Why is Christ Interceding for Us?

A friend asked me a question last week that I had to admit I couldn't answer: What does Scripture mean when it says Christ is interceding for us? What is He doing?

The greater part of my confusion on this matter comes from a misunderstanding of the word "intercede." I have always associated this word with prayer, and so when I hear the Word say that Jesus "always lives to make intercession for us" (Heb 7:25) I immediately conclude that Jesus is in heaven praying for me all the time. I remember that Jesus prayed to His Father for His followers in the "High Priestly Prayer" (Jn 17), so this is at least conceivable. It does introduce another matter in which I have little understanding, which is why Christ prays to God… but I'm not opening that can of worms just yet. I think I can avoid that because, with a little study, I can conclude that Christ's heavenly intercession for us is not primarily about Him praying.

Intercession Defined

Here are the references to intercession from the NASB:

• "Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer." (Acts 25:24)
  "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." (Romans 8:26-27)
  "who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." (Romans 8:34)
  "God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?" (Romans 11:2)
  "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)

From these verses we can see that the act of intercession is not limited to God, and that it clearly does not always mean prayer. In fact, only Romans 8:26-27 seem to refer to prayer, and this is work of the Holy Spirit within us, not of Christ in heaven. So intercession can mean to appeal for/against, to pray for, and to plead for/against. The English definition is "to intervene with a view to reconciling differences.” With reference to Christ's intercessory work, I think Warren Wiersbe's definition is fitting:

• "Intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God and we do not have to represent ourselves."

A Living Intercessor

Romans 8 and Hebrews 7 speak of intercession in a present, ongoing tense. What does this mean? Is He praying for us continually? Perhaps making some sort of periodic sacrifice as did the priests in the old covenant? The meaning of this is drawn out in Hebrews. "He always lives to make intercession for us”, simply makes the point that our High Priest will not ever be prevented by death from presenting His sacrifice to God on our behalf. In this regard, He is the perfect High Priest; His redeeming sacrifice needed only to be offered once, and He will always be around to vouch for it.

• "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 forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:23-25)

Romans 8 is consonant with this as it asks, “Who condemns?” – literally, “Who pronounces sentence?” – then answers definitively, “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." (Romans 8:34) Christ is our appointed judge and intercessor. He lives, and is able to intervene on behalf of those who He has pardoned. He Himself will answer the very valid accusations against us, our violations of God’s law, "Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians 2:14)

Praise God in Christ - He has done it all! In spite of our actions, we shall enter heaven as His children, clothed in His righteousness, granted the entitlements of children and full heirs of the Most High!

Present Benefits

The intercession of Christ in Romans 8:34 becomes the basis for some astounding present-tense implications:

• "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)

Meditate on that for a moment and let your heart swell with joy! Because Christ died and now lives, nothing can pull us away from God now - not my will (or lack thereof), not anyone else's will, not even any turn of events. Whatever may befall us, the living Christ is up to the task. This is cause for great rejoicing and assurance.

• "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies..." (Romans 8:33)

The question is asked incredulously, and answered with preemptive finality. No charge against God's elect can stick because He has already declared us righteous, having previously accepted His Son's payment for our sins. Praise be to Jesus Christ for making this possible! He has secured our pardon and fully satisfied the impeccable justice of God. Incredible! Our election, settled by God in love before human time began, is provided for in Christ's death, secured in His resurrected life, made apparent in our conversion, and fully realized in our ultimate redemption.

• "These whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." (Romans 8:30)

Conclusion

When we read that Christ always lives to make intercession, we should understand that He has intervened on our behalf through His death, and that this sacrifice remains acceptable to God because Christ lives forever to present it before Him. Because He is both a living High Priest and ultimate sacrifice, He is sufficient to save forever and completely those who draw near to God through Him. This is significant because no other priest could make this claim, and no other sacrifice was ever designed to have this permanent effect. Even with a rudimentary understanding of Hebrew law and practice, we can see that our Savior is fully able to save us from the penalty we deserve, and we can be thankful for this tremendous assurance.