Come Boldly to Grace
“Let us then approach God’s 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 (NIV)
When we need help, our instinct is often to withdraw.
We feel weak, ashamed, confused or overwhelmed, and something in us concludes that we should sort ourselves out a little before approaching God. We will pray properly once we are in better shape.
Hebrews says precisely the opposite: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Start with “then,” because this verse rests entirely on the two verses before it. Hebrews 4:14-15: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin.”
That is the ground of our confidence, and it has two parts. Jesus is qualified, because He is the Son of God who has passed through the heavens. And Jesus is sympathetic, because He has been tempted as we are. The Greek sumpatheo means to suffer with, to feel alongside. He is not observing your struggle from a comfortable distance.
Now the phrase “throne of grace.” Hold those two words together, because they should not naturally belong together. A throne is a place of authority, judgement and sovereignty. Grace is unmerited favour to the undeserving. In the old covenant, the place where God met His people was the mercy seat above the ark, and the high priest could approach it once a year, with blood, having taken elaborate precautions. Hebrews has already told us what changed: we now have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (10:19).
So the throne has not stopped being a throne. What has changed is that the blood has been shed and the curtain has been torn.
There is a well-known photograph from 1963 taken in the Oval Office. The President of the United States is at work, and his small son is playing in the space under the great desk, peering out through a little hinged panel. Senior officials needed an appointment to enter that room. The boy simply walked in, because of whose child he was.
“With confidence” translates parrhesia, a word from the Greek political world meaning freedom of speech, the right of a citizen to speak openly in the assembly. It denotes boldness, frankness, the absence of fear. Applied to prayer, it means you may speak plainly. You do not need the right vocabulary or a rehearsed tone. You may say what is actually true.
And notice what is waiting there, described in two distinct words.
Mercy, eleos, meets us where we have failed. Mercy looks backwards at what we have done and does not give us what it deserves.
Grace, charis, strengthens us for what we now have to face. Grace looks forward at what is coming and supplies what we do not deserve.
Most of us need both on most days, and Hebrews offers both in the same sentence.
Note also the phrase translated “to help us in our time of need.” The word eukairos means well-timed, at the opportune moment. Grace arrives on time. It is rarely early, which is why we so often pray for tomorrow’s strength today and do not receive it. Corrie ten Boom’s father famously told her that you do not get the ticket for the journey until you are at the station.
So prayer is not begging a reluctant God to notice you. That picture belongs to pagan religion, where deities must be persuaded, appeased and repeatedly reminded. Through Jesus you have permanent access. You come as a child to a Father, and you can speak honestly about the pressure, the temptation, the decision, the fear or the need.
There is a quiet misreading to avoid here. Boldness is not casualness. The same book says “our God is a consuming fire” (12:29). Confidence before God is not informality about God; it is the assurance of a welcomed child, not the shrug of someone who has forgotten who is on the throne. Both reverence and boldness are increased, not diminished, by the cross.
And faith matters here in a practical way. Access is available, but we have to come.
That sentence is worth sitting with, because a great deal of Christian frustration lives in the gap between availability and use. A closed Bible does not strengthen anybody. Unprayed prayers do not become communion. Grace is freely available, and we are invited to draw near, and the drawing near is our part.
Hebrews says “let us approach,” and it is an exhortation precisely because we do not do it automatically.
So here is the practical application for today. Before the demands of this day begin shouting, take your need to the throne. Name it specifically. Vague prayer produces vague faith; specific prayer teaches you to recognise God’s hand when it moves.
And notice the order of the two words again, because it is pastorally helpful. Receive mercy first. Many of us cannot receive grace for the task because we are still carrying guilt about the past. Deal with the failure, receive the pardon, and then ask for the strength. In that order, the throne works as it was designed to.
Do not carry alone what God has invited you to bring into His presence.
One more encouragement about approaching the throne, drawn from the verse that follows in Hebrews 5.
Hebrews 5:2 says the high priest “is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.” The word for dealing gently, metriopatheo, means to moderate one’s feelings, to be measured rather than harsh.
Apply that to Christ. He does not respond to your failure with exasperation. He deals gently, not because He is indifferent to sin, but because He understands the material He is working with.
Many believers approach God expecting impatience. The text says the opposite, and it says it about the very One who bore the cost of the sin in question.
You have access today. Come boldly, receive mercy, find grace, and face your day from the presence of God rather than from your own strength.
Reflection
1. What have you been carrying for days without bringing it specifically to God? Why have you delayed?
2. Are you trying to find grace for today’s task while still carrying guilt about yesterday? Receive mercy first, then ask for strength.
Prayer
Father, thank You that the throne of the universe is a throne of grace, because Jesus has entered ahead of me with His own blood. Thank You that He is not a distant high priest but One who has been tempted as I am and understands. Forgive me for trying to sort myself out before coming to You. I come now, plainly and specifically: here is the failure I need mercy for, and here is the task I need grace for. Meet me on time, as You have promised, and let me face this day from Your presence rather than my own strength. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
Through the blood of Jesus I have access to the throne of grace. I come boldly today, receive mercy, and find grace to help me in time of need.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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