access to God

All religions of the world, in every culture around the world, are all interested in one basic thing, and that is access to God. There is an innate recognition in man that there must be something bigger than us, some reason for our existence, some purpose to life. And even those who would deny the existence of God must deny this realization at the very core of their existence, for as it says in Romans 1:19 “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”

But contrary to the doctrines of many religions of the world, the Bible tells us that we are estranged and alienated from God because of sin, and therefore ignorant about God. Isaiah 59 tells us that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

So the bad news is that man is alienated and estranged from God. He cannot grope for Him and find Him, or lay hold of Him. He cannot even really understand Him fully, but only see enough evidence around him through creation to be convicted, and that conviction and his sin is enough to condemn him. So if we are to have access to God, to know God, it is incumbent upon God to reveal Himself to man, if man is to know enough to be able to be reconciled to God. And that is the good news; the gospel, and the message of the book of Hebrews, that God has appointed Jesus to be our prophet, priest and king. Our prophet to tell us about God, our priest to mediate and minister for us to God, and our king to make us citizens of the kingdom of God.

As Hebrews 1 opens it tells us that God has set about to reveal Himself to the sons of men by first the agency of prophets - and a prophet is a person who proclaims the word of God, and then secondly God reveals Himself by the agency of a priest - who ministers to us from God and from us to God, and finally one day will reveal Himself as King over all the earth when He comes back in glory.

Since man is unable to gain access to God, God sent His Son, His exact image in human form to us. Hebrews 1 says, “God, after He spoke long ago to the prophets in many portions and many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, who whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

He became our priest, our mediator, able to grasp both man and God at the same time. He is our access to God. And there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. All who would come to the Father must come through Him. For He is the exact representation of God. This phrase found in Heb. 1:2 comes from a Greek word from which we get the word character. It speaks of an instrument, which had carved on one end a character or letter, and then would be used to press into clay or wax, leaving an exact imprint. God imprinted His character into human clay – and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father – Jesus Christ. He is our access, our great High Priest, who has gone into the holiest of heaven to intercede on our behalf, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but by the blood of His own sacrifice, as the spotless lamb of God.

Hebrews 9:11 says “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

***Through the end of October, we will try to hold services on the beach, weather permitting. But in the case of inclement weather, we will hold our Sunday service at the Christian Conference Center in the heart of Bethany Beach until we move indoors permanently during the winter months.

***There will be a ladies night out, “Fall into Fellowship” at Patty McCarthy’s house on October 17 at 6:30pm. All women are encouraged to attend. Please call Susie for more information.