Every Lord’s Day we confess the Apostle’s Creed, but how often do we think about the article: “He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty.” How often do we think about the fact that every day we live in the blessedness of Christ’s ascension? This is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews reminds us of when he says,

Jesus is our great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens.Hebrews 4:14

The book of Hebrews was written to encourage believers who were struggling against sin and needed a word of encouragement concerning their salvation in Christ. They needed to know the sweet assurance of salvation in Christ in order to have confidence to fight the good fight of faith. And the writer to the Hebrews gives every believer this confidence when he says that mercy and grace to help in time of need are always available because Jesus, our great High Priest, has ascended into heaven and now sits enthroned in majesty on high. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14). This verse focuses our attention on the ascended Christ, so that believers will have confidence to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

You see, “a great high priest who has passed through the heavens” stands in contrast to the earthly high priest in the nation of Israel, who passed through the veil of the temple to offer the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. In the Old Testament Leviticial priesthood, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies behind the curtains to make atonement for sin. He passed out of view, even as Jesus did when he was taken up into heaven, but his ministry was on earth.

And every time the high priest did the work of atonement, he went into an earthly tabernacle as the only one that could make this offering, the mediator of the people before God. But he first had to offer sacrifice for his own sins, then for the sins of the people. Hebrews 9:7 explains,

But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance.

The earthly high priest was but a foreshadow of the great High Priest to come. But since the sacrificial work of the earthly high priest was only temporary, he had to do this same ritual year by year. The repetition served as a reminder to the people that the true sacrifice, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), the one sacrifice that could never be repeated, was yet to come. It was also a reminder of their sins and how “it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4).

When the high priest in office completed his duty of offering blood on the mercy seat, he returned through the veil, out of the Holy of Holies, and back to the people. The next year he did the same thing. But that was not the case with our Lord. After His sin-atoning death on the cross, He rose from the dead, appeared to many witnesses, and then “passed through the heavens.” This means there is no more Day of Atonement! There is nothing more required by God to satisfy His justice in forgiving sinners. Hebrews 10:12 says,

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

Jesus didn’t enter into the Holy of Holies on earth; He was the great High Priest who passed through the heavens because He finished the redemptive work the Father sent Him to do. He now appears in heaven on behalf of all those whom the Father gave Him to redeem (John 6:37), as Q 49 of the Heidelberg Catechism says, “He is our Advocate in the presence of His Father in heaven.” And it’s a constant source of encouragement to remember that we have this kind of great High Priest.

Therefore, when you struggle with the assurance of your salvation, remember that Jesus Christ has “passed through the heavens” and now sits as our Advocate in the presence of the Father! The work of atonement has been completed. Rest in what Christ has done! “We have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He as the Head will also take us, His members, up to Himself” (Q 49). He who is God the Son continues as the true Man Jesus Christ, representing us before the Father; One person with two natures — human and divine. And it’s for this reason that we “have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses … One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was tempted, but was without sin. And this is crucial because if He had sinned then He would have needed a sacrifice for His own sins, and he could not be the perfect sacrifice and high priest that we need. But Scripture is clear; Christ was tempted in every point like us, but He did not sin (Matthew 4). Therefore He can sympathize with our weaknesses!

As a man, Jesus knew the loneliness of betrayal, the heartache of rejection, and the grief of his friend’s death. Jesus Christ knows the human experience, and is intimately acquainted with our every weakness and temptation. And so the writer to the Hebrews exhorts every believer by saying “let us hold fast our confession,” and when we struggle in this life against sin, sorrow, and suffering,

Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

This is one of the most important contrasts between the Old and New Covenants. The people in the Old Testament could not draw near to the very presence of God with boldness. They were kept at a distance. They were insulated by all of the types and shadows of the ceremonial law. Only the high priest was permitted to go into the Holy of Holies, and only once a year. Also, only the priests entered into the outer chamber called the Holy Place, and they were only permitted to come with sacrifices.

The whole emphasis was upon keeping your distance because God is holy and we are not. But now the writer of Hebrews says, “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace” because we have our great High Priest in heaven. He has entered in before us and ministers before God in behalf of every believer.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.Hebrews 7:25

A citizen in a kingdom had no right to come with boldness before the throne of his king. To do so would be to lose his life. Just think of the account of Esther and King Ahasuerus in Esther 4:11: “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live.” But this is not the case with our King! We are called “to come boldly to the throne of grace” which can also be translated, “draw near with confidence.” And “to come boldly” is a present tense verb in the Greek which means that drawing near to God with confidence ought to be our regular practice. It literally means to keep on continually coming boldly to the throne of grace!

Moment by moment and day by day, we are to come before the throne of grace for the mercy we need. And, as believers, we are to come with confidence and with a sense of assurance before our God because we are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, who is seated on the throne of grace. Notice it’s not called the throne of judgment, but “the throne of grace.” This is because Christ suffered the judgment of God against the sin of every believer. Christ was the propitiation for our sins! He was our scapegoat who satisfied the justice of God, and now, by faith, every believer has the right and duty to come before this throne to find abundance of “mercy and grace in the time of need.”

There’s an abundance of mercy and grace awaiting every believer who comes boldly to the throne of grace because our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, the One who sympathizes with our every weakness, has ascended triumphantly behind the veil and has entered into the Holy of Holies on our behalf.

Therefore, seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.Hebrews 4:14-16