DRAW US OH LORD

I was recently confronted with this question; “Are you as close to God as you would like to be ? There was a day when I would have answered with “of course I would like to be closer to God, who wouldn’t?”

Today however I respond by asking “how much closer do I have to get?” Christ has done it all. He is seated at the right hand, and we are seated with Him. I draw near to Him daily as I walk before Him daily in the holiest place, having entered in with and through Christ once for all.

This encounter prompted this study regarding His drawing us, and our drawing near to Him so that He may draw near to us; what some would call intimacy. It truly is so much more……….

James 4:8a  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…………

Romans 3:

10  as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;

11  no one understands; no one seeks for God.

This may seem to be a contradiction, however, we must remember that James is speaking to the saints while Paul is quoting from the Old Testament regarding the general condition of all mankind prior to conversion.

Hebrews

10:22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

12:2a  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith……..

How do the justified elect draw near to, i.e. seek the Lord? By faith, of which Christ is the originator and finisher, and everything in between. He is the creator and giver of the gift as well as the gift itself. He is the pleasure of His Father. He alone pleases God. It is only by His faith that we please God by believing that He actually exists to be sought and subsequently acting upon that knowledge.

(Ephesians 2:8-9; 2Peter 1:17-18)

It is Christ the Son who has opened the way for us, by the will of the Father.

John12:32  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."              

John 6:44  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(John 10:30  I and the Father are one.")

We draw near to the Father in and through Christ. The Father draws near to us in and through Christ. He alone is the “way”, for He and the Father are one.

Only those whom the Father has already chosen, pre-creation, will be drawn by Him to the crucified Christ. (John 17:1-5)

(The term “all people/men” can also be translated as “whosoever” The same as in John 3:16).

Hebrews 4:16  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The saints are now able to stand before the throne, i.e. approach/draw near to the Father in full assurance of the God-given faith which He has graciously bestowed.

Hebrews:

7:19  (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 

7:25  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 

10:1  For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.  

10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Christ truly is the best and only way. The law cannot perfect anyone who attempts to draw near to the Lord through his own doing, (that is, law-keeping) as all men are law breakers/sinners, and the ceremonial laws do not remit sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4)

There are many professing saints who rely on their own righteousness, speaking and doing all the “right things”. (Isaiah 29:13; 58:2)

Only the truly perfected may draw near to the throne of God, and the Lord will draw near only those perfected in Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the “better hope”.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Solus Christus

Soli Deo Gloria