in whom we have boldness and confident access to God by way of Christ’s faithfulness.
God has made Himself accessible. This was not the situation before. Before, the Jews could only relate to God afar off.
Once at Sinai, when God thundered from heaven, they said they didn’t want to hear Him speak (Exodus 20:18–19). In the wilderness, Moses was the only one who could draw near to God (Exodus 20:21; cf. 33:7–11). And in the Temple, we have levels to the presence of God.
There was no confidence in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when God came there, after their sin (Genesis 3).
There was no boldness to approach, despite the externalities of holiness observance (Exodus 19:10–15), when God landed on Mount Sinai. Nothing they did could compensate for the feeling of inadequacy.
And whatever little confidence remaining died when two sons of Aaron, who were anointed, died in the tabernacle in the wilderness (Leviticus 10:1–3), because they offered unauthorized fire.
And later, when one king tried to offer incense, he was immediately smitten with a skin disease (2 Chronicles 26:16–21).
So there was no boldness or confidence to approach God.
But we can now come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us in times of need (Hebrews 4:16).
It's a new way to think about God, a new spiritual reality unveiled by Jesus. And so that we do not think some human beings banded together and concocted the idea as against all that existed before, we see the power of the signs and wonders that accompanied the preaching of the word of God (Hebrews 2:3–4).
What we have is soul liberation through Jesus, unshackled by sin.
Paul is not saying we stay outside and hope that the king calls out our name and stretches his rod of favor (as opposed to being sent to damnation) to let us in, as Esther once had to wait (Esther 4:11; 5:1–2).
No. God took the initiative to come and get us.
We have boldness and confidence in Christ, not in ourselves, not in what we have done, not in our past, not in our plans for the kingdom of God, not in what we have accomplished. And the Holy Spirit impacts that boldness by witnessing with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).
But the presence of God is still not free for all; we only have access because Christ is faithful according to the focus verse. And His faithfulness is ascribed to us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
That may be a hard concept to grasp because we may be quick to think in individualistic categories. But God has a corporate category; that is why we have Israel because of Abraham's connection to God and God's promise to Him to be a God to him and his descendants.
And the same with Jesus.
Isaiah wrote, I, and the children the Lord has given me (which the writer of the book of Hebrews was clear is an allusion to Jesus [Hebrews 2:13]), we are for signs and wonders (Isaiah 8:18).
There is something wonderful about the confidence and boldness we have in God.
When angels have to cover their faces in the presence of God (Isaiah 6:1–3), we, with unveiled faces, behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus and are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).
There is no alternative; this is the way, and Christ is the way; this is the life, and Christ is the life; this is the truth, and Christ is the truth.
Christ is the linchpin of the new covenant. Paul wrote elsewhere that Christ is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).
This point is this: This is the Messiah on whom the hope of Israel is pinned. This is the gate of heaven swung open; the door to Eden opened, and we have the tree of life with us. Unrestricted access is what we have here.
It is amazing, whichever way you look at it. And that is the way it is, this is God in action, not man, and He is glorious and amazing and powerful and all-wise and now all open.
Just amazing. He welcomes us in. And that is what we get in the front end, but in the back end we have everything that Paul has said before, where we do not just have new life, it is a new us; we do not just have a new life, we actually have never existed before, we do not just have a future, but we have a past that is inked inside God in His eternal plan for us individually.
These are extremely powerful things. And nothing is expected of us; there is no maintenance fee. This is a done and irreversible deal.
And it is not dependent on us, and that is a good distinction to make, unlike the old covenant, which depended on the behavior of the Jews; this one is not. It hangs on the faithfulness of Christ, the God-man. What security!
Amazing!