“As our great high priest, he ascended to your right hand in glory, that we might come with confidence before the throne of grace.” (The Prayer of Consecration, Renewed Ancient Text, Book of Common Prayer 2019)
While
studying for my master’s degree at Gordon-Conwell about a dozen years ago, I
enjoyed gathering for Morning Prayer with a couple other students in a small
prayer chapel at the school.
The chapel contains, from its earlier days as a Carmelite monastery before
purchased by Billy Graham and other notable evangelicals, a red marble altar
with a canopy that reads, “Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus” (Latin for “Holy Holy
Holy”). These words are an allusion to the vision in
which the prophet Isaiah
is first called into his ministry, when he sees a glimpse God’s throne in
heaven. The throne is surrounded by angels, covering their faces and
proclaiming before God, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty!”
“Woe is me!” Isaiah cries out, certain that he, a sinner, will be destroyed in
the presence of such a holy God.
The old altar and canopy in the prayer chapel are a demonstration
of the tradition from which they come, a tradition that emphasizes this
same sort of reverence in our approach to a holy
God.
Under the
canopy is a painting, added sometime after the campus became an evangelical
seminary. It features the text of Hebrews 4:16: “Let us come boldly unto the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of
need.” The emphasis is on our confidence in the
presence of God. Here in Gordon-Conwell’s prayer chapel, the message was quite
clear: When you come to pray, come freely and boldly, expecting God to welcome
you and hear your prayers.
While the different elements of art might involve a slight stylistic mismatch, the
tension between reverence and confidence is no contradiction; it is at the very
heart of the Gospel. Like Isaiah, we too are a sinful people
approaching a holy God. And yet, like Isaiah who is purified by a coal from the
altar on which the atoning sacrifice is offered, we are purified. We, too, are
invited to hear and speak God’s word. We, too, can approach God confidently not
because we are holy like him, but because our sins have been atoned for by him.
Moments before the author of Hebrews calls us to draw near to God with
confidence (4:16), he makes the sobering announcement that “nothing in all
creation is hidden from [God’s] sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare
before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (4:13). The author invites
us to a healthy, reverent fear of God, and then reassures us that we can also
have confidence in approaching this holy God. We have confidence because we
have a great high priest, a human being who “has ascended into heaven, Jesus
the Son of God” (4:14), who both understands our weaknesses and lives in the
presence of his Father, speaking on our behalf.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. In it we celebrate the victory
of Jesus, who finished the work he was given on earth and victoriously took his
seat as king in heaven. We also celebrate Jesus’ heavenly intercession, the
fact that there is now a human being in heaven, speaking up for us in the
presence of God. It is because of him that it is possible for us to know God in
his holiness, and yet draw near with boldness. What a gift.
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