THE Intercessor

Is it a privilege to be borne upon the affectionate and believing prayers of a Christian friend? Ah, yes! precious channels of heavenly blessing are the intercessions of the Lord’s people on our behalf. But there is a Friend still closer to the Fountain of mercy, still nearer and dearer to the Father, than your dearest earthly friend; it is Jesus, “he ever lives to make intercession for them who come unto God by Him.” (Hebrews 7:25)

Oh, how precious is that declaration upon which in any assault, or trial, or perplexity, you may calmly and confidently repose: “I have prayed for you”! Yes, when from confusion of thought, or pain of body, or burning fever, you cannot pray for yourself, and no friend is near to be your mouth to God, then there is one, the Friend of friends, the ever-skillful Advocate and never-weary Intercessor no invocating saint, nor interceding angel but the Son of God himself, who appears in the presence of God moment by moment for you. 

Oh, keep, then, the eye of your faith immovably fixed upon Christ’s intercession; He intercedes for weak faith, for tried faith, for tempted faith yes, for him who thinks he has no faith. There is not a believer who is not borne upon His heart, and whose prayers and needs are not presented in His ceaseless intercession. When you deem yourself neglected and forgotten, a praying Savior in heaven is thinking of you. When you are tried and cast down, tempted and stumble, the interceding High Priest at that moment enters within the holiest, to ask on your behalf strength, consolation, and upholding grace. 

And when sin has wounded, when guilt distresses, and unbelief beclouds, who is it that stands in the breach, that makes intercession, that removes the darkness, and brings back the smile of a forgiving Father? the Lord Jesus, the interceding Savior. 

Oh, look up, tried and assaulted believer! you have a Friend at court, an Advocate in the chancery of heaven, an Intercessor curtained within the holiest of holies, transacting all your concerns, and through whom you may have access to God with boldness. 

[Octavius Winslow] 

Hebrews 9:24 ... For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

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Christ's Priestly Office and Intercession

The continued existence of grace in a believer's heart, is a great standing miracle. His enemies are so mighty and his strength is so small; the world is so full of snares--and his heart is so weak; that it seems at first sight impossible for him to reach Heaven.  He has a mighty Friend at the right hand of God, who ever lives to make intercession for him. There is a watchful Advocate, who is daily pleading for him, seeing all his daily necessities, and obtaining daily supplies of mercy and grace for his soul. His grace never altogether dies because Christ always lives to intercede for him! 

If we are true Christians, we shall find it essential to our comfort in religion to have clear views of Christ's priestly office and intercession. Christ lives and therefore our faith shall not fail. Let us beware of regarding Jesus only as one who died for us. Let us never forget that He is alive for evermore. Paul bids us to especially remember that He is risen again, and is at the right hand of God, and also makes intercession for us. 

The work that He does for His people, is not yet over. He is still appearing in the presence of God for them, and doing for their souls, what He did for Peter. His present life for them is just as important as His death on the cross eighteen hundred years ago!  Christ lives and therefore true Christians "shall live also."

[J. C. Ryle]

Hebrews 7:25 … 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.

Romans 8:34 … 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.

Luke 22:32 … But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.❤

Not a World of Chance

This is not a world of chance, it is our Father's world! Events do not happen without divine order and direction. There is a great divine plan running through the ages which includes all things, and subordinates all forces and all experiences to itself. Our Scripture passages above are full of this great thought.

We will never fully understand these great truths, with their tremendous reach of meaning. We may say, however, at least, that they assure us of a divine plan for the elect, a divine love, a divine purpose of mercy, dating from the infinite past, and running through the eternal ages to come!

All of the elect are eternally secure in Christ the Redeemer!

[J. R. Miller]

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Romans 8:33-34 ... Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.  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.

Ephesians 1:4-5 ...  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Ephesians 1:11 ...  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:❤

A Pavilion of Comfort

Believer, you have a home in the heart of Jesus! What a pavilion of comfort is this, the love of Christ! To know that the affections of Jesus embrace and entwine around us, to be assured that He loves us each one as though we were the only one whom He loved, what a privilege and a bliss!

And yet so it is, Jesus loves you, cares for you, watches over and sympathizes with you as if you were the only one whom He loved. "He loved me and gave Himself for me!" Seek this individual consciousness of Christ's love, and you will be supremely happy!

[Octavius Winslow]

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John 15:9 ... As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Hebrews 7:25 ... 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.

Romans 8:38-39 ... For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.❤

A Measure of Peace

I may express all my complaints in one short sentence: "I am a poor creature!"  And all my hopes and comforts may be summed up as briefly, by saying: "I have a rich and gracious Savior!"

Full as I am in myself of inconsistencies and conflicts, I have in Him, a measure of peace.  He found me in a waste howling wilderness and He redeemed me from the house of misery and bondage.  And though I have been ungrateful and perverse, He has not yet forsaken me and never will.  He is able to hold even me up to pity, support and supply me to the end of life.

How suitable a Savior! He is made all things to those who have nothing and is engaged to help those who can do nothing.

[John Newton]

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Hebrews 7:25 ... 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.

Hebrews 13:5 ... Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Ephesians 3:18-19 ... May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.❤

The Personal Attractions of Jesus

The personal attractions of Jesus are all inviting and irresistible!

His love wins us.  His glory charms us. His beauty attracts us. His sympathy soothes us. His gentleness subdues us. His faithfulness inspires us.  He is the "altogether lovely One!"

Jesus is all that is tender in love. Jesus is all that is wise in counsel. Jesus is all that is patient and kind. Jesus is all that is faithful in friendship.  Jesus is all that is soothing and healing.

The heart of Jesus is ever loving towards His children. The disposition of Jesus is ever kind towards His children. The nature of Jesus is ever sympathizing towards His children.

Jesus is your Brother, your Friend, your Redeemer.  As your Brother, He knows the need of His brethren in adversity.  As your Friend, He shows Himself friendly.  As your Redeemer, He has redeemed your soul from sin and Hell.

Jesus has ascended up on high to take possession of Heaven on your behalf, and to prepare a place for you!  Upon His heart, He wears your name as a precious pearl in the priestly breastplate.

There is not a moment of your time,  nor an event of your life,  nor a circumstance of your daily history,   nor a mental or spiritual emotion of yours in which you are not borne upon the love, and remembered in the ceaseless intercession of Christ.

[Octavius Winslow]

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Song of Solomon 5:16 ... His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

John 14:2 ... In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Hebrews 7:25 ...  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.❤

Distinctly On Jesus

Were Jesus Christ a mere man, how could He guard the interests, and manage the affairs of His innumerable people, scattered far and wide over the face of the habitable globe? What heart would be large enough to embrace them all? What eyes could see them all? What ears could hear them all?

Think of the ten thousand prayers pronounced in a hundred different languages that go up at once, and altogether, to His ear! Yet there is no confusion; none are lost; none are missed in the crowd.

Nor are they heard by Him as, standing on yonder lofty crag, we hear the din of the city that lies stretched out far beneath us, with all its sounds of cries, and rumbling wheels, and human voices mixed up into one deep, confused, hollow roar like the boom of the sea's distant breakers.

No! every believer may feel as if he were alone with God enjoying a private audience with the King in His presence-chamber! Be of good cheer. Every groan of your wounded heart; your every sigh, and cry, and prayer falls as distinctly on Jesus' ear as if you stood beside His throne, or, nearer still, lay with John on His bosom, and felt the beating of His heart against your own!

[Thomas Guthrie]

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Hebrews 4:16 ... Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Romans 8:34 ... 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.

1 Timothy 2:5 ... For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;❤

Vicarious Intercession

Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.”

Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic “understanding” of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.

Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I spoiled or complete in my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am I determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?

[Oswald Chambers]

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Hebrews 10:19 ... Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Romans 8:34 ... 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.

1 Timothy 2:5 ... For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;❤

The Divine Life

You will make no advance in the divine life if your eye is ever upon yourself instead of Christ.

What though the experience of today is the opposite of the experience of yesterday: yesterday all brightness today all cloudiness; yesterday your soul like a well-tuned Psalm today every string loosed and breathing no melody; yesterday, Jesus felt to be so near and precious today not a loving emotion in your heart;  yesterday, communion with God so sweet today, none whatever; yesterday, desiring to walk uprightly, holily, and humbly today detecting so much that is vacillating, weak, and vile.

Nevertheless, Jesus is not changed!  The work of Christ is the same. Your acceptance in Him is the same. His intercession in Heaven for you is the same.

So why are you so eager to fly to spiritual experiences for support, strength, and consolation rising when they rise, falling when they fall when all your standing, joy, peace, and hope are entirely outside of yourself, and are solely in Christ?

What though you change a thousand times in one day? He never changes!

God may vary His dispensations. He may alter His mode of dealing. He may change the nature of His discipline. He may vary the lesson but His loving-kindness and His truth are as unchangeable as His very being. He may dry up the earthly cistern but He will never seal up the heavenly fountain! That will flow on in grace through all time, and in glory through all eternity!

[Octavius Winslow]

Hebrews 13:8 ... Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Malachi 3:6 ... For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Numbers 23:19 ...  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?❤

Look Upon Our Great High Priest

As believers, we should look upon our great high priest, as having put away our sins from before God, reconciled our persons to God, justified us fully and freely at the tribunal of God, procured for us all spiritual and eternal blessings.

The work of our great high priest at present, is to render our persons, prayers, and services acceptable to God. Every prayer which ascends from us to God, passes through His hands who cleanses, arranges, and perfumes it, and then presents it to his Father. Thus He renders our poor imperfect prayers, praises, and services, acceptable and pleasant to our God and Father.

[James Smith]

Hebrews 7:25-26 ... 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.  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;  Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. ❤