35 Bible Verses about drawing near to God

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

And he said to Moses, Come up to the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the LORD said to Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also who come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.read more.
And Moses said to the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And the LORD said to him, Away, go down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: But let not the priests and the people break through, to come up to the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently to me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

No man of the seed of Aaron the priest, that hath a blemish, shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire; he hath a blemish, he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly on the mount from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me. And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.read more.
Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say; and speak thou to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach to thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.

But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:

In vain have I smitten your children; they have received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my people, We are lords; we will come no more to thee?

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God.

And the chamber whose prospect is towards the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, who come near to the LORD to minister to him.

And their nobles shall be from themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach time: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach to me? saith the LORD. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers which are before the separate place, they are holy chambers, where the priests that approach to the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that are of the seed of Zadok, who approach to me, to minister to me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin-offering.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, who shall come near to minister to the LORD: and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them to the priest: And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue.

The LORD is nigh to all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; And he said to Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD. And to the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin-offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt-offering;read more.
Also a bullock and a ram for peace-offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD; and a meat-offering mingled with oil: for to-day the LORD will appear to you. And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood before the LORD.

Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Give to the LORD the glory due to his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

Therefore say thou to them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye to me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful to him, and bless his name.

Even from the days of your fathers ye have gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, In what shall we return?

Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what the LORD doth require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; And 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.

For the law made nothing perfect, but the introduction of a better hope did; by which we draw nigh to God.

But food commendeth us not to God: for neither if we eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse.

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.read more.
For it is evident that our Lord sprang from Judah; of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. For there is verily a disannulling of the preceding commandment on account of its weakness and unprofitableness. For the law made nothing perfect, but the introduction of a better hope did; by which we draw nigh to God.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers to them perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once cleansed, would have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.read more.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written concerning me,) to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure in them; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.