Christ the Intercessor

"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." -- Romans 8:34
    Christ's work as priest did not end with His death on the cross. For He also was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is even now exercising a ministry of intercession with God the Father on our behalf. In this sense He is still actively fulfilling the role of a priest.
    When someone has offended someone else, there is a breach in the relationship. A third party is sometimes needed to bring the other two parties back together again. In other words, an intercessor is needed, someone who will intercede on behalf of the offending party.
    Unfortunately it is sometimes true that even committed Christians can "backslide" and fall into sin, and this will disrupt communion with God. It is at this point that Christ's work as an intercessor comes into play. Our text tells us that He is "at the right hand of God," and that He "maketh intercession for us."
    Christ is uniquely qualified to fill this role. Because He is human, He can sympathize with us, knowing firsthand the temptations we face. In Hebrews 2:17,18 we read, "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" ("succour" in an old-fashioned word with a British spelling that means "to go to the aid" of someone). At the same time because He is also God He is personally sinless, and therefore is in a position to intercede with God the Father on our behalf. Moreover, since He lives forever his ministry of intercession will never come to an end – it will last for as long as life continues here on this sin-cursed earth. "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25).
    Christ's ministry of intercession has immense practical implications for us. First of all, it means that if we know Christ truly and are genuinely united to Him by faith we can rest securely in God's love. The apostle Paul asks an interesting rhetorical question: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31). He then proceeds to answer his own question: "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God . . ." (v. 34). Let our fiercest enemies say what they may; let even Satan himself bring accusation against us. It doesn't matter; for our salvation ultimately rests on what Christ has done, and is continuing to do for us. He died for our sins, He paid the penalty on the cross, and now He is in heaven making intercession for us. We are forever secure in God's love.
    Moreover Christ's ministry of intercession should make us bold in prayer. Heb. 4:15 says, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." What, then, is the practical implication of this? "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need" (v. 16). We are oft beset with trials and temptations. Difficulties lie on every hand. We are weak and prone to failure. But help is available if only we ask for it. We have an open invitation from God to go to Him in prayer and ask for the help we need. And we can do this because Christ, who can sympathize with our weakness, is there in heaven making intercession for us.
    None of this means, of course, that we have a license to sin. Sin will come between us and God, and needs to be dealt with. "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (I John 1:6). But "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (v. 9). And this is possible because "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (2:1). What more could we ask for in the way of an attorney?
            "Hark the herald angels sing,
                'Glory to the newborn King;
             Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
                 God and sinners reconciled!'"

• Charles Wesley

A Man of Sorrows

When we think of the birth of Christ we are liable to think of a charming manger scene – a young mother cradling her infant son, the Magi bringing their gifts from afar, the angels singing to the shepherds in the field. It all looks so picturesque, and indeed it is. But amid all the tinsel and trimmings it is easy to lose sight of the real reason for the incarnation. The manger was but the prelude to a brutal death on a Roman cross.
    And the amazing thing is that it was all predicted. In Isaiah chapter 53 we have one of the most stunning prophecies about the Messiah found anywhere in the Old Testament. And it portrays the Messiah as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (v. 3).
    One would have thought that Israel would have welcomed its Messiah, but that turned out not to be the case. "Why?," one might be tempted to ask. The answer is that His contemporaries failed to appreciate who He was and what He came to do. They were looking for a national deliverer – a charismatic leader who would come and rule. Instead He came across as a radical rabbi who challenged established ways of thinking. He led no armies and He provoked no revolt. He was eventually crucified by the Romans. What kind of Messiah was that? And thus the prophet foresaw that He would be "despised and rejected of men" (v. 3a).
    What His contemporaries failed to realize is that it was necessary for Him to atone for sin – for their sin. That is why He had to suffer, and bleed, and die. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities" (v. 5a). The problem, which neither they nor we like to admit, is that we are, at the bottom of it, guilty sinners. The prophet uses a homey illustration to make the point: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one into his own way" (v. 6). Somehow, if we are ever to be forgiven, an atonement must be made for our sins. And that was what Christ came to do when He was born in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. His path would lead to the cross, " . . . and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (v. 6b).
    And here was the supreme irony of the situation. When He was here among us, "he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (v. 3b). ". . . we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (v. 4b), and indeed He was. But it was for our sins that He suffered the pain and humiliation of the cross. It was our sin and guilt that occasioned His suffering.
    Jesus, in other words, was essentially acting as a priest offering up a sacrifice to God, except that in this case He was both the priest and the sacrifice. That sacrifice, then, becomes the basis for our peace with God. ". . . the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (v. 5b). The "chastisement of our peace" is a kind of corrective discipline that leads to a restoration of a relationship. In this case we were alienated from God by our sin and disobedience, and Christ's death upon the cross brings us peace with God. To achieve reconciliation we need to embrace by faith Christ's atoning work on our behalf.
Have you made your peace with God?

Other blog posts in which you might be interested:
Right with God
What Must I Do to be Saved?