Jesus alone is the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5), who “always lives to make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25). Now, all who come to Christ by faith can approach God with confidence because they do so through the Son’s merit alone. Therefore, it is consistent for the Bible to compel us to draw near to God provided it is “in full assurance of faith.” Faith has no power or value unless its object is perfect.

…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…

Hebrews 10:22

Is it inconsistent for the Bible to teach us that God “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16), while at the same time exhort us to draw near to him? If God dwells in the white-hot light of his holiness, how can sinners like you and me ever hope to take even one baby step toward him? If God is so pure, so completely undefiled, so sharply separate from sin, how can we approach him? Indeed, it seems, he is unapproachable.

Yet the author of Hebrews strongly encourages believers to not only approach God, but to do so with “full assurance.” How can this be? Is it not contradictory? It would be if it were not for one word, used twice, “since.” Read the following verse in its context; that is, considering its surroundings.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

(Heb. 10:19-22, emphasis added)

There are two reasons you can enter God’s presence directly.

Jesus Paved the Way to God

The first reason you can approach the unapproachable God is because Jesus paved the way to God with his blood. As a result, “we have confidence to enter the holy places.” Jesus paved a “new and living way” into God’s presence. How did he do this? “Through the curtain, that is, his flesh.”

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