The
Foundation of His Throne—The Book of
Revelation
Rick Joyner
Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For
we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One
who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Therefore,
let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
As awesome as the
throne of God is, we have a High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses,
even though He Himself is without sin. He did not go to the cross and pay the
price for our sin to then condemn us for them—He went so that we could be
reconciled to God. Therefore, we are told that we can come boldly before His
awesome throne anytime that we have a need, and we can be assured that there we
will find the grace that we need.
If there is any
flaw with the Gospel it would be that it seems too good to be true. How can
such an awesome, Almighty God be so kind, gentle, and loving? He is so good and
wonderful that it is hard for us to comprehend and accept—it usually takes a
while for us to do so. It is hard for us to accept that forgiveness is that
easy and that we cannot do anything to earn it. Our total forgiveness has been
purchased for us, and for us to think that we still have to pay something is to
imply that Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough.
Many claim that
they want the mercy of God and not justice. However, the mercy of God is
established by the justice of God. God’s justice established that the consequence
of sin is death, and Jesus, who did not deserve to die, died in our place to
pay for our sin. If we then still had to pay a price for our sin, then it would
be unjust, implying that the Father did not accept Jesus’ sacrifice of Jesus as
being enough.
So we can come
boldly before the throne of God just as much when we have transgressed as we
can when we have walked uprightly. We do not enter based on our own
righteousness, but on the blood of Jesus and the price that He paid. When we
come before the throne clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, the Father only
sees the righteousness of Jesus—we are deemed completely pure in His eyes,
regardless of whether we had a good or bad day.
The power to
enter before the Lord is never based on how well we have done, but on simple
faith in the cross of Jesus to be enough to cover our sin and failures. Our
boldness is because of what Jesus accomplished, not from anything we have done,
or not done. We do not have to wait until we are perfect to enter His presence,
but we are perfected by His presence.
When Peter saw
the Lord walking on the water and got out of the boat to walk on the water with
Him, he could only do this as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. As soon as he
looked at the waves, he began to sink. We do the same in relation to the
constant turmoil that is our old, sinful nature—all of the consequences of this
sinful world. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, as our Righteousness, our
Way, our Truth, and our Life, we can walk above the turmoil of our old nature
and the trials of this life. If we start to focus on the turmoil, we will sink.
So we don’t charge into the throne room arrogantly, but thankfully. We “enter
His gates with thanksgiving” (see Psalm 100:4). How can we not be thankful for
such great mercy and great grace? Bold humility is bold in the Lord and what He
has done. The boldness we have is a reflection of the faith that we have in
Him.