Full Assurance of Faith
Full Assurance of Faith Excerpt “Let us draw near” ( προσερχώμεθα ) is a liturgical phrase, denoting the approach of the people, after ceremonial atonement, to the earthly sanctuary ( cf . ver . 1 , τοὺς προσερχομένους ). We may now draw near to the very heavenly mercy-seat, without any sense of a bar to our doing so on the ground of consciousness of sin. In Christ we are to see accomplished all that is needed for atonement. But there are conditions also required in ourselves, expressed first by the “true heart” , and the “fulness of faith” , and then by the clauses that follow. These clauses, like προσερχώμεθα , have a liturgical basis—that of the blood sprinkling ( e.g . of the people with the blood of the covenant under Mount Sinai, ch . 9:19 , and of the priests on their consecration, Lev. 8:23 ) and of the ablutions before sacrificial service ( Lev. 8:6 ; 16:4 , 24 ; Exod. 30:39 ). Hence these two participia...