Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; James 4:8a

Today we are going to look at the next 2 commands:

1. “Draw Nigh….to you”–  At one time the only ones who could “draw near” to God were the Levitical priests.  To get right with God you had to go through a priest.  (Exodus 19:22, Leviticus 10:3, Ezekiel 44:13).  Now because of Jesus, we can all draw near to God because we have been given access to Him by the blood of Christ.

Think about how amazing this verse is.  Now we are BEING COMMANDED to do something that previously was impossible.  “Draw nigh” speaks of a relational closeness.  The Creator of the universe wants us to draw near to him.  We can have a close, intimate, love relationship with God.

1. “Cleanse your hands“- Remember that James is addressing jewish believers who would have understood the ceremonial law of the old testament priests. Part of approaching God for the priest was the process of washing hands.

God is holy.  He is completely seperate from sin.  Our sin problem must be taken care of so we can draw near to Him.

“Cleanse your hands”also speaks to having our righteous standing with God show up in the things we do.  To be ready to work for Christ, our lives must be clean.