82. Christ's Intercession for Us
Christ’s Intercession for Us
He is first our Intercessor, which means that He is praying for us without ceasing. Because of this we can join Paul in saying: “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18).
After Christ’s upper room message to His disciples just before His crucifixion, He projected Himself beyond the cross in what He said in John 17, and up to the Father’s right hand, as He foretokened in that wonderful prayer, what His High Priestly ministry for us would be. When one has read and re-read that prayer until its meaning burns within the heart, he can then recall that it is impossible that the prayers of Christ should go unanswered. For His praying is perfect, since it is always according to the Father’s will, and its full answer is therefore absolutely certain. As Intercessor, Christ prays both for our keeping in view of our total helplessness against Old Adam, and also for our fitting for His fellowship and service throughout eternity. So it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit asks us through Paul: “Who is he that condemneth? Is it Christ who died, yea rather, who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?” (Romans 8:34). How could the Christ who constantly prays for us, and whose prayers are always answered, ever condemn us?
Then we turn again to Hebrews 7:25, and read: “He is able to save them to the full end (margin; Greek, panteles, which means perfect duration, or forever), who come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession.” What a safeguard against our weak and fluctuating faith toward the God of our salvation!
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God” (1 John 3:2), and sonship is eternal. It is impossible even for God to remove from a child the human nature of his earthly father. Much more is it impossible to remove the divine nature from one who has been born of God. So one who is born from above does not keep his life till he reaches heaven, his life keeps him all the way to heaven (John 10:28), for his life is eternal, and it is in a Person (1 John 5:11-12; Colossians 3:4). How can Christ’s prayers for His own fail, in view of such facts?