35 Bible Verses about drawing near to God

Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded (uncertain) (doubter) (skeptic).

Jehovah said to Moses: You and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders come up the mountain to me and worship at a distance. Moses alone may come near Jehovah. The others may not. The people must not come along with Moses.

Jehovah descended on the top of Mount Sinai. Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses climbed to the peak of Mount Sinai. Jehovah spoke to Moses: Go down and warn the people. They should not break through to gaze at Jehovah. Many of them would perish. Let the priests who come near to Jehovah consecrate (purify) themselves, or else Jehovah will destroy them.read more.
Moses said to Jehovah: The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai for you warned us. You said: 'Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.' Jehovah replied to him: You and Aaron come up to me. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Jehovah, or he will destroy some of them.

The people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast. They saw the lightning and the smoking mountain. They trembled with fear and stood at a distance. They said to Moses: If you speak to us, we will listen. However, we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die.

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water. You, who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen to me, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

If a descendant of the priest Aaron has a physical defect, he must never bring sacrifices by fire to Jehovah. He has a defect. He must never bring food to offer to God.

Seek Jehovah while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to Jehovah, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Jehovah spoke to us when we gathered on the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the dark fiery cloud. Jehovah gave us these words, and only these. Then he wrote them on two flat tablets of stone and gave them to me. Fire blazed from the mountain, and you heard the voice coming from the darkness. Then your elders came to me. They said: 'Today Jehovah our God has shown us how powerful and glorious he is. He spoke to us from the fire. We learned that people could live, even though God speaks to them.read more.
We do not want to take a chance on being killed by that terrible fire. If we hear Jehovah's voice again we will die. Has any other human ever heard the only true God speaking from fire, as we have? And if they have, would they live to tell about it? They spoke to Moses: 'Moses, go and listen to everything that Jehovah our God says. Then tell us whatever Jehovah our God tells you. We will listen and obey.'

How blessed is the one you choose to bring near to you, to dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy Temple.

She did not obey the voice of Jehovah. She would not accept correction (discipline). She did not trust Jehovah and draw close to her God.

But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord Jehovah.

I have punished your children without results. They did not respond to correction. You killed my prophets like a raging lion. O you people of this generation consider the word of Jehovah! Have I been a wilderness, a land of thick darkness, for Israel? Why do my people say that they are free to wander around and no longer come to me?

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took an incense burner. They put burning coals and incense in it. Then in Jehovah's presence they offered this unauthorized fire. A fire flashed from Jehovah and burned them. They died in the presence of Jehovah. Moses said to Aaron: This is what Jehovah was speaking about when he said: 'All who serve me must respect my holiness. I will reveal my glory to my people.' But Aaron remained silent.

There will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out: 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God.'

The room that faces north is for the priests who serve at the altar. These priests are Zadok's descendants. They are the only Levites who are able to come near Jehovah and serve him.

Their leader will be someone from their own people. Their ruler will come from among them. I will bring him near, and he will come close to me. Who would dare to come near me? Declares Jehovah. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

The man said: The northern and southern side rooms that face the open area are holy rooms. These rooms are where the priests who come near Jehovah eat the holiest offerings. Because these rooms are holy, the priests keep the holiest offerings there: the grain offerings, the offerings for sin, and the guilt offerings.

For the children of Israel will live many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Jehovah their God. David their king will come with trembling to Jehovah and to his goodness in the last days.

Jehovah said: 'Give a young bull to the priests as an offering for sin. These priests are Zadok's descendants. They are men from the tribe of Levi, who can come near me and serve me.

The new heaven and earth that I am about to make will continue in my presence, declares Jehovah. So your descendants and your name will also continue in my presence. From one month to the next and from one week to the next all people will come to worship me, declares Jehovah.

This holy part of the land will belong to the priests who serve in the Holy Place, the priests who come near to serve Jehovah. They will use this place for their homes, and it will be the location for the Holy Place.

When a man's discharge stops, he must wait seven days to be cleansed. He must wash his clothes and his body in fresh water. Then he will be clean. He must take two mourning doves or two pigeons and come into Jehovah's presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting on the eighth day. He will give these birds to the priest. The priest will sacrifice one as an offering for sin and the other as a burnt offering. Thus in Jehovah's presence, the priest will pay compensation for the wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for the man who had a discharge.

Jehovah is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. He told Aaron: Take a calf that has no defects for an offering for sin and a ram that has no defects as a burnt offering. Sacrifice them in Jehovah's presence. Tell the Israelites: 'Take a male goat as an offering for sin, a calf and a lamb, each one-year-old and without defects, as a burnt offering,read more.
a bull and a ram as a fellowship offering, and a grain offering mixed with olive oil to sacrifice in Jehovah's presence. Jehovah will appear to you today.' They took the things Moses commanded and brought them in front of the Tent of Meeting. The entire congregation stood in Jehovah's presence.

Return you backsliding children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. See, we have come to you because you are Jehovah our God.

Give to Jehovah the glory due to his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts.

Tell them, Jehovah of Hosts has said: Jehovah of Hosts says return to me and I will return to you.

Serve Jehovah with gladness and come before his presence with a joyful song. Know that Jehovah is God. He has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courtyard with praise: thank him and bless his name.

Like your fathers before you, you have turned away from my laws and have not obeyed them. Return to me and I will return to you, said Jehovah of Hosts. But you ask, 'how will we return to you?'

With what shall I come before Jehovah? Shall I bow down before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with year old calves? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for my sin? He told you, O lowly man, what is good and what Jehovah requires of you. You should display justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God!

Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, having a high priest over the house of God,read more.
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The Law could not make anything perfect. A better hope has been provided through which we can draw near to God.

But food will not recommend us to God. If we do not eat we are not worse. If we eat we are not better.

If perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the Law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, instead of one named after the order of Aaron? The priesthood was changed, and therefore it is necessary to also change the Law. The one about whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.read more.
It is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. This is clear if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, He would become such, not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is announced: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The former commandment was set aside because it was weak and useless. The Law could not make anything perfect. A better hope has been provided through which we can draw near to God.

The Law is a shadow of the good things to come. It is not the actual things. The continual yearly sacrifices can never make those who worship perfect. If it could, it would cease to be offered. Once the worshipers were cleansed they would have no awareness of sin anymore. These sacrifices are an annual reminder of sin.read more.
It is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins. When Christ came into the world he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but you have prepared a body for me. You have no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.' Then I said: 'I have come in the scroll of the book. It is written about me, to do your will, O God.' Then he said: You did not want nor did you approve of sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin; which are offered by the Law. He also said: I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first in order to establish the second. We are sanctified by his will through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.