◄ What Does Hebrews 10:22 Mean? ►

Praise the Lord that it is by the merit of Christ’s shed blood that we can draw near to God and call Him Abba, Father. And in this verse, we are invited to come close to Him - to draw near to our Heavenly Father in full assurance that the price Christ paid for our sin at Calvary is paid in full and is entirely sufficient – amen!

It is because of what the Lord Jesus did at His incarnation and as the Word of God made flesh, that we have the right to draw near to God and be called His sons and daughters. We do not come to Him with nervousness or an element of doubt... we approach Him with the steadfast, sure assurance that what God has said, God will perform.

Because of Christ's perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious Resurrection, we have the guaranteed certainty that what God has promised, He will perform. And so, we are encouraged to "draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

It is not under the restrictive conditions of the Old Covenant that we are assured of this perfect cleansing of our hearts and souls. It is through the unconditional terms of the New and better Covenant that we can draw near to God with confidence... as we boldly approach the throne of grace for mercy to find help in time of need. We are enabled to come to our Heavenly Father with the sure knowledge that in the ages to come, we have life everlasting.

Our confidence does not depend on what we have done for God or what we have achieved in our Christian walk. Our confidence rests on what Christ has done for us - what He accomplished on our behalf when He laid aside his glory and came to earth as a Man. He came to fulfil the righteous requirement of God's Law so that we would not remain under condemnation but be raised up into newness of eternal life.

It is with a heart of humility, a spirit of purity, an unblemished conscience, and in full assurance of our hope in Christ, that we have confidence in this glorious invitation to "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

We have been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who was slain from the foundation of the world. It is the man or woman that recognises their own insufficiency that can confidently trust in Christ’s never-failing sufficiency. It is the one who trusts in Christ that can draw near to the Lord with the full assurance of faith - and in prayer and in praise.

It is the one that has been washed by His cleansing flood and covered in His garment of righteousness that has boldness to enter into the holiest of all. And by virtue of His finished work and unchanging Word, we are fully persuaded that we are accepted in the Beloved and that God Who started a good work in us, will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.

The washing of the water of the Word of God in a heart that has trusted Christ for salvation, is the one that can draw close to our Father's heart. The man or woman that has been cleansed from sin, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, is encouraged to draw ever closer to the Lord with fervent faith because they are a new creation in Christ whose heart has been made free from the sense of sin and whose body is washed with clean water.

It is not our physical bodies that are to be sprinkled with this cleansing stream or immersed in the pure waters of 'separation' - but our inner beings. No external washing could purify the conscience of a fallen man or cleanse the blackened thoughts of a heart that is smeared with sin. Only a heart that has been cleansed by grace through faith in the saving blood of Christ, is enabled to produce the fruit of righteousness - for the good man produces good things from the treasury of a clean heart, while an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of a soiled heart.

It is not the simple practice of water baptism to which this verse is referring when it speaks of "having our hearts sprinkled clean and our bodies washed with pure water." Water baptism is the outward, visible sign of the inner, spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. The washing of the body through water baptism is a simple sign and lovely testimony of the inward cleansing of the heart that took place when a man or woman was redeemed by faith in Christ.

God’s Word is true and His promises are sure, so let us go into the presence of God with a sincere heart that is fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been set free from the guilt of sin, through Christ’s precious, redeeming blood. It is by faith in HIM that we have been made clean and our bodies have been cleansed with the pure water of the Word.

I praise and thank You, Heavenly Father, for the wonderful assurance of faith I have in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thank You that I have been washed in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb and covered in the righteousness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ. Keep my ears open to Your voice, my eyes open to Your leading, and my heart ready to follow Your guiding light. This I ask in the precious name of Jesus, AMEN.