The Approach To God
Feature 2 –January 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine
The Approach To God
The word “approach” means “to come near or to draw near to.” For the purpose of this article we will focus on the thought of drawing or coming near to God.
The word “dispensation” signifies the management of a household. For example, in a household there is a time for breakfast, time for work, time for lunch, time for dinner, time for bed and the like. Similarly, God divided time into several periods. Some are longer than others – lasting for hundreds of years. For instance, the period, or dispensation, of grace in which we are living is now nearly 2,000 years long. Bible scholar C. I. Scofield presented seven dispensations, A. E. Booth suggested six after the six days of creation, and F. J. Dakes spoke of fourteen of them.
Because of the absolute holiness of God and the deplorable condition of sinful man, man has been separated from God. In Isaiah 59:1-2 we read: “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear” (KJV). In this condition man cannot approach God at all. If he tried to come to God on his own terms he would be consumed by God’s holiness. Man can only approach on God’s terms, which require death for sin-guiltiness. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). A guilty person must die, away from the presence of God; or he must offer to God an innocent substitute.
There is, and was, no other way for sinful man to come to God, for He hates sin immensely and cannot tolerate it in the least. We “all have sinned” (3:23). How then can we ever approach this not once holy, not twice holy but thrice holy God (see Isa. 6:3)? There is a way, devised by God for man to approach to Him.
God showed the way! Once Adam and Eve sinned they could not stand before God in their nakedness, so they tried to cover themselves with leaves and to hide from Him. To restore fellowship, we are told that God made coats of skins and clothed them (Gen. 3:21). The obvious question is: “From where did God get the coats of skin?” An innocent animal must have died to provide clothing for this guilty couple. That animal is a picture of Christ, who died for our sins.
Abel, walking in the general acceptance of God’s will, came to a right judgment of himself before God. Therefore he brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and made an offering to God of an innocent animal to die in his place (Gen. 4:4; Heb. 11:4). From Abel down to this day the way of approach to God is the same: one can only do so by way of a sinless sacrifice.
In Genesis 8:20 we are told that “Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”
As to Abraham, Genesis 12:7 says, “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.”
It was in the day of Moses that the way to God became formal and regulated. The approach was set up especially in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, where the order of the priesthood is established. If any man bypassed the brazen altar and tried to get before God by another way, other than that specified in the book of Leviticus, he would be struck dead. The high priest had to go in with the blood of an innocent animal before him, for sinful man can only go into the presence of God by the blood of another who has not sinned (Heb. 9:7,25).
Today the approach to God is through the person and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider Hebrews 10:19-22: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us 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.” The Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again as the only new and living way to approach unto God. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (Jn. 14:6).
Today no one needs to give his or her little lamb to a priest to offer as a sacrifice for his or her sins because the Lord Jesus offered that one supreme sacrifice for sin once for all (Heb. 10:10,12)! Take a moment and read Hebrews 10:18,26, on page 13, to see a few more thoughts about sin.
By MIlton P. Jamieson