Do you remember the movie, “The Wizard of Oz”? Do you recall how the Wizard of Oz was fiery and scary and unyielding when the four travelers came before him? They all shook in his presence, with the cowardly lion even jumping out the window.
Is that your view of the Lord? While it is true that He is a just and powerful God, He is also approachable, and the God you’ll find behind the curtain, is not a fearful man who is pulling levers to control everything.
In the verse prior to our passage, we read that Jesus is our High Priest (the one who intercedes before the Father on behalf of His children); one who sympathizes and has been tested in all things while on Earth. If you went before a judge in our court system, would you expect them to understand your story, experiences — would he or she feel your pain? Not likely, but we do have a Savior who is all powerful, merciful, mighty, etc., and still He is close at hand.
In this portion of Scripture, it says when we come, we should come with boldness. “Come” is the Greek word “proserchomai”, meaning “to approach, draw near”. It comes from two words: “pros” meaning “towards, proximity, destination”, and “erchomai”, meaning “to come and go”. It means as we draw near to Him (He already came here at Bethlehem and made the first effort), He’ll reciprocate.
Next, the word “boldness” in verse 16 is the Greek word “parresia”, meaning “confidence and freedom of speech”. We can come with confidence in prayer and tell God anything; we don’t need to screen it, though we should be reverent. We come to the throne, which is the Greek word “thronos”, meaning “throne, seat of power, potentate” and comes from “thranos”, meaning “bench”. This is the ruling judiciary of God. We can come with confidence because Jesus paved the way for us through the blood of the cross.
When we come, we can come to find mercy and grace to help in times of need. These two travel together (mercy is not getting what we deserve, which is spiritual death, and grace is God giving us favor out of his love for us). “Mercy” is the Greek word “eleos”, meaning “pity or mercy”.
The word “find” is the Greek word “heurisko” (pronounced hyoo-ris-ko), meaning “to discover after searching”. If one finds the peace of God, one does not need to continue to search. Mankind only keeps searching because they haven’t found the truth of Jesus Christ. “To find help in time of need”. “Time” is the Greek word “eukairos”, from two words: eu” means “well” and “kairos” means “time or seasons, fitting opportunity.” God is always on time and comes in our time to help those who look to Him.
Does God “spook” you, or do you come to Him freely, knowing He understands you?