2023-06-21 “the confidence that we have in him”

I John 5:14  “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:  15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

One of the most precious practical blessings that God has given to us is that, through faith, we have “confidence” in Him when we go to Him in prayer.  The word that is translated “confidence” is often translated “bold”, both communicate to us that we can go to Him without hesitation, knowing that He will hear us.  This direct communication with God was opened to us when Jesus Christ, our High Priest, Sacrificially Offered Himself to God the Father to pay our sin-debt.  When the offering was made, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51); thus, opening to us the Most Holy Place where the Mercy Seat is.  This Most Holy Place, for our understanding, typifies the Ultimate Holy Place In Heaven.  “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven” (Psalms 11:4), it is this “holy temple” “in heaven” that is opened to us in prayer.  John actually saw this “holy” Place “in heaven” (Revelation 4:2), he wrote that “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament” (Revelation 11:19).  In the Old Testament, we see that “the mercy seat” was placed upon “the ark”.  Therefore, we can now “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  I’m daily astonished that a mortal sinner like me can so “boldly” (with “confidence”) flee to “the throne of grace”, knowing that the Sovereign, Eternal, Holy God will lovingly hear me when I cry out to Him!