For some time now, I have had special interest in prayer as part of our Christian walk which can be seen also in the fact that I have published several smaller studies about this topic in the last few years. We also have done teachings and Bible studies about prayer in our Sunday meetings here in Villip, and over the course of some time now conduct prayer evenings as well where believers can pray together. During the last few weeks and in the course of our travel in the USA during the summer, several talks and reading a few new books about prayer were again a great motivation for becoming even more of a "doer of the Word" regarding prayer, and I've been able to intensify my own prayer life in a joyful manner.
„The Power in Prayer", a book by C.H. Spurgeon, has been a great inspiration to me. One of the chapters in particular has inspired me greatly and helped me develop this study (which actually follows the outline given in that chapter) in which I want to set forth some of the wonderful truths about coming to the throne of grace.
Hebrews 4:16:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
This statement is linked directly to prayer and praying, as also is pretty obvious to almost any reader. The verse speaks of "in time of need", also of "may obtain mercy and find grace" and especially right in the beginning of "come boldly unto the throne of grace"! When we pray we turn to God, our heavenly Father, who rules over all on His throne as the Almighty.
The immediate context points to prayer as well.
Hebrews 4:14–16:
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Here we read of Jesus Christ as our great highpriest, who now is ascended and seated at the right hand of God, and who as our great highpriest serves before God. He is our mediator, by whom we have been given the access to God enabling us now to approach to the throne of grace.
Ephesians 2:18:
For through him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Jesus Christ has, by his perfect sacrifice, made available to all who believe on him and have confessed him as Lord access to God as the Father. By him, Christ, we as Christians come boldly directly to the throne of grace, on which our heavenly Father is enthroned
What a dimension is given to prayer in these verses! Prayer is a coming boldly unto the throne of grace, an entrance into the throne room of God and an appearing before Him, the Almighty God, who now is our Father. Of course, we are not literally coming unto the throne of grace, but rather by means of the one spirit, by a new nature in the spirit. This is far more than just uttering a few words or feeling a few desires in one's heart – it is the presenting of the desires of our hearts before God, we come in the spirit directly into the presence of God and approach Him.
Prayer is more than just a linguistic or mental exercise. Our prayer has to do with fellowship with the Father, it is a spiritual matter where we turn to God in the new nature we have been given and appear before His throne of grace. It is God's gift of holy spirit which enables us to pray by means of a new nature. With the working of the spirit in us we receive help because the spirit helps our infirmity regarding prayer and provides intercession for us as saints so that we now can pray as we ought (cp. Rom 8:26–27). The goal and aim of our prayer is not with men but solely with God. We are reaching out to Him in our prayer.
Such access to God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, is based on our lord and saviour Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. By his precious blood this access was bought. His precious blood has cleansed us from sin and made us holy when we appropriated by faith in Christ what was achieved for us, and we were put in a situation where we can appear before God and make our requests known unto Him directly. Christ is the high priest who has once and for all entered through the veil into the most holy place in order to present himself as the perfect sacrifice. With his sacrifice the veil has been rent, and we as saints, sanctified in Christ Jesus, enter in unto God's throne of grace in our prayers in the new nature of the spirit. What a privilege we have! What a power there is now in prayer!
As we continue our study, I would like to point out several aspects connected with prayer which are the result of a closer look at the term "throne of grace".
Hebrews 4:16:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace …
First of all, I wish to call attention to the truth that this speaks of a "throne" – "the throne of grace". Even though we have access to God as our Father (cp. Eph 2:18; Gal 4:4) and even though this great truth is emphasized in several statements of the Scriptures by the use of the Aramaic word "Abba" (Father), we should and must not think that God is one of us. He is not!
Jesus Christ was God's only begotten Son, and he used in his prayers the term "Father [Abba]", and yet Jesus made a big distinction between himself and God, his Father. When Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray, he spoke of "Our Father which art in heaven!" (cp. Mat 6:9)! With that he showed forth that God, our Father, is infinitely greater and higher than we are. And immediately following, Jesus added that it is appropriate for us to realize this and to acknowledge it, when he said, "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (cp. Mat 6:9,10).
Our Father is the ruler of all things, He is the Almighty God. In our prayers we are not just entering our father's "living room" where we might put up our feet, but we are entering His throne room and appear before the throne of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords. We come unto the throne of the great monarch of the universe. This we should consider when we pray – grace and mercy are shown forth and are extended from the THRONE of grace.
When we realize and are conscious of the truth that we are at the heavenly court in our prayers and that we enter the throne room of God, that we are appearing before the Heavenly Majesty, we will hardly pray with a wrong type of attitude. It will be very clear that we are to approach the throne in humbleness and with reverence. When a servant approaches or comes near the throne, he will show honor to the monarch. It is not good to show up before the throne with an attitude of pride and highmindedness which doesn't acknowledge the King's authority or position, nor is it good to appear with treacherous thoughts directed against the King.
In our prayers we appear before the greatest of all rulers, before Him who is the only Potentate, the King of kings.
1 Timothy 6:15,16:
Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
In recognition of these truths we should humble ourselves and come near to the throne with reverence and a humble heart. We are nothing and we have nothing of ourselves which would be of much value before Him. Christ is all to us, only because of him can we enjoy this high privilege of appearing before the throne of God. We should in our hearts "take off our shoes from our feet" when we come to the throne for God is "holy, holy, holy"! We should recognize that we in the face of His holiness and even as His children still do sin at times and are in need of His mercy and lovingkindness.
Yes, we can, we may and we should have boldness – boldness in who God is and in recognition of what He is able to do when we come to Him with a proper attitude of heart! It is not a matter of boldness in ourselves in order to be high minded before Him – God forbid! We are still on earth, but He rules from His throne in heaven. We bow ourselves as his subordinates before His throne! We should pray that we may, by means of the spirit, approach Him every time in our prayers with the right and proper attitude the throne of His heavenly Majesty.
We can come to the throne of God with a devout joyfulness. In humbleness and reverence we can realize that indeed we can indeed have a sense of devout joyfulness to belong to those who have access in their prayers by means of the spirit to the heavenly court and God's throne. This should make us joyful! If this was the throng of judgment where we would receive the sentence of condemnation, then we perhaps all would be sorrowful and our hearts would be filled with sadness. But now, since God has justified us in Christ and we have been made righteous in him, we are not approaching the throne of judgment, but rather we are coming to the throne of grace. This does give us a quiet and lasting joy in our hearts.
One upon a time we were far from God, with God in this world, lost and en route to be eternally condemned. But now, because of Christ and his redemptive work, we have access to God's palace, we can join him at God's court, yes – we even may approach Him when He is residing on His throne. Such thoughts perhaps cause us to loose our breath for a moment, when we meditate upon these truths in devotion, and it should cause thankfulness in us which will be shown forth in praise and giving honor from a joyful heart as God grants us the privilege to pray to Him. When we suffer and are burdened down, we can tell Him and He can comfort us. When we have sinned we can confess our sins to Him and He can forgive them. We can count ourselves blessed and we can rejoice at the opportunity we have to bring forth His praise from our lips.
If someone appears before the throne, it must be in complete submission. We do not pray in order to dictate to God what and how He is to do anything. Sure, we are to make our needs and wants and desires known before Him, but at all times it should be as Jesus prayed as well, "Not mine, but thy will be done!" Who would even for one moment think of dictating to the monarch on the throne?
We are the children of the most high God, and we should in sincerity, honesty, and also with strong desire and being instant, patient and fervent, bring our desires and needs to Him – however, at all times it must be in a spirit which acknowledges that the Father knows more and can do better than what we recognize or can think of doing. Therefore it behooves us to seek His will, and to submit completely to His answer to our prayers. Even if there is no answer in our sense of "answer", we still take His refusal as a good answer, because there is also the possibility that we have prayed for something which would not turn out to be very good at all.
Since we come to the throne we also may have enlarged expectations than what we would have ordinarily. We are not coming to God's "poorhouse" in our prayers, we are not just sneaking up to the back door of the house of mercy where someone might per chance hand out some scraps (and I might say that this would be already more than what we actually would have deserved!).
When we pray we are entering God's throne room, from where the King of all kings is ever ready to grant His goodness and His grace and show Himself to be a merciful ruler. We may remember that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, that His ways are far beyond what we can think of (cp. Isa 55:8,9). We may ask and pray for great things – for, remember, we are standing before a great throne! And the Scriptures confirm that from this throne God "can do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think" (cp. Eph 3:20).
Another point which should encourage us in face of the throne of grace, is that we may with absolutely unstaggering confidence come unto the throne of God. Who is to doubt the King?! Who would want to dare impugn His royal Majesty? The King has absolute integrity, He is absolutely faithful and true – who could possibly dare to appear before Him with an unbelieving heart?
Shame be on us if we stand in unbelief and doubt before the throne of the Most High when He is sitting on His throne in all His glory and might. Will our hearts mistrust Him and will we even for a moment dare to imagine that He possibly could not or would not keep His promise? Doesn't Scripture say, "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2Co 1:20)? We should show ourselves to be the true seed of Abraham, when it is said of him, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." (Rom 4:20,21).
Since we are present before His throne, our prayers should be made with deepest sincerity and in a spirit which makes everything to be very real. If we are not loyal then at least we should not be despising Him and mocking Him while He is sitting on His throne. It is not becoming to speak words with our hearts being involved and when we do not really mean what we are praying.
When we open our mouths in His presence we are addressing words to the King of kings, and we should consider that we are speaking to God Himself and that we have to do with Him. Empty and vain repetitions of words are not asked for and undesired, thoughtless talk is foolishness and totally inappropriate.
When we are before His throne, we speak truth, we declare His praise and His glory. We give Him honor and show our thankfulness toward Him.
Psalm 95:6,7:
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
As we are considering these great truths connected with the throne, which perhaps could be almost too much for our minds, a further aspect of this throne now follows – the throne we come to with boldness is a throne of grace.
We are called to come unto the throne of grace, not the "throne of the law". To the "throne of the law", even Israel could not come near in the least, man and beasts were not allowed to draw nigh to the mountain. No one's own righteousness which would be by the Law is sufficient to even come near to this throne. Also, we are not speaking of the great throne of judgement in the end of days. That throne, and thanks be to God, and may He be praised, blessed and given all honour, will be for all those who have believed in Christ, a throne of "gracious judgment" where God will not pronounce a condemning sentence against the man who by faith in Christ and on the grounds of faith has already been justified. From that throne, grace will be extended towards us.
We come unto the throne of grace, and from there God's goodness and mercy are shown forth. As we approach this throne of grace, it is sort of like what queen Esther experienced at the royal court of Persia.
Esther 5:2:
And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour [grace] in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
When our Father sees us from afar as we are standing in the court of His palace and the entrance hall to His throne room seeking entrance to the throne of grace, He extends and holds out to us the sceptre signifying His grace which then allows us to enter into His presence and come to His throne.
We can come to the throne of grace even when our words fail us and when we make mistakes in our prayers and pray faulty for some reason – He who sits on the throne will not refuse us, condemn us or sent us off, rather He will come toward us looking to help us.
In every one of our prayers there will be infirmities, and again and again we will show up before His throne of grace laden with sin, and yet God will be willing to forgive us and to accept our prayers even when we don't have the right words or know the right way of pleading or praying to Him.
Even when everything comes only with heaviness out of our hearts and over our lips, we are not to get discouraged or dismayed, but we must come unto Him and do it even more than ever before. This is also not a throne of harsh and heavy criticism, but it is a throne of grace. It is a throne from which grace and mercy are extended, where even the worst sinned may find forgiveness and be received.
On the throne of grace we meet our heavenly Father who has loved us and who loves us and who wants to bless us in all things. Sometimes we lack the words, or we lack the clarity of what we really want and what we are asking about. This is no hindrance however before the throne of grace.
Sometimes small children come to their parents and they start talking about something very excitedly and they want to ask something and yet their words fail them, they can't quite remember what they really had wanted to say. How often then do we see parents telling the child the words it had forgotten and helping out the little one with the right words because they already know what their child wants to say. They are "interpreting" the child's wish. It is not much different with our heavenly Father. We may not have the words or remember, but that is not a problem for Him, He once again puts them on our hearts and helps us with our prayers because He knows what we need and what we really wanted. Our Father will teach us and guide us, He will bring close to us the desires and also the way of making known those desires to Him – what tremendous grace is extended to us from this throne of God.
This throne is a throne of grace, this is not a throne where tribute is received from subordinates, where gifts and payments are demanded – no! The opposite is true, for it is a throne from which He extends His grace. from which God shows His lovingkindness and His favour by giving His gracious gifts.
It is therefore not a matter of being good or worthy or having deserved anything in front of the throne of grace. We come to this throne in our prayers, even if our prayers are insufficient or seemingly lacking things, even if we do not find the nicest or best or finest words. We come to this throne of grace even we are of the opinion of having defects in our knowledge and not knowing what to expect. We come unto this throne even if we think our faith was too small and we had defects in terms of believing and trust in Him. We come unto this throne even when we might realize that we are not quite as fervent in spirit as we think we should be. Now, even though such things should not be that way, and even though we definitely want to concentrate on overcoming such defects, this throne still remained a throne of grace from where God shows forth His grace and His undeserved divine favour.
O, how tremendous and wonderful our God is! How great what we can expect from His throne of grace!
We come to His throne of grace not with our hands filled, not with our sacrifices and the works of our own hands. We come with nothing except a heart which remembers the grace and mercy of God and which recognizes the Father as a good and merciful and king God. We come to the throne of grace as already described by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 55:1:
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Here it is where we "buy without money and without price" – because another has already payed on our behalf. It was Jesus Christ who has already bought us with his life, with his precious blood, and who has redeemed us from the power of Satan and the dominion of sin. His single sacrifice which he as the highpriest offered in the true sanctuary opened the way for us and gave us access to our heavenly Father. Jesus Christ, our lord and saviour, opened the door to the throne room of God who is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. Jesus Christ is our highpriest by whom we now can go behind the curtain and come with boldness unto the throne of grace of the Almighty and Most High, and where we now can bring our praise, our worship. and make known our prayers and supplications with thanksgiving to Him.
O, how marvellous it is to have been granted access and to now be able to come unto the throne of grace!