Boldness
Elder O. B. Mink Now In Glory “In Whom we have boldness and access with confidence
by the faith of Him.” (Ephesians 3:12)
The saint needs to take note from the text that his “boldness” is in Christ, and not in himself. Christ is the saint’s true object of faith, and as his faith in Christ grows, so does his boldness toward the denunciation of evil grow. We read of Christ’s disciples at the time of His arrest in Gethsemane, “They all forsook Him, and fled,” (Mark 14:50). After the resurrection of Christ the faith of the disciples soared to new heights. They were delivered from their base fears, and stood undaunted before the High Priest, Elders and Rulers of Israel, declaring boldly, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) In the next verse we are given one of the conclusions of this Jewish high court, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus,” (Acts 4:13). Some may see in these words an admission of Christ’s resurrection by the Jews, but whether or not this is the case, the poor struggling saint knows that time spent with his risen Lord works wonders for his faltering faith. The Term “boldness” Used In A Bad Sense Of
recent date, there have been some men who are considered by thousands to
be leaders in theological scholarship, casting this superlative term in a
bad light. Commenting on Hebrews 4:16, John R. Rice, quoting Bob Jones,
Sr. approvingly, states, “I am not a stranger. I am at home in my heavenly
family. I just pull my chair up to the table and say, ‘Pappy, please pass
the biscuits,” STEPS FOR NEW CONVERTS, By John R. Rice, page 23. When
Paul says in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace” he does not mean we are to equate God with earthly
fathers, who not only often look the other way when their little darlings
sin, but who, also many times due to sentiment and ignorance, place approbation
on the sinful actions of their children. Such a postulate as Jones and Rice
puts forth impugns the holy character of God, and serves to diminish the
respect children should have for their earthly parents. No true parent can
be a tyrant in the home. Neither will the true parent allow his affection
for his children to be abused by them. Rashness and irreverence are incongruous
to the nature of filial love, and this being true in the natural realm it
is all the more true regarding the believer’s relationship to his heavenly
Father. “Boldness”
as used by Paul in Ephesians 3:12, Hebrews 4:16 and Hebrews
10:19, does not mean children of God can barge into His presence irreverently
or unconscious of the great price that has been paid for their access to
His awesome presence. Paul has in view a noble boldness, a boldness that does
not forget with Whom he has to do, a boldness which is reverential and not
presumptuous and daring. Mr. Jones and Mr. Rice could have learned a lesson
from the Psalmist as to the correct approach unto God, he said, “O come,
let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker,”
(Psalms 95:6). Or by observing Daniel, who, “kneeled upon his
knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before His God”
(Daniel 6:10). We read of the beloved Son of God, in approaching
the Father, “kneeled down, and prayed” (Luke 22:41). And Paul,
the boldest of the bold, said, “I bow my knees unto the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:14).
There are great liberties and privileges connected with the believer’s sonship in Christ, but they do not include the right to address God haughtily, and say, “Pappy, please pass the biscuits.”
The
word “boldness” translates a Greek word which denotes freedom of speech.
True liberty of speech is not to say what we please, but what we ought to
say. “For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men. As free, and not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God” (I Peter
2:15-16). Christ is the one Mediator and official Spokesman in
the presence of God for all believers. Therefore, their every acceptable utterance
unto God is channeled through Him, (Hebrews 9: 24, John 14:6,
I Timothy 2:5). Thus, it is, the term “boldness” as used
by Paul in our text, and in Hebrews 4:16, and Hebrews 10:19
bespeaks the liberty which believers have to approach God directly
through their Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The term as used by Paul
in the above references indicates more than liberty of approach, it also evidences
the absence of restraint in the believer’s approach. The one thing that hindered
the Israelite’s entrance unto God under the Mosaic economy was fear, fear
that his sacrifice would be rejected by God, “They shall therefore keep
mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and die” (Leviticus 22:9).
The difference between the entrance of an Old Testament Israelite and that
of a New Testament believer is, the Israelite’s sacrifice was typical, and
could not eternally stay the condemnation of sin (Hebrews 10:4). Christ
is the anti-type of Israel’s sacrifice, the eternally perfect and all sufficient
sacrifice, and by the virtue of His shed blood the believer has liberty void
of fear to enter the presence of God. Under Judaism the Israelites were debarred
or precluded from the presence of God, even the Levites which ministered
in the tabernacle were strenuously shut out from the holy of holies. Only
the high priest was permitted behind the veil, and that only once a year,
(Exodus 30:10, Leviticus 16:34, Hebrews 9:7). The High
Priest entered the holy of holies with the utmost caution, and with ultimate
religious awe. Being acutely aware of his own unworthiness and knowing his
sacrifice may be rejected by God gave birth to tormenting fear that held
his whole essence and being under arrest. If the sacrifice was rejected it
meant there was sin in the camp which was un-repented of, the consequence
being, divine chastisement. The fear of rejection and divine rebuke held
the people in bondage year in and year out for fifteen hundred years. But
today, the believer’s High Priest is the sinless Son of God, Who has consecrated
for us a “new and living way” and delivered “them who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15,
10:20). In view of the foregoing, Paul says, “Let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). The
believer by virtue of the sacrificial blood of Christ has perpetual access
to the throne of God apart from any earthly intermediaries, and for the believing
heart the craven fear of being rejected has been vanquished. The New Testament
grants the believer a measure of boldness toward God, yet nowhere in the
Bible are believers encouraged to approach God without that high and holy
fear which is the ground of true worship and wisdom, “Fear God, and give
glory to Him ... and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the
sea and the fountains of water” (Revelation 14:7). “The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
So while boldness toward God is inculcated in the New Testament; it is a
boldness that excludes lower and baser fears, but it is also a boldness which
is ever conscious of the infinite holiness of God. It is not a reckless boldness,
but one that is careful in speech and conduct. It is a boldness that joyously
owns its limitations. It is a boldness which has abolished the fear of being
rejected at the judgment (I John 4:10), and it is a boldness which
gives confidence that we will not be ashamed at His coming (I John 2:28).
Yet, this glorious boldness does not now, nor shall ever afford us the right
to approach God apart from holy and reverential fear. Even the Christian
home should have more respect for its dining table, that to allow one of
the children to barge in at its leisure, and say to the father at the head
of the table, “Pappy, please pass the biscuits.” All things are to be done
decently and in order in both the church and the home, and surely, decency
and order will be the decorum in glory.
“Let
all the earth fear the Lord: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in
awe of Him.” (Psalms 33:8)
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