Bold I Approach
(Assurance in Salvation)
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus...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. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:19-23 (ESV)
It is faith in Christ - trusting in His power to totally reconcile you to God and pay for your sins - that you must have to be saved. It is this faith in Christ alone which saves - it is nothing you do now, in the past or in the future. Your salvation rests wholly on Christ and is received only through faith in Him.
Reflecting on this, I think of two lines from the memorable hymn And Can it Be:
Bold I approach the eternal throne
And claim the crown through Christ my own
How true this is! It is Christ's power that saves us and brings us to God, and it is in the light of Christ that we can approach God - therefore we can do it confidently. But frequently, in myself and in those around me, I see a lack of assurance of this truth. Even though we have faith in Christ's power, we fail to approach God with confidence because we know in our hearts that sin does separate man from God; and our faith - a glorious gift of God though it is - often fails to convict us of the truth of that which the Bible tells us - we have been saved by grace, regardless of ourselves.
On one occasion when I was thinking about those lines from And Can it Be I pictured the scene in heaven, and asked myself, Will my faith allow me to 'boldly stride towards God' trusting in Christ on the day I face the 'Eternal Throne'? This is a big question to ask yourself - an important one, and an often scary one.
To tell you the truth, I knew that I would probably falter. Then I thought to myself, what if that was the test of our faith that decided our eternity? What if it was our ability or lack of ability to stride fearlessly towards God, trusting only in the righteousness of His Son imparted to us, that decided whether or not we stayed with Him for eternity?
Could you confidently stride towards your Almighty Creator, with others gathered around pointing, gossiping, whispering, "Who do they think they are, striding towards HIM like that!... You'd think they were Christ Himself..."? Could you, if your eternity depended on it, boldly approach the Almighty God as if you deserved the honour, with each step as a proud proclamation of your perfect standing before God, displaying openly that you had no fear of punishment or wrath resulting from your life?
While it is true that our eternal fate will be decided based on our lives here and now, rather than any time after we die, "boldly approaching the Throne" is still required of us every day. The same confidence that comes from the work of Christ and that should allow us to approach the Throne in heaven on that Great Day with perfect confidence, should be lived out every moment of our lives here and now. We must boldly approach life now in full assurance of the life to come; with a proper perspective on this temporary world flowing from a biblical focus on the next, eternal one.
Please don't understanding me as saying that if you have doubts you're not saved - my point is that doubts should be addressed - because a strong faith is so important. Indeed, the faith required to take that metaphorical step towards God is the exact same faith through which you receive your salvation, and on which you rely to live day by day.
We show our faith in the future coming of the Lord by living as if it were but one step in front of us and boldly striding forward. If you want to know whether you could approach God with confidence on the day you come before Him, see first whether your faith in the assurance of your eternity through Christ impacts your life now. Does your faith lead you towards greater holiness? Does your confidence in your salvation empower you to serve God fully in every aspect of your life?
Whatever the strength of your faith, whatever your confidence in salvation, always build on them both. Live out this life knowing that you are called to boldly approach the Throne in everything you do, and that you can do so only by trusting fully that Christ assures you of forgiveness and a place with Him for eternity.
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