12).
This year in my morning devotional readings I have been going through a book on prayer by Tim Chester, The Message of Prayer. It is helping to strengthen my prayer life. I was especially encouraged by the author’s reminder of the intercessory ministry of Jesus at the right hand of God. The knowledge that I have an advocate in heaven gives me greater confidence in prayer. Here are three reasons for that, based upon the book of Hebrews.
Jesus feels what I feel.
In his humanity, Jesus identifies with us and sympathizes with us. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He knows my struggles and failures. Though he was and is without sin, he understands how it feels to be tempted. In my weakness, it helps me to know that Jesus experienced human weakness, to the point of death. He understands.
Because of this, I am invited to pray to God. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Jesus speaks to the Father on my behalf.
Hebrews 9:24 says that Jesus, our great high priest in heaven “appears for us in God’s presence.” As our representative before God, Jesus defends our interests and pleads our case. John the apostle wrote, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ the righteous one” (1 John 2:1).
Tim Chester, commenting on this fact, wrote, “By his presence he reminds the Father — as if the Father needed reminding — of the finished work of the cross. Jesus, as it were, says by his presence, ‘I am here in heaven and my people are united with me — they have access to God.’ . . . He is before God with his wounded side and his pierced hands as if to say, ‘These are the reasons why you should hear my people and show them mercy.'”
Jesus opens the way for me.
The New Testament tells us that when Jesus died the curtain or veil in the temple in Jerusalem was torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:38). This symbolized how the way into God’s presence was now being opened for believers. Through Jesus we may have access into God’s presence. He bore the judgment for our sin. He shed his blood to cleanse us. Through his perfect sacrifice we may come close to God.
Tim Chester reminds us that this is why we pray in Jesus’ name. “The name of Jesus is not a talisman or invocation. Rather it is a reminder that we have access to God through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.” It is not, he says, “because of our goodness, or of the style of our praying or the length of our prayers.” We cannot add anything to the value or sufficiency of Christ’s death and resurrection. We pray in his name and for his glory alone.
“Our only claim before the throne of God is the blood of Jesus,” writes Chester. “But what a claim that is!” In Hebrews we are told that in confident prayer we “enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, . . . Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-22).
In 1863 an Irish lady by the name of Charitie Lees Smith wrote a hymn based upon these truths, titled “Within the Veil.” It was a favorite of the famous English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Shortly before he died, Spurgeon quoted a part of that hymn in his last public address. The song has been popularized in the U.S. in recent years as “Before the Father’s Throne Above” to a new tune by Vikki Cook. It is a great comfort to me at this time in my life. It expresses beautifully the reason why I may have confidence and freedom in prayer.
“Before the Father’s throne above/ I have a strong and perfect plea/ a Great High Priest whose name is love/ who ever lives and pleads for me./ My name is graven on his hands/ my name is written on his heart/ I know that while in heaven he stands/ no tongue can bid me thence depart.
“When Satan tempts me to despair/ and tells me of the guilt within,/ upward I look and see Him there/ who made and end of all my sin./ because the sinless Savior died/ my sinful soul is counted free/ for God the Just is satisfied/ to look on Him and pardon me.
“Behold Him there, the bleeding Lamb/ my perfect, spotless Righteousness/ the great unchangeable ‘I AM’/ the King of glory and of grace./ One with Himself I cannot die/ my soul is purchased by his blood/ My life is hid with Christ on high/ with Christ my Savior and my God.”
Pastor Randy Faulkner