Can You Really "Draw Close to God"? - Jehovah Has Opened the Way

Left on our own, we as sinners could never be close to God.  (Psalm 5:4)  "But God recommends his own love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," wrote the apostle Paul.  (Romans 5:8)  Yes, Jehovah arranged for Jesus "to give his soul a ransom in exchanged for many."  (Matthew 20:28)  Our faith in that ransom sacrifice makes it possible for us to be close to God.  Since God "first loved us," he laid the foundation for us to enter into friendship with him. -1 John 4:19. 

Jehovah has taken another step: He has revealed himself to us.  In any friendship, closeness is based on truly knowing a person,valuing his qualities and ways.  So if Jehovah were a hidden, unknowable God, we could never be close to him.  Yet, far from concealing himself he want us to know him.  (Isaiah 45:19)  Furthermore,what he reveals about himself is available to all, even to those of us who may be considered lowly by the world's standards. -Matthew 11:25. 

How has Jehovah revealed himself to us.  His creative works make known certain aspects of his personality-the vastness of his power, the richness of his wisdom, the abundance of his love.  (Romans 1:20) But Jehovah's  revelation of himself does not stop with the things he created.  Ever the Great Communicator, he provided a written revelation of himself in his Word, the Bible.

Next time: Can You Really "Draw Close to God" - Beholding "the Pleasantness of Jehovah"

From the book: Draw Close to Jehovah