The consistory meeting starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. and is scheduled to last until 10 o’clock at the latest. Immediately after the opening, when the agenda is adopted, brother Pieterse asks if it might be possible for once to start with the agenda item, “home visits” — rather than dealing with this near the end of the meeting. The other brothers can tell that something is bothering him. The proposal is accepted and Pieterse launches into what he wants to say. “This month I made six home visits in my district,” he says, “and all of them were so different! All of them were within our own congregation. Every time I tried to get down to the questions about faith and how the people experience the Sunday worship, but it didn’t go very deep. Then I thought — and I did this at each of the visits — let me ask more about how they think about God. Who is the Lord God for you? And from what I all heard... All kinds of ideas or images of God were expressed:

• a vague and abstract image of God: I do not know exactly. You see, to me God is more like something than that he is someone — the basis of our existence or something like it;
• a theoretical and distant image of God: God is the Creator of everything, but in all honesty I do not notice very much about him;
• a warm-emotional image of God: I just feel God like a great source of love, especially when I am struggling in my life;
•  a cold, yes even a threatening image of God: when it comes to God I often think that he sees everything you do, like some kind of a “Big Eye in the Sky” overseeing your life, right?”

The brothers get into a lively conversation, as they recognize what Pieterse is saying. Who is God anyway — the one thinks this, another has the feeling that... Then brother Willemse realizes with a start: it is almost eleven o’clock already! The brothers decide to devote a separate evening to this topic, and also to delegate not two but four brothers to the national office bearers’ conference of 2011.

1. A Change in the Perception of God⤒🔗

Imagine that elder Pieterse had asked his questions at the home visit not in 2011 but a century ago, in 1911, what kind of answers would he have received? We live in a world that is radically different from that time. The “fixed” denominations, the established church connections with authoritative bodies, the well-defined doctrines of the church, the generally held convictions full of certainty: all of these have lesser significance, or they are disappearing. The boundaries are no longer as strict, and modern means of communication are changing people. And people see that there is a wide diversity and multiplicity of religions with all sorts of images about God. The so-called postmodern view informs us that everything is infinitely relative, and that there are no fixed realities or truths. We, along with our children and grandchildren, have been taught more and more to think for ourselves, to make our own individual choices. If there is something you like, something that feels good, then take hold of it — the rest can be discarded. A generation is growing up that independently gathers its own philosophy of life, including religion, from all sorts of convictions. There is even a term for it: “bricolage” — a French loanword indicating the process of creating a unity or reality by picking and choosing whatever comes to mind. Ingrid believes in Jesus, in reincarnation and in free sex; Mark’s preference is more for a faith with elements from the Old Testament, from Jewish mysticism, but he is also somewhat taken in by Buddhism. Do we realize the fact that all around us only one out of every five Dutch citizens still believes in a personal God? The tendency seems to be that any speaking about God is best done in vague and impersonal terms. Of course, all of this has an effect on the churches as well, including ours.

But there is more that is going on. Researchers even speak of a process of “humanizing” the image we have of God. People want to get rid of the so-called authoritarian views of God from the past. Images of God as Lord, King, Judge, Warrior, etc. are experienced as oppressive and as constricting our consciences. After a century that witnessed so much violence and bloodshed, a change is needed, also in religious thinking. There needs to be a stronger emphasis on God’s mercy, love and grace. Some even speak of the “therapeutic” image of God, i.e., God in the form of Father or Mother who is eager to forgive, who loves you just as you are. It is a “feel-good” religion, where God shows such deep understanding for your life, someone who puts his hand on your shoulder and with whom you can be who you are.

We all realize that our image of God has consequences for how we think about ourselves, or our fellow man and our daily existence. The motives of our actions and our choices in life are also determined and fed by it. Our prayers and our praise, our comfort and our expectations for the future are profoundly shaped by the image we have of God. And inevitably, every person creates for himself a certain image of who God is. One’s age and character, one’s origins and education, one’s culture and the time in which one is living: all of these have an impact on how one visualizes and experiences God.

For a Christian, however, none of this has the final word. For a true response to the question of a true understanding of God we are not dependent on our human experiences, but on his divine revelation. Ultimately, we cannot utter any meaningful word about God apart from God’s own Word. And what truly matters for us is that we get to know God as he makes himself known to us in his Word, the Bible. Our human understanding of God is to be shaped solely on the basis of this revelation.

2. The Key Question←⤒🔗

Who is God? The Bible answers this key question in a wide variety of names and images, through various nouns and verbs. How does God reveal himself? In addition to the Name YHWH, “I am who I am”, he is called: God Most High, God Eternal, God Almighty, the God who sees me (Gen. 16:13), the LORD of hosts, God of the heavenly armies, a Jealous God, the Holy One of Israel. The prophets and apostles speak of him in many images: the King, Shepherd, Warlord, Rock, Bridegroom, Judge, Source of life, Light, Creator, Saviour, Physician, Redeemer, etc. The “qualities” attributed to God are equally telling: he is powerful, faithful, just, loving, merciful, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, wrathful, trustworthy, alive, unique... Some theologians rightly point out that we get to know God even more from the verbs in Scripture than from all these nouns. He is, after all, the God who acts, intervenes, relents, elects, rages and redeems, loves and indulges, who judges and delivers...

The variation becomes even greater when we see how each author in the Bible places different emphases. What a difference can be noted between the God of the reflective book of Ecclesiastes and the Lord who’s eating a goat in Abraham’s tent (Gen. 18). What a difference between the Lord who embraces the little children with his blessings (Luke 18) and him who, together with his mighty will, inflict his vengeance with flaming fire over those who do not acknowledge him (2 Thess. 1:7-8).

Does this imply a kaleidoscope of images of God in the Bible, as some theologians claim? As if these are clashing, mutually contradictory images of God? No. Instead, it does mean that we are dealing here with the God who is the Living One. That is the beautiful aspect of the Bible, which does not offer us a ready-made belief system, but instead gives us the reflection of an unparalleled history in which the living God traces his paths through this world in word and deed. It is the one history of salvation that runs through the entire Bible. And then the biblical revelation of God, by means of the many colours and variations, also shows a remarkable unity in everything that is said about God. The LORD, Israel’s God, is One (Deut. 6:4). The Creator is the same as the Redeemer; the God who directs and guides his people is the same as the God who saves his people.

There is one special word that keeps recurring in various contexts to indicate the particular and unique character of this God of the Bible: “holy”, “holiness”. This notion is foundational to the Bible’s revelation about God and it determines all the other “attributes” of God. God’s love is a holy love, God’s wrath is a holy wrath, his goodness is holy, and his deeds are holy. No other word expresses as much about who God truly is; no other attribute is as frequently attributed to God in the Old Testament. His holiness permeates everything God is and does. Of all the Biblical words, “holiness” most denotes the characteristic of who our God is in essence.

3. The Concept of Holiness←⤒🔗

It is not right away an easy matter for us as modern Westerners to properly understand the Biblical notion of holiness. In our language terms such as “holy” and “holiness” can be used in different ways. Sometimes this is in a negative sense: think of the derogative term “holy roller”, or of the so-called “holy wars” of Al Qaeda. Sometimes it is used specifically, e.g., for the Roman Catholic (“holy”) saints whose images adorn the churches. But in general we sense that with “holy” something special is meant, something respectable, something that should not be tainted. The word “holy” in the Bible indicates exactly that: something special, a difference from the norm. Scholars derive the Hebrew word for “holy” (qadosh) from a root with the meaning “to separate, to create distance”. Holy is that which is separated from the ordinary, the profane. Compare Leviticus 20:26, where God says to Israel, “You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine”. There is both a negative and a positive side to this “being holy” — negatively: to be separated from the profane and sinful, and positively: to be devoted to God.

With the word “holy”, as applied to the LORD God, the Bible makes him known to us as the God who is the Unique One, he who is “radically different,” so special that he can never be confined within our categories and frames of reference. In the strict sense of the word, only God is holy. People or things can only be holy in a derived sense. God’s holiness unfolds in many ways, as we are about to see.

4. Isaiah and the Trisagion←⤒🔗

There is no one better than the prophet Isaiah who can teach us to understand what the holiness of God represents. We can start with the calling of Isaiah, something that would leave a lifelong mark on his person and his prophecy. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isa. 6:1-4).

What did Isaiah see? He receives a visionary impression of the LORD enthroned as King (see v. 5) far above the earth. But from this high and lofty throne, the long robe of God’s garment becomes visible in the temple and it fills this space. Heaven and earth merge in a prophetic-visionary perspective. And notice the behaviour and the song of the seraphim! Each of these heavenly angels has six wings; as they are flying around the throne they cover their faces with two wings, so that they cannot see God, and with two wings they reverently cover their “feet”. This accentuates God’s unapproachability and his total distinctiveness. Even the heavenly creatures are not allowed to see God’s face. In God’s presence, reverence and timidity overwhelm every creature. Their song of praise echoes back and forth through heaven and the temple: “Holy, holy, holy”. The word “holy” is used three times: in theological literature this is called with a Greek term the “Trisagion”.

The Trisagion represents the essential message of God’s holiness: he is the wholly Other, untouchable, majestically exalted. He is infinitely separated from this world, not only because he is “transcendent”, entirely different, separated by distance and space, but even more so because there is a deep gulf between him and the sin with which the world is infected. The continuation of the text is therefore all the more wonderful, for this God nevertheless wants to dwell with men—the whole earth is full of his glory. The Lord is not only the One who is highly Exalted (transcendent) but he is also the very Near One (immanent). The wonder of the biblical revelation of God lies in the merging of these two aspects. Precisely as the Holy One, God wants to dwell with man (see also Isa. 57:15).

The Trisagion is an integral part of the liturgy in the temple of Jerusalem. A beautiful example is found in Psalm 99, where a threefold refrain, as in Isaiah 6, speaks of God’s kingship and God’s holiness, evoking the human response of trembling. The Trisagion has been part of the worship of God’s people throughout the centuries. Even in the last book of the Bible we find evidence of it. In Revelation 4 we again receive a glimpse of the throne. In the midst of the throne and around the throne are four animals, each of which — like the seraphim of Isaiah 6 — has six wings. They do not cease to proclaim the Trisagion, and casting down their thrones they exclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 4:8). God was holy in the past, is holy in the present, and will be holy in the future. No matter what changes in the course of time, this never changes.

5. The “Shadow Side” of God’s Holiness in the OT and the NT←⤒🔗

We humans are inclined to create an image of God that fits our way of thinking and meets our needs. We want to hear about comfort, happiness, peace and perspective. Our image of God should not be unsettling, or have a critical impact on our lives. But the God of the Bible is the totally Other. Certainly, he is boundless in compassion and he displays a great love for the world; but as the Holy One, he is also the God who is utterly removed from our claims. It’s not infrequent that the Bible uses images of “light” and “fire” for this holy God. “God is light and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). When he reveals himself at Sinai, Israel stands terrified at the foot of the mountain, “while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 4:11-12). He is not to be trifled with. Precisely because he is the Holy One, he can also turn against man in an overwhelming and direct way. Not arbitrarily, but certainly in a real way. In this context, the Bible regularly speaks of God’s holy envy, or his holy wrath. That is why the Bible calls upon us several times to “tremble” and “quake” before the holy God. God’s Name, besides being holy, is also “awesome” or “fearful” (see Ex. 15:11; Ps. 111:9).

On this essential point there is no difference between the OT and the NT For instance, Acts 5:1-11 shows that the Lord is the Holy One whose wrath can be kindled. Certainly, the coming of Jesus Christ is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for this world. But this love never has the character of being anything cheap or easy. Instead, it is a love that totally gives itself away—a love that has a very high price. Everywhere in the NT, therefore, the other side of this love is clear. Love is the outstretched hand of God toward our lives, to save us from the coming wrath. Christ died and was raised; this core content of the gospel opened the apostles’ eyes to the awesome reality of the wrath of God. Not only does the love of Christ urge Paul to the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:14), but also the knowledge of how much the Lord is to be feared (2 Cor. 5:11).

6. An Example: the Death of Uzzah←⤒🔗

As an example of how real and serious the holy wrath of God is, we can refer to the well-known story of the death of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6. David causes the ark of God to be transported on a new cart, from the house of Abinadab toward Jerusalem. When the oxen in front of the cart stumble the ark threatens to fall off the chariot, but Uzzah grabs hold of the ark. Then we read, “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.” David becomes angry with God (not just “upset” as the NBG-1951 moralizes!), and later also afraid (see vv. 8-9).

This is a passage from the Bible that is (almost) never preached on, and a story that bothers many Bible readers. Does this noy seem capricious and arbitrary? Surely Uzzah meant well, and so did David? Is this now indeed the God who is love? Such a Bible text does not at all mesh with a humanizing, therapeutic image of God, and in modern song collections there is not a single song that incorporates 2 Samuel 6. It is in fact a chilling account — but one with a profound message.

This episode of Uzzah was in fact preceded by quite a few events. In recent history the ark had been treated very inappropriately. The ark represented the symbol of the presence of the holy God of the covenant. But that covenant had been violated. Israel had carried the ark, accompanied by Hophni and Phinehas, into battle against the Philistines as some sort of secret weapon (1 Sam. 4). Conquered by the Philistines, the ark had been placed as a war trophy in the temple of their god Dagon. After a long journey crisscrossing Philistia, the ark was finally returned to Israel (1 Sam. 6), to Beth-shemesh, on a new chariot, with cattle in front of it. There the men of Beth-shemesh had displayed an improper curiosity with regards to the ark, whereupon God had punished them by striking down 70 of them. Then the ark had been transported to Kirjath-Jearim, to the house of Abinadab, and for years it was not properly looked after (1 Chron. 13:3). Finally there is some action — yet what does David do? The ark was only to be carried (Ex. 25:13-15), by a certain category of Levites, and they were absolutely not to touch the ark (Num. 4:15). But here there is nothing of the sort: David had the ark transported in the manner of the Philistines (on a new cart). And Uzzah was not even a Levite. They are messing with the ark — David will also acknowledge this later (see 1 Chron. 15:12-15), when on a second attempt to return the ark he tells the Levites to consecrate themselves, because — as he says — “you did not do this the previous time, and therefore the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule as we should have”. Then the ark is transported again, not in the manner of the Philistines but now finally in the manner of Moses, in accordance with the stipulations.

In this account you can sense the sharp edge of God’s rules: the holy God does not allow himself to be trifled with. This is a proclamation of warning that runs through the entire Bible, and which we cannot ignore except to the detriment of our spiritual lives.

7. The “Bright Side” of God’s Holiness←⤒🔗

The revelation of the holy God, the altogether Unique One, can become a source of terror when he turns against man in his wrath. Yet the core of the biblical message about God’s holiness is much closer to what we may call the “immanence” of God: his love and mercy, with which he seeks man, and who has taken on flesh and blood in Christ Jesus. The Word dwelt among us! Therefore: much more than a source of terror, God’s holiness is the source of endless hope: above all he embodies holy love.

We find a beautiful example of it in the book of Hosea. This prophet lived and prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel around the middle of the eighth century B.C. He saw the downfall of this kingdom coming rapidly. With all the energy that was in him, he sent out one last alarm signal, and spoke with heart and soul about the incomprehensible love of God, about the terrible wrath of God, and about the holiness of God who does not let go of what his hand once began. The proclamation of God’s grace and mercy, gloriously proclaimed over and against the judgment is nowhere more poignant than in Hosea 11.

God loved his child Israel and called his son out of Egypt, granting them everything in his tender care. Israel’s ingratitude toward this love is so deeply rooted that judgment must irrevocably follow (v. 5): back to the slavery of “Egypt” (= Assyria). This means nothing less than that God’s history of salvation with his people Israel is about to come to an end. Then, however, a miraculous turn suddenly takes place. “How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? (vs. 8). The tone is set by the first word “how”, a form element of a lamentation. We hear God lamenting... At one time Admah and Zeboiim, including other cities near the Dead Sea, were “overthrown” by the fire of God’s judgment (see Gen. 19). Now Israel deserves the same fate, after having made itself ripe for God’s judgment. But what turns out to be the case? God is not able to do it! It is not Israel that will be “overthrown”’ but God’s own heart is “overthrown”: “My heart recoils within me” (v. 8). Why this turnaround? Because his compassion and pity is fully aroused (v. 8b). God’s love prevents him from carrying out his burning wrath completely: “I will not again destroy Ephraim” (v. 9). This is connected with God’s holiness: “For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” God’s love-filled hold on Israel is based on his holiness! Precisely because God is the Holy One, he is able to put a stop to his own wrath.

8. Extrapolation 1: Holiness and Everyday Life←⤒🔗

As we receive insight from the Bible into who God is, this then also has consequences for our daily lives. The confession that God is the Holy One places our whole existence in a certain light, with all its significance for our way of living, our worship, and our personal spirituality. Because he is the Holy One, he lays hold of our entire life in order to “sanctify” it, to return it to its own, proper destiny. The God who created us is a holy God, who is working towards the sanctification of the created reality, and who has sanctified a people for that purpose. He is light, and in him there is no darkness at all; he who believes in him no longer walks in darkness (John 8:12), gets rid of the works of darkness and puts on the armour of light (Rom 13:12), being called to a holy life before God.

This becomes very clear, for example, in the book of Leviticus. This book has a separate, related set of laws that we call the “Holiness Law”: chapters 17-26. This connotation is taken from the core verse, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (19:2). In every possible area of life, the inspiration of “I am the LORD your God” rings out. God is holy (19:2), he sanctifies Israel (21:8), and therefore Israel needs to sanctify itself (20:7). The whole life of Israel, in religious, ethical, cultic, legal, social and economic terms, falls under this claim of the holy God. He demands a life of total devotion to him and the complete rejection of a pagan lifestyle. He lays this claim on this people because they are his people. He has set Israel apart (20:26), led them out of Egypt, and established his covenant with Israel.

The Bible also calls this “the sanctification of the Name of God,” in the NT the text, “in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy...” (1 Pet. 3:14-15). Honouring the Name of God is a very existential event; it takes place in the hearts, which are the springs of life. It permeates the whole of our existence. Sanctifying Christ means allowing him to be Lord over everything. Of vital importance here is that as his people we follow God’s commandments. God’s law is not merely a bundle of tips, but the commandments are literally the rules of life, given to us by God to walk the path of life. In this he is sanctified.

9. Extrapolation 2: Holiness and Worship←⤒🔗

The worship service is the place where one feels the heartbeat of the relationship between God and his people. It is true that history shows a great variety in the arrangement of worship (the liturgy) and nowadays, with the spread of the gospel all around the world, this variety is only increasing and becoming ever more rich. It is amazingly beautiful to see in how many ways and in how many languages and colours our God is honoured and praised in the liturgy worldwide. Every age can add new accents to the constant elements that are there, every culture has its own forms of experience.

But the main focus should always be on one thing: worship as an encounter with the Holy One. Of course, a worship service also has an important social component (meeting and interacting with each other, sharing), an aesthetic component (the music, the singing) and a didactic component (learning, enriching one’s knowledge) — but everything must serve the encounter with the Holy One. This of course has consequences for the tone and setting of the worship service. The worship must be permeated by reverence, awe, love, dedication, and a holy concentration. This is what you pray for during the silent prayer, and this is how one seeks to be involved in all parts of the worship service. This does not have to exclude sociability and mutual sharing, or a chat with the children, or good moments of relaxation. Yet the goal, the framework, the tenor of the worship service remains fixed: to meet before the face of God, and to live by his grace and love.

This means that we need to be careful in our choice of the various elements of the worship service. There are boundaries to the overall design of the worship service that need to be respected. The boundary lies there where the profane and the sacred are being mixed. Every time the criterion is: worship and reverence. Of course, this also has significance for the preaching. Preaching is not an exposé with all sorts of reflections interwoven with amusing anecdotes about the experiences of the pastor, nor is it a dry exposition of dogmatic subjects or an extensive Bible study. Essentially, preaching is the ministry of reconciliation under the high tension of the encounter of the Holy One with his people. Here the Scriptures are opened, in interpretation and application. The Word of God is proclaimed in human words, addressed to our hearts, to result in repentance, faith and sanctification. At the same time this determines the framework for the use of language and the use of examples in preaching. This drastically cuts down on the use of the pronoun “I” in the sermon. In regard to the administration of the sacraments the experience of the encounter with the Holy God will dictate the course of events. For this reason, for example, around the baptismal font there should not be people with flashing cameras. This is also why at funeral services endless, strongly emotional speeches about all kinds of details from the private life of the deceased should be avoided.

The awareness of the holiness of God is reflected in humility and praise in the worship service. The tone of the service is of lasting importance. Rushed elements, routines, any sloppiness, needless protractions, disorganization — these detract from the dignity and depth of a church service. The Trisagion demands constant interpretation and repetition, like a permanent incense offering that ascends before God throughout the ages. Whether the singing is rhythmic or non-rhythmic, with or without accompaniment, through psalms or hymns — these are in fact secondary matters. The primary question is whether our worship flows from our hearts in all sincerity, and whether it serves as a channel through which living water will flow across the full breadth, as it comes from the source — the Bible.

This also ensures that we are careful in the choice of songs. There are some songs in circulation, perhaps with very popular and loved melodies, which nevertheless fall short of the biblical message or which merely leave us with a religious “good feeling”. Interesting on this point is a discussion in a daily newspaper of March 9 about a well-known song: “Lord, you are always here with me, there is no changing God in Thee, You are the same yesterday — and today — and forevermore...”. Is that even true that God is always with you? Is God not depicted as a sweet presence in this song, with the image of a “feel-good-God”? So writes the columnist who called this song “a cuddly version of Psalm 139”, and rightly pointed out that in Psalm 139 God’s nearness is not a risk-free given, but that in this psalm the hatred for God’s opponents also has a place. However, this element is not found in this song.

10. Extrapolation 3: Holiness and the Inner Room←⤒🔗

When we see how much God is the Holy One, this will also affect one’s personal experience of faith. Sometimes God is spoken of in such familiar terms, all too readily. One can be amazed at the ease with which God’s Name is being used. Some people manage to climb high on the musical ladder when they speak about God. But: who are we? Who can stand firm in the encounter with the living God? There are striking passages of Scripture that show the reaction of people when they are confronted with the Holy One. How did Moses react at the burning bush (Ex. 3:6), or Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:18)? And what about Job, the one who suffered greatly. How much did he not speak of God? How many images of God are presented in the answers of Job’s “friends”? But then God starts to speak — out of a whirlwind. After this Job answered the LORD: “I had heard of you...but now my eye sees you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). Also in the NT it appears again and again that man remains nowhere when he experiences even for a moment something of God’s majesty. Think of the priest Zechariah in the temple (Luke 1:12), and the shepherds in the field, when the glory of the Lord shone around them: “and they were filled with great fear” (Luke 2:9). The Lord Jesus appears to John, radiant in all his splendour: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (Rev. 1:17).

It can be found throughout the Bible, and it shows us the way in our personal life of faith: the exhortation to reverently fear the awe-inspiring God, indicated with an OT term: “the fear of the LORD”. At the same time, the call can be heard countless times in the Bible: “Fear not”. This is not contradictory to each other, because the fear of the Lord itself contains the element of a loving surrender to the God who is trustworthy. The gospel does not take away the knowledge that God is also a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). Evangelists and apostles, knowing the “fear of the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:11), are motivated to persuade others. Above all, their testimony is supported by the mighty joy of these words “fear not,” in the knowledge that Jesus took the cup of wrath. He bore the penalty, putting away sin once and for all (Heb. 9:26) through his sacrifice and his conquest over death.

Through his atoning work Christ Jesus has unlocked the way to God the Father. We may enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19). There is no longer any distance between the people of God and the Holy of Holies, where no one was allowed to enter except the high priest. In Christ, God’s people have a High Priest over the house of God (Heb. 10:21). This means that we may approach with full confidence, as is perhaps most beautifully demonstrated by the faithful claim “Abba/Father” in our prayer. This one word “Abba” contains all the indescribable riches in which the believer may share: he/she may know how (or himself/herself) to be a child at home with him whose name is the Holy One.