blessing

A neighborhood book club simpatico insisted that I just had to read Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth.

Set in medieval times it tells the long tale (just short of a thousand pages) of the building of a cathedral and all that entailed.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but I have found it an interesting read, particularly as OGC closes in on the completion of its facility. I am thankful we haven’t undertaken the construction of a vast stone cathedral!

I also find myself grateful not to have lived in such difficult times in human history. No need for details. But one lesson has stood out in my reading that made me feel very blessed.

The main character, Prior Philip, finds himself at points dependent upon King Stephen for his benevolence in order to finance the building of the cathedral. Follet does a good job of drawing the reader into the angst of the Catholic priest, particularly at one point, where he must wait for the king at court to acknowledge him and invite him into his presence to present his petitions. He does not. Philip goes away grossly disappointed.

I found myself enormously grateful that God doesn’t treat His “subjects” that way. Because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, we have bold access anytime we wish to approach the throne of grace to find help for our time of need (Heb. 4:16).

The blessedness of this boldness in Christ before God the high King of heaven came into even greater perspective as I read a passage this week from Puritan Richard Sibbes’ brilliant treatise on 2 Cor. 3:18 entitled Glorious Freedom:

We see the glory of God with boldness in the gospel. We have boldness and access to God through Christ by the Spirit . . . . Christ by his Spirit takes us by the hand and leads us to his Father. God is not now terrifying to us but in Christ, God’s nature is fatherly and sweet to us. We may boldly lay open our souls in prayer and bring all our complaints before him as to a Father. We do not come as malefactors to a judge or as slaves to a lord, but as children to father, as a wife to her spouse. The gospel by shining upon us takes away a spirit of fear and bondage. The more we see Christ, and the more love, the less fear. The more we see the grace of God in Christ, the spirit of fear is diminished and replaced by a spirit of love and boldness. Grace presents to us in Christ full satisfaction to divine justice. When we offer Christ to the Father whom he has sent and sealed for us, God cannot refuse a Saviour of his own sending, sealing and appointing. It is a marvelous privilege that we see God clearly in the gospel, with open faces, with a spirit of boldness, the veil of ignorance being taken away.