“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.”
(Psa 145:18-19)
James wrote in his epistle for believers to, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” (James 4:8). The primary way given in scripture for a believer to draw near to God today is through prayer, as David said, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him”. When we pray we set aside the world and focus on the One who made us and Who desires a relationship with us.
The phrase “draw near” reflects the actions of the Levitical priests who “draw near” to the LORD God to minister, (Ezek 43:19). The Levitical priests were able to “come near” to the altar through the presentation of “offerings”, as it is written,
“Moses then said to Aaron, ‘Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burn offering…So Aaron came near to the altar and slaughtered the calf of the sin offering which was for him.” (Lev 9:7-8)
The Hebrew word for “offerings” is “korban”, which comes from a root word “karab” meaning, “to come near,” sometimes reflected in scripture as “draw near”. Offerings and sacrifices allowed the priests and people of Israel “to come near” to God after the glory of the LORD filled the temple at its completion and dedication by Moses, (Ex 40:33-38).
The phrase “draw near” occurs five times in Book of Hebrews and alludes to the offerings at the temple. The Book of Hebrews was written (62-66 AD) to Hebrew believers living in Jerusalem who no longer had access to the temple during the persecution that followed the death of James, the brother of Jesus (AD 62). The writer of Hebrews encouraged these believers that they could still “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace” (Heb 4:16), “in a better hope” (Heb 7:19), “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:22), “through Him, since He always lives to make intercession” (Heb 7:25).
Building on the words of the prophet Hosea and the traditions that followed the destruction of the first temple, the writer of Hebrews offered believers a substitute for temple sacrifices to draw near to God,
“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is please,” (Heb 13:15-16).
The original Hebrew passage from Hosea literally reads, “We will pay with bulls the vows of our lips,” (Hosea 14:2, ESV). By equating prayer to sacrifice, the prophet Hosea and the Hebrew writer offered an alternative to sacrifice for every believer to draw near to God. When a believer offers to the LORD God the praise of his lips, his prayer is received through Jesus Christ as if the believer had offered a bull at the temple. The Jewish sages acknowledged the importance of prayer writing,
“Greater is prayer than sacrifices. Greater is prayer than good deeds; for you have no one greater in good deeds than our teach Moses; nevertheless he was only answered through prayer, as it is said, ‘Speak no more unto Me of this matter’ (Deut 3:26), which is followed by ‘Get thee up into the top of Pisgah’ (Deut 3:27) (Ber. 32b). The inference is that Moses’ prayer secured for him permission to view the land of promise before his death.” (Everyman's Talmud, Abraham Cohen, page 82)
In his prayer of repentance, David spoke of the true sacrifices that the LORD desires, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise,” (Psa 51:17). As Jesus said, “To love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices,” (Mark 12:33). In prayer, believers “draw near” to God and call upon His name, “for Whoever will call on the name of the LORD will be saved,” (Rom 10:13).
Just as acts of charity reflect a belief that all material possessions flow from God, so also does prayer reflects a belief that the LORD God is both
(1) Capable of answering a believer’s prayer and
(2) He desires to bestow lovingkindness on believers in response to their petitions.
Scott
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