The New Worshippers: Hebrews 10:19-22

Hebrews 10:19‑22  •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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Hebrews 10:19-2219Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19‑22). The truth of the purged conscience prepares the way for worship. Already the apostle has spoken of the new sacrifice and the new sanctuary; now he presents the new worshipper. In contrast to Judaism, in which the offerer had no access to the holiest, in Christianity the believer has “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Provision has been made to remove all that would hinder our drawing nigh to God as worshippers. Sins have been met by the blood of Jesus. Christ, having taken flesh and become Man, has opened a living way for men to enter the holiest. Our infirmities are met by our High Priest. Neither the sins we have committed, the bodies we are in, nor the infirmities with which we are encompassed, can hinder the believer from entering in spirit within the veil into heaven itself.
Let us then, says the apostle, draw near to God with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having the affections set free from a condemning conscience and our bodies set apart from every defiling practice.
Here we may well pause and ask ourselves, How much do we know of this drawing near, of entering within the veil? We may, indeed, know something of that other exhortation of which the apostle speaks in chapter 4, when he says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” That is fleeing to a refuge to escape the storms of life: this is turning to our home to bask in the sunshine of love. There is a vast difference between a refuge and a home. A refuge is a place to which we flee for a shelter in the time of storm. A home is a place where our affections find their rest. We all know Christ as a refuge to whom we flee in our troubles, but how little we know Him as the home of our affections. Christ is indeed “an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest... a great rock in a weary land” (Isa. 32:22And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (Isaiah 32:2)). And blessed indeed, as we pass through this world with its withering blasts, its barrenness and weariness, to have One to whom we can turn for shelter and relief. Let us, however, remember that, if we only flee to Christ as a shelter in the time of storm, when the storm is passed we shall be in danger of leaving Him. Alas! this is what happens too often with each one of us. We turn to Him in the storm; we neglect Him in the calm. But if our affections are drawn to Him where He is, if we see that His place is our place in heaven itself then the place where He is will become the home of our affections, where we can have fellowship with Jesus in a scene on which no shadow of death will ever fall, and where all tears are wiped away.