… ²² let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Drawing near to God is what the book of Hebrews is all about, where we find the rest of God. We were told this earlier, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). It is through hope (7:19) we are “made perfect” as we draw near to Him. What better place to be?

This invitation to draw near is the first of three results or benefits of having a confident access to God. We have finally arrived at the “so what” that verses 19-21 are setting up for, that is, the logical conclusion. Again, the writer pulls together various thoughts into one summary statement which we shall look at separately.

We are able to draw near with a “sincere heart,” because the drawing near is a tacit recognition of our inability to come to God in any other way. The Levitical system showed that we were utter failures in approaching God with our animal sacrifices (we speak collectively of all people, but specifically of those Jewish believers turned Christian, who are the first audience of the letter to the Hebrews). There is no duplicity in this approach to God. We can have full assurance, because our acceptance is not due to our self-deluded qualifications of good works, but solely by faith in God’s Son.

We have seen already that God has given us new hearts (Heb 10:16), and here that is described as “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” We are no longer “dirty” as it were, in God’s eyes, and no longer need to see ourselves that way, either.

Finally, “our bodies [are] washed with pure water.” Some interpret this as water baptism. Although at times Scripture speaks of baptism as a washing (see Acts 22:16), washing can also symbolize the effects the Word of God has on us (Eph 5:22), the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:11) and spiritual regeneration (Titus 3:5). In the context of our passage, the wording alludes to the cleansing preparation (e.g. Lev 8:6). In fact, combined with the sprinkling mentioned, our coming to God is like being completely sprinkled with blood and ceremonially cleaned with water. In other words, we are perfectly acceptable to God because of the blood of Christ (Heb 10:19), having been fully prepared just as the priests were fully washed before entering the Holy Place.

Dear Lord, I am overwhelmed by what You have done to prepare me for Your presence. I who am unworthy have been made perfect so I can come to You.