A Kingdom of Priests (6)

 

Intercession

In discussing the glorious High Priesthood of our Lord Jesus, the writer of Hebrews says (7:23 – 25), “The [former] priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

 

To intercede is to speak to one person on behalf of another person; but it is more than that, it also has to do with the nature of the speaking. It is the difference between making a casual request on behalf of someone and imploring on behalf of someone. Making a casual request, or making a request without investing ourselves in the request is one thing, but to invest ourselves deeply in the request and to make that request ongoing is another – the latter are characteristics of intercession. Intercession pursues an answer until it receives it – whether it be hours, days, months, or years.

 

Within intercession, there are I think, varying intensities, heights, and depths. Perhaps this is due to our human frailty, for we can only sustain certain intensities for so long – otherwise we will breakdown under the burden. We can intercede for our nation throughout our lives, and there may be periods of intensity in this intercession, but to carry intercessory intensity for our nation throughout our lives, without periods of rest, is likely more than we can bear. We can only live in Lamentations for certain seasons. 

 

Intercessory prayer is a burden, it is hard, for when we speak to God on behalf of man we carry man’s sin, frailty, evil, and destruction with us; we carry the needs and pain of others, we move beyond earthly gravitational forces and into the Throne Room to be with our Lord Jesus, our merciful and faithful High Priest.

 

Paul writes in Romans 8:26 – 27, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will] of God.”

 

If the Spirit intercedes for us with “groanings too deep for words,” we should not be surprised that, when we intercede for others, earthly language can fail us. As a royal priesthood, the priesthood of which Jesus is the Hight Priest, we are called to an intercessory koinonia in the Trinity, for we intercede as Jesus intercedes, we intercede as the Holy Spirit intercedes.

 

Years ago I was meditating about my prayer life, pondering it, evaluating it as best I could in the light of God’s Word; when the Father spoke to my heart and said in essence, “Why are you pondering your prayer life, when you should be thinking about living a life of prayer?”

 

In the same fashion, we are called beyond engaging in intercessory prayer to living intercessory lives; for to be sure, those saints who live intercessory lives will engage in intercessory prayer as a way of life in Jesus Christ.

 

The kingly and holy priesthood of the Church, the Body of Christ, is an intercessory priesthood for that is the Nature of our High Priest, His life on earth and beyond is an intercessory Life and that very Life lives in us, His brothers and sisters, His brethren.

 

May I suggest that our failure to understand the nature of things often leads to fragmented thinking and vision? Theologians and philosophers use the word “ontology” when referring to understanding the nature of things, and some of these folks deny there is such a thing as an actual “nature,” but that is for another time. Some natures we cannot fully understand, but we can glimpse them. We touch and glimpse the Trinity, we even share in the koinonia and Life and Nature of the Trinity – in some way and in some measure – but at the end of the day, even at the coming of the Great DAY, God is God and we ain’t God – God is ineffable and we are not.

 

We say the same thing of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, we can touch Him, fully God and fully Man (1 John 1:1 – 4); and even as His Incarnation continues in His Body, even as His Church is indeed His fulness (Ephesians 1:22 – 23), such things remain beyond our total comprehension – such is the Divine Mystery of the fulness of our salvation. After all, if the peace of God surpasses our understanding (Philippians 4:7) and if our joy is inexpressible (1 Peter 1:8), then what can we possibly say when we come to contemplate the Nature, the Essence, of God?

 

The intercession and High Priesthood of Jesus Christ is rooted in the Incarnation. Consider Hebrews 2:17 – 18; 4:14 – 16; and 5:7 – 10. What do you see in these passages?

 

Once again, we see that Hebrews is the great Incarnation book of the New Testament, it gives us a theology, a way of thinking, of the Incarnation that helps us see Jesus, the New Covenant, and heavenly things…and our participation in them.

 

O dear friends, we are called to an intercessory Life in Jesus Christ and with one another. Our heavenly Father has placed the Nature of such a Life within us, in His Son Jesus Christ, our merciful and faithful High Priest.