The Throne of God – mercy and 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.

I just came from a conference that was truly incredible.  I speak at many conferences, ladies groups, youth groups, Bible Studies, etc., and every time I get to experience the love of God from the people of God like in that conference.  I sat and I pondered why it was always incredible but this conference was awesome.  Why did this conference seem to be different?  Why was this life changing to the women I brought along with me?  They came along thinking “I don’t know if I really want to do this” as they admitted to me later on our way home in the car, and now they were saying “Oh my gosh!  I am so incredibly glad I came!”.  The chatter was elevated and fast and furious as the excitement of experiencing God in such a loving environment was so profoundly expressed by their racing chatter back and forth, back and forth the resounding theme was how they felt so loved by everyone there.   As I pondered, it started to become very clear, they felt loved!  They knew God loved them from others loving them as God loves us!

We all want to be loved in some way, some form.  Sometimes we look for it in all the wrong places when God wants us at His throne so that He can love on us!  There’s a great song that I love and a part of it goes like this “He is jealous for me.  He loves like a huricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.”  That songs speaks to me so much!  That his love blows on us like a hurricane!  That is powerful and sometimes unbelievable for me at times.  That He would love me so much!

When we are His and we know who we are in His kingdom as children of God, we know that we can go to our Father at any moment, any time we want, with anything!  Sadly, most of us are afraid or anxious, or maybe we just don’t want to out of rebellion, but whatever the reason might be, it is so sad to God.  It breaks His heart that all He has ever done is love us and we run from Him. He wants us to cry out to Him, He wants us to come to Him for refuge and strength, for correction and advice, for praise and adoration and the list goes on.  God is always pleased when we come to Him!  He is not the God who will bonk you on the head! He is not!

We all have our own perceptions of what the throne of God is.  Some view the throne of God as judgment or condemnation.  Some see it as a place unreachable and unattainable.  We all have our perceptions, but what is the truth?  What is the throne as it pertains to being a child of God?  Why should we be informed about the throne of God?  The only way to find the truth is through His word, so let’s look at what the scriptures teach us about the throne of God.

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.

There are several key words in this verse that are very important to notice.  First if you are a child of God you can go to the throne boldly.

bold (b?ld)

adjective

1. showing a readiness to take risks or face danger; daring; fearless
2. too free in behavior or manner; taking liberties; impudent; shameless

So as you can see, we can be daring by taking the things we have never taken to him before, we should be fearless because he is our ever loving Father, if we are too free with him he loves it or if our manner is not what we think it should be, he loves us nonetheless! We can take liberties because we are a child of the King of the most high, and we are shameless before him!!

The next word is the throne of grace! It is not the throne of bonk you on the head because you are bad, or the throne of condemnation and judgment, it is the throne of grace.

grace (gr?s)

noun

1. the unmerited love and favor of God toward mankind
2. divine influence acting in a person to make the person pure, morally strong, etc.
3. the condition of a person brought to God’s favor through this influence
4. a special virtue, gift, or help given to a person by God

Grace is given to us by the almighty God! The God of the universe! When we come to Him he gives us unmerited love and favor!  He give us grace!  Not condemnation or judgment.  He are His child and he wants us to come to Him and let Him lift us up and He holds us gently and lovingly in His arms!

What does the verse say we obtain at the throne?  It says we obtain mercy.

mercy (m?r?s?)

noun pl. mercies -·cies

1. a refraining from harming or punishing offenders, enemies, persons in one’s power, etc.; kindness in excess of what may be expected or demanded by fairness; forbearance and compassion
2. a disposition to forgive, pity, or be kind
3. the power to forgive or be kind; clemency: to throw oneself on the mercy of the court
4. kind or compassionate treatment; relief of suffering
5. a fortunate thing; thing to be grateful for; blessing

God gives us the mercy we need.  He doesn’t harm us or punish us.  He gives us forgiveness, pity, kindness, compassion, RELIEF!  Relief from the things of this world.  He gives us healing as never before.  He gives us His love, not the judgment we deserve or the condemnation others or ourselves give ourselves but HIS love!!  He gives us grace!  The only things asked of us is to come to him with ALL our heart!  The good the bad and the ugly!  He wants to know it all and what will we get?  His mercy and grace which in turn is his glorious love!! Relief from the things we carry on our wagon of life.  The load gets lighter!

Here is the secret.  The enemy does anything he can to keep you away from the throne for he knows that when you go there you will find love, healing, forgiveness, acceptance and more!  He wants dominion over you!  Satan wants you to turn your head towards him and not towards God!!  And we do.  We listen to him before we will listen to God and so we stay out of the throne room of God.  We live with the lies that have been fed us all of our lives instead of listening to the truth of God!  How do we know the truth of God and what he says about us or the situations in our lives if we will not even turn our heads towards him and go to the throne of mercy and grace?

You see, when you as a child of God, starts to walk towards the throne room of your heavenly Father, He sees you coming and he gets excited!  He starts to well up with joy and He cannot wait to hear what you have to say to him. He says like the song by Brian Litrell’s song “Welcome home you!  I know you by name. How do you do, I shine because of you today.  Come and sit down tell me how you are. You know son, it’s so good to see your face!”  That is the God that He is!  He sent His son Jesus so that we could once again have access to him personally.  Before Jesus you could not go to the throne of God, the high priest was the only one allowed in the temple of God to offer a sacrifice.  They could not go to God, but Jesus is now the high priest!  He is now our way to God! Hebrews 10: 19-22 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Do you see that if we do not go to the throne of God, then everything Jesus did on the cross,  all of His suffering is worth nothing if we don’t have a personal relationship with God our Father.  He sent Jesus so that we could once again be with Him at the throne of mercy and grace!  He sent us Jesus because he wanted us to have fellowship like it was in the garden at the very beginning!!

I am thankful for a God that didn’t give up on us and wanted to make a way to get us to come to him at all costs!  To watch His son suffer so horribly so that He could talk to us one on one!  I am obliterated by that kind of love.  Thank you Jesus!

Go to this link to hear Welcome Home!