Luke 14:10

When the life of grace first begins in the soul, we do indeed draw near to God, but it is with great fear and trembling. The soul, conscious of guilt and humbled by it, is overawed with the solemnity of its position; it is cast to the earth by a sense of the grandeur of Jehovah, in whose presence it stands. With sincere bashfulness it takes the lowest room.

But, later in life, as the Christian grows in grace, although he will never forget the solemnity of his position, and will never lose that holy awe which must surround a gracious man when he is in the presence of the God who can create or destroy, his fear has all its terror removed from it; it becomes a holy reverence, and no longer an overshadowing dread.

He is called up higher, to greater access to God in Christ Jesus. Then the man of God, walking amid the splendours of Deity and veiling his face like the glorious cherubim, with those twin wings, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, will, reverent and bowed in spirit, approach the throne; and seeing there a God of love, of goodness, and of mercy, he will realize the covenant character of God rather than His absolute Deity.

He will see in God His goodness rather than His greatness, and more of His love than of His majesty. Then the soul, still bowing as humbly as before, will enjoy a more sacred liberty of intercession. For while prostrate before the glory of the Infinite God, it will be sustained by the refreshing consciousness of being in the presence of boundless mercy and infinite love, and by the realization of acceptance in the Beloved. Thus the believer is invited to come up higher and is enabled to exercise the privilege of rejoicing in God and drawing near to Him in holy confidence, saying, Abba, Father.

“So may we go from strength to strength,
And daily grow in grace,
Till in Your image raised at length,
We see You face to face.”