Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.
- KJV Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
- NKJV Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
- NASB Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need.
- NLT So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because of such a high priest, we may approach God's throne of grace boldly to receive mercy and timely help. Christ opens confident access to God for needy sinners.
Overview
The fitting response to Jesus' sympathetic, sinless priesthood is bold approach to the 'throne of grace.' There believers find mercy for past failures and grace for present needs. This verse beautifully expresses the gospel privilege of free, confident access to God through Christ, the very access the wilderness generation lacked through unbelief.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Eph 3:12In Him and through faith in Him we may enter God’s presence with boldness and confidence.
- Heb 7:25Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
- Heb 10:19–23Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
- Heb 13:6So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
- Phil 4:6–7Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Eph 2:18For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
- 1 Pet 2:10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- Matt 7:7–11Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- 2 Cor 12:8–10Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
- Rom 8:15–17For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- Heb 7:19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
- Lev 16:2And the LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter freely into the Most Holy Place behind the veil in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
- Heb 9:5Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
- Exod 25:17–22And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
- 1 Chr 28:11Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.
- Isa 27:11When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 4:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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